Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Man Flies Plane into Austin Building; Some Americans Freed From Haitian Jail; Suicidal Plane Pilot: Band Members Still in Shock; New Help, New Hope for Homeowners; Toyota Considering Changes In Its Push Button Ignition; Profile of Austin Suicide Pilot; Tiger's Mea Culpa

Aired February 19, 2010 - 06:59   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning to you. Thanks for joining us in the Most News in the Morning on this 19th of February. I'm John Roberts.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Sara Sidner in for Kiran Chetry this morning.

Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes. Authorities right now knee deep in the investigation to uncover why a man flew his plane into an office building in Austin, Texas. Starting a deadly inferno. We're live with more on who this lone pilot is and his 3,000 word suicide post on the web.

ROBERTS: It's becoming a more common feature in today's cars, the push button start. What happens though if your car suddenly takes off. There's no key that you can turn off in the ignition, so how do you kill the engine, we got important information on how to handle today's high tech automobiles.

SIDNER: It's Tiger Woods live and scripted? This morning, the world will watch him read a prepared statement apologizing for his behavior. Woods has hand picked the audience and will not take any questions. Some are questioning whether it's a wise first step towards rehabbing his image.

ROBERTS: First this morning though, we're learning new details about the events leading up to a lone pilot turning his plane into a weapon. His target, an Austin, Texas office building were nearly 200 employees of the internal revenue service work.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: First this morning thought we're learning new details about the events leading up to a lone pilot turning his plane into a weapon. His target, an Austin, Texas office building where nearly 200 employees of the Internal Revenue Service worked.

The crash ignited a deadly blaze, two bodies have been recovered, one believed to have been the pilot. His name is Joe Stack, a man who apparently battled the government for years, the IRS in particular. Here's what we found out about Stack overnight. Records out of California show the state suspended his license to do business twice, first for back taxes totally more than $1,100 and then for not paying them at all.

Stack's wife also reportedly complained to her parents about her husband's growing desperation and anger.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We have a look at what amounts to stack's suicidal rant from his Web site. He used the Internet to rail against the IRS and blamed the government for his financial failures. The six page message gives some indication of Stack's emotional state before he climbed behind the controls of his plane.

Describing his actions as a long-time coming, Stack wrote, quote, "I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different. Take my pound of flesh and sleep well."

ROBERTS: So what kind of person was Joe Stack before he snapped? In his Internet message he used words like "desperate," "stuck," and "with a storm raging inside his head."

SIDNER: But ask his friends, those who supposedly knew him really well, that's not what you'll hear at all. Our David Mattingly did just that. He's live in Austin this morning. David, did you see any signs of the friends of some sort of violence, thinking he might some sort of violence like this?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the mystery here, Sara. This man in his online rants indicated he had problems with the IRS for decades. But his friends say they never saw one single hint of anger.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: A tormented rant posted online and his deadly actions speaking volumes. Joe Stack seems the picture of rage, nothing at all like the man some remembered as outgoing, friendly, and not the least by violent.

MATTINGLY (on camera): At any time did he ever seem he had a temper, that he might have been angry at anybody?

RIC FURLEY, JOSEPH STACK'S FORMER BAND MATE: Not to my knowledge, not at all. I never saw that side of him. He was very laid back, warm guy. At the end of rehearsal, we would hug each other goodbye. This is completely unexpected.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Rick Furley knew Stack for two years, not as an uptight software engineer, but as an easygoing musician. The two shared the stage playing rockabilly in Austin. Stack played bass guitar.

MATTINGLY (on camera): What was your reaction when you heard about it? FURLEY: I kind of freaked out.

MATTINGLY: And you thought you knew him well?

FURLEY: I did think I knew him well. It never occurred to me that something -- he would be capable of something like this.

MATTINGLY: And that seems like the Joe Stack others remembered when he worked on the west coast. David Page was the mechanic who serviced Stack's private plane. Stack would fly frequently to jobs in Silicon Valley from his home.

DAVID PAGE, JOSEPH STACK'S MECHANIC: He was a hardworking guy, self-employed. I think pretty much his life was work. He liked flying his airplane. He was a very accomplished pilot. It is hard to believe. I can't imagine he would take out his frustrations in that sort of way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And Stack's friends say that they never heard him ever complain about money. He had a nice house in a nice neighborhood here in Austin, had his own private plane, seemed to be living a comfortable life and seemed to be happy with the life he had. Sara, John?

SIDNER: All right, thank you, David.

And just five minutes away this morning, more insight into Joe Stack's life, including if there were any warning signs of what he was about to do. We're live with his band mate, Billy Eli and drummer, Eric Furley.

ROBERTS: Three of the American missionaries released from a Haitian jail are back home in Idaho this morning. Nearly 200 people were there to greet them with cheers and balloons and hugs. The other missionaries are back in their hometowns too.

SIDNER: The future of their case is still unclear. So is what will happen to the two who are still in a Haitian jail, what will happen to those two? Our Dan Simons is tracking the story this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMONS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For a moment, it felt like the middle of a church service. But this is the arrival area of the Boise airport. Hugs are always common here with people coming off airplanes, but this time they were a little tighter and longer.

Carla Thompson reuniting with her husband after three long weeks in a Haitian jail.

CARLA THOMPSON, FREED FROM HAITIAN JAIL: Our god is a mighty god and he stood with us every second we were there. SIMONS: Nicole Langford and her mother Karina also the center of the midnight celebration. But there was also unmistakable grief with two church members, Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter, still in custody while Haitian authorities continue to investigate their role in building an orphanage and transporting Haitian children.

REV. CLINT HENRY, FREED MISSIONARIES' PASTOR: It's a celebration but one that is also tempered because we still have two down there.

SIMONS: There were similar rallies Thursday, one in Texas --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad to be home and glad to be back.

SIMONS: -- another in Kansas City. It was the end of a three- week ordeal that became an unwanted distraction to the Haitian government that wanted to focus its entire energy on its own people. Back in Boise, a now beaming Carla Thompson couldn't wait for another chance to clean up.

THOMPSON: I'm going to take my fourth shower.

(LAUGHTER)

SIMONS: Down here in baggage claim there was nothing to collect because they left all of their belongings behind. Even their passports are still in Haiti. The State Department had to print up I.D. documents just so they could hop on an airplane.

They are home, but their mission, well, not accomplished. But Josh Thompson is just happy to have his mother back.

Dan Simon, CNN, Boise, Idaho.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Questions still remain on that story.

Also new this morning, President Obama is in Las Vegas holding a couple events to talk about jobs. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, facing a tough reelection, is with the president. One big question, will the president apologize for recent comments he made that irked some in Nevada. Earlier this month the president said "You don't blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you're trying to save for college."

A warning this morning for the millions of Americans who suffer from asthma and parents with kids who carry around an inhaler. It covers long-lasting drugs like Advair. Doctors say a muscle relaxant ingredient in those drugs could mask a serious asthma attack until the person is literally gasping for air.

The FDA says those drugs should only be used by asthmatic who's can't control their lung disease with other medications.

SIDNER: And some amazing video of a dangerous rockslide in San Dimas, California, about 30 miles east of L.A., an entire hillside came down, blocking two roads near Interstate 10. The roads could be closed for a week.

Officials say the hill was completely saturated, and with more rain in the forecast, they are worried about more of the same this weekend there.

(WEATHER BREAK)

SIDNER: There's a chance many of you heading to your car this morning have it, a push button ignition. But in an emergency, would you know how to turn the car off when there's no key? In a moment, the answer that could save your life.

ROBERTS: Plus, the Navy is now investigating the surgery that former Congressman John Murtha received just days before he died suddenly. Did doctors do something wrong during the procedure? Our Elizabeth Cohen is on the story this morning. It's nine minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

Authorities say he is the man behind an airplane attack yesterday. Joe Stack, a father and software engineer and a former member of the Billy Eli band.

This morning we're joined by two members of that band, Billy Eli himself and the band's drummer Rick Furley. They join us this morning from Birmingham and Houston. Gentlemen, good to see you this morning. Thanks so much for taking the time to help us understand a little bit more about the man behind this.

Billy, let me start with you. Joe Stack left your band several years ago, but you had an opportunity in recent months to catch up with him. What was he like at that time? What is his demeanor? Can you sort of try to uncover the man that Joe stack was a little for us here?

BILLY ELI, LEADER, BILLY ELI BAND: Well, the last time I spoke with Joe was about early December, and he was the same Joe stack that he had been three years that he played in my band. You know, he didn't seem distraught or anything like that. Just, you know, regular, easygoing Joe.

ROBERTS: Rick, we've got pictures of the band playing together that we want to put up. When Billy says he was just regular Joe, who is regular Joe?

FURLEY: Well, I think he means that in a complementary way because I never saw him in a bad mood or speaking negatively about anyone or anything. And this has just been a really big surprise. I wish I could see the pictures. I'd like to know what you were showing.

ROBERTS: Just some pictures of the band standing together it looks like in, and there's a picture of Joe wearing the cowboy hat we have seen him wear in so many other pictures.

But Rick, Billy said he got no sense from Joe the last time he saw him in December that anything was wrong. Did you ever get that sense from him?

FURLEY: Never. It's been longer since I've seen Joe as well, but this is nothing we plan on this -- I didn't see it, and I'm not real sure what to think about all of this. He was hiding or had this buried deep inside of him somehow and we never knew it. If it was going on at the same time where we were working together, it's even more of a surprise.

ROBERTS: It would seem apparent from this six-page note left on the Internet he had been troubled for some time. Billy, at the time that you had met him, he was, if this is in fact his writing, and there's no reason to believe it's not, that he was in the middle of a very tormented period in his life.

He said that this note, he was trying to write it as a form of therapy. He said in the note "There isn't enough therapy in the world that can fix what's really broken." He also said he "couldn't gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head."

Have you read any of this note, this manifesto, whatever you want t call it? What kind of insight does it give us as to what might have been happening in his life?

ELI: I haven't actually read any of the manifesto. I've heard quotes of some of the things he said. And again, the only thing I can say about that was he hid that really well.

Obviously he was some serious distress and in real despair. He was really good at keeping that to himself. In my case, and you know, I can only speak for what I saw, just very demeanor that it takes to write something like that, I never saw that.

BILLY ELI, FMR. BANDMATE OF JOSEPH STACK: I never so that. And you know, I'm just -- this has been such a shock because it just -- it was totally out of character from Joe Stack that I played in a band with for three years.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: You know, when Billy says, Ric, that it was totally out of character, what was Joe's character when you were playing in the band together? How did he comport himself? What sort of fellow was he?

RIC FURLEY, BANDMATE OF JOSEPH STACK: Just extremely professional, and I think Billy will agree. He knew what to play, he knew the parts. He didn't, you know, he didn't let us down. You know, he was just a good guy to have in the band and we appreciated his input. And he helped produce this last album that they've -- I know they have the album cover and he produced that. And we recorded that in his house. I don't think it was the same house. But, you know, he was just very dependable and, you know, we liked him.

ROBERTS: There's another excerpt from his writings that I wanted to put up here in the screen to show people at home. He really felt like he was abandoned by the government, if you read this document, that the government was willing to bailout, you know, the fat cats, the financial institutions but seemingly unwilling to do much for the little guy. He said, quote, "In my lifetime, I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any manner with the likes of me or my interests in mind, nor for that matter are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say."

I think it's probably safe to say, Billy, that there are a lot of people in America who might share those sentiments but weren't about to get into a plane and crash it into a building trying to take other lives. I mean, such a selfish act on one person's part. How do you reconcile that, what he did with the person that you know him to be?

ELI: Well, there's no way to reconcile that and you can't -- or I can't in any way, try to defend his actions of Tuesday morning because they're indefensible. I mean, that's all there is to say about that.

And you know, again, the despair that he must have felt and -- I just -- like you said just now that probably a lot of people, you know, feel like that to some degree and they don't, you know, harm others or crash a plane into a building. And the level of hopelessness and that he must have been feeling, just -- I can't speak to that exactly because he never let -- he never let me see that.

ROBERTS: Right.

ELI: I never saw that at all or anything even like that. He was -- he was cheerful. He was easy to work with. He was the consummate team player. And you know, he was a solid contributor, but just show up and do his stuff and cheerfully go about his responsibilities, you know.

ROBERTS: Somewhere along the road that definitely went way off the rails. Billy Eli, Ric Furley, thanks for joining us this morning. Help us try to understand a little more about what happened yesterday. Really appreciate your input, gentlemen, thanks.

FURLEY: Thanks, John.

ELI: Thank you.

ROBERTS: It's 18 minutes now after the hour. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: What Gerri Willis doesn't know is that you can see her in that --

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she can dance.

Twenty-one minutes after the hour. And that means time for "Minding Your Business." Gerri Willis here dancing but nobody is dancing when it comes to these foreclosures, like a tsunami of foreclosures coming.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Absolutely, absolutely. We're expecting something like three million this year alone, and that's the reason the president is trying to find more help for people who are under water in their mortgages, can't pay their mortgages

Today, later this morning in Nevada, he'll announce a new program, some $1.5 billion to go to state agencies to help people who are having trouble paying their mortgage. Now, qualifications here, it has to be states where the home prices have dropped over 20 percent and there's high unemployment.

I know, you're thinking that's the entire country, but in fact some states are harder hit than others. Arizona, Florida, California, Nevada and Michigan are really deeply troubled on these topics and that's where that money is going to go.

You know, they're really going to focus in here on people who have lost their jobs and trying to keep their house, people who are under water in their mortgage. That is they owe more than the house is worth. People who have taken out HELOC, second loans in their homes and can't refi because of that.

Now, you know, yesterday guys we were talking about making home affordable, right? And this is the program the president put in place just a year ago. It has been spectacularly unsuccessful. Only 12 percent of the people out there who have applied for this program have actually gotten help. They're really struggling to get traction on it. In fact, the president has called in bankers from all over the country to come in and browbeat them into really working on this program. It hasn't worked. So this is yet another effort. But again as we were saying, just $1.5 billion for this effort.

ROBERTS: And when you compare it to the other programs, it's --

WILLIS: A drop in the bucket.

ROBERTS: Again, you can't just keep handing out money forever and ever and ever.

WILLIS: Right.

SIDNER: You've got to find a fix somehow.

ROBERTS: Yes.

SIDNER: Terrible.

ROBERTS: Gerri Willis "Minding Your Business" this morning. Gerri, thanks so much.

Twenty-three minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-five and a half minutes after the hour. Toyota's president pulling a 180, now saying that he will testify before Congress in next week's hearing about the automaker recalls. President Akio Toyoda originally declined the invitation to go before Congress saying his American president would be a better choice to answer questions about the recalls. The automaker's president has been criticized for not speaking up sooner about Toyota's troubles.

SIDNER: And this morning, Toyota is considering changes to its push button ignition, a feature on a growing number of cars. But as it turns out, many drivers don't fully understand how the system works, unable to shut the car off when there's an emergency. Here's Deb Feyerick with an "A.M. Original."

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Sara, what would you do if your car went out of control? Well, the Toyota recall has prompted a lot of drivers to think about that. What will they do in the event of an emergency? With new high-tech electronics and push button ignitions, it's more complicated than you think.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): Wally Brittany (ph) was driving his 2007 Toyota Avalon last August and had just merged on to Interstate-5 in San Diego when the car started acting strangely.

WALLY BRITTANY (ph), TOYOTA CAR OWNER: That's where I noticed the acceleration, that the engine was speeding up and I was -- my feet weren't on the gas pedal.

FEYERICK: Brittany (ph) says the car jumped from 50 to 70 an hour, seemingly on its own and he was starting to panic.

BRITTANY (ph): I believe I pushed the stop button to try to get the car to stop. And I can even push it now and the car is still running. It's, you know -- it's not stopping.

FEYERICK: Like many new models the Toyota Avalon has no key, instead a push button activated by a small transmitter or thob (ph) turns the car on and off. Brittany had not read the car's lengthy manual cover to cover and had no idea that in an emergency, the only way to stop the car was to hold down the ignition for three seconds.

FEYERICK: Was it surprising?

BRITTANY: What was surprising was to be totally feeling like you're out of control and somewhat helpless.

FEYERICK: Toyota says the three-second delay is a safety feature to prevent accidental engine shut off while driving. The company acknowledges the feature may not be well understood. Five years ago 19 car models had keyless ignition systems. Today that number has soared. Nearly 140 have push buttons not traditional keys, and those push buttons vary from car to car.

FEYERICK (on camera): Everybody takes for granted that driving a car is something simple. Because of all these changes it's not as simple as you may think it is.

KARL BRAUER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, EDMUNDS.COM: No, it's become a far more complex thing with far less standardization across manufacturers, and it leaves a lot of potential problems when an emergency situation arise and you have no idea how to control the car from a fundamental level.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Karl Brauer is editor-in-chief of the popular auto Web site edmunds.com.

BRAUER: There should be a standard way to stop the car that everyone knows as intuitively as turning the key --

FEYERICK: So far the government doesn't require those standards, but an automotive industry group says it's working on developing a uniform keyless ignition system so that all models shut down the same way, especially in an emergency.

FEYERICK (on camera): In this car we have airbags and children. We have high roll over risk, but we don't have how to turn a car off if it's accelerating out of control, for example.

BRAUER: And I think that -- you're going to see that. That is coming.

FEYERICK (voice-over): It did not come in time for California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor and his family involved in a fatal crash. The sheriff's report concluded the officer may not have known about the three-second shutoff rule in the Lexus Sedan he was driving. Toyota denies the keyless starter was a contributing factor in that sudden acceleration accident. That accident happened a week after Wally Brittany's incident which he describes as frighteningly similar.

FEYERICK (on camera): Did that accident sort of validate exactly what you yourself had experienced?

BRITTANY: Oh, it definitely validated and reinforced my feeling that I had to do something to find a solution. And yes, it was clear that there could have been a really horrible outcome as it was in his case for him and his family.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Brittany finally managed to stop his Toyota by shifting gears enough to control the vehicle. He traded it in for a 2009 Avalon after two Toyota mechanics failed to find the cause of the acceleration.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: One thing to keep in mind is if you do shut off the engine, you'll lose power steering and braking, making it hard but not impossible to control your car -- John, Sara.

ROBERTS: Deb Feyerick for us this morning. Deb, thanks so much.

And for an in-depth look of the Toyota recall, go to CNN.com/Toyota. Find out whether you're driving one of the 8.5 million cars that have been recalled and what to do if your gas pedal sticks.

SIDNER: All right. 30 after the hour now. Checking your top stories.

This morning about two dozen U.S. Marines are behind enemy lines in Marjah, Afghanistan. The military there says they were air dropped into an area where Taliban marksmen are known to operate. The commander of the U.S. Marines in Marjah now says Allied forces control the "spine of the town."

ROBERTS: Their own supreme leader saying this morning that it is not seeking and doesn't believe in pursuing nuclear weapons. That's in response to a draft report from the U.N. nuclear watch dog agency which says Iran may be secretly developing a nuclear warhead. The report outlines the ways that the country is directly defying U.N. sanctions.

SIDNER: All right. This one has parents furious. A school district in Pennsylvania suburb is accused of using web cams on school issued laptops to spy on students. A federal law (INAUDIBLE) says Lower Merion School district officials can turn them on remotely and that some students were captured as they undressed and in other private situations and of course, parents outraged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN GOTLIEB, DAUGHTER HAD ONE OF SCHOOL'S LAPTOPS: How do I trust the school district when they've done something like this? It's a complete violation of our privacy. I mean, this is no different than sticking a camera in a locker room at a fitness center or in a changing room in a department store.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Families got wise when an assistant principal talked about inappropriate behavior that happened outside of school grounds.

Violence is not only the answer, it is the only answer. Those words from Joe Stack as he seized about the government in a 3,000 word statement posted on the internet, that before his suicide flight into an Austin building. What might have pushed him to pass the boiling point.

Here to help us understand, Joe Navarro, a former FBI profiler. He is in Tampa joining us this morning. Thank you so much for being here. Let's start with this. First things first, we always do this. We try to figure out if this kind of attack could have been stopped? Were there any clues, but his close friends are saying that he was a regular guy. Can a person like this really keep the anger and frustration in and keep it from everybody who really knew them, keep it from them?

JOE NAVARRO, FBI PROFILER: Well, unfortunately yes, and you know, obviously we have a large history of cases like this. John Wayne Gascy had 26 bodies under his house. Look at the Columbine high school shooters, the family didn't know. And unfortunately what goes on in the mind often remains there.

What is apparent from this manifesto that we've seen is that this individual is a wound collector and he carried a lot of luggage for over 20 years.

SIDNER: Now, I'm sure you've taken a look at this supposed suicide note that we spoke of. And I want to read a quote here, it is says -- it really extremely articulate I have to say and also it's filled with a lot of anger and you talked about the fact that seemed to be going on for years and years and years.

Let's look at this quote, it says, basically, there on the screen -- it says "I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at 'big brother' while he strips my carcass. I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me. I choose not to pretend that business as usual won't continue. I have just had enough." You talked about this. Something that was building or what do you think may have pushed him over the edge to commit such a violent act?

NAVARRO: Yes, Sara, we don't know what the trigger was for this to occur right now. It may be that April 15th is looming around the corner. One thing from the manifesto is he lashed out at 27 different entities, everything from the Catholic church to big business to unions to other things.

So he's been collecting a lot of wounds. You sense there's a high level of narcissism because he never looks at himself. He's always pointing outward as to the causes of his problems. And I think here's an individual who has run out of options and so this has festered for a long time and it became very toxic here near the end.

SIDNER: And just one last thing, it seems to be a targeted attack at this point investigators saying against the IRS, the government agency that frankly many Americans love to hate. Will all this attention around this attack and seeing and hearing the words of this very, very angry man, is that going to create a copycat, do you think?

NAVARRO: Well, there's always the danger of a copycat. You know, there's a sort of grandiosity in going out in a spectacle and this is exactly what this individual has done and hopefully other people won't copy it. But here's an individual who I think when we do the psychological background on him. We're going to find -- there's a long history of grievances that have been laying there percolating for a very long time.

SIDNER: And just do you think there was any way maybe in the future for people to stop something like this from happening, or is this just going to be something we have to deal with? NAVARRO: Well, I mean, it's helpful when family members can step in and assist, but a lot of times these individuals don't want any help. And we get a sense from his own writings if these are legitimate, that he was trying to handle this by himself. He never sought any kind of assistance from a mental health professional. And this was boiling up inside of him. And just finally reached a point where something triggered it in him recently and this is what we have.

SIDNER: Well, judging from his writing, he seemed like a really smart, articulate guy who maybe thought he could figure it out on his own and just couldn't.

NAVARRO: Yes.

SIDNER: Thank you so much for being here.

NAVARRO: You bet.

ROBERTS: Well, golfer Tiger Woods to speak publicly for the first time since the Thanksgiving night accident and the unraveling of his life that occurred the weeks after that. Is this the first step back to repairing his image? And when will Tiger be back on the links. We'll examine all of that, coming up. It's 36 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. In more than three hours, Tiger Woods speaks publicly for the first time since his infidelity was made public. It's a statement only affair, no questions from the handful of reporters who had been handpicked by Woods and some golf journalists are boycotting the session because of that one-way conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM GRAY, GOLF CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: I do want to tell you this, we were given this news, that the Golf Writers Association who had three seats tomorrow in the room with Tiger to listen to this along with the wire service, three people from each wire service and one pool camera, well, the golf writers have pulled out. They will be boycotting the session. They do not like the premise and they do not like the fact they will not be able to ask any questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Meantime, the PGA Tour commissioner says in a letter that Tiger Woods will return to sex rehab following his public statement. When Woods issues that apology will his estranged wife be at his side and when will he be back on the golf course.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is live in Ponte Vedra, Florida this morning, where Woods will make his announcement. Susan, what do we know? SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. Well, on his web site, anyway, Tiger Woods says he believes that fundamentally what happened is between him and his wife. He knows he let his fans down and he wants to win them back. But will he be able to? Well, maybe this morning we'll start to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): With Tiger Woods personal and professional life mired in the rough, can an apology get him back on course?

LAUREN MACKLER, AUTHOR, "SOLEMATE": This new image that he has is in complete contradiction to his wunderkind, golden boy image he's had since he was really little. So I'm sure that it's a very humiliating and devastating and embarrassing experience for him.

CANDIOTTI: His agent says the world's most infamous golfer knows it's time for him to make amends and today's mea culpa is step one.

LARRY WOODARD, VIGILANTE ADVERTISING: Potential sponsors really are looking for Tiger to accept the baggage that he has and walk out of the room with them and change into his golf clothes and win in a spectacular fashion.

CANDIOTTI: Those bags have been following him since the car wreck heard around the world. On his web site, Woods admitted cheating on his wife, Elin. His agent says Tiger has been in therapy for his problem. Until this photo of him jogging emerged this week, Tiger has gone virtually unseen.

KATE COYNE, EDITOR "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: He has done a masterful job at staying completely under wrap.

CANDIOTTI: "People" magazine reports the couple has been living apart. Elin and their two children in the couple's sprawling Florida mansion and Tiger in a home in the same private development.

COYNE: They kept things very normal for the kids. She continues to take them to their classes and lessons and play dates.

CANDIOTTI: The scandal also has cost him financially. Accenture and AT&T dropped their sponsorships. Though Nike and EA Sports are hanging tight. But will wife Elin stand by her man.

COYNE: I think most people are going to be very surprised if she's at this press conference, that it would be just humiliating for her.

CANDIOTTI: Humiliating for her and annoying for some players on the tour like Rory McIlroy.

RORY MCILROY, GOLFER: I'm sick of hearing about him.

CANDIOTTI: The PGA Tour is standing firmly by his side, without Tiger ratings and revenues sink. Could a comeback make him more popular than ever?

WOODARD: More people know him than knew him before. More people will be curious, than we were before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And of course, a lot of people are curious. Now, among them, reporters but we won't be able to get up close and personal with Tiger. See that building over my shoulder is a Marriott Hotel ballroom and that is where reporters will be able to watch Tiger from a distance via closed circuit TV. Tiger will be making his statement about a mile away from here at the PGA Tour clubhouse.

In fact, security is so tight there we will not be allowed to have a camera outside the building to even see him go in. John, it will be a very special event and one that I won't be able to see first hand. I'll be watching it on television like you.

ROBERTS: I think a lot of people will be watching this thing. All right. Susan Candiotti for us this morning. Susan, thanks so much.

By the way, you can see Tiger Woods' statement live on CNN and on cnn.com at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

SIDNER: All right. Winter finally taking a break. Thank goodness. At least for now. Rob Marciano up next with the weather.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: I can't help myself.

That is Miami, my old hometown. Mom is there. I'm so far away from where I normally work in India, so I have to say hi to mom.

ROBERTS: Good morning, Mom!

SIDNER: Hi, Mom!

Fifty degrees, mostly cloudy, coming up to about 69 degrees. Not bad, but cold for people in Miami.

ROBERTS: That's WSBN, by the way, the station that's bringing is this shot, Rick Sanchez's old home.

SIDNER: I used to watch him.

ROBERTS: I used to live in Miami, too.

SIDNER: See? We're all connected in some -- some way.

ROBERTS: It's like, you know, Seven Steps to Kevin Bacon, right?

SIDNER: And you, Rob? Been to Miami? Enjoyed it? What's going on there?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I've -- I've -- Sara, I've seen your mom on South Beach and...

SIDNER: OK.

MARCIANO: And, you know, she looks fabulous. I'll just say that.

SIDNER: OK, Rob.

MARCIANO: It runs in the family.

Good morning, John. Good morning, Sara.

South Beach is going to be nice today, but still on the cool side, temperatures in the upper 60s. They should be lower 70s by this time of the year. Trying to get things back to average, at least, the eastern half. I think tomorrow we'll have better luck with that until the next surge of cold air comes in the place. That looks good.

We do have a system that's rolling through the Plains right now and it is strengthening. Not a -- not a huge storm, but it's got a little bit of moisture. We'll see snow up to about 5 inches in spots, maybe some sleet and freezing rain in places like Kansas City, up through southern parts of Iowa, Columbia.

Missouri seeing a little bit of rain right now, rain down across parts of Texas. That's kind of feeding into the system. Just west of Kansas City, we're seeing some heavier rains begin to move through Wichita and it may mix in at times through Kansas City. So a bit of a slow go here, and then turning over to snow as you get towards St. Joseph.

All right, out to the west, we've got a pretty good plume of moisture and a couple of storm system coming in to California, 6 to 12 inches expected, in the (INAUDIBLE) of Utah, 12 to 24, especially in the San Juan to Southern Colorado, maybe as much as 3 feet. So this weekend, especially Sunday, just looks fantastic.

By the way, take a look at the drought monitor from two years ago. Extreme drought across the southeast, a lot of drought across part of the west. We have made an amazing recovery, only about 7 percent of the U.S. is in any sort of drought right now. Ironically, Hawaii has the biggest amount of drought.

All right, let's go over to -- from Hawaii over to North Queensland, Australia. This cool video coming from a farm where a rare tornado touched down there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO (voice-over): If you look -- it's kind of fuzzy, but if you look closely enough, the -- the actual twister is -- is spinning clockwise. Most twisters in the north -- in North America will spin the other way. But nonetheless, just a little bit of damage and everybody escaped uninjured.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MARCIANO: That's the latest from here. John and Sara, back up to you guys.

SIDNER: Thank you, Rob.

ROBERTS: Wow! Look what it's doing to my pool? Is that what she said?

SIDNER: I thought he (ph) said my car. My what? Corn. Corn.

ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) corn, pool, car...

SIDNER: I think we're all...

MARCIANO: It -- it was a corn farm. It's a corn field.

SIDNER: You guys, stop drinking those martinis back there.

MARCIANO: Yes. It's Friday.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you guys.

ROBERTS: The crew of space shuttle Endeavour getting ready to head back home. The shuttle's scheduled to undock with the International Space Station around 8:00 Eastern tonight, the doors already locked and sealed. But, before the crews went their separate ways, they had a little ribbon cutting ceremony for the new ISS lab Tranquility.

Look at the views here, all those windows looking down on the planet.

English-born astronaut Nicholas Patrick says with its awesome views of the Earth, Tranquility would be a great place to have a pint.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLAS PATRICK, NASA ASTRONAUT: As to how this compares to -- to a pint in a pub, I would have to say there's a lot of the same friendly atmosphere up here. If we had beer up here, it would make the best pub in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: You know, isn't that always the British way?

SIDNER: You have to have a pub.

ROBERTS: Everything in life somehow relates to having a pint in pub.

SIDNER: It's true.

ROBERTS: Endeavor is scheduled to land in Cape Canaveral on Sunday night.

This morning's top stories just minutes away, including a pilot's kamikaze mission in Austin, Texas, the storm clouds forming in his head, as he put it, before the crash. What the pilot was thinking before he flew his plane into an office building. We're live from the crash site this morning.

SIDNER: And then at 5 after, no more operation Iraqi freedom. The war getting a new name, but what's in a name and why now?

ROBERTS: And at 10 minutes after, former vice president Cheney declaring President Obama a one-termer at the biggest gathering of conservatives of the year. How could 2010 shape up after this weekend? John Avlon and Candy Crowley weigh in.

Those stories and more coming your way at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's time now for your "A.M. House Call."

The Navy is reviewing the surgery and the care provided to the late Congressman John Murtha. The congressman had his gall bladder removed at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and died 11 days later. He was 77 years old.

SIDNER: Our own Elizabeth Cohen broke the news that surgical error was likely the cause. She joins us now from Atlanta with the very latest.

Elizabeth, how could something like this go so terribly wrong in this case?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what? We're learning so much more about what might have happened here. We're hearing both from military sources and from sources close to Murtha that it appears that his intestines were nicked.

This is known complication of gall bladder surgery. When it happens, a person can get a terrible infection and can die.

Let's take a look at what happens, because when you see the anatomy, I think you'll see how easily this can happen. Here is the gall bladder right there, and here are the intestines, and the laparoscope would -- could come from this direction. So you can see that it is not a terribly difficult thing to nick the intestines.

Now, also, let's take a look at how quickly this can happen. He had his surgery on January -- January 28th, and on January 31st, he was admitted, not just to the hospital but to intensive care.

ROBERTS: So is it -- is there anything -- what -- what's it called? Is it peritonitis? Is that what it's called when you nick the bowel and bacteria that's inside the intestines gets out? Is -- is there anything that could have been done, Elizabeth, in that time period between him going home from the surgery and then him coming back to intensive care?

COHEN: You know, John, this is where you really have to be an aware and an empowered patient, because in those two days it's likely that he felt something, that he felt some discomfort or felt a bit ill.

And -- and of course we're not trying to blame the patient, but if you feel anything at all strange following a surgery, you have got to go back to that surgeon, even if you think you're being a wimp, even if you think you're overreacting, it is so important to go back.

The worse thing that'll -- that'll happen is they'll say, oh, no, it's -- it's nothing. You're fine. But that really is the best prevention is to react, and if you need to overreact to any feelings that you have after surgery.

ROBERTS: Yes, because in a situation like that, you got a massive bacterial infection, you're probably going to have a lot of pain, a lot of discomfort, and probably be running a high fever, too, right?

SIDNER: Yes.

COHEN: Not necessarily right at that point, but of course eventually that is what would happen. It's unclear what -- how the congressman felt in the two days, you know, between January 28th and January 31st, but it's pretty likely that he felt something.

ROBERTS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning. Elizabeth, thanks so much.

SIDNER: All right, we're back with the top stories in just 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)