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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Fight Over Quarantine for U.S. Ebola Workers; Teen Wounded in School Shooting Dies; Will Jed Bush Run in 2016?; The Battle Against ISIS; Terrorists Kidnap Dozens of Children
Aired October 27, 2014 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Living in isolation in a tent in New Jersey. The U.S. nurse returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa is furious that she is placed in a mandatory quarantine. The White House now butting heads with governors over what precautions are really needed. Some of these governors are backing off. This is all in a fight to prevent Ebola from spreading in the United States.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: a second shoot shot Friday in the high school cafeteria in Washington dies overnight, as the community tries to make sense of the tragedy.
BERMAN: Could there be another Bush in a White House run? That one. Jeb Bush, his son raising the possibility, raising speculation over his father's plans for 2016.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour. It is Monday morning.
And there is major controversy this morning and some confusion over ever changing policies on how medical personnel returning from the Ebola outbreak zone of West Africa should be treated once when they arrive back in the United States.
Now, New York state is backing off its mandatory 21-day hospital stay. It is allowing patients to be quarantined at home. Patients, we should say, returning medical workers who show know signs of any of the disease.
New Jersey also clarifying its quarantine, allowing people to be confined at home if possible.
But a nurse quarantined in a hospital tent blasting Chris Christie for diagnosing her as sick, even though he is, quote, "not a doctor", as she says.
Meanwhile, the symptoms of the doctor being treated for the disease in a New York hospital -- those symptoms have progressed. Officials at Bellevue Hospital say Dr. Craig Spencer looked better Sunday than on Saturday, declaring his condition serious, but stable. A lot going on this morning. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth
Cohen has more from Bellevue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, here at Bellevue, Dr. Craig Spencer is now in serious condition, doctors say. He has moved into the next phase of his illness. He now has gastrointestinal symptoms.
He is getting a blood transfusion, a plasma transfusion actually from Nancy Writebol. She's an Ebola survivor who is treated at Emory University. He is also getting an anti-viral medication. His doctors aren't saying exactly what, but likely is experimental medication. It may be Brincidofovir, which is a medicine that's been given to other Ebola patients.
And here in New York and New Jersey, the quarantine controversy rages on. At the center of it, a nurse named Kaci Hickox. She flew from Sierra Leone into Newark airport on Friday. She wasn't sick, she was feeling fine, but she was sent to the hospital where she is remained in isolation.
She doesn't have a temperature. She's tested negative for Ebola twice. She says she's feeling her fine but her spirit is sometimes low.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KACI HICKOX, QUARANTINED NURSE: Everyone keeps asking, how are you feeling physically? I feel fine physically. But I don't think most people understand what it's like to be alone in a tent and to know there's nothing wrong with you and decisions are being made that don't make sense and show no compassion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: After I spoke with Hickox, I spoke with Dr. Rick Sacra. He's a health care worker who's worked in West Africa and an Ebola survivor. He says he doesn't understand why Hickox is being quarantined. She doesn't have Ebola, she is not sick, so how could she possible give the disease to anyone?
But Governor Chris Christie says he's protecting the public health -- Christine, John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Elizabeth Cohen at Bellevue.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are standing by their decision to call for quarantines for anyone arriving in those states from West African countries when they had direct contact with Ebola patients, even though these governors have now clarified that the stay can be at home if possible. But the Obama administration pushing back, arguing back with unnecessary quarantines will discourage health care workers from fighting Ebola at the source.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I'm sorry if any way she was inconvenienced. But the inconvenience that could occur from having folks who are symptomatic and ill out amongst the public is a much, much greater concern of mine.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW JERSEY: We are staying one step ahead. We are doing everything possible. Some people will say we're being too cautious. I'll take that criticism because that's better than the alternative.
SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: We need to find a way when they come home that they are treated like conquering heroes and not stigmatized for the tremendous work that they had done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Texas nurses who cared for the first U.S. Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, those nurses say they confronted obstacles, including inadequate protection guidelines from the CDC and lies from Duncan. The nurses told CBS that Duncan said he came from Africa and only later specifying Liberia. They say he misled officials about other possible sources of exposure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS: What information was it that he denied to the health officials?
SIDIA ROSE, TEXAS HEALTH PRESBYTERIAN NURSE: About his travels, about his -- him burying his pregnant daughter who died in child birth. He denied that. He said that's not true.
PELLEY: So, he wasn't honest with them?
ROSE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Meanwhile, Thomas Eric Duncan's fiancee is struggling to put her life back together with the help of her church. More than a week after passing the 21-day isolation period, Louise Troh, her son and nephews are looking for a place to live. Troh's pastor tells "The Dallas Morning News" landlords are reluctant to rent to them and nearly all of the belongings were destroyed in the decontamination process.
It's pretty clear there is no reason not to rent to them. I mean, they passed the period. That is where the Ebola has become fear-bola. And you don't like to see anybody put in that position.
All right. Right now, there is no cure for Ebola, but governments and pharmaceutical companies are working together, committing millions of dollars to change that. The two leading vaccines to protect the virus, both are being funded by a public and private money. One was developed by the U.S. National Institute of Health and GlaxoSmithKline. The other was initially developed by the public health agency of Canada. It's now owned by a small U.S. drugmaker. It's unclear who will pay for the drugs, but pharma companies are betting on high demands from government and aid groups.
Time for an early start on your money. European stocks higher. U.S. stock futures are up this Monday morning. Guess what? All this volatility was the best week of the year for stocks last week. Just when you wanted to go hide, then suddenly, it is the best week.
BERMAN: You were on assignment for much of that week. You were not doing the money reporting for much of that week.
ROMANS: That's right.
BERMAN: I don't think it's a coincidence.
ROMANS: Benign neglect.
BERMAN: This morning, we are learning details about the deadly attack at Canada's War Memorial and the parliament there. Police say the government prepared a video -- the gunman prepared a video of himself they say shows that he was driven by ideological and political motives. Officials say they investigating Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's interaction with numerous people in the days leading up to the shooting. They're trying to determine whether those individuals had anything to do with the attack.
ROMANS: A changing of the guard in Afghanistan. U.S. Marines and British troops officially ending their combat operations, transferring Camps Leatherneck and Bastion to Afghan control in ceremonies on Sunday, those two locations. The flags were lowered there for the last time, marking the military milestone, every combat marine and British soldier will soon be coming home.
BERMAN: There was a warm welcome home for Jeff Fowle. The Ohio man detained in North Korea for nearly six months. Fowle and his family attended church services at Urbancrest Baptist church on Sunday. The churchgoers applauded the family as they took the stage and participated in a moment of prayer. Fowle was arrested and detained in North Korea for leaving a bible at a sailors club.
ROMANS: Could we see bush and Clinton in 2016? This time it would be Jeb facing Hillary. Plenty of speculation about both potential candidates. On Sunday, Jeb's son, George P. Bush in an ABC interview, he gave the clearest sign yet of what his father might be thinking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Is your dad going to run for president?
GEORGE P. BUSH, SON OF JEB BUSH: I think he's still assessing it.
INTERVIEWER: Do you think it is more than 50 percent or less than 50 percent? BUSH: I think it's more than likely that he is giving this a serious
thought in moving forward.
INTERVIEWER: More than likely that he'll run?
BUSH: That he'll run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Jeb's oldest son is involved in a campaign of his own this year. He's running for Texas land commissioner. That would certainly make it a very interesting race.
BERMAN: Oh, yes.
ROMANS: All right. Thirty-eight minutes past the hour.
Death toll rising in the war waged by ISIS in a key Syrian city. We're live with what's being done to stop the terrorists from taking over the town.
BERMAN: Plus, another victim in Friday's school shooting died overnight. We're learning some new information about the tragedy as well. We will tell you all about it, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: New developments this morning in the battle against ISIS. In Iraq, government troops have retaken a town just south of Baghdad from ISIS fighters. While in the north, Kurdish Peshmerga forces have regained control of a town just west of the Mosul dam.
Meanwhile, a human rights group says the ISIS fighters comprised the majority of those killed in the militant group's fight to take the strategic city of Kobani, that's in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says of 518 people who died in the fighting, 481 were with ISIS and 21 were Kurdish civilians, the rest Kurdish fighters.
I want to bring in CNN's Nick Paton Walsh. He is on the border between Turkey and Syria for the very latest on this battle. Nick joins us by phone.
Good morning, Nick.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): John, that death toll of human rights is the clearest picture really of exactly the losses have been on both sides, 481 they say of the dead are ISIS fighters and just over 300 Kurdish YPG fighters.
You look at the totals. Not a lot of the civilians caught in the crossfire according to that count. But they do warn that these are not the final figures. This morning, though, we are hearing of a concerted attempt by ISIS to move into the east of the city to the official border crossing. Unclear how successful they have been. That comes after the days after the Kurds say they are more confident. The key question, John, is, when do the Peshmerga fighters arrive?
Iraqi Kurdish fighters are supposed to come in from northern Iraq through Turkey territory, a plan that seems so clear days ago now, where people talking inside Kobani about they must arrive on Saturday night, that is being mired now in what seems to be increasing public bickering.
Turkish President Erdogan saying how the Syrian Kurds are not that keen to have Kurdish fighters come to a city where they perhaps are trying to secure a victory for themselves and the suggestion of the Syrian Kurds to stop, and they don't need manpower, they just need heavy weapons, technical issues about how they cross the Turkish territory is getting in the way, and they're simply not on road yet. The battle is continuing -- John.
BERMAN: Nothing seems clear over complications in this battle. Our Nick Paton Walsh, on the border between Turkey and Syria, thanks so much, Nick.
ROMANS: Breaking overnight, a 14-year-old girl wounded in the Washington high school shooting, she has died overnight. Gia Soriano had been in critical condition with head injuries. She succumbs to those wounds Sunday night. Her family devastated by what they say is a senseless tragedy. Another student, Zoe Galasso died at the scene on Friday. Now, people who know her friends describe as vibrant and larger than life.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was part of our family.
REPORTER: Tell me about her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The goofy girl. Loving. Air head. She just brought happiness. She was just a beautiful soul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Police now trying to piece together a motive. Three other Marysville Pilchuck High School students are in the hospital fighting for their lives. Two of the students are the shooter's own cousins.
BERMAN: Friends and family coming together to pay tribute to Hannah Graham. The memorial was set up on Sunday on the campus of the University of Virginia. Students came by throughout the day to leave flowers in memory of the sophomore who vanished last month. Human remains that they now believe belong to the 18-year-old were found on October 18th. The family confirmed that they have been told over the weekend that they were Hannah Graham's.
ROMANS: The six-week manhunt for accused Pennsylvania cop killer Eric Frein goes on. Police, though, they have made a new lead. They are testing blood found in a woman's backyard over the weekend. They want to see if it belongs to Frein. He is wanted for ambushing two Pennsylvania state troopers last month,
killing one and critically injuring the other. Authorities believe they have spotted him several times in the Pocono Mountain region. He has managed to elude capture.
BERMAN: Four members of Florida's A&M University accused in a hazing ritual will stand trial for manslaughter beginning today. Officials say the suspects would beat hazing targets with mallets, fists and drum sticks. They are accused of killing drum major Robert Champion nearly three years ago. Following his death, the band was suspended for a year and the university's president resigned.
ROMANS: Evacuation concerns in Hawaii. Lava racing toward villages in Puna region of the big island under alert as lava flows from the Kilauea volcano. The U.S. Geological Service saying that flow begun in June, still moving up to 15 yards an hour. Those lavas already destroyed a cemetery in Pahoa and moving close to a main road there. You cannot fight the mountain.
BERMAN: You cannot fight the mountain. You cannot fight Madison Bumgarner either.
The San Francisco Giants now just one win away from the World Series title in five years. They beat the royals 5-0 last night. It was all thanks to ace Madison Bumgarner who threw a complete game shutout.
Despite what my friends here in the set think, Bumgarner is the best World Series pitcher of all time. There are people here throwing around Don Larsen's name. They do not know what they are talking. The Giants now lead the series 3-2. Game 6 is Tuesday night, back in Kansas City.
ROMANS: Those people throwing out baseball names are not me.
BERMAN: I will now be out of frame for the rest of the broadcast.
ROMANS: It's all the people behind here who are arguing with you about the best ever.
All right. Forty-eight minutes past the hour.
Terrorists kidnapping dozens of children in Africa. Just latest in the series of attacks by Boko Haram. We are live in Nigeria with the very latest on that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: In Brazil, the incumbent President Dilma Rousseff won re- election by the narrowest of margins. This was bitter and super close campaign. She defeated opposition Aecio Neves with over 51 percent of the vote. He was leading actually in a lot of the polls right up to the last minute. This is the tightest race Brazil has seen since this return to democracy three decades ago.
BERMAN: In Nigeria, hopes for a ceasefire -- the Nigerian government, of course, claimed it has negotiated with insurgents, those hopes have dimmed this morning. Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped at least 30 boys and girls from the village of Mafa over the weekend. That is after they killed 17 in the nearby village last week and seized 60 women and girls from Christian villages in the neighboring state.
CNN's Isha Sesay is live in the Nigerian capital of Abuja this morning with the very latest on this marauding and quite frankly, Isha, that's what it is. There was a hope of a cease-fire being negotiated for the return of those girls who are kidnapped months ago. But this is a terrorist group still on the march.
SESAY: Yes, hi there, Christine. Near daily attacks in the northeast part of Nigeria. Those attacks have been going on for years, and they continue now despite Nigerian claim there is some kind of deal in place with Boko Haram. Children, the targets of this latest raid in this village in northeastern Nigeria. Boys as young as 13, girls as young as 11 carried off into the bush by suspected Boko Haram militants.
Such is the fear Christine that local residents have fled their homes trying to finding safety security in the state capital. The feeling on the ground now is, you know, what's going on? That is the big question resounding here in Nigeria. We heard those statements by the government last week with a deal in place.
We continue to say to the government which deal is in place if these attacks continue. But, Christine, the government maintaining talks are on course and talks such that Boko Haram is now denying responsibility for these attacks. No public statements from the group themselves. But really, many people asking what does this mean for the possible release of the 219 girls kidnapped back in April? Will they be released when we see the near daily attacks in parts of Nigeria -- Christine.
ROMANS: Certainly, those are terrifying situation there.
Isha, thank you so much for that.
BERMAN: Fifty-four minutes after the hour right now.
Gas prices, they just fell in the last minute while we were talking. How low can they go? We'll get an early start on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Let's get an early start on the money.
Europe stocks are higher this morning. A health check of Europe's top 130 banks showed most of them have made significant strides in shoring up their finances to withstand a significant shock. It was a better return than many had expected, 12 of those have already taken up steps to shore up their finances. U.S. stock futures also pointing slightly higher this morning.
Last week was the best week of the year for stocks everybody. The Dow climbed 425 points in a week. That's about 2.6 percent. The S&P did better, climbing more than 4 percent. For you who got scared and dumped out, timing in the market is such a fool's errand, right?
Gas prices are plunging this morning. The average price for regular gallon of gas in the U.S., $3.03. Lowest price in four years. Gas prices down 30 cents from just a month ago, 60 cents lower from the peak this summer.
So, what's driving prices down? Oil prices are falling. Crude oil at about $81 a barrel this morning, compared to $107 a barrel over the summer. Oil prices are down on weak on global demand and booming oil supply, especially right here in the U.S.
Sitting in traffic is a headache and apparently an expensive one. A new study finds the cost of traffic gridlock in Europe and the U.S. will soar to $293 billion a year. That's up 50 percent from 2013. That cost includes the value of the fuel and wasted time not spent productive at work.
BERMAN: How do they know when I'm going to be productive at work?
ROMANS: Except for you, Berman.
BERMAN: Ye.
ROMANS: The report warns of carmageddon, with more people moving to major cities, congestion is going to get a lot worse.
BERMAN: So, we have that to look forward to.
ROMANS: It's a case for driverless cars. Someone called Google. It's a case for driverless cars.
BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.
