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Investigation Continues in Aruba for Missing Teen; Tropical Storm Arlene Forms in Caribbean

Aired June 09, 2005 - 08:00   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to start in Aruba this hour now. New developments in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Prosecutors now saying three more men have been arrested overnight. These are the three men that were seen giving Natalee a ride to her hotel the night she disappeared.
Karl Penhaul is live in Palm Beach in Aruba -- Karl, what do we know about these three new arrests?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

As you say, these three new arrests this morning are the three young men that were seen last in Natalee's company outside the Charlie & Carlos' Mexican bar in Aruba. And since then, they had claimed that they had dropped Natalee off at the hotel. But this morning the three arrests came and police and prosecutors, as we understand right now, are searching their homes.

Of course, one of the key issues here that police have been looking at is whether there's any connection between the first two suspects, two security guards that were arrested over the weekend, and these three young men now arrested.

This is what one of the defense attorneys for the first two suspects had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS LEJUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: As far as I know, there is no connection between these two security guards and the three men that were arrested tonight. My client, I have asked him about this expressly. And he has denied knowing them. He has never heard about them before his arrest.

PENHAUL: What we know about these three people arrested today is that one is the son of an Aruba judge. That judge was formerly a senior official in the public prosecution service. The other two young men arrested, we are told, are brothers. They are the sons of a prominent local company, a car rental company -- Bill.

HEMMER: Karl, we have about a period of 10 days to examine here. These three men who were arrested overnight, they had been questioned then released.

At what point were they questioned? How many days ago was that? And at the time were investigators satisfied with their answers? PENHAUL: They were investigated soon after Natalee Holloway's disappearance, since Natalee's friends had seen her leave the Carlos & Charlie's bar in their company. But then police never arrested them. We're also told that police never seized or never confiscated the car that they all left in and that from then the police continued to describe them as persons of interest, continued to cross check their stories, but, of course, made two other arrests based on their witness statements before moving on these three men, as they did just a short time ago -- Bill.

HEMMER: Just to be clear now, here's the rub. Apparently a friend of Natalee's saw her in a car with these three men who were picked up overnight. They claim that they dropped her off at the hotel, but the surveillance customers have yet to confirm whether or not that was the case.

Is that the rub between these three men and this missing girl?

PENHAUL: That is. As the three men dropped Natalee off, they say that they saw a man, a dark-colored man dressed in a dark-colored uniform, help Natalee as she stumbled. And this is where, supposedly, threes three suspects saw the initial two suspects.

But, as you say, nothing on the hotel security cameras, according to hotel staff -- Bill.

HEMMER: Developments as we get them.

Karl, thanks.

Karl Penhaul in Aruba -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the first named storm of the hurricane season became Tropical Storm Arlene.

Chad Myers is at the CNN Center -- Chad, tell us about Arlene.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Officially, the 8:00 forecast. The update, we just got, Carol.

Now it is Tropical Storm Arlene. Winds at about 40 miles per hour. The center of the storm about 150 or so miles west of Grand Cayman, maybe a little bit more. But the winds in Grand Cayman are actually gusting to about 25 or 26 miles per hour.

Tropical storm Arlene, Cancun, off the screen here. Here's Cuba. And the rain from Arlene is already affecting Cuba. In fact, the rain here moving all the way up even into Key West and almost to Miami.

Move this ahead for me here. Hit the space bar there, Sean. We'll fly it right into Cuba itself. The rain right over Havana. Here are the Florida Straits and Key West. As we get closer to Key West, especially in about 36 hours, the storm is going to be west of the Dry Tortugas. We'll get the same type of winds in Key West, 25, 30, maybe 40 miles per hour. But this storm has its sights anywhere from Apalachicola back over to Biloxi. No real way to know where it's going yet. It's still 72 hours from having to worry about that. The storm still fairly unorganized, but it's getting better and better, obviously.

There was a ship that was close to the center of the storm, and it found those winds at 40 miles per hour; not a hurricane hunter aircraft.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Let's check on the morning's headlines with Valerie Morris -- good morning.

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Carol and Bill.

Good morning, everyone.

Now in the news, President Bush heads to Ohio this morning to make his case for the Patriot Act. The president wants Congress to renew parts of the Patriot Act set to expire the end of the year. He's set to deliver remarks at a police training center in Columbus. CNN will, of course, have live coverage of the president's remarks this morning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

NATO says that it will send African Union troops to provide aid in the Darfur region of Sudan. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is discussing U.S. involvement in the mission at a meeting of NATO defense ministers today in Brussels. As early as this month, the U.S. could help airlift troops into Darfur, which has been ravaged by ethnic violence for more than a year.

A fifth man has been detained in Lodi, California as part of a federal terror investigation. Authorities say they believe some of the men may have ties to al Qaeda and they're expecting to make more arrests. At least one of the suspects may have had terror training abroad.

And another trip to the hospital for Michael Jackson. A spokeswoman for the pop star says the visit was for routine treatment of back spasms. Jackson is awaiting a verdict in his trial. The jurors will meet for half a day of deliberations less than four hours from now.

And Russell Crowe says he's sorry for losing his temper. The actor was arrested Monday for throwing a telephone at a hotel employee. Crowe appeared on "The Late Show With David Letterman" Wednesday and said he was frustrated because the hotel phones wouldn't work when he was trying to call his wife.

Crowe apologized and said he hopes to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, COURTESY CBS/WORLDWIDE PANTS) RUSSELL CROWE, ACTOR: This is possibly the most shameful situation I've ever gotten myself in in my life, and I've done some pretty dumb things in my life. So to actually make a new number one is spectacularly stupid.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: Right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORRIS: Crowe has been charged with assault in the incident -- back to you.

HEMMER: And apparently the airline lost his luggage because he was wearing the same jacket with Letterman that he was wearing when he got picked up.

COSTELLO: He's got to promote that movie, Bill.

HEMMER: True on that.

MORRIS: Well, he also said he wanted to make sure to call home so that his wife knew he was behaving.

COSTELLO: Exactly. That's what -- but that's why he was upset. He couldn't get through to his wife...

MORRIS: Exactly.

COSTELLO: ... because he wanted her to know that he wasn't with anyone else.

MORRIS: Right. That he was where he was supposed to be alone, tucked in and he couldn't wait.

COSTELLO: And sober.

Right, sober.

HEMMER: Thank you, Val.

We want to get to the Pentagon now. Once again, the Army is expected to fall short of recruiting goals when official tallies for the month of May are released on Friday. Is there concern at the Pentagon?

Let's turn to Barbara Starr and find out there.

What are they saying about these shortages -- Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a lot of concern, Bill. As you say, for the fourth month in a row, the Army is now going to miss its recruiting goal. Simply not enough young people willing to sign up, volunteer for military service with the near certainty that they would go to Iraq and fight in the war. That is the assessment of the U.S. Army. Let's jump very quickly right to the numbers. For the month of May, the fourth month in a row, the Army fell short 25 percent of its goal of 6,700 new recruits. Now, it might have been worse if the Army hadn't changed the goal that it had. Originally, the goal for the month of May was not 6,700 recruits, but 8,000 recruits. They knew they were going to miss that so they lowered it a bit earlier in the year. If they had kept the original goal, instead of being 25 percent short, they would have been 38 percent short.

Let's go back and look at what the track record has been over the last four months. Now, for the month of April, they were 42 percent short of their goal; for March, 31 percent short; for February, 27 percent short.

The Army says it's going to try and make some of this up later in the summer, when they think that young people will be out in the job market looking for employment and might be more receptive to all of this.

But military officials tell CNN they are now openly saying that the reason that recruiting is so tough, they believe, one, unemployment is low in the country, so people are not, young people are not that desperate, perhaps, for jobs; but the war in Iraq. There is a growing trend, military recruiters say. Young people are very leery of joining up because of the war and their parents don't want them to join. That is a new factor that the military says they are dealing with -- Bill.

HEMMER: Overall, the Army is saying its goal of 80,000 for 2005 still stands.

Are they optimistic that they can reach that goal this year, Barbara?

STARR: Bill, perhaps very cautiously optimistic. The head of Army recruiting, just a couple of weeks ago, publicly said that the recruiting environment, if you will, was the worst, the worst that he had seen it in 33 years. It's worth remembering, it's been about 32 years since the United States moved from draft to the conscription of the Vietnam era to the all volunteer force. Iraq is the first protracted conflict since the U.S. went to an all volunteer force and nobody can really say now what the future holds for all of this if young people are not willing to join up for that all volunteer force, if there is a protracted war like Iraq -- Bill.

HEMMER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Earlier this week, we told you about a report the government asked the National Academy of Sciences not to publish. Officials called the report "a road map for terrorists on how to contaminate the nation's milk supply."

In a CNN "Security Watch" now, we're looking at whether the risks are real.

Here's Jeanne Meserve. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Long before the sun is up, Jeff and Judy England are, milking their 120 cows. The Englands pay a lot of attention to the quality of their milk, but Jeff admits security is not a priority.

JEFF ENGLAND, DAIRY FARMER: We're probably not as secure as we think we are. Like everybody in the world, I guess if someone wants to get to us, they could.

MESERVE: He says that terrorists could, for instance, put a toxin like botulism in the farm's milk tank, which is unsealed in an unlocked room.

(on camera): Essentially, someone could walk in here, climb up here, open the top, put something in?

ENGLAND: Yes. That could be done. Yes. I wouldn't want to be them if they were caught doing it, but it could be done.

MESERVE: But milk goes through many steps between here and your table.

(voice-over): A tank truck picks it up to take it for processing. Some experts say terrorists could access the milk supply at this stage, too. But owner Jim Tessler (ph) doubts it. Tessler says seals on the tank would show any tampering. Tank trucks take the milk to a processing plant, where it's put in huge silos, mixing with milk from other farms. If one farm or one truck had been intentionally contaminated, it would spread right here.

After 9/11, the plant's owners decided to lock doors, secure air vents, and check employees' backgrounds. But is the milk absolutely safe?

JODY VONA, DAIRY MAID DAIRY: It's obviously vulnerable. If somebody wants to do something, you know, they could probably get away with it, but I don't think any more than a strawberry patch or a potato field.

MESERVE: Tampering could also take place after the milk is processed, before it reaches consumers like schoolchildren. The milk is tested for bacteria and pesticide residues at several points, but never for bioterror agents.

ROBERT BRACKETT, U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: To be able to find a test for every single thing that could be added to a food would be not as good as actually building into the system the ability to prevent the contamination in the first place.

MESERVE: But the Food and Drug Administration's security guidelines for the dairy industry are voluntary, not mandatory. And the agency has only three full-time employees devoted to food security. The FDA is working on new tests to detect toxins and new processes to eliminate them and says the milk your children drink is safe, but admits security is never absolute.

For CNN's America bureau, Jeanne Meserve, Mount Airy, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Some experts have suggested that FDA guidelines for locking milk tanks should be made mandatory and the dairy industry should improve pasteurization to eliminate toxins.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

HEMMER: In a moment here, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has a new boss, and the new boss is a dad. He'll tell us about his plans for the organization, in a moment.

COSTELLO: And he's excited and very passionate about his new job.

HEMMER: Yes. Sure.

COSTELLO: Plus, the new mother who underwent the first successful ovarian tissue transplant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE YARBER, OVARY TISSUE RECIPIENT: She cried, she cried and I cried. Yes, it -- it was emotional for everybody in that room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Her sister gave her the gift of life through a breakthrough procedure. But would it work if they weren't identical twins? That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We have more on a medical breakthrough we first told you about Wednesday. The first ever ovarian tissue transplant and the woman, once infertile, who's now a mother as a result.

Here's CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anna Grace Yarber, you have no idea what your mother did to get you, or what your aunt Melanie did, or Doctor Sherman Silber.

YARBER: When I was younger, I used to put pillows, you know, under my shirt and have it poked out like I was pregnant.

COHEN: But for some unknown reason, she went through menopause extremely early, at age 14. Doctor Silber runs the Web site Stephanie visited and he remembers getting the phone call from the sisters. DR. SHERMAN SILBER, INFERTILITY CENTER OF ST. LOUIS: They called us up and asked do you think, could you transplant an ovary? Despite this very, very, very cute rural accent that makes you think that maybe they're naive, they're not naive at all. They had researched it extremely heavily and they impressed me with their knowledge.

COHEN: The sisters knew ovarian transplants had worked in animals and they volunteered to be the first human subjects. Melanie's ovaries were fine. She has three children. So Dr. Silber took healthy ovarian tissue from her and implanted it onto Stephanie's ovaries. It was all done as an out-patient procedure.

And just six months later, Stephanie was pregnant. She and her husband Kevin conceived the old-fashioned way -- no fertility drugs, no IVF. Her obstetrician called to give her the good news while she was at a work, at a bank in Mussel Shoals, Alabama.

SILBER: She started screaming on the phone, she was so excited. And everybody in the bank started screaming. And before you knew it, the whole town of Mussel Shoals, Alabama, was screaming.

COHEN: Months later in the delivery room, the reaction was pretty much the same. Her sister was right there with her.

YARBER: She cried. And she cried. And I cried. Yes, it was emotional for everybody in that room with us.

COHEN: But would this have been a happy ending if the two sisters weren't identical twins? Dr. Silber thinks so. He says ovarian transplants should work for non-twins, but the mother would have to take drugs to suppress her immune system.

SILBER: We know that women that have had a kidney transplant successfully and are on immunosuppression get pregnant and deliver babies. So we know that can work.

COHEN: So a happy ending for mother, for aunt, for the doctor, who some said was a dreamer.

SILBER: We're really thrilled to be vindicated.

COHEN: And for baby Anna Grace, named Anna for her grandmother and Grace...

YARBER: Grace, I mean, by the grace of God that she's here.

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: Dr. Silber says he believes more infertile women will seek out the transplant procedure following this initial success.

Still ahead, the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving is getting a father figure. MADD announcing the first man to lead the group. And we're talking to him. That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We want to follow up now on a story, show you a guy we met here a few weeks back.

Remember Julian Castro? He's a Texas politician. He was on AMERICAN MORNING back in April. He caught a bit of a flak for maybe just trying, maybe, to deceive voters. His twin appeared in a parade in San Antonio. That's him the with arrow. Castro was defeated this week in a runoff election for mayor. A retired judge, Phil Hardberger, is the winner.

COSTELLO: I guess voters really didn't like that trick.

HEMMER: Perhaps. And I guess those t-shirts for the campaign didn't really smooth things over, either.

COSTELLO: I don't think so.

HEMMER: What's happening -- Jack.

CAFFERTY: Not nearly enough. But that'll change soon.

President Bush wants to make the Patriot Act permanent. He's going to be out in Ohio making a speech on that subject later today. Some of the Patriot Act is due to expire at the end of the year. The Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday passed a provision in this thing that would allow FBI and other federal agents to subpoena records in terrorism investigations without a judge's approval.

The question is this -- should the Patriot Act be a permanent deal?

There's a crowd in here tonight -- today.

D.W. writes from California: "It was passed at a time when we were all understandably upset and not thinking straight. Now with have the time to consider it carefully and maybe retain some parts of it and discard others. Some of those protections that we tossed out in a minute took centuries to achieve."

Pushkar writes: "Making it permanent is a bad idea, as it will be abused. Adolph Hitler got similar sweeping powers by playing on German fears."

Kent in Kansas City writes: "The Patriot Act isn't patriotic at all and should not be renewed. Abuses of this Act should be assumed. Look at the conduct of the various detention facilities that we're maintaining."

And Bec writes this: "Do you believe that that really is an al Qaeda group out in California or do you think it may have something to do with the Patriot Act coming up for review? Interesting timing, don't you think?"

COSTELLO: Ooh, a conspiracy theory. HEMMER: Yes.

The statement that came out from the FBI yesterday, that was apparently a written draft that had a target about shopping malls in the country. And today it comes back and says well, we removed that. The question is why? We had that guest on last hour who suggested well, perhaps, this is one source, haven't verified it. You know, and people all across this country think going to the shopping mall there could be a threat.

CAFFERTY: Bec has an interesting idea.

HEMMER: Well, maybe.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

CAFFERTY: Huh? Are we going to -- maybe we need to raise that terror alert warning to purple or something, right? Get ready to vote on this thing.

HEMMER: Is that on the list?

CAFFERTY: Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes. I think they're going to do away with that. At least that's what I heard.

Let's talk about Tom Cruise now, because he is reacting to some of the recent stories about him and proves he can laugh at himself, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)

JAY LENO, HOST: Somebody said you had girlfriends? You know what I'm talking about? Is this -- I heard something. I don't know, something...

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: And are you asking me about that?

LENO: Now look at you. Look it. This is hilarious. I have known you for, what, 10 years? And this is like the silliest you've ever been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You know he's going to jump on the couch because he hasn't...

HEMMER: It's just sitting there.

COSTELLO: Right. But he's like poking fun at his notorious Oprah Winfrey interview, when he acted really strange. I kept waiting for Katie Holmes to pop out at any moment and for him to start fawning over her. But it didn't happen on "Jay Leno."

HEMMER: Listen, if he was trying to promote his movie, he's getting plenty of attention now.

COSTELLO: I don't know. Is it the right kind of attention, though? Time will tell, as they say.

HEMMER: So they say. Watch the box office recipients.

In a moment here, the Reverend Jesse Jackson may be at odds with Michael Jackson's top lawyer. We talked about this, Carol, did we not? But we'll talk to the reverend about that in a few moments here.

Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: A reminder, you can get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING "Quick News" at cnn.com/am. There for you right now, in fact.

In a moment here, trading places. One man losing everything he loves for helping his brother find freedom in America. His story ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Just about 8:30 here in New York.

Good morning, everybody.

I'm Bill Hemmer.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad today.

HEMMER: Watching this developing story out of Aruba. New developments again today with that.

And the other headlines, let's get to Valerie Morris straight away now -- hi, Val.

MORRIS: And good morning again, Bill, Carol and everyone.

Now in the news, new developments in the disappearance of 18- year-old Natalee Holloway. Three more arrests this morning in Aruba, bringing the total to five men now in custody. The three charged today were the last people to be seen with Holloway, who went missing on May 30. A judge ruled Wednesday there was enough evidence to hold the other two men for at least another week.

In California, a quick session for jurors in the Michael Jackson trial. They'll meet for just half a day of deliberations today. Meantime, Jackson made another trip to the hospital Wednesday. His spokeswoman says the entertainer went in for routine treatment of back pain.

Actor Macaulay Culkin goes home after pleading guilty to drug charges in Oklahoma. The actor received a one year deferred sentence and a $940 fine for possessing marijuana and a medication without a prescription. Culkin was arrested last September when police stopped a car in which he was a passenger. Authorities say that Culkin has undergone a drug assessment qualifying him for probation.

And two former America West pilots have been convicted of being drunk in the cockpit. The two were arrested back in July of 2002, as their plane was pushing back from the gate. It was revealed during testimony that the pair drank 14 beers between them several hours before the flight. They could face up to five years in prison.

That's the very latest -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Valerie.

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Aired June 9, 2005 - 08:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to start in Aruba this hour now. New developments in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Prosecutors now saying three more men have been arrested overnight. These are the three men that were seen giving Natalee a ride to her hotel the night she disappeared.
Karl Penhaul is live in Palm Beach in Aruba -- Karl, what do we know about these three new arrests?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

As you say, these three new arrests this morning are the three young men that were seen last in Natalee's company outside the Charlie & Carlos' Mexican bar in Aruba. And since then, they had claimed that they had dropped Natalee off at the hotel. But this morning the three arrests came and police and prosecutors, as we understand right now, are searching their homes.

Of course, one of the key issues here that police have been looking at is whether there's any connection between the first two suspects, two security guards that were arrested over the weekend, and these three young men now arrested.

This is what one of the defense attorneys for the first two suspects had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS LEJUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: As far as I know, there is no connection between these two security guards and the three men that were arrested tonight. My client, I have asked him about this expressly. And he has denied knowing them. He has never heard about them before his arrest.

PENHAUL: What we know about these three people arrested today is that one is the son of an Aruba judge. That judge was formerly a senior official in the public prosecution service. The other two young men arrested, we are told, are brothers. They are the sons of a prominent local company, a car rental company -- Bill.

HEMMER: Karl, we have about a period of 10 days to examine here. These three men who were arrested overnight, they had been questioned then released.

At what point were they questioned? How many days ago was that? And at the time were investigators satisfied with their answers? PENHAUL: They were investigated soon after Natalee Holloway's disappearance, since Natalee's friends had seen her leave the Carlos & Charlie's bar in their company. But then police never arrested them. We're also told that police never seized or never confiscated the car that they all left in and that from then the police continued to describe them as persons of interest, continued to cross check their stories, but, of course, made two other arrests based on their witness statements before moving on these three men, as they did just a short time ago -- Bill.

HEMMER: Just to be clear now, here's the rub. Apparently a friend of Natalee's saw her in a car with these three men who were picked up overnight. They claim that they dropped her off at the hotel, but the surveillance customers have yet to confirm whether or not that was the case.

Is that the rub between these three men and this missing girl?

PENHAUL: That is. As the three men dropped Natalee off, they say that they saw a man, a dark-colored man dressed in a dark-colored uniform, help Natalee as she stumbled. And this is where, supposedly, threes three suspects saw the initial two suspects.

But, as you say, nothing on the hotel security cameras, according to hotel staff -- Bill.

HEMMER: Developments as we get them.

Karl, thanks.

Karl Penhaul in Aruba -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the first named storm of the hurricane season became Tropical Storm Arlene.

Chad Myers is at the CNN Center -- Chad, tell us about Arlene.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Officially, the 8:00 forecast. The update, we just got, Carol.

Now it is Tropical Storm Arlene. Winds at about 40 miles per hour. The center of the storm about 150 or so miles west of Grand Cayman, maybe a little bit more. But the winds in Grand Cayman are actually gusting to about 25 or 26 miles per hour.

Tropical storm Arlene, Cancun, off the screen here. Here's Cuba. And the rain from Arlene is already affecting Cuba. In fact, the rain here moving all the way up even into Key West and almost to Miami.

Move this ahead for me here. Hit the space bar there, Sean. We'll fly it right into Cuba itself. The rain right over Havana. Here are the Florida Straits and Key West. As we get closer to Key West, especially in about 36 hours, the storm is going to be west of the Dry Tortugas. We'll get the same type of winds in Key West, 25, 30, maybe 40 miles per hour. But this storm has its sights anywhere from Apalachicola back over to Biloxi. No real way to know where it's going yet. It's still 72 hours from having to worry about that. The storm still fairly unorganized, but it's getting better and better, obviously.

There was a ship that was close to the center of the storm, and it found those winds at 40 miles per hour; not a hurricane hunter aircraft.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Let's check on the morning's headlines with Valerie Morris -- good morning.

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Carol and Bill.

Good morning, everyone.

Now in the news, President Bush heads to Ohio this morning to make his case for the Patriot Act. The president wants Congress to renew parts of the Patriot Act set to expire the end of the year. He's set to deliver remarks at a police training center in Columbus. CNN will, of course, have live coverage of the president's remarks this morning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

NATO says that it will send African Union troops to provide aid in the Darfur region of Sudan. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is discussing U.S. involvement in the mission at a meeting of NATO defense ministers today in Brussels. As early as this month, the U.S. could help airlift troops into Darfur, which has been ravaged by ethnic violence for more than a year.

A fifth man has been detained in Lodi, California as part of a federal terror investigation. Authorities say they believe some of the men may have ties to al Qaeda and they're expecting to make more arrests. At least one of the suspects may have had terror training abroad.

And another trip to the hospital for Michael Jackson. A spokeswoman for the pop star says the visit was for routine treatment of back spasms. Jackson is awaiting a verdict in his trial. The jurors will meet for half a day of deliberations less than four hours from now.

And Russell Crowe says he's sorry for losing his temper. The actor was arrested Monday for throwing a telephone at a hotel employee. Crowe appeared on "The Late Show With David Letterman" Wednesday and said he was frustrated because the hotel phones wouldn't work when he was trying to call his wife.

Crowe apologized and said he hopes to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, COURTESY CBS/WORLDWIDE PANTS) RUSSELL CROWE, ACTOR: This is possibly the most shameful situation I've ever gotten myself in in my life, and I've done some pretty dumb things in my life. So to actually make a new number one is spectacularly stupid.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: Right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORRIS: Crowe has been charged with assault in the incident -- back to you.

HEMMER: And apparently the airline lost his luggage because he was wearing the same jacket with Letterman that he was wearing when he got picked up.

COSTELLO: He's got to promote that movie, Bill.

HEMMER: True on that.

MORRIS: Well, he also said he wanted to make sure to call home so that his wife knew he was behaving.

COSTELLO: Exactly. That's what -- but that's why he was upset. He couldn't get through to his wife...

MORRIS: Exactly.

COSTELLO: ... because he wanted her to know that he wasn't with anyone else.

MORRIS: Right. That he was where he was supposed to be alone, tucked in and he couldn't wait.

COSTELLO: And sober.

Right, sober.

HEMMER: Thank you, Val.

We want to get to the Pentagon now. Once again, the Army is expected to fall short of recruiting goals when official tallies for the month of May are released on Friday. Is there concern at the Pentagon?

Let's turn to Barbara Starr and find out there.

What are they saying about these shortages -- Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a lot of concern, Bill. As you say, for the fourth month in a row, the Army is now going to miss its recruiting goal. Simply not enough young people willing to sign up, volunteer for military service with the near certainty that they would go to Iraq and fight in the war. That is the assessment of the U.S. Army. Let's jump very quickly right to the numbers. For the month of May, the fourth month in a row, the Army fell short 25 percent of its goal of 6,700 new recruits. Now, it might have been worse if the Army hadn't changed the goal that it had. Originally, the goal for the month of May was not 6,700 recruits, but 8,000 recruits. They knew they were going to miss that so they lowered it a bit earlier in the year. If they had kept the original goal, instead of being 25 percent short, they would have been 38 percent short.

Let's go back and look at what the track record has been over the last four months. Now, for the month of April, they were 42 percent short of their goal; for March, 31 percent short; for February, 27 percent short.

The Army says it's going to try and make some of this up later in the summer, when they think that young people will be out in the job market looking for employment and might be more receptive to all of this.

But military officials tell CNN they are now openly saying that the reason that recruiting is so tough, they believe, one, unemployment is low in the country, so people are not, young people are not that desperate, perhaps, for jobs; but the war in Iraq. There is a growing trend, military recruiters say. Young people are very leery of joining up because of the war and their parents don't want them to join. That is a new factor that the military says they are dealing with -- Bill.

HEMMER: Overall, the Army is saying its goal of 80,000 for 2005 still stands.

Are they optimistic that they can reach that goal this year, Barbara?

STARR: Bill, perhaps very cautiously optimistic. The head of Army recruiting, just a couple of weeks ago, publicly said that the recruiting environment, if you will, was the worst, the worst that he had seen it in 33 years. It's worth remembering, it's been about 32 years since the United States moved from draft to the conscription of the Vietnam era to the all volunteer force. Iraq is the first protracted conflict since the U.S. went to an all volunteer force and nobody can really say now what the future holds for all of this if young people are not willing to join up for that all volunteer force, if there is a protracted war like Iraq -- Bill.

HEMMER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Earlier this week, we told you about a report the government asked the National Academy of Sciences not to publish. Officials called the report "a road map for terrorists on how to contaminate the nation's milk supply."

In a CNN "Security Watch" now, we're looking at whether the risks are real.

Here's Jeanne Meserve. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Long before the sun is up, Jeff and Judy England are, milking their 120 cows. The Englands pay a lot of attention to the quality of their milk, but Jeff admits security is not a priority.

JEFF ENGLAND, DAIRY FARMER: We're probably not as secure as we think we are. Like everybody in the world, I guess if someone wants to get to us, they could.

MESERVE: He says that terrorists could, for instance, put a toxin like botulism in the farm's milk tank, which is unsealed in an unlocked room.

(on camera): Essentially, someone could walk in here, climb up here, open the top, put something in?

ENGLAND: Yes. That could be done. Yes. I wouldn't want to be them if they were caught doing it, but it could be done.

MESERVE: But milk goes through many steps between here and your table.

(voice-over): A tank truck picks it up to take it for processing. Some experts say terrorists could access the milk supply at this stage, too. But owner Jim Tessler (ph) doubts it. Tessler says seals on the tank would show any tampering. Tank trucks take the milk to a processing plant, where it's put in huge silos, mixing with milk from other farms. If one farm or one truck had been intentionally contaminated, it would spread right here.

After 9/11, the plant's owners decided to lock doors, secure air vents, and check employees' backgrounds. But is the milk absolutely safe?

JODY VONA, DAIRY MAID DAIRY: It's obviously vulnerable. If somebody wants to do something, you know, they could probably get away with it, but I don't think any more than a strawberry patch or a potato field.

MESERVE: Tampering could also take place after the milk is processed, before it reaches consumers like schoolchildren. The milk is tested for bacteria and pesticide residues at several points, but never for bioterror agents.

ROBERT BRACKETT, U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: To be able to find a test for every single thing that could be added to a food would be not as good as actually building into the system the ability to prevent the contamination in the first place.

MESERVE: But the Food and Drug Administration's security guidelines for the dairy industry are voluntary, not mandatory. And the agency has only three full-time employees devoted to food security. The FDA is working on new tests to detect toxins and new processes to eliminate them and says the milk your children drink is safe, but admits security is never absolute.

For CNN's America bureau, Jeanne Meserve, Mount Airy, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Some experts have suggested that FDA guidelines for locking milk tanks should be made mandatory and the dairy industry should improve pasteurization to eliminate toxins.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

HEMMER: In a moment here, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has a new boss, and the new boss is a dad. He'll tell us about his plans for the organization, in a moment.

COSTELLO: And he's excited and very passionate about his new job.

HEMMER: Yes. Sure.

COSTELLO: Plus, the new mother who underwent the first successful ovarian tissue transplant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE YARBER, OVARY TISSUE RECIPIENT: She cried, she cried and I cried. Yes, it -- it was emotional for everybody in that room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Her sister gave her the gift of life through a breakthrough procedure. But would it work if they weren't identical twins? That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We have more on a medical breakthrough we first told you about Wednesday. The first ever ovarian tissue transplant and the woman, once infertile, who's now a mother as a result.

Here's CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anna Grace Yarber, you have no idea what your mother did to get you, or what your aunt Melanie did, or Doctor Sherman Silber.

YARBER: When I was younger, I used to put pillows, you know, under my shirt and have it poked out like I was pregnant.

COHEN: But for some unknown reason, she went through menopause extremely early, at age 14. Doctor Silber runs the Web site Stephanie visited and he remembers getting the phone call from the sisters. DR. SHERMAN SILBER, INFERTILITY CENTER OF ST. LOUIS: They called us up and asked do you think, could you transplant an ovary? Despite this very, very, very cute rural accent that makes you think that maybe they're naive, they're not naive at all. They had researched it extremely heavily and they impressed me with their knowledge.

COHEN: The sisters knew ovarian transplants had worked in animals and they volunteered to be the first human subjects. Melanie's ovaries were fine. She has three children. So Dr. Silber took healthy ovarian tissue from her and implanted it onto Stephanie's ovaries. It was all done as an out-patient procedure.

And just six months later, Stephanie was pregnant. She and her husband Kevin conceived the old-fashioned way -- no fertility drugs, no IVF. Her obstetrician called to give her the good news while she was at a work, at a bank in Mussel Shoals, Alabama.

SILBER: She started screaming on the phone, she was so excited. And everybody in the bank started screaming. And before you knew it, the whole town of Mussel Shoals, Alabama, was screaming.

COHEN: Months later in the delivery room, the reaction was pretty much the same. Her sister was right there with her.

YARBER: She cried. And she cried. And I cried. Yes, it was emotional for everybody in that room with us.

COHEN: But would this have been a happy ending if the two sisters weren't identical twins? Dr. Silber thinks so. He says ovarian transplants should work for non-twins, but the mother would have to take drugs to suppress her immune system.

SILBER: We know that women that have had a kidney transplant successfully and are on immunosuppression get pregnant and deliver babies. So we know that can work.

COHEN: So a happy ending for mother, for aunt, for the doctor, who some said was a dreamer.

SILBER: We're really thrilled to be vindicated.

COHEN: And for baby Anna Grace, named Anna for her grandmother and Grace...

YARBER: Grace, I mean, by the grace of God that she's here.

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: Dr. Silber says he believes more infertile women will seek out the transplant procedure following this initial success.

Still ahead, the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving is getting a father figure. MADD announcing the first man to lead the group. And we're talking to him. That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We want to follow up now on a story, show you a guy we met here a few weeks back.

Remember Julian Castro? He's a Texas politician. He was on AMERICAN MORNING back in April. He caught a bit of a flak for maybe just trying, maybe, to deceive voters. His twin appeared in a parade in San Antonio. That's him the with arrow. Castro was defeated this week in a runoff election for mayor. A retired judge, Phil Hardberger, is the winner.

COSTELLO: I guess voters really didn't like that trick.

HEMMER: Perhaps. And I guess those t-shirts for the campaign didn't really smooth things over, either.

COSTELLO: I don't think so.

HEMMER: What's happening -- Jack.

CAFFERTY: Not nearly enough. But that'll change soon.

President Bush wants to make the Patriot Act permanent. He's going to be out in Ohio making a speech on that subject later today. Some of the Patriot Act is due to expire at the end of the year. The Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday passed a provision in this thing that would allow FBI and other federal agents to subpoena records in terrorism investigations without a judge's approval.

The question is this -- should the Patriot Act be a permanent deal?

There's a crowd in here tonight -- today.

D.W. writes from California: "It was passed at a time when we were all understandably upset and not thinking straight. Now with have the time to consider it carefully and maybe retain some parts of it and discard others. Some of those protections that we tossed out in a minute took centuries to achieve."

Pushkar writes: "Making it permanent is a bad idea, as it will be abused. Adolph Hitler got similar sweeping powers by playing on German fears."

Kent in Kansas City writes: "The Patriot Act isn't patriotic at all and should not be renewed. Abuses of this Act should be assumed. Look at the conduct of the various detention facilities that we're maintaining."

And Bec writes this: "Do you believe that that really is an al Qaeda group out in California or do you think it may have something to do with the Patriot Act coming up for review? Interesting timing, don't you think?"

COSTELLO: Ooh, a conspiracy theory. HEMMER: Yes.

The statement that came out from the FBI yesterday, that was apparently a written draft that had a target about shopping malls in the country. And today it comes back and says well, we removed that. The question is why? We had that guest on last hour who suggested well, perhaps, this is one source, haven't verified it. You know, and people all across this country think going to the shopping mall there could be a threat.

CAFFERTY: Bec has an interesting idea.

HEMMER: Well, maybe.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

CAFFERTY: Huh? Are we going to -- maybe we need to raise that terror alert warning to purple or something, right? Get ready to vote on this thing.

HEMMER: Is that on the list?

CAFFERTY: Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes. I think they're going to do away with that. At least that's what I heard.

Let's talk about Tom Cruise now, because he is reacting to some of the recent stories about him and proves he can laugh at himself, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)

JAY LENO, HOST: Somebody said you had girlfriends? You know what I'm talking about? Is this -- I heard something. I don't know, something...

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: And are you asking me about that?

LENO: Now look at you. Look it. This is hilarious. I have known you for, what, 10 years? And this is like the silliest you've ever been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You know he's going to jump on the couch because he hasn't...

HEMMER: It's just sitting there.

COSTELLO: Right. But he's like poking fun at his notorious Oprah Winfrey interview, when he acted really strange. I kept waiting for Katie Holmes to pop out at any moment and for him to start fawning over her. But it didn't happen on "Jay Leno."

HEMMER: Listen, if he was trying to promote his movie, he's getting plenty of attention now.

COSTELLO: I don't know. Is it the right kind of attention, though? Time will tell, as they say.

HEMMER: So they say. Watch the box office recipients.

In a moment here, the Reverend Jesse Jackson may be at odds with Michael Jackson's top lawyer. We talked about this, Carol, did we not? But we'll talk to the reverend about that in a few moments here.

Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: A reminder, you can get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING "Quick News" at cnn.com/am. There for you right now, in fact.

In a moment here, trading places. One man losing everything he loves for helping his brother find freedom in America. His story ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Just about 8:30 here in New York.

Good morning, everybody.

I'm Bill Hemmer.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad today.

HEMMER: Watching this developing story out of Aruba. New developments again today with that.

And the other headlines, let's get to Valerie Morris straight away now -- hi, Val.

MORRIS: And good morning again, Bill, Carol and everyone.

Now in the news, new developments in the disappearance of 18- year-old Natalee Holloway. Three more arrests this morning in Aruba, bringing the total to five men now in custody. The three charged today were the last people to be seen with Holloway, who went missing on May 30. A judge ruled Wednesday there was enough evidence to hold the other two men for at least another week.

In California, a quick session for jurors in the Michael Jackson trial. They'll meet for just half a day of deliberations today. Meantime, Jackson made another trip to the hospital Wednesday. His spokeswoman says the entertainer went in for routine treatment of back pain.

Actor Macaulay Culkin goes home after pleading guilty to drug charges in Oklahoma. The actor received a one year deferred sentence and a $940 fine for possessing marijuana and a medication without a prescription. Culkin was arrested last September when police stopped a car in which he was a passenger. Authorities say that Culkin has undergone a drug assessment qualifying him for probation.

And two former America West pilots have been convicted of being drunk in the cockpit. The two were arrested back in July of 2002, as their plane was pushing back from the gate. It was revealed during testimony that the pair drank 14 beers between them several hours before the flight. They could face up to five years in prison.

That's the very latest -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Valerie.

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