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American Morning
Another Spinach Recall; Musharraf To Quit; Stocks Rebound; Nationwide Alerts; Deadly Fire; Virginia Tech Report
Aired August 30, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Spinach scare. This morning, another nationwide recall for bad spinach. Another California farm under fire.
New blame. A critical, new report on the Virginia Tech shooting out this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM KAINE, (D) VIRGINIA: I'm troubled that a student who had talked about Columbine, that that information was unknown to anybody on the tech campus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Who missed opportunities to prevent it.
Plus, the princess and the plot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They would not have wanted Dodi, as a Muslim, to be marrying Diana, princess of Wales.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: How the conspiracy lives on, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of Diana's death, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning. Glad you're with us. It's Thursday, August 30th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
We begin this morning with Virginia Tech and the critical findings just coming out overnight from the panel appointed to investigate the shootings on campus last April. It points to glaring missed opportunities the day of the shooting and in the years before. The report singles out that Virginia Tech police for not requesting a campus wide alert after the murders of two students just after 7:00 in the morning. It also faults the campus police for following a single, erroneous lead with no backup plan if that didn't pan out. The gunmen, Seung Hui Cho, opened fire inside Norris Hall at 9:46 in the morning. Thirty-two people were killed in all before Cho killed himself. The report also criticizes university officials for not sending out an alert for two hours after the first killings and says officials failed to identify Cho's obvious 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 (ph).
(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 one year before he carried it out.
Also new this morning, a devastating loss for the Boston Fire Department. The firefighters were killed and several more hurt fighting a restaurant fire. The roof collapsed on top of them. New pictures show paramedics rushing the injured into ambulances. Published reports say 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 pray for the injured firefighters that are struggling to recover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The city of Boston hasn't lost a firefighter in a fire since 1994. We're going to have a live report from the scene coming up in just a few minutes here on AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: We're also following another big story this morning, and that is another spinach recall. A California company is now pulling its spinach off of store shelves after finding traces of salmonella. It's bringing back memories of last year's big recall of spinach over e-coli. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent a lot of time covering that outbreak and he joins us this morning with more.
First of all, who should be worried this morning when it comes to whether or not you have this bagged spinach in your own refrigerator?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is the time to try and take some action about this. There are some very specific bags of spinach, lots of spinach, that are most likely affected by this. Because of the distribution process, there's probably thousands of bags all across the country that have been affected. Specifically, 10 ounce and 16 ounce bags of Metz fresh bagged spinach. Also cartons containing four 2.5 pound bags and 4 pound cartons.
There's also specific tracking codes. And we're going to put those up on our website. For sure you can see them there. If you can't remember them, they're going to be up on our website later on.
A little background. Metz Fresh is a small spinach grower located in King City, California. And what happens a lot of times is this spinach in this huge sort of salad bowl of the United States can get affected, can get contaminated by various bacterias such as e. Coli or salmonella as animals come in contact with these big farms.
We saw this quite a bit. As you mentioned Kiran, spent a lot of time in this part of the country sort of investigating how these outbreaks happen. It gets contaminated. It goes to a distribution plant. And then subsequently mixed together with lots of other spinach.
Sometimes it can be hard to track, as we've seen in cases past. In this case, they've been able to find specific lot numbers. Best advice, don't worry about it so much but take some action and throw those bags of spinach away.
CHETRY: Can you wash salmonella or e. Coli off of your spinach? I mean I know when they package it, it always says triple washed. But can you do anything at home and continue to eat it raw?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, we actually asked the same question, Kiran. We wanted to put it to the test because there's a all sorts of different washes. There's a triple washing, as you talked about. Sort of an industrial washing. People washing at home, obviously, vigorously under tap water. People use different substances, such as chlorine even.
We find that they have various degrees of effectiveness. In face vigorous washing, just washing your hands first and then washing the spinach under water actually seems to be the most effective. Even more effective than some of those chemicals.
The problem is this. A lot of people don't wash it effectively. They get the salmonella on their hands as they're trying to wash it. They subsequently contaminate countertops, they contaminate other food items. So that's why the best advice really is, if you have possible known contamination, then to go ahead and throw that spinach away. You really risk, even with the triple washing, contaminating other surfaces. So, you know, you don't want to do that. Throw it away is your best bet.
CHETRY: OK, Sanjay, thanks. We'll check in with you throughout the show.
GUPTA: All right.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, if you'd like some more information on this specific recall, again Metz Fresh brand spinach, traces of salmonella. No one has been sickened yet. But if you want to be safe, head to our website, cnn.com, to check out the details.
John.
ROBERTS: Coming up now to six minutes after the hour.
California is 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 and that in southern California is nothing compared to what's been going on in Phoenix. They set an unbelievable record yesterday hitting 110 degrees. Not just for one day, but for 29 straight days. Forecasts call for the temperature to reach that mark again today.
And rain is the problem again in Texas. It just seems to go on and on. Some slow-moving storms dumping enough rain in Houston to make a mess of roads there. If you've ever lived in Texas, you know that that's a pretty common scene. It rains, it floods, then it goes away. Unfortunately, though, more rain is in the forecast for this afternoon.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, John, thanks.
Well also new this morning, new developments in the bathroom sting scandal surrounding Senator Larry Craig. There's a new poll of voters in his home state of Idaho and growing calls for Craig to resign. Two fellow senators, John McCain and Norm Coleman, have said that Craig should quit. Coleman is from Minnesota. That's where Senator Craig was arrested in an airport bathroom for a suspected lewd act. Mike Huckabee, a GOP presidential hopeful and Baptist minister, also weighed in.
(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 give us from 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.
There's also a new poll showing that the public seems to be losing faith in Larry Craig. The survey, "USA" poll, showing that 55 percent of Idaho voters think Craig should leave office, 34 percent say he should stay, 11 percent are not sure.
ROBERTS: Details of the war in Iraq are leaking out this morning. Several news organizations are reporting that congressional investigators will deliver a classified briefing today, saying that Iraq has failed to meet 13 of 18 benchmarks for political and military goals. The draft report is under review by the defense department and could be changed before it's released next week. The administration's Iraq report is due to follow in a week.
And in Iraq today, the Mahdi army is under orders to cease operations for the next six months, including attacks on Americans. Radical Shiite Leader Muqtada al-Sadr made the call after this week's Shiite on Shiite violence in Karbula that killed more than 80 people.
And a new poll shows that 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 a dogfighting ring.
CHETRY: It's time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning.
A power sharing deal could be in the works in Pakistan where President Pervez Musharraf would step down as the head of Pakistan's military but maintain the presidency and possibly share it with somebody who used to run the country. CNN's Monita Rajpal is live in London now with the details.
Hi, Monita.
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kiran.
It's a strange story if you think about it. The main personalities involved are somehow changing their tune. The deal isn't final yet, but all signs seem to be pointing to the fact that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will have to let go of his title as general of the head of the military if he wants to retain power in president.
He is currently in talks with former Prime Minister Benazhir Bhutto, who was also his once arch rival. But she is also the main opposition leader right now in exile. They're currently in talks to somehow make a power sharing dealing that would see President Musharraf retain power as the leader of the country.
Now Musharraf has seen his popularity decline drastically over the last few months and challenges to his power rise. Now if there was a free election, which there would be an election next month in Pakistan, he does lacks the popular support to win a majority in parliament and the where Bhutto steps in. The thinking is, Bhutto would return to Pakistan.
But remember, she's currently in exile to avoid corruption charges in Pakistan. She would return to Pakistan and have a position as prime minister and then Musharraf as president. But, of course, the deal under that would have to be secured in terms of what kind of power each position would retain. The corruption charges that Benazhir Bhutto currently faces would be dropped again under this deal.
There is a third person in the mix in all of that, and that is also former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is challenging President Musharaff's position. And he is saying that he is -- also last week Pakistani supreme court has said he could also return back to Pakistan where he has also been facing some arrests as well.
We'll have much more on that. But first, back to you, Kiran.
CHETRY: Monita, thanks a lot.
Well, execs are putting their cash into their company's stock and the markets rebound. Ali Velshi is here to explain what it means.
Hi, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Kiran.
You know, what's interesting, we've been seeing, in the last several months, executives selling stock in their own companies, which is generally seen as a bad sign. Now we're seeing, in August, a massive increase in the number of stocks being bought by company executives in the United States. In fact, much highest than the average and the highest we've seen since back in 2003.
That's often a sign of confidence. It's not a scientific measure but it's a sign of confidence. It's one of the things that may have helped the market yesterday. Two hundred and fifty points almost on the Dow, mainly in reaction to the fact that the Fed has said that it is ready to intervene again if there are problems in the market. While Ben Bernanke does say the Fed doesn't exist to help stock markets out or to shore up people with bad mortgages or bad mortgage companies, they have said that if this continues to be widespread, the Fed will intervene.
A couple of other things to look at right now. We are looking at oil prices that gained near $2 yesterday. That's going to affect your gasoline prices. And I'll going to tell you about that shortly.
Also, people are starting to shy away. I guess they've been burned enough times they're starting to shy away from adjustable rate mortgages. We'll tell you all about that through the course of the morning, Kiran.
But right now, Dow futures are pointing to another negative opening today. So as John likes to say, what the Dow giveth, the Dow very quickly taketh away.
CHETRY: All right, Ali, thanks so much.
John.
ROBERTS: It's the other way too, what the Dow taketh away, the Dow giveth back sometimes.
We took in some dramatic police overnight of a confrontation outside of Cincinnati. Here's how it played out. Police corner a stolen car. The driver rams the car into one of the officers. Police shoot and kill the driver. You can hear it all unfold in the dashboard tape, along with officers ordering a passenger out of the stolen car. Take a listen. The driver had a suspended license and a record for drug trafficking. The passenger in the vehicle was not charged.
Now on to our terror watch and a new warning system designed to alert the entire country in the event of another terrorist attack. How will it work? Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve joins us now live from Washington with the story.
So, Jeanne, what's this all about? How does it work?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, you probably remember hearing on radio or television the words "this is a test of the emergency broadcast system." Well, now a new, updated alert system is being tested. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff unveiled what is called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System is week in Alabama, one of three Gulf states where the system is being pilot tested this hurricane season.
It will send alerts not just via television and radio, but on pagers, cell phones and PDAs. And it will be accessible to people with disabilities and those who do not speak English. When it's fully operational, the system will be able to stream video and send packets of information, including instructions on what individuals are supposed to do in a particular emergency. For instance, in a hurricane, it might send customized information about evacuation routes. The goal is to get more usable information to more people more quickly in a time of crisis.
John.
ROBERTS: Jeanne, I get similar alerts from the District of Columbia in Fairfax County there in Virginia, but I had to sign up for it. Will people have to sign up for this as well?
MESERVE: Well, you're not going to have to sign up for the alerts that are on radio and television, obviously. And there's also a component of this that will automatically call residents in a selected geographic area if they need warning and you don't need to sign up for that. You will need to sign up to get the alerts on your personal electronic devices. Part of this pilot testing includes a public awareness campaign to make sure people know how to do it.
ROBERTS: And I take it that there will be a website that people can register at?
MESERVE: Yes, there will be eventually.
ROBERTS: All right, Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much.
MESERVE: You bet.
CHETRY: Two firefighters, both of them fathers, killed in the line of duty in Boston overnight and now many are asking the question, what went wrong? We have a live report from the scene coming up.
And check out this. It was no prop. That's a huge candy factory exploding into flames all for a super hero sequel. It was on the streets of Chicago. We're going to have more details coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Some of the best shots of the morning in our "Quick Hits" now.
In Malaysia, a man known as King Tooth pulled a seven-car train nine feet two inches with nothing but his teeth today. The train weighs more than 300 tons. The Guinness people are checking it all out before giving him the record.
How far will some guys goes for a beer? How about the full monte. Police say a nude, masked man walked into a store in DeSoto, Missouri, did a hula dance apparently to distract the clerk while another man took a cause of beer out of the store. It didn't work though. They caught them. They're facing charges of shoplifting and indecent exposure.
And a rescue caught on tape in New Jersey. Rescuers dug for three hours to save a construction worker who had been buried alive in a trench collapse. He was conscious and breathing when they got him out. The hospital not reporting, though, the extent of his injuries.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we have more now on this tragic story out of Boston overnight. Two veteran firefighters, both fathers, killed fighting a fire and several other firefighters were also injured. We have the latest now from Ryan Schulteis. He's from our affiliate WHDH and he joins us from Boston right now.
Good morning, Ryan.
RYAN SCHULTEIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, Kiran.
As you can imagine, a very tough day for the Boston Fire Department. They just lost two of their own in the line of duty and two others are fighting for their lives at area hospitals here in Boston. This massive fire broke out at a Chinese restaurant around 9:00 last night right here on Center Street in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.
It spread very fast. Jump to four alarms. The fire department says that's when about a dozen firefighters became trapped and disoriented from the heavy smoke inside there. About 100 firefighters rushed to the scene here to get them out, but two did not make it. Their deaths shocking everyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED KELLY, PRESIDENT, BOSTON IAFF: Everyone's in mourning. Everyone's in shock. The firefighters, we live together, we eat together, we know each other's families. We're like brothers. And tonight we lost two of our brothers. Everyone's devastated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTEIS: And it's not only the firefighter families out here. It's the families that live in this neighborhood. Many keep coming up and asking us what's going on. When they find out, they're shocked. And it's, oh, my God, I can't believe that two firefighters and two fathers perished here around 9:00 last night.
The big question now, how did this happen? The investigation just getting started.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Ryan Schulteis, a terrible story out of Boston this morning from our affiliate WHDH. Thanks for being with us.
ROBERTS: Out west today it's all about the heat. Triple digit temperatures all across the southwest. Our Rob Marciano is in the Weather Center down there in Atlanta tracking the extreme weather across the country.
How bad's it going to be out there in the southwest today, Rob?
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, there's a new report out this morning really questioning Virginia Tech University officials and whether or not they missed some major warning signs and possibly did not do the right thing the morning of the shooting rampage that left 32 people killed at the hands of Seung-Hui Cho. Joining us now on the phone is Jummy Olabanji. She's a reporter with WCAV in Charlottesville, Virginia. She also went to high school with Cho and she was also a Virginia Tech graduate who knew two of the victims.
Jummy, thanks for being with us this morning.
JUMMY OLABANJI, WCAV REPORTER: Yes, not a problem.
CHETRY: So this report that comes out really does put a lot of the blame on Virginia Tech, saying that lives could have been saved, one, if officials had issued an alert sooner. People remember back to that April day there was a shooting that had taken place on one part of campus. And it was two hours after that then when campus officials notified students. And, of course, in the meantime, we know that Cho was able to go to Norris Hall, actually lock some of the doors with chains and locks and then begin another shooting rampage. What was your first reaction when he heard those conclusions, Jummy?
OLABANJI: Well, you know, I definitely thought it -- I was saddened by the results. I think the report shows that there was definitely a lot of miss communication between -- you know who was miss communicating, I can't say if it was one person or a group of people. But definitely something -- obviously the report says that something should have been done and the students should have been notified earlier. Who's to say how many more lives that would have saved. But I definitely think that, you know, if some of those students had woken up and read their e-mail a lot earlier and knew that something was going on, on campus, maybe they wouldn't have gone to class that day and maybe they would still be here today. CHETRY: The report also talks a lot about Cho's past, saying that teachers said he began showing suicidal and homicidal tendencies by the eighth grade. Now you went to the same high school as Cho. Was he a student that others in high school were afraid of?
OLABANJI: Not that I knew of. You know, people definitely knew him and other students would just be quiet, kind of outcasts. But I don't think, from a student perspective, you know, we all just thought he was one of the quiet kids. Now if there were people higher up who maybe knew something more, obviously that information wasn't communicated. But just from a student perspective, you know, nobody knew that he was capable of something like this.
CHETRY: Jummy Olabanji reporting from us from Charlottesville, Virginia, this morning.
Thanks.
ROBERTS: Twenty-three minutes after the hour now.
A former candy factory turns into a fireball and kids patiently wait for Batman to arrive. Oh, not just your average implosion there. A spectacular explosion that you'll see again on the big screen.
And grounded for speaking Arabic. The latest on an American Airlines flight and six passengers from Iraq, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And welcome back to the most news in the morning. Your "Quick Hits" now.
Police using tear gas, water cannons and clubs to hold back a crowd in Santiago, Chile. Hundreds were protesting the government, demanding everything from better health care to housing. Some reports say police arrested as many as 300 people.
Well, the flash bulbs followed her right up until the moment she died. Now some of Princess Diana's best pictures are on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Tomorrow it will be 10 years since Diana's death. CNN will bring you the special memorial service live from London tomorrow beginning at 7:00 a.m Eastern.
And they blew up the abandoned Brach candy factory in Chicago all for the Batman movie. It was a wave of heat. A plumb of smoke. There it goes. This is the best angle for a shot of how it looks. It goes down in a big ball of flames there. They used no special effects to do this. They wanted it to look authentic for the movie. It will be Gotham Hospital, by the way, in the next flick titled "The Dark Knight."
ROBERTS: All right. Here's a look now at a story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. Airport delays seem to be getting worse, not better. How many times have you been on the runway and not just at LaGuardia where they say, yes, we're number 15 for takeoff.
CHETRY: Right. They say they actually factor in delays now into your arrival times. But why? Even when it's not a holiday. We sent our Greg Hunter to try to find out. He says the design of some of the airports may actually be part of the problem and he's going to show us a new solution, coming up.
ROBERTS: The fact that they've only got two runways, is that . . .
CHETRY: Yes, perhaps.
Much more when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: The sun is coming up over New England this morning. A shot of downtown Boston. Our thanks to our friends at WHDH for that. 67 degrees and sunny right now, going up to a high of 83. Lots of sunshine there. Going to be a beautiful day, as it will across much of the country, particularly if you like heat in the desert southwest. It will be up to triple digits there today. Welcome back to -- sorry.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: 29 straight days for Phoenix.
ROBERTS: 110 degrees for Phoenix. 110 degrees, 29 straight days. Imagine the cumulative temperature of that.
CHETRY: Or the air-conditioning bill when it comes in.
ROBERTS: Welcome back. It's Thursday, the 30th of August. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. New this morning, market futures are pointing lower after the Dow rebounded yesterday. This morning's Wall Street Journal is reporting that investors should not expect the fed to move on interest rates. It's something that's been closely watched and talked about a lot. One Federal Reserve insider is saying the Central Bank is in no rush to cut the key interest rate to help boost stocks.
Firefighters in central California are on high alert this morning. They are hoping that the triple digit temperatures do not spark new flare-ups in a wildfire they've been battling in Fresno. It's already burned several hundred acres. That fire is mostly contained right now, but crews are dealing with a lot of hot spots.
ROBERTS: New today, what could have been done to prevent the Virginia Tech massacre? A report from the governor's office says the school, police and health counselors all missed opportunities to alert the campus and stop a mentally ill student long before he killed himself and 32 victims. The report also criticized university officials for not sending out an alert for two hours after the first killings there, that lives could have been saved had they done that. It also says that officials failed to identify Seung Hui Cho's obvious mental health problems because they misunderstood privacy laws.
An autopsy is under way this morning on 44-year-old Richard Jewell, a security guard once mistakenly suspected of setting off a bomb at Atlanta's Olympic Park during the 1996 Olympics. Jewell died at his home in Georgia. He had been suffering from diabetes and kidney failure. Jewell was cleared by the FBI of any involvement in bombing in what was an unprecedented government acknowledgement of wrong accusation. Back in 2005, extremist Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to that bombing at Atlanta's Olympic Park.
And it's being called an unfortunate incident. Six men from Iraq removed from an American Airlines plane in California because someone else on the plane was upset that they were speaking Arabic. It turns out the men were returning from Camp Pendleton where they were working for a defense contractor training Marines. Here is how one man reacted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE ALWATAN, IRAQI PASSENGER: Why we getting that, is we're helping our people here, the American people. Why getting treated like that? That's what we wonder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The men were questioned but quickly released. The flight was going from San Diego to Chicago. It was delayed long enough that passengers were put up in a hotel and took the flight yesterday morning.
CHETRY: Calls are growing louder this morning for Senator Larry Craig to resign after he was busted in a men's room sting. An editorial in the Idaho Statesman is calling for him to resign. They said, quote, "Craig seems more interested in hunkering down, operating from this a defensive state of denial. This is his prerogative. But he should not compromise Idaho interests in the process. If Craig wishes to keep his secrets, he may do so as a former U.S. Senator."
CNN's Jessica Yellin is live on Capitol Hill with more political fallout.
It seems really a battle back and forth. He actually, when he spoke at that press conference, Jessica, called out the Idaho Statesman, blaming them and saying it was a witch-hunt that got him in this mess in the first place.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: He clearly is directing a lot of his rage at that newspaper, you're right, but there's also a lot of pressure mounting from right here in the U.S. capital for Larry Craig to resign. Right now it is three and counting. That's the number of Republican members of Congress who are saying it's time for him to step down. This first came from Representative Pete Hoekstra, a Republican, who said his conduct was unbecoming of a U.S. Senator and reminded him he also represents the Republican Party. It was followed by Senator Norm Coleman and then Senator John McCain who said this to CNN's John King.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that he pled guilty and he had the opportunity to plead innocent. So I think he should resign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Now another presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, has said Americans will forgive a lot, but they will not forgive politicians for being hypocrites. Add this to Mitt Romney's description of Craig's behavior as disgusting and the White House expression of disappointed and you see that the pressure really is growing for Craig to step down. Already he has accepted the Republican leaderships request that he remove himself from leadership posts on key Senate committees, which is the source of much of the Senator's power. He has yet to say what his future plans are.
On a more personal note, the governor of the state of Idaho has said that he stands by Larry Craig and he says, "You don't really know who your friends are before you stumble and I want Larry and his wife to know that I stand by them." He is an old friend of Larry Craig's and reminds us of the personal as well as the political aspects of this story -- Kiran?
CHETRY: It is fascinating to see how a Washington scandal unfolds. There have been other things that Senators and Congress people have done that maybe seem like on par. But right now he has no one coming out in his defense except for the governor. But in Washington, from both sides of the aisle, it's been radio silence.
YELLIN: His junior Senator from Idaho says he, too, stands by him. But in general, it is a lot of criticism and not a lot of support. And the difference here with this scandal is that he pled guilty to a crime. It's not just an accusation, but a crime.
CHETRY: Jessica Yellin reporting for us from Capitol Hill. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Another spinach recall this morning to tell you about. It was about a year ago that the E. coli outbreak prompted a massive recall. This time it's salmonella. CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been investigating contaminated produce. He's live in Atlanta.
How serious is this latest recall and this latest problem with salmonella, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a good chance nobody will get sick from this. That's a good starting point. There are thousands of bags that are potentially affected by it. But the company that has distributed the spinach says it's going to destroy all the bags. In the event some of these get out to the consumers, there's a few things you should know and take action in terms of what this spinach specifically is. Take a look specifically what they're concerned about, both the 10-ounce and 16-ounce bags of Metz fresh bag spinach and cartons containing four 2.5-pound bags or 4-pound bags. Those are the cartons as well to be concerned about. There are specific lot numbers. I think they're going to be up on your web site, CNN.com in a little bit. Take a look at the numbers there. That's what's to be concerned about.
But again, they're talking specifically about destroying all of that spinach if some of it makes its way to the stores. If it makes its way to your refrigerators, just make sure to throw it away, John.
ROBERTS: Sanjay, we keep talking about bag spinach as opposed to bunched spinach. Why problems with the bags and not the bunched spinach?
GUPTA: That's something we investigated as well, John, all the way from the farm to the fork, literally. There's lots of different steps in the process as you might imagine. First of all, even a small amount of bacteria in one particular swathe of land could impact lots of different spinach. It's harvested, cut up and processed all together into these bags. Even though it's triple washed, if there's a small amount of bacteria in the bag, it can multiply. By the time it gets to a consumer's home, it may be a larger concentration, a concentration that gets you sick. Also the triple washing, John, as we were talking about before, while that does provide some benefit, if you get the bacteria on your hands subsequently, you can get it on other surfaces, other food items and that can be a problem as well, John.
ROBERTS: Yeah, easy to cross contaminate. Sanjay Gupta with the information for us this morning about the latest problems with spinach. Sanjay, thanks. We'll see you soon.
GUPTA: All right.
CHETRY: Still ahead, sadness and scandal on the eve of the 10- year anniversary of Princess Diana's death. New claims that the crash that killed her was murder. Is it just another conspiracy theory? We'll head live to Buckingham Palace for more on that story.
Why does it always seem your plane is 30th in line for take off? Airports delays are bad and they're getting worse. Why? And whether there's a solution that's being ignored. We're going to talk about that on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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ROBERTS: 18 minutes to go until the top of the hour. Welcome back to "AMERICAN MORNING." The annual tomato fight in Spain, the Tomatina Festival, is looking as crazy as ever. They say that 40,000 people took part this year tossing 117 tons of plum tomatoes. Local legend traces the event back to about 60 years when a group of kids got in a food fight near a vegetable stand.
You have to respect this. Skip Storch is trying to break the distance record for an unassisted swim by circling the island of Manhattan. He started yesterday afternoon, hopes to finish tonight. He has to cover more than 85.5 miles in less than 33.5 hours. We'll keep you posted on his progress.
All of that rain in the Midwest is having some delayed consequences. Standing water means a big mosquito invasion is on the way. Warnings are going out in areas like Minneapolis where they had a relatively dry and mosquito-free summer, until a recent onslaught of rain.
CHETRY: In Delaware, I got bitten up everywhere by mosquitoes. They're still itching me right now.
In you're traveling by air this Labor Day weekend, get ready unfortunately to wait. U.S. Airlines are expecting to carry more than 15 million passengers between now and next Wednesday. So far this year, nearly 1 million flights have been delayed an average of an hour or more.
"AMERICAN MORNING'S" Greg Hunter is at LaGuardia Airport in New York to take a look at why.
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GREG HUNTER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How many times have you seen this while waiting to fly? At New York's LaGuardia Airport, for example, there are just two runways for more than 1,000 flights a day in June. That means a plane is taking off or landing every two minutes.
Lack of runway space is a nationwide problem, according to the Barrett Burns, president of the Air Traffic Controllers Association.
(on camera): Your group asked the government to start building runways ten years ago?
BARRETT BYRNES, PRESIDENT, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION: Correct. And asked them to build 50 miles of runway per year to keep up with the potential demand that we're seeing now.
HUNTER: Did they do it?
BYRNES: No, they didn't.
HUNTER (voice-over): One that did, Atlanta's airport. The busiest airport in the country added a fifth runway last year. Officials say takeoff delays dropped by 78 percent.
The FAA says it expects some relief with a new multi-billion dollar program called Next Gen.
NARRATOR: Next Gen is about the development of a satellite-based 21st century air transportation system.
HUNTER: It's designed to give pilots more information that allows them to safely fly closer to each other, making air traffic more efficient. It won't start until 2013.
Meanwhile, the FAA says it plans to redesign air space in the busiest part of the world, New York City, hoping to reduce delays by 25 percent.
Byrnes says that won't fix the real problem.
BYRNES: LaGuardia and Newark are at 100 percent capacity right now. That's why you're seeing the delays.
HUNTER (on camera): Because of the runways?
BYRNES: Because of the runways, not enough runways, not enough places to put these airplanes.
HUNTER (voice-over): The FAA disagrees and tells CNN its Next Gen plan will be able to handle the traffic they are currently handling.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HUNTER: In 2013, when the government introduces Next Gen, it increases traffic by two to three times. What that means here at LaGuardia is two times, 2,000 flights a day, a plane taking off and landing every minute. If they triple that, that's three times, that's 3,000 flights a day from the 1,000 flights a day they have right now. That's a plane taking off and landing every 40 seconds. The people that I've talked with, the air traffic controllers, say that's not only going to be tight, that's going to be next to impossible.
If you would like to have more information about how to navigate this holiday season in terms of tips and also be able to check your flights, log on to CNN.com. Check onto "AMERICAN MORNING" and we have a web site there to help you do all that. Back to you guys in the studio.
CHETRY: Quickly, Greg, before I let you go, are there plans to build more runways though at these airports?
HUNTER: There are not. Over at Kennedy, for example, they have four runways but only three they can use at any one time because of safety measures. According to the air traffic controller that I talked to, they have 1,200 flights a day. If you double that, that's 2,400. If you triple that, that's 3,600 a day. I don't know where they would come up with the gate space. But the government says they'll be able to double or triple the nation's capacity by this new electronic system. We'll see.
CHETRY: All right, Greg Hunter. Very interesting. Thanks.
John?
ROBERTS: You can tell a lot about a person by the way they cradle their baby. That tops your "Quick Hits" now. A study out of Great Britain says mothers who held their babies in their right arm showed more signs of stress and could be at higher risk of depression. I'm still not sure why. And they say it's not always absolute.
Another study says your zip code could dictate your waist line. And it's go nothing to do with the number of zeros in your zip code. Researchers at the University of Washington say people who live in chic neighborhoods and more expensive homes were less likely to be obese. The study found that for every $100,000 increase in the homes, the neighborhood obesity rate fell by two percent.
On the eve of the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, a new firestorm of controversy claims that she was the victim of a murder plot and new suggestions now about a motive. The story, live from London, ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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ROBERTS: Coming up now at 10 minutes until the top of the hour. You might find it hard to believe, but tomorrow marks ten years since the death of Princess Diana. As the royal family prepares for a sweeping memorial service, the circumstances surrounding Diana's death are triggering fresh scandal and, again, talk of murder.
CNN's Paula Hancocks is live outside of Buckingham Palace with that story.
What is this one all about, Paula?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it's quite staggering. It has been ten years. There have been two official reports into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Both reports said it was a tragic car accident and it was fault of the driver, Henri Paul. He was drunk, on antidepressants and also was driving too fast. And still, there are so many who maintain there was something far more sinister behind the crash.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Ten years on, conspiracy theories still haunt the death of Princess Diana.
Mohammad al Fayed, the father of Dodi al Fayed, who died in the car along side of Diana, has single-handedly kept the murder allegation alive.
MOHAMMED AL FAYED, FATHER OF DODI AL FAYED: I am certain, 100 percent, that leading members of the royal family have planned that.
HANCOCKS: Al Fayed has accused Diana's ex-husband, Prince Charles, and the queen's husband, Prince Phillip, of playing a hand in the death, a claim denied by the royals and no official reports have substantiated the allegations.
Still Fayed remains convinced, saying Dodi and Diana we're about to announce their engagement.
MICHAEL COLE, AL FAYED SPOKESMAN: They would not have wanted Dodi, as a Muslim, to be marrying Diana, Princess of Wales.
HANCOCKS: Fueling the allegations of foul play, Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, claims Diana wrote him a letter less than a year before she died voicing fears she would the target of a deliberate car crash.
However, a French inquiry eight years ago ruled the driver, Henri Paul, was to blame. He was drunk, on antidepressants and driving too fast. A British police inquiry last year had similar findings.
But al Fayed refuses to accept his employee, Henri Paul, may have been responsible.
KEN WHARFE, DIANA'S FORMER BODYGUARD: This was a failure of the security that night that brought about the deaths of Diana and Dodi al Fayed, simply based on the grounds of a lack of experience.
HANCOCKS: The immediate public anger was leveled the paparazzi chasing Diana's car when it crashed. Some were arrested at the scene but subsequently released without charge.
KEN LENNOX, FORMER PHOTOGRAPHER: I think we all have a bit of guilty about Diana's death. The night she died, watching the paparazzi being arrested on television and the subsequent cloud and so on, there was a feeling of responsibility.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HANCOCKS: Now the full British inquiry into the deaths of Diana and Dodi al Fayed starts in October. That's going to be more than ten years after they died. Take into account it's still going to take several months before the coroner actually records his verdict. Even then, John, it's very unlikely that those who delight in conspiracy theories, those that specialize in these conspiracy theories are going to stop anything that goes at the Internet. At the moment, there are about 100 different theories on how she died at this point.
ROBERTS: What about the British public, are they still buying into these conspiracy theories or they saying, look, ten years on, enough, let it go?
HANCOCKS: To be honest, John, most of them said five years ago, enough with these conspiracy theories. Everyone knows it was a tragic car accident. Certainly, it has been Mohammed al Fayed that has kept many of these allegations alive. And after the report last December by the British police, who said it was a car accident, even Princes Williams and Harry said please, let's draw a line under this. Our mother died in a tragic way but top the conspiracy theories, please.
ROBERTS: Our Paula Hancocks outside of Buckingham Palace, Paula, thanks very much.
Join us tomorrow morning right here as London and the world remember the people's princess 10 years later. We'll take you live to a memorial service at the Guard's Chapel in London. Famous names like Elton John and, of course, the royal family will be on hand. The service is expected to begin at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. We'll take you there live -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Two TV stars continuing to make nice. Your "Quick Hits" now. 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. But their relationship started to improve a couple years ago when Oprah was a guest on his show.
Soccer's $32 million man sidelined with another injury. David Beckham forced out of his latest game with the L.A. Galaxy after he collided with another player, hurting his knee. There you see the shot. He's still dealing with an earlier ankle problem, as well. No word on how long he might be off the field this time.
Throwing the brakes on sliding gas prices. We're going to tell you what could cause prices at the pump to creep back up again, next on "AMERICAN MORNING.:
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ROBERTS: A couple minutes before the top of the hour. Don't expect the price of gas to go down after the Labor Day holiday, thanks in part to record low gasoline supply. Ali Velshi is here with "Minding Your Business.
You always bring a ray of sunshine to the show.
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL ANALYST: Yeah, seriously. And, you know, this is not one we were expecting.
CHETRY: I thought we blinked and we missed the gas prices went down.
VELSHI: Unbelievable.
CHETRY: I thought you said the reason no one was traveling -- not as many people were traveling for Labor Day because gas prices were up.
VELSHI: $2.77 is about what you pay for the national average for gasoline right now and that's down a fair bit since its high. But now we find out yesterday that oil and gasoline inventories are at record lows. Gasoline stockpiles in this country, based on current demand, we have enough for 20 days. That is historically the lowest we've ever had. It means we've got the lowest -- smallest amount of gas we've ever had. It means, based on our demand, we've got enough gas for 20 days. Refineries, a few of them are out and that sort of contributing to part of this problem.
What it means, is typically, after Labor Day, the price of gasoline goes down. Demand for gasoline goes down. Now, because of the fact we don't have all that much gasoline around, you're probably not going to see the same drops you normally see after Labor Day. Sorry.
CHETRY: Thanks.
VELSHI: Typically, you do see -- from Memorial Day to Labor Day, you see an increase in gas prices and you see it starting to settle. Apparently, that's not going to be the case this time. I try to bring you something happier next time.
CHETRY: All right. Well, looking at the bright side, we talked about gas possibly going over $3 a gallon. We didn't see that.
VELSHI: Yeah. Estimates right now are not that we're going to see an increase in the next few weeks, just that you usually see, in September, see a decrease and that's probably not going to happen until we ramp up our oil production.
ROBERTS: All right, Ali, thanks.
VELSHI: I won't actually have great news next time either, but I'll be back in a while.
ROBERTS: Well, we look forward to your next ray of sunshine.
CHETRY: Here's a look at a story coming up that you can't miss. You remember Michael Vick's infamous plea about dog fighting and his involvement in that. Well, merchandise keeps going to the dogs now it looks like.
ROBERTS: A couple days ago we told you about the autographed football that some kid gave to his dog and put on eBay. There's more out there.
CHETRY: That's right. Take a look at this picture, by the way. This is a Michael Vick critic feeding her dog the quarter back's trading cards. And there is a twist to this story. We're going to tell you how much.
ROBERTS: They were put on the auction block.
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