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American Morning
Salt Lake City Police Continue to Search Landfill in Connection With Disappearance of Lori Hacking; 'Paging Dr. Gupta'
Aired July 29, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we believe, what John Kerry and I believe, is that we should never look down on anybody. We ought to lift people up.
We don't believe in tearing people apart, we believe in bringing them together. Let's make America stronger at home and more respected in the world.
Let's ensure that once again in our one America, our one America, tomorrow will always be better than today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Senator Edwards from last night. Also in that speech saying hope is on the way. Is it?
Let's talk to James Carville and Robert Novak, our pair from "CROSSFIRE" back with us on the floor. Good morning.
JAMES CARVILLE, CO-HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": Good morning.
ROBERT NOVAK, CO-HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": Hello.
HEMMER: How did Edwards do last night?
CARVILLE: I thought he was spectacular. I thought that sound bite summed it all up, and I thought what was really interesting is that after he spoke, the Republicans chose to have Ralph Reed -- you know, used to work with Pat Robertson -- very close to Falwell.
Kind of anti-stem cell, anti-gay wing of the Republican Party to contrast with Senator Edwards' hope and optimism.
And they're going to try to divide America by telling people they don't want stem cell research, that we want to bash gays and this is just a sterling contrast that we saw with Senator Edwards up there talking about how we want to lift people up and then they send the most extreme right wing element party out to bash him.
So I think -- I think American people will respond. Just positive. It's wonderful. I couldn't imagine a better...
HEMMER: Are Republicans not optimistic, not hopeful? NOVAK: You know -- I thought you were asking him about Edwards and you were talking and he talked about -- and he talked about Ralph Reed. That's very interesting.
I thought that -- in the first place, I think Senator Edwards is a very good orator and -- but all the oohing and ahhing that goes on here about his oratory kind of overlooks the substance. The substance is that he came out with a huge spending program.
A lot more for the military, a lot more for domestic. How's he going to finance that? He said he's going to finance it by redistribution of income, taxing the rich and corporations.
That's the old time Democratic religion; it's not moderation, it's not middle of the road, it doesn't work, it isn't going to be -- it's not going to be helpful.
But I would think very much as far as hate and nastiness goes, we had Al Sharpton giving us a dose of that last night where he defied all the rules of the convention, went overtime, did not follow his script.
HEMMER: Can I interrupt for a second? Here's part of what he said last night. Here's Al Sharpton now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. AL SHARPTON (D) FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I suggest to you tonight that if George Bush had selected the court in '54, Clarence Thomas would have never got to law school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Did he cross the line?
NOVAK: He's a nasty man. And the interesting thing is, Bill -- is that they just hope that they -- I mean he -- that isn't what the -- the handlers and the managers of this convention wanted. He went -- they just hope that the people who were undecided, that small group, weren't watching that.
They want this soft, fuzzy John Edwards with the two sweet little kids and the nice daughter and -- and -- but overlooking the fact that he came out for a huge spending program.
CARVILLE: I'm kind of out of...
HEMMER: You saw warm fuzzy.
CARVILLE: Well, no. Well, the point is that John Edwards is here because John Kerry selected him. John Kerry is here because the Democrats overwhelmingly voted for him.
I don't know if Al Sharpton's got a delegate. So what is it? The real contrast, again, I want to point to it is you saw what Senator Edwards said last night and you want American. He said this guy wants to include me. He wants me to have hope.
If you look at the Republican message and if you look at their counter-spin after this it is a narrow, divisive thing. And of course he wanted what Bob and the Republicans want to do is they want to fund the military, they want to fund the social programs by, by passing on the debt. There are $450 billion in deficits this year. You know -- Bill Clinton left office; we had $5.6 trillion...
NOVAK: You know, what's fascinating is that -- that the Democrats all say that the Republicans are divisive and then they put out this sort of stuff and just attack, attack, attack.
I'll say this: they have found a wedge issue for the first time, and that's stem cell research. There's not going to cure Alzheimer's but I thought it was interesting that Ron Reagan, Jr. came out to human cloning and this convention didn't get upset by it.
CARVILLE: Glad to have Ronald Reagan, Jr.
HEMMER: See you at 4:30; will look forward then to what we're going to hear tonight from Senator Kerry. 4:30 "CROSSFIRE" comes your way, Eastern time, in Boston.
CARVILLE: Hope is on the way, hope is on the way.
HEMMER: Back to Heidi in New York again -- Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Bill, thanks so much.
Salt Lake City police continue to search a landfill in connection with the disappearance of Lori Hacking. Focus on the landfill began shortly after Hacking was reported missing 11 days ago now.
Kimberly Osias is live in Salt Lake City this morning with the very latest. Kimberly, hello to you.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hello to you, Heidi. That's exactly right.
For the third night, police have been combing an area landfill, really utilizing the cooler climates of evening to help in their efforts. Cadaver dogs, they tell us, work a whole lot better.
Now as recently as last evening, police told me that a body had still not been found, so we believe that they are looking for that in the landfill.
Homicide is involved in this case. The FBI, however, is not. That's a little bit unusual, because typically the FBI is called in in a missing person case. And, as you may know, this is still considered a missing person case under very suspicious circumstances.
The only person that police are naming at this juncture as a person of interest in the case in the mysterious disappearance of Lori Hacking is her husband, Mark Hacking. And for his part he remains hospitalized here in the University of Utah Medical Center. He is on a psychiatric ward. That ward has a police officer in front of it. Whether or not that is standard operating procedure and protocol for the unit we simply don't know, or if that is just the police officer's way of kind of keeping an eye on Mark Hacking -- but the Hacking family is not speaking out publicly any more.
They are no longer holding press conferences, but yesterday I did speak with Scott Hacking, one of Mark's three brothers, and he told me that Mark is doing as well as can be expected; he is not suicidal, but he is dealing with these harsh realities right now.
He said the parents, however, Mr. and Mrs. Hacking -- are having a very, very difficult time. This is a deeply religious family. And they are having self-doubts about their own parenting under these circumstances, as you can well imagine.
There are seven children and they are, as I said, deeply religious. Lori and Mark Hacking, in fact, were -- went to the hospital here and they read to patients. They read scripture to patients.
That is sort of unique given the fact that there is a convenience store clerk that says that he saw both Mark and Lori Hacking on Sunday at 8:30 buying cigarettes that he didn't want his wife to know anything about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLLEMAN, CONVENIENCE STORE CLERK: He looked normal, just like he always does. And she kind of looked like something was on her mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OSIAS: And Heidi, this is definitely a taboo in Mormon culture. Police now say that the only connection to Memory Grove Park is not that anybody saw her there, but that her silver Chevy was parked there -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Kimberly, quickly, those forensic tests -- we've been trying to learn as much about them as we can. Are you hearing anything about when they will be back and when police might have something to announce?
OSIAS: Well, Heidi, we heard that they were trickling in yesterday, but police have misspoken, they have backpedaled on that, saying that it can take weeks.
I mean, you know, we all have been conditioned in CSI mode that they come back immediately, and obviously given the circumstances of Elizabeth Smart and misidentifying there they want to be very very careful.
We have been told now weeks or maybe even longer.
COLLINS: Wow. All right, Kimberly Osias live in Salt Lake City this morning -- Kimberly thanks so much.
It is now 37 minutes past the hour. Time for a look at some of the day's other news and Daryn Kagan. Hi, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning once again.
A national conference set for this weekend in Baghdad has now been postponed for what are described as technical reasons.
The conference was met to chose the 100-person body to advise and oversee the interim government. Meanwhile, there are reports that two Pakistani hostages have been killed by their captors.
Their families are blaming the Pakistani government for their apparent deaths.
And the Somali truck driver is being threatened with decapitation unless his Kuwaiti employer leaves Iraq within 24 hours.
Here in the U.S., White House aides are dropping orders to implement some of the changes recommended by the 9/11 Commission. President Bush has been discussing the proposals with the task force by videoconference from his Texas ranch. Aides say they have finishing drafts of the executive orders, which could be approved by the president next week.
There's a new study out attempting to shed some light on the Arab-American experience since the 9/11 attacks. The study was conducted in the Arab community of Southeast Michigan. Fifteen percent said that they'd had a bad experience because of their ethnicity since 9/11.
Examples include verbal abuse and workplace discrimination -- but a third said they'd received gestures of support from non-Arabs after the attack.
And finally, sun lovers along large parts of the east coast should be pretty happy to see July just check on out. Case in point -- look at Maryland.
It had nearly nine inches of rain in the Baltimore area. That makes this the wettest July there since 1945. And if another inch or so falls before Saturday, it would be the wettest in 99 years. They are wringing out their coats and their clothes in Baltimore.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, we're paging Dr. Gupta. If you thought your cholesterol levels were healthy that may soon change.
Plus, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" -- he'll tell you why some folks can no longer expect to keep their anonymity at one popular Web site. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: High cholesterol is a concern of millions of Americans. While cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins are going over the counter in Britain, in the U.S. guidelines may be lowered yet again.
Well just how low will they go? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center now with details on this. Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Lots of people are going to be candidates for these statin drugs. And that's going to become a very big deal. More and more people certainly.
The United States and the United Kingdom paying particularly close attention to this, to the cholesterol-lowering guidelines. The guideline for the bad cholesterol already lowered to about 70. More changes expected later this summer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Lower your cholesterol and lower your risk of a heart attack. Just about everybody agrees with that.
But it's been a little harder to figure out just how low you should go.
DR. JENNIFER MIERES, AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: The current guidelines are not optimal that we need to shoot for lower levels.
GUPTA: This summer, you can expect new government guidelines urging yet another stab at lowering your cholesterol even further.
DR. ROBERT VOGEL, CARDIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Several studies recently have shown that this benefit for lowering cholesterol to levels that we'd not considered before.
GUPTA: Current guidelines suggest the total cholesterol of no more than 200 and an LDL or bad cholesterol level of 100. The new expected changes could bring the total down to 150 and the LDL to the 60 to 80 range.
So what would this change mean for the incredibly popular class of cholesterol lowering drugs called statins?
MIERES: We would see a change in the number of people taking statins going from about 37 or 40 million up to about 100 million. A staggering, staggering increase.
GUPTA: New studies show the statin drugs may also offer other benefits, like preventing Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, and glaucoma.
The drugs side effects, like nerve damage, are rare. There is a push now to move the drugs over the counter. That's already happened in the U.K. with the popular statin Zocor.
VOGEL: I don't think that they're going to go over the counter, at least not in the near future in the United States. GUPTA: Health insurance companies not consumers will continue to pick up most of the tab for now. But after these new guidelines come out, many more people could be clamoring for a prescription and many doctors could be writing them for more patients.
VOGEL: We know how to prevent 90 percent of heart disease, but it can't be at the current levels of recommended cholesterol.
GUPTA: Of course, diet and exercise remain the first prescription for lower cholesterol and healthy living.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Lower may be better, Heidi, that's what the message seems to be here when it comes to your cholesterol, anyways, why more -- fewer people have heart attacks? People live longer with lower cholesterol. Zocor the only medication right now over the counter in the U.K. -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And speaking of Zocor in the U.K. -- what about the rest of these statins being sold over the counter here in the U.S. -- that's not going to happen?
GUPTA: Well, it's hard to say that's not going to happen for sure. There's a possibility that it may happen at some point in the future but it's worth pointing out that in the U.K. for example they have a different sort of prescription system. They call it a three- tier system, where pharmacists can actually provide prescriptions for these medications.
Not so here in the United States. While you can talk to your pharmacist about what you might need, ultimately to get one of these statin medications here you still need a doctor's prescription. That may change. I mean, you heard the numbers.
There could be up to 100 million people needing these medications according to the guidelines over the next few years so obviously there's going to be a huge demand for them, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, sounds like a whole lot of people, that's for sure. Sanjay Gupta; thanks for the information this morning.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: Appreciate it. And now we send things back to Bill, standing by in Boston.
HEMMER: Hey, Heidi, here's how the stage is being reconfigured now for the main event for Senator Kerry when he takes the stage later tonight. When we showed up here about four hours ago, construction underway all night long.
These steps have been added and the main podium to address the delegates and the people at home has now been moved to the center. That's the main speaking platform now for Senator Kerry up until this point all the speakers -- they've been off to the sides here on the main stage.
There's also a significant panel that is being erected behind this main speaker's area here that has enormous cables here, strong cables that will take this -- this panel and take it all the way up to the ceiling. How that's going to be used we don't know.
We are told these steps will be utilized somehow whether that's Senator Kerry or somebody else we simply do not know at this point.
They're still working on it. Power saws are still going. And they're still literally painting the stage as we speak.
Break here. Back in a moment. More live in Boston. Also next hour P. Diddy stops by. We'll talk to him as our coverage continues right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It's all about the names. Amazon changing it's username policy for the folks that have limited lives and spend their time writing reviews on that online shopping service.
Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, you know Amazon obviously a hugely powerful presence in the book business. A lot of people buy books on Amazon based on these consumer reviews.
However, some authors have been finding out that a lot of people have been using these reviews to settle scores, i.e. rival writers writing nasty reviews about people's books -- or people -- all their enemies or their bankers and stuff like that.
Or, they get their friends to write nice reviews. So Amazon is trying to address this problem, encouraging people to use their real names or you're going -- if you want to use an alias, you can still use an alias but you're going to have to put your credit card in. So you're only going to be able to use a review once.
Because, no, people were putting in their names 10 or 15 times and writing this book's terrible, this book's terrible, this book's terrible -- by the way, I hate this guy.
CAFFERTY: Nobody reads that stuff. I mean, I go on Amazon all the time; I never read those reviews.
SERWER: I think so.
CAFFERTY: All right, the island of Kauai is -- has got their pineapples in a twist.
SERWER: Oh that's -- that's well put. That's good. And actually R.J. Reynolds is in hot water again. You remember these are the people who brought you Joe Camel back in the 80's and 90's and they were forced to remove this animated cartoon figure because it was apparently marketing to children.
Now they've got a new campaign though called Kauai Koladas, and this -- listen to this, Jack. This is a cigarette they've introduced with Hawaiian hints of pineapple of coconuts.
COLLINS: Sounds yummy.
CAFFERTY: That's nonsense.
SERWER: No word on whether it contains any Maui Wowi.
But anyway, the people in Kauai are upset; they're saying you're using our good name to market cigarettes -- they want them to stop doing it. I guess I can understand that. As far as other regional scents for cigarettes, how about Maryland crab flavored cigarettes or Texas barbeque or Wisconsin stinky cheese?
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
SERWER: I mean -- it is unbelievable.
CAFFERTY: It's terrible. What's Maui Wowi, Andy?
SERWER: I'm not sure; it's just something I heard.
CAFFERTY: Oh, you know exactly what it is.
SERWER: I heard growing up.
CAFFERTY: Time now for "The Cafferty Files." 45-year-old Stephanie -- Andy knows all these things -- Stephanie Willett finishing a candy bar riding an escalator at a D.C. Metro station. Cop going by in the opposite direction on the escalator said no eating in the Metro station.
She stuffed the last bite in her mouth, threw the wrapper in the garbage. Well, it wasn't good enough. The cop turned around, caught up with Ms. Willett, arrested her, handcuffed her, frisked her, and sent her to jail.
She was held there for three hours. Then eventually she was given a $10 ticket and released. And I thought the rest of the police force in the nation's capital was worried about things like hijacked airplanes crashing into the Pentagon. Oh, silly me.
SERWER: And national security.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Anyone who questions Arizona State University's dedication to the higher learning things has not heard about the school's latest program.
I have two kids who went to ASU but this was not a -- an option available to them at the time. Spa management. ASU is the country's first university to offer spa management. Students get to take courses in things like fitness, holistic health, healthy cuisine, and massage therapy. SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Here's a guy halfway to a lifetime supply of bacon and tomato sandwiches. They're calling this thing hogzilla. A hunting guy says he shot and killed a 12-foot long, 1,000-pound hog on a plantation in Georgia.
SERWER: Is that real?
COLLINS: No.
CAFFERTY: I don't know. Picture is all a hunter has to back up his claims. The pig is becoming something of a local legend. Nine- inch tusks, pork chops meaty enough to feed a small village or make a lot of bacon and tomato sandwiches.
Probably a domestic pig that escaped from a farm. The hunter didn't keep the meat because the meat's awful. Said he didn't keep the head because it was too big to mount on the wall. I think the hunter is probably a liar. But it was a good picture so that's why we ran it.
Here's a look at the scorecard. 9/11 Commission report: number of days since the 9/11 recommendations for protecting the country against terrorism -- seven. Number of recommendations adopted by Congress: zero.
SERWER: But they did get that woman on the subway.
CAFFERTY: Yes. For eating a candy bar.
SERWER: Yes, so I mean they're doing something.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
SERWER: Right?
CAFFERTY: Thanks. I feel better now.
SERWER: I bet.
CAFFERTY: Maui Wowi.
COLLINS: Maui Wowi is right. All right. Bill, back to you in Boston.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that. Still to come here it's probably the biggest night of John Kerry's political career. We have said that many times, and clearly that is a fact later tonight.
The candidate for the White House takes the stage here at the Fleet Center, making his case as to why he should be the 44th president of the United States.
A live preview as our coverage continues after this. Live in Boston and New York in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Perhaps no suspense in Boston, but still plenty of spectacle. The roll call vote now making John Kerry the nominee for president on the Democratic side.
John Edwards brings his message to the convention, delivering in distinct contrast to another prime time speaker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDWARDS: What John Kerry and I believe is that we should never look down on anybody, we ought to lift people up.
SHARPTON: Mr. President, in all due respect, Mr. President, read my lips: our vote is not for sale.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: And now today the convention moves to the main event. John Kerry gets ready to take the stage to deliver the speech of his political life.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 29, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we believe, what John Kerry and I believe, is that we should never look down on anybody. We ought to lift people up.
We don't believe in tearing people apart, we believe in bringing them together. Let's make America stronger at home and more respected in the world.
Let's ensure that once again in our one America, our one America, tomorrow will always be better than today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Senator Edwards from last night. Also in that speech saying hope is on the way. Is it?
Let's talk to James Carville and Robert Novak, our pair from "CROSSFIRE" back with us on the floor. Good morning.
JAMES CARVILLE, CO-HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": Good morning.
ROBERT NOVAK, CO-HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": Hello.
HEMMER: How did Edwards do last night?
CARVILLE: I thought he was spectacular. I thought that sound bite summed it all up, and I thought what was really interesting is that after he spoke, the Republicans chose to have Ralph Reed -- you know, used to work with Pat Robertson -- very close to Falwell.
Kind of anti-stem cell, anti-gay wing of the Republican Party to contrast with Senator Edwards' hope and optimism.
And they're going to try to divide America by telling people they don't want stem cell research, that we want to bash gays and this is just a sterling contrast that we saw with Senator Edwards up there talking about how we want to lift people up and then they send the most extreme right wing element party out to bash him.
So I think -- I think American people will respond. Just positive. It's wonderful. I couldn't imagine a better...
HEMMER: Are Republicans not optimistic, not hopeful? NOVAK: You know -- I thought you were asking him about Edwards and you were talking and he talked about -- and he talked about Ralph Reed. That's very interesting.
I thought that -- in the first place, I think Senator Edwards is a very good orator and -- but all the oohing and ahhing that goes on here about his oratory kind of overlooks the substance. The substance is that he came out with a huge spending program.
A lot more for the military, a lot more for domestic. How's he going to finance that? He said he's going to finance it by redistribution of income, taxing the rich and corporations.
That's the old time Democratic religion; it's not moderation, it's not middle of the road, it doesn't work, it isn't going to be -- it's not going to be helpful.
But I would think very much as far as hate and nastiness goes, we had Al Sharpton giving us a dose of that last night where he defied all the rules of the convention, went overtime, did not follow his script.
HEMMER: Can I interrupt for a second? Here's part of what he said last night. Here's Al Sharpton now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. AL SHARPTON (D) FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I suggest to you tonight that if George Bush had selected the court in '54, Clarence Thomas would have never got to law school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Did he cross the line?
NOVAK: He's a nasty man. And the interesting thing is, Bill -- is that they just hope that they -- I mean he -- that isn't what the -- the handlers and the managers of this convention wanted. He went -- they just hope that the people who were undecided, that small group, weren't watching that.
They want this soft, fuzzy John Edwards with the two sweet little kids and the nice daughter and -- and -- but overlooking the fact that he came out for a huge spending program.
CARVILLE: I'm kind of out of...
HEMMER: You saw warm fuzzy.
CARVILLE: Well, no. Well, the point is that John Edwards is here because John Kerry selected him. John Kerry is here because the Democrats overwhelmingly voted for him.
I don't know if Al Sharpton's got a delegate. So what is it? The real contrast, again, I want to point to it is you saw what Senator Edwards said last night and you want American. He said this guy wants to include me. He wants me to have hope.
If you look at the Republican message and if you look at their counter-spin after this it is a narrow, divisive thing. And of course he wanted what Bob and the Republicans want to do is they want to fund the military, they want to fund the social programs by, by passing on the debt. There are $450 billion in deficits this year. You know -- Bill Clinton left office; we had $5.6 trillion...
NOVAK: You know, what's fascinating is that -- that the Democrats all say that the Republicans are divisive and then they put out this sort of stuff and just attack, attack, attack.
I'll say this: they have found a wedge issue for the first time, and that's stem cell research. There's not going to cure Alzheimer's but I thought it was interesting that Ron Reagan, Jr. came out to human cloning and this convention didn't get upset by it.
CARVILLE: Glad to have Ronald Reagan, Jr.
HEMMER: See you at 4:30; will look forward then to what we're going to hear tonight from Senator Kerry. 4:30 "CROSSFIRE" comes your way, Eastern time, in Boston.
CARVILLE: Hope is on the way, hope is on the way.
HEMMER: Back to Heidi in New York again -- Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Bill, thanks so much.
Salt Lake City police continue to search a landfill in connection with the disappearance of Lori Hacking. Focus on the landfill began shortly after Hacking was reported missing 11 days ago now.
Kimberly Osias is live in Salt Lake City this morning with the very latest. Kimberly, hello to you.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hello to you, Heidi. That's exactly right.
For the third night, police have been combing an area landfill, really utilizing the cooler climates of evening to help in their efforts. Cadaver dogs, they tell us, work a whole lot better.
Now as recently as last evening, police told me that a body had still not been found, so we believe that they are looking for that in the landfill.
Homicide is involved in this case. The FBI, however, is not. That's a little bit unusual, because typically the FBI is called in in a missing person case. And, as you may know, this is still considered a missing person case under very suspicious circumstances.
The only person that police are naming at this juncture as a person of interest in the case in the mysterious disappearance of Lori Hacking is her husband, Mark Hacking. And for his part he remains hospitalized here in the University of Utah Medical Center. He is on a psychiatric ward. That ward has a police officer in front of it. Whether or not that is standard operating procedure and protocol for the unit we simply don't know, or if that is just the police officer's way of kind of keeping an eye on Mark Hacking -- but the Hacking family is not speaking out publicly any more.
They are no longer holding press conferences, but yesterday I did speak with Scott Hacking, one of Mark's three brothers, and he told me that Mark is doing as well as can be expected; he is not suicidal, but he is dealing with these harsh realities right now.
He said the parents, however, Mr. and Mrs. Hacking -- are having a very, very difficult time. This is a deeply religious family. And they are having self-doubts about their own parenting under these circumstances, as you can well imagine.
There are seven children and they are, as I said, deeply religious. Lori and Mark Hacking, in fact, were -- went to the hospital here and they read to patients. They read scripture to patients.
That is sort of unique given the fact that there is a convenience store clerk that says that he saw both Mark and Lori Hacking on Sunday at 8:30 buying cigarettes that he didn't want his wife to know anything about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLLEMAN, CONVENIENCE STORE CLERK: He looked normal, just like he always does. And she kind of looked like something was on her mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OSIAS: And Heidi, this is definitely a taboo in Mormon culture. Police now say that the only connection to Memory Grove Park is not that anybody saw her there, but that her silver Chevy was parked there -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Kimberly, quickly, those forensic tests -- we've been trying to learn as much about them as we can. Are you hearing anything about when they will be back and when police might have something to announce?
OSIAS: Well, Heidi, we heard that they were trickling in yesterday, but police have misspoken, they have backpedaled on that, saying that it can take weeks.
I mean, you know, we all have been conditioned in CSI mode that they come back immediately, and obviously given the circumstances of Elizabeth Smart and misidentifying there they want to be very very careful.
We have been told now weeks or maybe even longer.
COLLINS: Wow. All right, Kimberly Osias live in Salt Lake City this morning -- Kimberly thanks so much.
It is now 37 minutes past the hour. Time for a look at some of the day's other news and Daryn Kagan. Hi, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning once again.
A national conference set for this weekend in Baghdad has now been postponed for what are described as technical reasons.
The conference was met to chose the 100-person body to advise and oversee the interim government. Meanwhile, there are reports that two Pakistani hostages have been killed by their captors.
Their families are blaming the Pakistani government for their apparent deaths.
And the Somali truck driver is being threatened with decapitation unless his Kuwaiti employer leaves Iraq within 24 hours.
Here in the U.S., White House aides are dropping orders to implement some of the changes recommended by the 9/11 Commission. President Bush has been discussing the proposals with the task force by videoconference from his Texas ranch. Aides say they have finishing drafts of the executive orders, which could be approved by the president next week.
There's a new study out attempting to shed some light on the Arab-American experience since the 9/11 attacks. The study was conducted in the Arab community of Southeast Michigan. Fifteen percent said that they'd had a bad experience because of their ethnicity since 9/11.
Examples include verbal abuse and workplace discrimination -- but a third said they'd received gestures of support from non-Arabs after the attack.
And finally, sun lovers along large parts of the east coast should be pretty happy to see July just check on out. Case in point -- look at Maryland.
It had nearly nine inches of rain in the Baltimore area. That makes this the wettest July there since 1945. And if another inch or so falls before Saturday, it would be the wettest in 99 years. They are wringing out their coats and their clothes in Baltimore.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, we're paging Dr. Gupta. If you thought your cholesterol levels were healthy that may soon change.
Plus, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" -- he'll tell you why some folks can no longer expect to keep their anonymity at one popular Web site. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: High cholesterol is a concern of millions of Americans. While cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins are going over the counter in Britain, in the U.S. guidelines may be lowered yet again.
Well just how low will they go? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center now with details on this. Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Lots of people are going to be candidates for these statin drugs. And that's going to become a very big deal. More and more people certainly.
The United States and the United Kingdom paying particularly close attention to this, to the cholesterol-lowering guidelines. The guideline for the bad cholesterol already lowered to about 70. More changes expected later this summer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Lower your cholesterol and lower your risk of a heart attack. Just about everybody agrees with that.
But it's been a little harder to figure out just how low you should go.
DR. JENNIFER MIERES, AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: The current guidelines are not optimal that we need to shoot for lower levels.
GUPTA: This summer, you can expect new government guidelines urging yet another stab at lowering your cholesterol even further.
DR. ROBERT VOGEL, CARDIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Several studies recently have shown that this benefit for lowering cholesterol to levels that we'd not considered before.
GUPTA: Current guidelines suggest the total cholesterol of no more than 200 and an LDL or bad cholesterol level of 100. The new expected changes could bring the total down to 150 and the LDL to the 60 to 80 range.
So what would this change mean for the incredibly popular class of cholesterol lowering drugs called statins?
MIERES: We would see a change in the number of people taking statins going from about 37 or 40 million up to about 100 million. A staggering, staggering increase.
GUPTA: New studies show the statin drugs may also offer other benefits, like preventing Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, and glaucoma.
The drugs side effects, like nerve damage, are rare. There is a push now to move the drugs over the counter. That's already happened in the U.K. with the popular statin Zocor.
VOGEL: I don't think that they're going to go over the counter, at least not in the near future in the United States. GUPTA: Health insurance companies not consumers will continue to pick up most of the tab for now. But after these new guidelines come out, many more people could be clamoring for a prescription and many doctors could be writing them for more patients.
VOGEL: We know how to prevent 90 percent of heart disease, but it can't be at the current levels of recommended cholesterol.
GUPTA: Of course, diet and exercise remain the first prescription for lower cholesterol and healthy living.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Lower may be better, Heidi, that's what the message seems to be here when it comes to your cholesterol, anyways, why more -- fewer people have heart attacks? People live longer with lower cholesterol. Zocor the only medication right now over the counter in the U.K. -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And speaking of Zocor in the U.K. -- what about the rest of these statins being sold over the counter here in the U.S. -- that's not going to happen?
GUPTA: Well, it's hard to say that's not going to happen for sure. There's a possibility that it may happen at some point in the future but it's worth pointing out that in the U.K. for example they have a different sort of prescription system. They call it a three- tier system, where pharmacists can actually provide prescriptions for these medications.
Not so here in the United States. While you can talk to your pharmacist about what you might need, ultimately to get one of these statin medications here you still need a doctor's prescription. That may change. I mean, you heard the numbers.
There could be up to 100 million people needing these medications according to the guidelines over the next few years so obviously there's going to be a huge demand for them, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, sounds like a whole lot of people, that's for sure. Sanjay Gupta; thanks for the information this morning.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: Appreciate it. And now we send things back to Bill, standing by in Boston.
HEMMER: Hey, Heidi, here's how the stage is being reconfigured now for the main event for Senator Kerry when he takes the stage later tonight. When we showed up here about four hours ago, construction underway all night long.
These steps have been added and the main podium to address the delegates and the people at home has now been moved to the center. That's the main speaking platform now for Senator Kerry up until this point all the speakers -- they've been off to the sides here on the main stage.
There's also a significant panel that is being erected behind this main speaker's area here that has enormous cables here, strong cables that will take this -- this panel and take it all the way up to the ceiling. How that's going to be used we don't know.
We are told these steps will be utilized somehow whether that's Senator Kerry or somebody else we simply do not know at this point.
They're still working on it. Power saws are still going. And they're still literally painting the stage as we speak.
Break here. Back in a moment. More live in Boston. Also next hour P. Diddy stops by. We'll talk to him as our coverage continues right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It's all about the names. Amazon changing it's username policy for the folks that have limited lives and spend their time writing reviews on that online shopping service.
Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, you know Amazon obviously a hugely powerful presence in the book business. A lot of people buy books on Amazon based on these consumer reviews.
However, some authors have been finding out that a lot of people have been using these reviews to settle scores, i.e. rival writers writing nasty reviews about people's books -- or people -- all their enemies or their bankers and stuff like that.
Or, they get their friends to write nice reviews. So Amazon is trying to address this problem, encouraging people to use their real names or you're going -- if you want to use an alias, you can still use an alias but you're going to have to put your credit card in. So you're only going to be able to use a review once.
Because, no, people were putting in their names 10 or 15 times and writing this book's terrible, this book's terrible, this book's terrible -- by the way, I hate this guy.
CAFFERTY: Nobody reads that stuff. I mean, I go on Amazon all the time; I never read those reviews.
SERWER: I think so.
CAFFERTY: All right, the island of Kauai is -- has got their pineapples in a twist.
SERWER: Oh that's -- that's well put. That's good. And actually R.J. Reynolds is in hot water again. You remember these are the people who brought you Joe Camel back in the 80's and 90's and they were forced to remove this animated cartoon figure because it was apparently marketing to children.
Now they've got a new campaign though called Kauai Koladas, and this -- listen to this, Jack. This is a cigarette they've introduced with Hawaiian hints of pineapple of coconuts.
COLLINS: Sounds yummy.
CAFFERTY: That's nonsense.
SERWER: No word on whether it contains any Maui Wowi.
But anyway, the people in Kauai are upset; they're saying you're using our good name to market cigarettes -- they want them to stop doing it. I guess I can understand that. As far as other regional scents for cigarettes, how about Maryland crab flavored cigarettes or Texas barbeque or Wisconsin stinky cheese?
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
SERWER: I mean -- it is unbelievable.
CAFFERTY: It's terrible. What's Maui Wowi, Andy?
SERWER: I'm not sure; it's just something I heard.
CAFFERTY: Oh, you know exactly what it is.
SERWER: I heard growing up.
CAFFERTY: Time now for "The Cafferty Files." 45-year-old Stephanie -- Andy knows all these things -- Stephanie Willett finishing a candy bar riding an escalator at a D.C. Metro station. Cop going by in the opposite direction on the escalator said no eating in the Metro station.
She stuffed the last bite in her mouth, threw the wrapper in the garbage. Well, it wasn't good enough. The cop turned around, caught up with Ms. Willett, arrested her, handcuffed her, frisked her, and sent her to jail.
She was held there for three hours. Then eventually she was given a $10 ticket and released. And I thought the rest of the police force in the nation's capital was worried about things like hijacked airplanes crashing into the Pentagon. Oh, silly me.
SERWER: And national security.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Anyone who questions Arizona State University's dedication to the higher learning things has not heard about the school's latest program.
I have two kids who went to ASU but this was not a -- an option available to them at the time. Spa management. ASU is the country's first university to offer spa management. Students get to take courses in things like fitness, holistic health, healthy cuisine, and massage therapy. SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Here's a guy halfway to a lifetime supply of bacon and tomato sandwiches. They're calling this thing hogzilla. A hunting guy says he shot and killed a 12-foot long, 1,000-pound hog on a plantation in Georgia.
SERWER: Is that real?
COLLINS: No.
CAFFERTY: I don't know. Picture is all a hunter has to back up his claims. The pig is becoming something of a local legend. Nine- inch tusks, pork chops meaty enough to feed a small village or make a lot of bacon and tomato sandwiches.
Probably a domestic pig that escaped from a farm. The hunter didn't keep the meat because the meat's awful. Said he didn't keep the head because it was too big to mount on the wall. I think the hunter is probably a liar. But it was a good picture so that's why we ran it.
Here's a look at the scorecard. 9/11 Commission report: number of days since the 9/11 recommendations for protecting the country against terrorism -- seven. Number of recommendations adopted by Congress: zero.
SERWER: But they did get that woman on the subway.
CAFFERTY: Yes. For eating a candy bar.
SERWER: Yes, so I mean they're doing something.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
SERWER: Right?
CAFFERTY: Thanks. I feel better now.
SERWER: I bet.
CAFFERTY: Maui Wowi.
COLLINS: Maui Wowi is right. All right. Bill, back to you in Boston.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that. Still to come here it's probably the biggest night of John Kerry's political career. We have said that many times, and clearly that is a fact later tonight.
The candidate for the White House takes the stage here at the Fleet Center, making his case as to why he should be the 44th president of the United States.
A live preview as our coverage continues after this. Live in Boston and New York in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Perhaps no suspense in Boston, but still plenty of spectacle. The roll call vote now making John Kerry the nominee for president on the Democratic side.
John Edwards brings his message to the convention, delivering in distinct contrast to another prime time speaker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDWARDS: What John Kerry and I believe is that we should never look down on anybody, we ought to lift people up.
SHARPTON: Mr. President, in all due respect, Mr. President, read my lips: our vote is not for sale.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: And now today the convention moves to the main event. John Kerry gets ready to take the stage to deliver the speech of his political life.
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