Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Report Says Virginia Tech Missed Opportunities to Save Lives; Power-Sharing Deal in Works in Pakistan; Draft Report: Iraq Not Meeting Benchmarks
Aired August 30, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Missed warnings. Missed chances. A critical new report on the Virginia Tech shootings released overnight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reports show that there was definitely a lot of miscommunication.
CHETRY: The mistakes and missed opportunities to save lives.
Total recall. This morning, another nationwide alert for bagged spinach.
And rap attack. Two brothers in big trouble. How their beef about beets cost them their job and maybe a lot more on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, we're going to talk to them, as we said, coming up a little bit later. But meantime, it is Thursday, August 30th.
Glad you're with us.
I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you.
I'm John Roberts.
We begin this morning with Virginia Tech and the critical findings just coming out overnight from a panel that was appointed to investigate the shootings on campus last April. It points to missed opportunities the day of the shooting and in the years before, that the school should have warned students much earlier about the murders of the first two students just after 7:00 a.m., that it might have saved lives. And that campus police initially followed the wrong leads.
The gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, opened fire inside Norris Hall at 9:46 in the morning. Thirty-two people were killed in all before Cho turned the gun on himself.
The report also says university officials missed the opportunity to pass along information about Cho's mental health problems because they misunderstood privacy laws.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM KAINE (D), VIRGINIA: I'm troubled that a student who had talked about Columbine at an earlier point in his life, that that information was unknown to anybody on the Tech campus. I mean, I think there's a lot of instances where information was out there, or that different people had information where it needed to be put together, and I think that is obviously going to be a feature -- a significant feature of the report.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Records show that Cho was referred for treatment back in 2005 after a stretch of bizarre behavior. It was also just revealed that he wrote an English paper that foreshadowed his rampage a year before he did it.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, tragedy overnight in Boston. Two firefighters killed in a restaurant fire. A section of the ceiling collapsed on top of them. Several other firefighters were injured and rushed to the hospital.
Published reports say that the two firefighters who died were both veterans of the department. They were also both married with children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED KELLY, PRESIDENT, BOSTON IAFF: The Boston firefighters' family is in mourning. We lost two brothers, two brave men that went to work tonight to provide for their families, and they're not going home in the morning. We ask that you pray for us, you pray for their families, you pray for their souls, and you prayer for the injured firefighters that are struggling to recover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Boston has not lost a firefighter in a fire since 1994.
An investigation into the cause of last night's fire is getting under way now. There are some published reports this morning though that a lot of thick, heavy smoke may have disoriented the firefighters.
There are details of a report on Iraq that are leaking out this morning. "The Washington Post," as well as Reuters, reporting that congressional investigators will deliver a classified briefing today saying that Iraq has failed to meet 13 of the 18 benchmarks for political and military goals.
That draft report is under review by the Defense Department and it could be changed before its released next week. The administration's Iraq report is due out the following week.
ROBERTS: Other news. Dramatic pictures this morning. They blew up the abandoned Brach's candy factory in Chicago for a new Batman movie. This is a shot you only get one chance at. A wave of heat, a plume of smoke. No sign of the superhero just yet thought. It will be Gotham Hospital in the next flick which is titled "The Dark Knight".
California wilting under a heat wave. Now residents are being asked to conserve electricity after approaching an all-time record for energy use. Temperatures are expected to stay in the upper 90s throughout the weekend. But that is nothing compared to what's been going on in Phoenix.
They set an amazing record yesterday. That's what it's all about, the sun -- 110 degrees. Well, that's nothing new for Phoenix, right? Well, how about 29 days in a row? So hot there that even at 11:00 last night it was still just under 100 degrees outside -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Can't get a break in Phoenix.
Well, new this morning in the scandal surrounding Senator Larry Craig, there are some new poll numbers out. And two fellow Republican senators are calling for Craig to step down, John McCain and Norm Coleman. Mike Huckabee, as well, a GOP presidential hopeful and a Baptist minister, weighed in yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think when you see public figures who have spoken in one way and maybe acted in a different way, frankly, Americans will forgive us for being sinners. They won't forgive us for being hypocrites.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: GOP leaders are removing Craig from key leadership posts. They've also asked the ethics panel to look into the case. We're going to be talking with Republican congressman Peter Hoekstra in our next half hour. He is also calling for Craig to step down.
And there's a new poll saying the public has lost faith in Larry Craig. SurveyUSA shows more than half of Idaho voters want him to leave office. A little more than a third think he should stay. Eleven percent are not sure.
ROBERTS: Just as firefighters gain the upper hand in Greece, there is a new heat warning and fears that it could rekindle the flames. It took thousands of firefighters from more than a dozen different countries, but crews now say they have those wildfires under control. Fires over the past week and a half have burned 500,000 acres and killed 64 people.
A dramatic rescue caught on tape in New Jersey. Rescuers dug for three hours to save a construction worker who was buried alive in a trench collapse. He was conscious and breathing when they got him out. The hospital though where he has been taken is not reporting the extent of his injuries. And a new poll out shows that a majority of football fans are pretty much done with Michael Vick. Sixty percent of people surveyed by Gallup say Vick should be out of the NFL for good. Eight in 10 want to see him serve prison time for his role in financing a dogfighting ring.
CHETRY: Well, it's time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for some other stories new this morning.
A power-sharing deal in the works in Pakistan, where President Pervez Musharraf is expected to step down as head of Pakistan's military. What impact, if any, would it have on a key U.S. ally?
CNN's Monita Rajpal is live in London now with more.
Hi, Monita.
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kiran.
Yes, the deal's not final yet. It is expected to be final by the end of the week. But President Musharraf, the current president of Pakistan, also retains the title of General Musharraf as well. He is the current military chief, but because his power is waning in the country, there have been numerous attempts to throw him, overthrow him from his seat as president and general.
There are now talks that he's having with the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, a once Musharraf rival. And she's currently also the main opposition leader in exile.
She is in talks with Musharraf that if they were to maintain or to construct a power-sharing deal, he would have to give up his title as military chief and general as part of the deal. She would then become prime minister, he would retain his title as a civilian president.
Still a lot of questions surrounding this.
There's also a third member in all of this. It's the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who is challenging this deal. He is saying it is unconstitutional and undemocratic. He is also in exile and he's also saying that come the next month's elections, he will challenging Musharraf for the presidency as well -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks a lot, Monita -- John.
ROBERTS: We told you earlier about the critical report out this morning looking into the shooting at Virginia Tech last April. A lot of issues and questions raised. One of the big ones was how knowledge of Cho's mental health problems essentially fell through the cracks.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is standing by at the CNN Center to talk more about this.
And Sanjay, I took a look at the report this morning, which is online at the Virginia governor's office. The big suggestion there, that they misinterpreted privacy laws when it came to his medical information.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that was certainly part of it. I mean, this was a pretty detailed report.
We have the report here. I've been going through it all morning, John. It was based on 200 interviews and thousands of pages of records pointing out that Cho did exhibit signs of mental health problems while in middle school, and some of those problems were dealt with at that time. He received some private psychiatric treatment.
When he got to Virginia Tech, he had numerous incidents that are now well chronicled and we've heard about. And we were down there reporting on this.
He did visit the counseling center there and the university's care team, but they failed to provide adequate services, again, according to the report. I'm reading from this report. And they say that privacy laws, as you mentioned, were at least part of the reason why some of the support was not provided. And some of the records are now missing as well, John.
Now, it's confusing, the private laws here. State by state have different privacy laws. What is allowed to become public knowledge, what is allowed to be told to gun sellers in terms of being able to purchase a gun?
I've been reading through this report. Virginia is one of only 22 states to report any sort of information to gun sellers about someone's mental health.
The catch here, though, John, an important one that the report points out, is that that's based on outpatient treatment. So, if someone just received outpatient treatment, those records may not necessarily be disclosed. You can see how confusing that all gets -- John.
ROBERTS: Yes. Obviously, some problems that Virginia is trying to patch up to, to try to prevent something like this from happening in the future.
Sanjay, thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: We'll get back to you soon with some other stories as well.
GUPTA: All right.
ROBERTS: Appreciate it.
CHETRY: And there are details of a report on Iraq leaking out now and just how many benchmarks the Iraqi government has been able to meet. We're going to be getting a live report next on AMERICAN MORNING. .
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: How far will some guys go for a beer? How about the Full Monty?
Police say that a nude, masked man walked into a store in De Soto, Missouri, did a hula dance, apparently to try to distract the clerk, while another man stole a case of beer and ran out of the store with it. It didn't work, though. They were caught on camera and they were later caught. They are facing charges of shoplifting and indecent exposure.
Police using tear gas, water cannons and clubs to hold back a crowd in Santiago, Chile. Hundreds were protesting the government and demanding everything from better health care to housing. Some reports say police arrested as many as 300 people.
It's 4,000 miles long and 2,000 years old, but China now says the Great Wall is disappearing. Well, at least a segment of it is. State media says sandstorms are eroding one 37-mile section that's made of mud instead of the brick and stone that most of the wall is constructed of.
CHETRY: Well, we have been talking about reports this morning about the benchmarks not being reached by Iraq's government. A new report by congressional auditors has determined that the vast majority of military and political goals laid out for Iraq's leaders have not been met.
Barbara Starr is watching this from her post at the Pentagon.
What have you been able to find out, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you, Kiran.
You're absolutely right. Here at the Pentagon, they are getting ready for what they expect to be a very grim report from the Government Accountability Office on Iraq's ability to meet those 18 benchmarks or indicators of security progress.
The report is in draft form. The Pentagon has made its own comments back to the GAO, and behind the scenes there's always kinds of negotiations. Maybe we should call it bickering going on about what this final report is going to say.
Here at the Pentagon yesterday, the new press secretary, Geoff Morrell, tried to manage expectations about what's to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The standard the GAO has set is far more stringent. Some might argue it's impossible to meet. And that is, I think they have to sort of say definitively whether a benchmark has been met or not. Whereas, as you saw in July with our interim benchmarks report from the President, we are able to say whether there's been satisfactory progress towards meeting the goal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now, Morrel is correct, the GAO report is different. It is an up-or-down vote, if you will, on those 18 indicators. Has Iraq met them or have they not?
By all accounts, the report will say Iraq has failed on all of those except perhaps for three. But that standard, Kiran, of up or down was not set by the GAO. It was set by Congress. And as one official here this morning said to me, look, if we met all the 18 benchmarks, the troops would be home by now. And of course that hasn't happened -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. So the Pentagon's stand, they're calling it satisfactory progress. You talk about the GAO being up or down.
How does the administration report that's been eagerly awaited by General Petraeus, how does that factor into all of this?
STARR: Well, it's that we are getting into this two, three-week period of all these reports coming, perhaps more than half a dozen of them. General Petraeus, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Pace, the new chairman coming in to replace him, the secretary of defense, all of them are going to make their reports to the president about what they think needs to be done about progress in Iraq, the surge, how long the surge should last, all of that. It all lands on the president's desk and then he makes a decision -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.
Thanks.
ROBERTS: Coming up to 16 minutes after the hour. Now to our daily terror watch.
A brazen scam to extort big money from banks and stores all across the country. Someone is calling staffers threatening to set off a bomb unless money is wired to a bank account.
Our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, is working this story from Washington. She has got the latest.
And what is the latest, Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: John, the FBI believes one person or one group is responsible for this extortion scam. And a source tells CNN that investigators are looking for a suspect in Portugal.
Over the past week, banks and stores in 12 states have gotten the phone call saying there's a bomb on the premises which will be detonated if money isn't electronically moved into an account. A law enforcement source says it has worked in some instances to the tune of about $13,000.
One example, according to police in Newport, Rhode Island, on Tuesday, a caller called a Wal-Mart store in that city demanded $10,000 be wired to a location outside the United States. A federal law enforcement source says the frightened employees did send several thousand dollars, not the $10,000 requested, however, and local police say the employees were so afraid the would-be bomber was in the store, they wouldn't leave until the S.W.A.T. team arrived.
Initially, there was speculation that the caller was a disgruntled employee, but police say the cal was eventually traced to outside the U.S. And a source says the suspect in Portugal appears to have ties to the account number involved -- John.
ROBERTS: Jeanne, has this scam worked in every case?
MESERVE: No. The FBI says it has not. But it has worked more than once.
Some other examples -- in Kansas, two grocery stores with banks on the premises got calls. So did a bank in Savannah, Missouri. The FBI says two of those three extortion attempts did work, but isn't saying how much money was involved there.
ROBERTS: All right. Jeanne Meserve for us this morning with the latest on that scam.
Jeanne, thanks.
Tracking down missing weapons topping your "Quick Hits" now.
The Pentagon says it is sending an 18-member team to Iraq to find out what happened to some 200,000 weapons that can't be accounted for. It came out last month that some of the weapons had somehow made it to Turkey.
And a controversial school opening. Extra security will be on hand next week when New York City opens an Arabic-themed school. It will teach six graders Arab language and culture, but it's been attacked as a potential training ground for radical Islam.
Cashing in their cards. Fans feed Michael Vick trading cards to their dogs. Now some of those chewed-up cards are bringing in a huge pay day in online auctions.
Plus, a big wave of change in the mortgage market. We will tell you what lots of people are doing to try and play it safe with their next house.
Next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, some of the best shots of the morning now.
How about this guy? In Malaysia, a man known as King Tooth, he certainly lives up to that name. He pulled a seven-car train nine feet and two inches with just his teeth. The train weighs more than 300 tons. Well, now the Guinness people are checking it out before they give him a record.
And some English villages putting up warning signs telling drivers -- hey, that's the sign. It says don't -- what that sign means is don't trust your expensive satellite navigation system. Officials say that the gadgets are great at sending drivers on the most direct route; however, oftentimes those are small, antiquated roads and drivers end up getting stuck.
But would you know what that means?
ROBERTS: Not at all.
CHETRY: To me, it's like, watch out if you're in a truck because there could be a UFO that comes to get you, especially if you're driving to the west.
ROBERTS: Satellites can't detect trucks. One of the two, yes.
It's 21, almost 22 minutes after the hour.
Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business" now this morning.
And a lot of people turning away from these adjustable rate mortgages.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Finally. Finally, people are getting the message about these adjustable rate mortgages.
First of all, let me show you what these rates have been doing.
There's very little reason today to take an adjustable rate mortgage. Take a look at what the rates for a 30-year mortgage would be -- I'm assuming they're not going to be there, so I will just tell you what they are.
Right now, you can get a 30-year fixed mortgage for 6.41 percent. That is exactly two basis points or two one-hundredths of a percent higher than it was a year ago. It's about 1 percent higher than it was in 2005.
So, rates are not going crazy no matter what people tell you.
For an adjustable rate mortgage, you can get a one-year adjustable rate for 6.51 percent. It's actually higher than a fixed rate. So -- that's a nice try.
We can probably take those off, because those numbers have nothing to do with what I'm talking about.
ROBERTS: It's confusing, Ali.
VELSHI: Yes. It's more confusing when you actually put the wrong numbers on the screen. ROBERTS: This is why we rely on you.
VELSHI: Yes. From now on, it's just my chubby mug.
People are finally taking advice. They are moving out of these adjustable rate mortgages.
In fact, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the proportion of new mortgages that are adjustable are 15 percent of the market. At the height of the housing market boom it was 30 percent. And 30 percent is the number you are hearing in many places about people -- the number of people whoa re in these subprime mortgages.
Not everybody with an adjustable rate mortgage is subprime, but it really fed that whole beast. So now people who are getting into mortgages are going to know what they're going to pay for the next five, 10, 15, 20, 25 years.
CHETRY: It's remarkable how much of a difference it can make in your monthly payment when that thing jumps up.
VELSHI: Absolutely.
CHETRY: It sometimes can price you out of being able to afford it.
VELSHI: And it's the ability -- if you can afford it, that's one thing. The danger here wasn't the rates that have gone up, it's how people didn't budget for those rates and the fact that houses came down at the same time.
So it will all end, but at least people are getting the message that, if you are going to buy a house, know what you can afford and lock that rate in.
ROBERTS: It's also how much peace of mind is worth, as well, knowing what your payment is going to be from here until the end. Yes.
VELSHI: For some people, yes, there are a lot of variables and a lot of risks in life, including in the markets. If you can control this one area of risk it might not be a bad idea.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali, thanks very much.
VELSHI: My pleasure.
ROBERTS: In the wake of his federal dogfighting charges, Michael Vick merchandise keeps going to the dogs, and now the dog owners are going to the bank.
CHETRY: Yes. Take a look at this picture.
This is Rochelle Steffan (ph). She is feeding her Great Dane puppy one of 22 Michael Vick trading cards. I love how he's like reclined backwards. The dog chewed them up, slobbered all over them, spit them out. And what did Rochelle (ph) do?
ROBERTS: She put them on eBay. Remember, earlier this week we told you about that kid that had the Michael Vick autographed football that he fed to his dog, put that on eBay? Well, she did the same thing. How much did she get? $7,400.
CHETRY: That's right. And she is donating the money, it looks like, to a local animal group, or to an animal group.
ROBERTS: Similar to the kid with the football. He donated it to the Humane Society as well.
CHETRY: They also have the Michael Vick chew toys now. So, you know, it doesn't matter what scandal happens. Someone is going to find a way to cash in.
ROBERTS: Yes. But at least the money's going to charity, which...
CHETRY: That's right.
Well, here's another story coming up that you can't miss. A supermarket chain now going after two teen brothers for a million bucks. All of it has to do with this rap video they made in the store.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): I said it's all about the produce, produce. You don't like the kid (ph). It's a (INAUDIBLE). Produce, produce, what you see is what you get
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: No points for creativity, apparently, with this supermarket.
ROBERTS: No.
I mean, some people might say, what's so bad about doing a video about produce? Well, when you do it inside the company store and you're an employee of the store, it doesn't go over so well.
CHETRY: Yes. Especially since we edited out some of the less nasty parts of the video. But we're going to show those and we're going to have the brothers on. We're going to talk to them and see what their plan is now that they're in big trouble, coming up.
ROBERTS: More ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
ROBERTS: 31 minutes after the hour. Are Larry Craig's days in the Senate numbered? Yesterday the Republican leadership stripped him of two key committee posts, and three top Republicans are calling on him to resign, following news of his arrest at a Minneapolis airport men's room.
Michigan Congressman Peter Hoekstra is one of those Republicans. He joins us now from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Congressman, you're the first House Republican to call for his resignation. Can you tell us a little bit about what's driving your feelings, why you feel that way?
REP. PETER HOEKSTRA (R), MICHIGAN: Well, I think it's really clear that when Congress is at an approval rating of 18 to 20 percent, we haven't met the expectations of the American people. When we see this kind of behavior by one of our elected leaders in the U.S. Senate, I think the American people expect and deserve better, and that is why I suggested and called for Senator Craig to resign from his seat in the U.S. Senate.
He broke his trust, obviously, with the people of Idaho, but also with his colleagues in the U.S. Senate and with his colleagues and friends in the Republican Party.
ROBERTS: I assume that you saw that press conference that he gave and the pictures up of it right now, or at least you've heard about it. What are your thoughts about that?
HOEKSTRA: Well, I think if Larry believes that, you know, he made some wrong decisions and that he should not have pled guilty, I think that he should take every effort to clear his name, but he should do so outside of the United States Senate. Right now the facts are very clear. He pled guilty to what I think is a pretty ugly crime.
ROBERTS: Well, he actually pled guilty to disorderly conduct, not lewd behavior. Is that a career-ending offense?
I think of that because John McCain said he pled guilty to a crime, he should be out. But also there in the House, Patrick Kennedy pled guilty to driving under the influence of drugs, which is a crime, and there's no great hew and cry for him to be removed. Senator David Vitter got the benefit of the doubt from a lot of his Republican colleagues. Why in this particular case should Larry Craig be boosted out on his rear?
HOEKSTRA: I think that, you know, the American people are demanding that members of Congress, the people that they have elected to serve in these -- what should be respectable positions should be held to a higher standard. And I think that under these circumstances, the situation that Senator Craig finds himself in is one where I believe he should resign from the U.S. Senate. ROBERTS: Right.
Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, now presidential candidate, said America forgives us for being sinners, but not hypocrites. So he's almost suggesting that maybe you could forgive Senator Craig if he didn't show this -- what many people say is a disparate lifestyle. Is there an element of hypocrisy to you about this whole thing?
HOEKSTRA: Well, there may be. But the interesting thing is hypocrisy is not one of the things -- is a crime. It may be one of the things that voters come back and decide that they are going to, you know, select someone else to represent them in Washington. Hypocrisy is not a crime. That is not why he should be removed from office.
ROBERTS: Just real quickly, if you could, congressman. Any way that he can survive this? Can he in any make amends?
HOEKSTRA: I think it will be very, very difficult for him to make amends. But, you know, we'll go through some different steps. Right now the decision is in his hands. He can determine whether he wants to resign. Then it goes to the Ethics Committee, and the Senate, and eventually it may be decided by the people of Idaho.
ROBERTS: Congressman Peter Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, thanks for joining us this morning. Good to hear your thoughts sir.
HOEKSTRA: Great. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: We are following this spinach recall out of California this morning. A company there pulling its spinach off of shelves after finding traces of salmonella. It was just a year ago that we had that massive recall off of E. coli. Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent a lot of time in California covering that outbreak, and he joins us this morning from the CNN Center.
It's unfortunate. You know, you tell people eat healthy, and, boy, fresh, raw vegetables are a big part of that. And then when a scare like this happens it makes people think twice, frankly.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, you are absolutely right. The fact that it was spinach was particularly troublesome, I think, for a lot of people, because they do think of it as a health food, and we have been covering a lot of outbreaks over the last year, Kiran. It's amazing.
Here's what we know specifically about this most recent voluntary recall by the Metz Fresh spinach company. There are specific packages that they're concerned about, 10-ounce and 16-ounce bags. They're also concerned about these cartons containing four two-and-a-half pound or four-pound cartons. We have some specific lot numbers that we can put up as well. You may not be able to see all of these right now, but there'll be on our Web site as well. Again, this is a voluntary recall. There is salmonella that was in one particular swathe, one particular batch. The concern is that it may have subsequently infected or contaminated, if you will, thousands of bags of spinach.
The way these distribution plants work nowadays is those thousands of bags can really be found in various places around the country. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where, which is why you've got to go to the source and find the lot number specifically. The company says they're going to destroy whatever spinach may have been contaminated by this. But if you do find it in your refrigerator or at the store, you should just throw it away yourselves.
CHETRY: All right, but let's say you actually ate some of this. You know the brand Metz Fresh and you've used it. What should do you or how can you tell if you got it?
GUPTA: Well, you know, that's the interesting thing. When it comes to a lot of these contaminations or infections, you may not know that you got it. You may get some of the symptoms of one of these infections, which, frankly, are a few bad days, if you know what I mean. You get some nausea. You get some vomiting, some diarrhea perhaps. But you may not be able to pinpoint it back to, I ate some spinach and therefore I got these sorts of symptoms. Most people will have a couple of bad days and never be able to trace it back. But if it persists or if it gets worse, for sure, you should certainly see your doctor. And if you've eaten the spinach, you may want top keep that particular bag of spinach around so you can match lot numbers and see if it may be infected with salmonella.
CHETRY: All right, Sanjay Gupta, following this latest recall of spinach, fresh -- Metz Fresh. Check out more on our Web site if you want to. And thanks a lot, Sanjay.
By the way, if you have a question, head to CNN.com/Americanmorning. Sanjay is going to be back in our next hour to answer a lot of questions for us, medical questions, that you've written to him, wanting to know the answer to. We're going to be right back.
Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, two brothers and some veggies.
A rap video they made at work in the produce department. A hit on YouTube, but it cost the brothers their jobs and maybe much more.
Meet them ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: It was the worst school shooting in U.S. history. Today a new investigation said mistakes were made before and during the chaos on the campus of Virginia Tech. Joining us now is Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. He was the one who requested the report. It was delivered and posted on his Web site overnight.
Governor Kaine joins us now.
Governor, let me ask you first of all, just generally, what's your reaction to the report?
GOV. TIM KAINE, VIRGINIA: Well, John, the report does just what I hoped it would. It was a group of very talented and independent individuals who looked comprehensively at everything that went right, things that went wrong and what needs to be fixed. And I think it an extremely thorough report that gives us a blueprint for changes that we need to make in Virginia and on college campuses everywhere.
ROBERTS: It's very critical of both the Virginia Tech Police Department and as well university officials. A, the police department for following what turned out to be an erroneous lead with no backup plan, if that didn't pan out. And also this idea that the university waited two hours before sending out an alert, that if an alert had been sent out earlier it may have saved lives, and also the Virginia Tech police for not requesting that an alert be sent out.
I mean, how badly did they drop the ball here?
KAINE: Well, the report also talks about a number of instances in which the Virginia Tech police, the Virginia Tech EMT squad and others performed not just well, but heroically that day. I think it's balanced in that sense.
But with respect to notification, there was not a notice sent out to the campus community for nearly two hours. The report points out that that was a clear error, that the protocol for making a decision about how a notice would be sent out was too cumbersome, that under normal circumstances it might have been fine, but under an urgent circumstance it took too long.
ROBERTS: Sir, what does the governor's office, what do officials at this public university say to the parents of children who were killed because they did not send out this alert?
KAINE: Well, I know that the university campus, administrators, faculty and others, have been and in mourning about this every since April. This is not a situation where you're dealing with a university that has been insensitive. There's intense pain on this campus that remains five months later, and it will remain for a long time. And I think the university is very committed to making the necessary fixes.
I know the state is as well. The report points out some instances where the state's mental health administration in the one interaction they had with Seung-Hui Cho, the young man, there was an order for outpatient treatment, and then there was no follow-up to see whether that order had been complied with. There's a lot of food for thought in here.
ROBERTS: Also, Governor Kaine, is there any way to account for the fact that the university was not clear on the guidelines about sharing information about Cho's mental health?
KAINE: Well, my sense of the report is this, John, that there are various and complicated laws concerning sharing of information. Most people are not lawyers; they're lay people. They have a general understanding of the laws. They also have an understanding that if they share information improperly, they can be held liable.
ROBERTS: But they also have attorneys working for them.
KAINE: I think that leads to kind of a default position that many people have that information should not be shared.
For example, Cho had an extensive history as a middle schooler and high schooler of mental difficulties, even thinking about Columbine in the aftermath of Columbine, hurting himself and others. None of that information was transmitted with his high school records to Virginia Tech. So all of that information was just basically left behind when Cho started at the Virginia Tech campus, and they were not aware of that history. That began the problem that was then compounded when other signals were missed based on Cho's behavior on the Virginia Tech campus.
ROBERTS: Well, it's an important report, and hopefully one that will serve as a framework for some policies to be put in place in the future that would prevent this from happening, not only in the state of Virginia, but elsewhere across the country. Governor Tim Kaine, governor of Virginia, thanks for joining us. Appreciate you taking the time.
KAINE: Thank you, John.
(NEWSBREAK)
CHETRY: Two brothers, one music video, and a million-dollar lawsuit. We're going to tell you why one supermarket chain is so outraged over the video that these kids made at work. They're suing them. We're going to meet the brothers, see what their plan is, up next.
Plus, could something be growing in your home that effects your mood? Dr. Sanjay Gupta pays us a house call, of sorts.
Hi, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Hey, good morning. We're not going to ask if you have any mold specifically in your house, but we do know this -- if you do have mold in your house you're 40 percent more likely to have depressive symptoms. I'll tell you what the link is and more importantly what you can do about it. That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, the grocery giant A&P is suing two brothers, now former A&P employees for a million dollars. Why? Well, they made a rap video at work and the company says that the video is costing them business. The brothers say it was just in fun. You can take a look for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK D'AVELLA: I said it's all about the produce, produce you don't like the kid it's in lower middle portion of the food pyramid. Produce, produce what you see is what you get, take a deep breath in cause baby this is it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, brothers Mark and Matt D'Avella made the video. They star in it and they join me now. Thanks for being with us guys. So, the video got you in a bit of trouble. First, let's start off why did you make the video?
MARK D'AVELLA, FIRED FOR RAP VIDEO: Well, we made it to kind of spoof on gangsta rap. So we -- had been working in produce for me six years and my brother four years, so ten years combined. And after a while we were just kind of like it would be funny to make this video. And it worked well with a school project. Which was to make a music video.
MATT D'AVELLA, FIRED FOR RAP VIDEO: I had a school project this year to make a music video, so I wanted to do something original. So we wrote the lyrics for this, and this is the final product that we have.
CHETRY: So what happened was you guys made this video, and then you posted it online?
MATT D'AVELLA: Yes.
CHETRY: And what happened after that? How did A&P find out about it?
MATT D'AVELLA: We posted the video online, and it really wasn't stirring up a lot of views compared to what it has now. We had maybe 150 views at a time.
CHETRY: And, what about now?
MATT D'AVELLA: Now it has -- I didn't check today, but the last time I checked it was 42,000. And at the time when we had 150 views, there was a customer complaint sent in to A&P, the corporate headquarters, and this is what started this entire controversy.
CHETRY: All right, this is what they are saying; they're suing you guys now for at least, they're saying, a million dollars in damages. And the parent company released a statement that says, "The video shows them licking, gesturing, and doing absolutely deplorable things with produce. This is in total contrast to the food safety standards that we uphold as the company." Do you guys have a plan for a defense?
MARK D'AVELLA, FIRED FOR RAP VIDEO: Well, all of the produce that we used in the video was purchased outside the store and brought in. Nothing that we used in the video was put back on the shelf. No customers were harmed. No customers saw us making the video. Right now we're just looking to get a lawyer.
CHETRY: To defend yourselves.
MATT D'AVELLA: We don't have any legal representation now.
CHETRY: Do you have a million bucks to pay A&P?
MARK D'AVELLA: No, I don't have any money to even pay for court fees.
MATT D'AVELLA: Yes. We're going to be in debt because we're going to college now. So, probably at the end of -- next four years we're going to be in debt 100,000.
CHETRY: Now, your dad actually is the manager -- the produce manager at this grocery store. He's not in trouble.
MARK D'AVELLA: No because he had nothing to do with the video.
CHETRY: Is he angry at you guys?
MARK D'AVELLA: No.
MATT D'AVELLA: He supports us 100 percent, but just because of the legal matters, he doesn't want to get involved.
CHETRY: All right. Let me just show this one clip. Because this is the thing I think that really got the A&P people worked up. Let's take a quick look at it, and I'll get your reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT D'AVELLA: Mild peppers real, real hot, but don't come up to me acting all rude,because I won't be afraid to pee in your food.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: They got upset about that. Why did you guys put that part in there?
MATT D'AVELLA: It's a parody. We wanted to poke fun at just produce. Like, we were making a joke about produce. Had nothing to do with the A&P. Nothing to do with corporate. This --
CHETRY: And, no one was really urinating --
MATT D'AVELLA: No, that was --
MARK D'AVELLA: That was a water bottle. And, his following line was, nah I'm just playing, we're just teasing.
MATT D'AVELLA: Yes, yes I'm just teasing. So, clearly it was a joke and it wasn't real.
CHETRY: All right. So now you guys -- by the way it was pretty good editing. You're majoring in this in college?
MATT D'AVELLA: Yes, I'm a Mass Comm major so I do television, I edit (inaudible) final cut pro (ph). So, that's basically what I do.
CHETRY: All right. So, keep us posted. You guys -- probably going to have to get a lawyer now unless A&P changes their mind. And, you're saying a lot of the national attention that you've gotten, it hasn't made A&P change their mind about this?
MATT D'AVELLA: No, we're getting a lot of support though which is real --. Because right now, for our family it's very stressful with all --. Like, we're getting calls from reporters, and it's just really hard. And, just to have all these people sending e-mails to corporate, and just sending them to us is very supportive.
CHETRY: If you had to do it all over again, if you knew this would be the outcome, would you not make the video?
MARK D'AVELLA: Just to keep the stress off my family and such. I mean, we have been getting a lot of support, 600 e-mails a day are being sent to corporate, compared to the one e-mail that caused this whole thing to happen against us.
CHETRY: Hey, you never know, there could be a bright side. Maybe Kevin Federline would like to star in your next video. You guys can produce for him over there in Hollywood. All right, well Mark and Matt D'Avella keep us posted. Good luck with the school project. It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, Matt. Thanks?
MARK D'AVELLA: Appreciate it.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: Two TV stars continue to make nice. David Letterman set to make his first appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show next month. Oprah boycotted Letterman for years because he made so many jokes about her. Their relationship started to improve a couple of years ago, when Oprah was a guest on "The Late Show."
And soccer's 250,000,000 dollar man sidelined with another injury. David Beckham was forced out of his latest game with the L.A. Galaxy after he collided with another player and injured his knee. Beckham is still dealing with an earlier ankle problem. No word on how long he might be off the field.
New trouble in the housing market today. The mortgage crisis now taking aim at a new group of people. We'll explain next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Just about a minute before the top of the hour. Think just because you are a renter that the mortgage crisis has no effect on you? Well, think again. Ali Velshi, Minding Your Business. I'll assume if the mortgage goes up the rent goes up. ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a few aspects of this one is the obvious, exactly if the mortgage goes up the rent goes up, except commercial owners or owners of apartment buildings do tend more often then not to be people who lock into rates. So, a mortgage may go up when the mortgage is being renewed.
But typically it's not the rates that's driving this as much as the fact that people who otherwise are not getting homes could be going into rental properties or staying in rental properties. They're not getting the mortgages, because the mortgage rules are tightening.
Rents are predicted to rise four percent this year. And these tighter credit rules are increasing demand for apartments and rental units. The other thing to keep in mind is that foreclosures are turning home owners into renters. So there are renters who can't get into the buying market because they're having trouble getting mortgages.
There are home owners who are now becoming renters because they're losing their homes. And you put that all together including some mortgages going up at some buildings, and you are getting an increase in rents that will, in fact, exceed the cost of living. So, that's something to be watching out for, this mortgage crisis is affecting everyone.
I'll be back in a while. But the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
CHETRY: New blame. A critical new report on the Virginia Tech shootings out this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
