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American Morning

Olympic Update; Alabama Church Fire Investigation; Snow Removal Continues in the Northeast; National Weather Service Cutbacks

Aired February 13, 2006 - 09:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN HOST: Opening Bell on Wall Street, and they're not kidding around today. But there they are. The Ninja Turtles and the Cabbage Patch Kids. No, folks, you haven't awakened to 1985. The Toy Fair is underway here in New York City. And apparently all these mid-'80s toys are back in now. So this is a lesson for parents. Don't ever throw a toy away. It will come back.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN HOST: Maybe Ken and Barbie will ring in the bell.

M. O'BRIEN: Timeless. We know Ken has had the makeover now.

VERJEE: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: He's very everso au courant.

VERJEE: Defined jaw.

M. O'BRIEN: I didn't say where the market began, but -- because they just scrolled past it. Do we know where it is? It's up. It was up.

VERJEE: Let's check then.

M. O'BRIEN: It's up.

VERJEE: Here we go: the Dow Jones Industrial Average coming in at 10,919 -- that's up 35 points --

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Zain.

VERJEE: -- from the closing day on Friday.

M. O'BRIEN: Zain with the script at the ready. Thanks you, Zain.

VERJEE: Just off the top of me head, Carol.

M. O'BRIEN: Carol Costello always has her scripts at the ready. Hello, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CENTER: I got'em right here. But at least you're an honest man, and I like that, Miles.

Good morning everyone. A million dollars an inch -- that's how much it cost taxpayers in New York to clean up this record snowfall, snowplows criss-crossing New York's LaGuardia Airport earlier this morning. The airport now back up and running, but with a lot of delays.

The storm dumping two feet or more of snow across the northeast. Tens of thousands of customers still without power, but lots of kids are enjoying the snow day.

President Bush is meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Among the topics: UN reform and the situation in Sudan's Darfur region. The United Nations has been under scrutiny following the findings of mismanagement and corruption in the UN Oil-for-Food program for Iraq.

And an exciting morning for 17-year-old Emily Hughes. She is going to the Olympics to compete. Hughes will replace Michelle Kwan who withdrew from the games due to a groin injury. Kwan said she tried her hardest and she doesn't have any regrets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE KWAN, U.S. FIGURE SKATER: I don't think that I can be 100 percent and I respect the Olympics too much to compete. And I don't feel that I can be at my best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It is not clear if Kwan will head home or stay on to cheer on the team. The women's event begins next week.

Well, it could get coyote ugly today. Phoenix head coach and NHL star Wayne Gretzky is expected to talk to the media. He's expected to field questions about Team Canada's chances at the Olympics but you know reporters will act about the gambling ring his wife, actress Janet Jones, has been linked to. It was apparently bankrolled by Gretzky's good friend and assistant coach, Rick Tocchet. Tochett is now on leave. Of course, we'll be following that and we'll tell you what happens -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Carol Costello.

Good friends, and apparently arsonists. That's what investigators say they are searching for in Alabama. That search has intensified after a tenth Baptist church was burned over the weekend. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is live at the site of the latest arson in Beaverton, Alabama.

Bob, what do you see there? What are investigators trying to put together?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You can still smell the smoke from the fire which just occurred in the afternoon of Saturday. But you can also see what was a church. Look at all this debris. The pews are still standing there. The sanctuary is in total ruin, of course. The story here has always been of a place to come to worship, to have your weddings, your Sunday school. All of that that is associated with a church and the Baptist church in the South. But now what you have is a very ugly crime scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED PAULK, ASST. ALABAMA FIRE MARSHALL: We have determined that this fire is a result of arson.

FRANKEN (voice-over): That was after investigators swarmed to the gutted remains of the tenth Alabama Baptist church to go up in flames in ten days. Federal officials, working with state and local, evidence experts and behavioral experts have now come up with working profiles of two suspects, men they believe to be in their late 20s or early 30s.

JIM CAVANAUGH, ATF SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: We think they are buddies, partners, an inseparable team. When people see these two guys, they're going to say, you always see them together. They're Frick and Frack.

(SINGING)

FRANKEN: Saturday's fire meant that one more Alabama Baptist congregation had to find a different place to worship. The members of Beaverton Freewill Baptist were given room to sing and pray in another sanctuary a mile away.

The burnt-out churches have been spread through several counties in the state. Some have had mainly white congregations, some African- American. Officials say they don't understand the motives for these attacks. The lead agent here was among those involved three-and-a- half years ago in the D.C. Sniper case. He's borrowed a page from that investigation.

Special Agent Jim Cavanaugh is calling on the suspects to contact authorities by phone, mail or e-mail to explain themselves.

CAVANAUGH: We want them to call us. We want to listen. We want to hear what they have to say.

FRANKEN: Rewards are being offered while officials continue to look for leads. Investigators say they have already gotten some good ones from their detailed analysis at each burned-out church and from witnesses who spotted two men at the scene of at least one church arson.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): Now what you're seeing is what was the pulpit. It's where the choir was singing. Miles, it's possibly amazing to you, as it was to me, that this crime scene would be cleared so quickly that we could be allowed in like this. But you had to see the number of agents that were swooping down on this, looking for leads. They say they have come up with some. Now of course they are going to look for the people responsible for this -- Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Bob, does it appear the fire was set in the sanctuary area? Can you tell.

FRANKEN: We were trying to do our junior investigator job here. Looks like the toughest part, yes, was set somewhere at the front door. This does not seem to be as badly burned as over on that side. You can see some of the pews are unburned, that type of thing. So we'll leave it to the investigators.

I will tell you that, as we were watching, they were spending a huge amount of time looking at the front door.

M. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Bob Franken there in Beaverton, Alabama. Let's hope they get a break in that case before yet another church burns.

Zain.

VERJEE: Miles, the Bush administration, slammed by congressional investigators for its slow response to Hurricane Katrina. Targeted for special criticism, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff. Later this morning Chertoff is expected to announce some changes in his department's emergency response operations.

Let's go now to our Homeland Security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, who joins us now from Alexandria in Virginia, where Chertoff will be speaking in just a few hours.

Jeanne, first of all, what specifically is said in this report about Chertoff?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This is a draft report from the House committee investigating Katrina, and it is scathing. It calls Katrina a national failure, a litany of mistakes, misjudgments, lapses and absurdities. In one passage it says, "If this is what happens when would he have advance warning, we shudder to imagine the consequences when we do not. Four and a half years after 9/11, America is still not ready for prime time."

In one passage it talks about how there was a failure to prepare for Katrina, although the storm had been predicted days in advance, and despite the Hurricane Pam exercise, which centered on a fictional storm, and was excruciating in its detail on the impact this would have on New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R) CONNECTICUT: We seem to ignore both 9/11 and this tabletop exercise that predicted almost everything that would happen. Mr. Chertoff, who is head of the Department of Homeland Security, was basically and surprisingly detached, and Mr. Brown was basically clueless and negligent. And so -- the whole system just broke down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: The report is particularly critical of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, saying that he executed his responsibilities late, ineffectively or not at all. An even stronger minority report calls for Mr. Chertoff to be removed from office. A spokesman for the secretary acknowledges that there were problems with the response to the storm, but says any allegations that Chertoff did not do his job are, quote, outrageous.

Zain, back to you.

VERJEE: Jeanne, do you have any indication as to what some of the changes Mr. Chertoff will make, or what he plans to announce?

MESERVE: He's talking here to a group of emergency managers. He's going to talk about the need to incorporate things, operationally, better within the department. He is going to be talking specifically about FEMA and fleshing out some themes that he raised earlier, having to do with improving logistics, communications, customer service, and things of that sort -- Zain?

VERJEE: CNN's Homeland Security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, reporting this morning.

CNN will bring you live coverage of Chertoff's speech. That's going to begin at 11:30 Eastern. Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Zain.

The forecast for next hurricane season, not good. And that goes for the weather, as well, as for the forecasters themselves. The National Weather Service has a plan in the works to offer early retirement to a thousand employees, including a dozen or so veterans who forecast hurricanes in Florida. This, as we've been telling you, as we await yet another dramatic and strong hurricane season.

Florida Senator Bill Nelson sits on the Senate subcommittee that oversees National Weather Service. He joins us now from Tampa.

Senator, good to have you back with us this morning. Explain this plan -- businesses have to cut, the government has to cut here and there. What is this particular plan all about?

SEN. BILL NELSON (D) FLORIDA: Well, Miles, you said it very well in your lead in. They are proposing to cut, or give, they say, early retirement to a quarter of the people at the National Hurricane Center. This is Max Mayfield's shop that he is so accurate in his predictions. Last year, I ran an amendment and increased his staff by four because he desperately needs everybody. He reaches out and he pulls from the U.S. Navy and from the Marines and he gets this and that person to help him out. And of course we know how critical it is.

You pointed out, accurately, they are going to cut about a quarter -- a thousand people -- of all of the National Weather Service. And storms can -- the accurate forecasting can be a matter of life and death.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, on the other side of this, there's a lot more computer capability that we all can employ to use. Perhaps it's not as labor intensive. Let me just -- I want to share with this before we overlook it. A spokesman for the National Weather Service offered this -- he says this -- this is Greg Romano --"Traditionally only about 5 percent of federal employees ever take advantage of early retirement. The emphasis here needs to be that this is in absolutely no way will affect our ability to save lives and to predict severe weather events." They are offering a thousand employees early retirement. That doesn't mean a thousand will take it. The piont is, they need to cut the budget. This is a tight budgetary times. You're saying this is the wrong place to do it?

NELSON: Of course I am. When you're talking about something that so severely affects us -- on the average, we lose about 20 people that are killed from hurricanes each year, that's on the average. And about 80 people are killed on the average each year from floods. Each of those on the average are causing $5 billion of damage. Now, we know this past couple of years has been extraordinary, with regard to hurricanes, and the damage is far, far in excess of that.

Well, when you're fooling with this, and warning people ahead of time, not only for life, but for property as well, then you're cutting off your nose to spite your face, if you start cutting in this particular arena of the National Weather Service.

M. O'BRIEN: Is it possible, this is all part of the budget to- and-fro, and this is just part of an effort to get some attention, and one particular agency trying to call some attention and make sure they get the budget they anticipate and want?

NELSON: Miles, we have a federal budget that is a trillion dollars-plus. Now, there's plenty of areas that you can cut. It doesn't have to be the National Weather Service, particularly when we are in this new cycle of intense and higher intensity storms.

M. O'BRIEN: Bill Nelson, I gather you would not suggest going after NASA, I know that. Thank you very much for being with us from Tampa, Florida. Senator Bill Nelson.

NELSON: Thanks, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Zain.

VERJEE: Miles, let's check in on the weather forecast and go over to the weather center to Chad Myers, CNN's severe weather expert.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VERJEE: Andy is "Minding Your Business." What do you have?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: I am, Zain. A couple stories to tell you about. Does Netflix spank its best customers?

Plus, a rare retreat for Starbucks.

Coming straight up, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: So if you're a good customer, you spend a lot of money, you should be treated with red carpet service, right, Andy Serwer?

SERWER: Maybe not. Maybe not at Netflix. This company is being accused of penalizing its best customers, a practice critics are calling "throttling." Let me explain: Netflix of course is the mail DVD rental company. You pay $17.99 a month and you basically get unlimited DVDs to rent. The more you rent, the better the deal it is for you, but from Netflix perspective, the worse it is for them, the less profitable it is, the more DVDs they send to a single customer.

So, the company is actually penalizing its best customers by sending out DVDs more slowly to people who rent 10, 12, 15 DVDs a month, as opposed to people who just rent three or four. The other thing they're doing is, new titles -- they send those out more slowly to those good customers, too, sending them to new customers, and again to people who only rent three or four a month.

VERJEE: That's unfair!

SERWER: Crying foul. The CEO of the company calls it a "fairness algorithm" -- Reed Hastings.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, a fairness algorithm.

SERWER: Algorithm, yeah.

M. O'BRIEN: I have a feeling he's losing touch with what is important about his business, if he's talking about algorithms, here.

SERWER: The airlines penalize their best customers.

M. O'BRIEN: Lots of algorithms there.

SERWER: It really helped them out a lot.

VERJEE: Let's talk about Starbucks: a chocolate drink being discontinued.

SERWER: Yes, and I liked this drink.

VERJEE: I've never tried it.

SERWER: The Chantico is no more at Starbucks. You remember they rolled this out a year ago -- a rich chocolate beverage. And it's unusual because Starbucks has just been, you know, hitting on all aces just year after year after year with new products, new stores. This is kind of a rare flop. And the Chantico is a mighty fine drink.

A couple problems: first of all. it will give you a buzz that will last about two months.

VERJEE: May I have one, please?

SERWER: It is potent. And that's the thing, you only can have one every couple months, as opposed to coffee, you can go in there a couple times a day. I mean, how often do you want one of these.

The other thing is --

M. O'BRIEN: So it's a buzz algorithm.

SERWER: It is a buzz algorithm.

VERJEE: This is a buzz kill.

SERWER: It is a buzz kill. The other thing is, it only comes in a six-ounce cup, and people at Starbucks like to have their own frappuchino, vente, latte, small, grande -- they like to customize, in other words. This you could only get one way.

M. O'BRIEN: Because anything beyond six ounces, and you'd be dead, or something.

SERWER: Four months, you would be up.

VERJEE: Andy, thank you.

SERWER: Thank you.

VERJEE: CNN LIVE TODAY is coming up next with Daryn Kagan.

Hi, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN HOST: Hello, Zain.

Straight ahead, if you remember the deadly mining accidents last month in West Virginia, well, family members of several of the men who died are expected to give some emotional testimony on Capitol Hill this morning. We will listen in.

Also an armored vest saved this soldier's life, but the Army wasn't going to let him go home before he paid them back for it. We will talk to the soldier about that interesting IOU.

That's all coming up in a few minutes. Now back to you.

VERJEE: Thanks, Daryn.

Coming up, a mixed day for the U.S. Olympic team. They've grabbed more gold, but one top U.S. medal contender had to leave on a stretcher. We'll bring you a live Olympic update from Torino. That's next on American morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: America's best shot at Olympic gold in the women's downhill, Lindsey Kildow, crashed today in Torino. But it wasn't all just bad news: the women actually took gold and silver today in the snowboarding half pipe.

CNN's Larry Smith is live in Torino. He joins us now with the latest. Larry, firstly, how is Kildow doing?

LARRY SMITH, CNN, TORINO: Right now we don't know. She is at a hospital. Kildow was airlifted from the course to a hospital. We should say it's a minimum two-hour drive from where the downhill course is to the hospital. It is not so much in terms of her condition in terms of trying to get her there as quickly as possible. We do know that she was conscious, writhing in pain, and was sobbing when she landed after her crash and was taken off on a stretcher.

But you mentioned some of the good news. The gold and silver in the women's snowboard half pipe, Hannah Teeter, taking gold, Gretchen Bliler (ph) winning silver. The U.S. now with five total medals and three golds. That leads these games at this point.

Let's go back to you.

VERJEE: Michelle Kwan bowed out of the games. She's being replaced now by Emily Hughes. How long will Emily have to prepare when she gets there?

SMITH: She probably has already prepared some in New York. She's trying to get here, and we've heard reports that she is on her way, or soon to be on her way. But you have been reporting all morning about the problems trying to get out of the New York metropolitan area, and for her to get to Torino. She was third at Nationals, she was the first alternate, and was bumped out of the spot when Kwan got that medical clearance to take a spot on this team.

The competition does not begin until Wednesday, so she should have plenty of time to get her program down and get used to things here in Torino once she does land.

VERJEE: Miles has a question for you, Larry.

M. O'BRIEN: Larry Smith, let's talk about Bode. There are reports of Bode Miller, the day before he skied, was out late. Having a couple beers. What happened?

SMITH: Well, you know, that's a report. But at the same time I'm -- I did not see him. I have no confirmation if that's the case. What Bode has said before, certainly he has done that before, and has skied before. And it has not been a problem, I guess, before.

M. O'BRIEN: Late for his check in. And we're sorry he didn't get in the medals.

SMITH: Yes. So that's something between he and his ski coach, if that's the case.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm sure we'll hear more about this one.

Larry smith, in Turin -- or Torino, whichever you prefer.

SMITH: Whichever you like.

M. O'BRIEN: Whichever you like. Thanks very much.

We're back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Slowly but surely the Norman Rockwell scene is relinquished to slush.

VERJEE: Digging out over there in Columbus Circle. The plows have been out and most of the major arteries in the city -- coming into the city -- have been cleared. What does it cost, Miles? Something like a million dollars a square inch?

M. O'BRIEN: A million an inch.

VERJEE: Wow!

M. O'BRIEN: Twenty-six-point-nine million, by that measure. So we'll think about that when we pay our taxes here in New York City. Zain.

VERJEE: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Have a wonderful day.

VERJEE: Let's go to Daryn. I will; I'm looking forward to it, actually. It's a picture post card outside.

Daryn?

KAGAN: Miles, you take good care of our Zainy up there. They don't know about two-foot snowdrifts in Nairobi.

VERJEE: Only on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Other than that, I haven't.

M. O'BRIEN: I hope you put your shoes on for that, at least.

KAGAN: Take good care of our girl, okay?

M. O'BRIEN: See you.

KAGAN: All right. You guys have a great day and that's a chilly day in New York City.

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