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American Morning
Cap Placed on Ruptured Well; Tar Balls Blemish Beaches; Tar Balls Blemish Beaches; Obama "Furious" About Oil Crisis; New Era In Space Flight; Economy Adds Jobs in May; First Lady Leads Effort to Combat Child Obesity; Joran Van Der Sloot Arrest
Aired June 04, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. We are following many developments on the oil disaster in the Gulf on this AMERICAN MORNING for Friday, June 4th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us.
Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
It's an extraordinarily important day. Hopes that the crude can finally be captured, BP places a containment device over the ruptured pipe. That worked. But, so far, oil still spewing into the Gulf, but we're told it is designed to for the moment.
We're following the progress.
CHETRY: And all along the Gulf Coast, the tar balls the size of pancakes are now on beaches, ruining vacations, crushing tourisms, and slowly destroying a way of live for millions. Rob Marciano is live from the shores of Alabama this morning, where catastrophe is unfolding in slow motion.
ROBERTS: And President Obama is heading to the Gulf for the third time today. Our White House team reporting that he'll meet with local business owners, fishermen and national incident commander, Admiral Thad Allen. We're breaking down the politics of the spill with our chief political correspondent Candy Crowley and CNN political contributor, James Carville, this morning.
CHETRY: And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now. Just go to our Web site, CNN.com/amFIX.
ROBERTS: We are following major developments right now from a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico. Live pictures of the giant plumes of oil and gas spewing into the water -- somewhere in that toxic cloud, a top cap sits atop the severed pipeline. Even if it does work, it's not designed to contain all of the gushing oil.
CHETRY: And later this morning, President Obama will make his third visit to the Gulf Coast. And he's bringing with him a $69 million invoice for BP
Meanwhile, the administration has approved the use of 17,500 National Guard troops to take part in the cleanup.
ROBERTS: Earlier, I spoke to Doug Suttles -- he's the chief operating officer for exploration and production for BP -- about their latest attempt to stop the leak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: I still see the oil coming up from underneath that cap, kind of -- what phase are you in now and how should people interpret those pictures?
DOUG SUTTLES, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, BP: Yes, John, what you're seeing is, of course, we did get the cap in place successfully last night. And the oil you see escaping is actually coming through four vents that are designed into the top of the cap. And what we will be doing through the course of today is as we bring this system on and start to capture the oil, we'll successively close each of the four events until, hopefully, we only have a very small amount of oil coming around the base of the cap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Our Kyra Phillips is the only reporter to go on board the rigs where BP is desperately trying to cap the well and cut of the spill. She traveled there with national incident commander, Admiral Thad Allen.
CHETRY: And Kyra joins us live from New Orleans now.
You were able to get a very different picture than we've been seeing because you were out there with the people who are working day in and day out to try to get this relief well drilled. And, also, you had a chance to literally be embedded with the guy who's in charge of all of this.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I tell you what, I got a real taste for what his life is like. He's an absolute machine. We embedded with him only for a few days. We have like 10 hours of tape trying to capture everything he goes through from all the phone calls, from the White House, to governors, to cabinet secretaries, you know, trying to please so many people all at the same time.
Still -- and at the same time, trying to keep everyone updated on what's happening there on those rigs as that oil continues to gush. I mean, it's pretty remarkable what he takes on. And the fact that we were right there by his hip, able to observe everything, really helped me as a reporter to understand the magnitude of this disaster.
What started with an early morning call with a security detail to get a Starbucks, because he said, Kyra, I don't get my calcium any other way. So, he has his cafe latte and he is off and running. And then it ended with exclusive access right there on the rigs. We were able to give you the first live broadcast since that explosion 46 days ago.
And here's just a little bit of what we saw.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: The real focus right now is to get that containment cap in place below the Discoverer Enterprise, continue drilling the two relief wells. The first one is on the DDT3 that we're on right now.
PHILLIPS: To make that connection, as they're working to get that top hat right now to seal that gusher, how is this relief well, how is this going to benefit --
ALLEN: The relief well is being drilled right below us, going down, it started the angle over. And somewhere between 16,000 and 18,000 feet below the sea floor, it will intersect the wellbore. At that point, it will start pumping heavy mud in to drive the oil and the hydrocarbons down towards the reservoir to stabilize it so they can put a plug in or do what they call a bottom kill.
After that's done, there should be no pressure below the blowout preventer, that would allow them to actually remove the capped well, bring the blowout preventer up and do forensic analysis on it.
PHILLIPS: Explain the connection, the bottom kill here, and how that is going to make what's happening on the Discoverer Enterprise successful.
ALLEN: The intention is to intercept the wellbore well down below the surface near the reservoir, then pump heavy mud in to counteract the pressure of the oil coming up that will allow them to basically plug or kill the well. Once that is done, you can do things like remove the blowout preventer, bring it to the surface and try to find out what happened.
PHILLIPS: How soon do you think that could happen, Ted, or are you just working as fast as you can?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are working as efficiently and as safely as possible.
PHILLIPS: I know you don't want to make any mistakes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct.
PHILLIPS: How is then for you? What's it like to get up in the morning and deal with media scrutiny and have to come out here and do everything you can to make this happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It can be frustrating at times. We have to make sure that the crew is focused on the job. At the end of the day, we want to drill this well as efficiently as possible. We want to do it with no incidents. We want to do it with no injury to anybody.
In fact, we want to have everyone who comes on this rig go home in better condition than when they came on this rig. Part of the problem is that there is a lot of outside scrutiny on what it is that we're doing out here. And I think the American population is wanting this well to be done. They want it now. We all want it done now.
But we all have to understand that this is a well that killed 11 people. We have to understand that we're sitting over top of one of the world's best drilling rigs. The well that we're drilling right now killed 11 people and sunk a rig.
And so, we're not going to speed up. We are going to do this as safe as possible. And we're not going to hurt anybody. And that's our goal.
PHILLIPS: What's the deal with the water spray that's taking place next to the Enterprise?
ALLEN: You can see an offshore vessel over there with water being sprayed out of its stern. As the product is rising up, because you know there's oil coming out of the riser pipe until we get the containment cap on it right now, they are actually putting water over the surface to reduce the volatile organic compounds that come up off the oil that produce inhalant problems for the workers out there. So, this is actually a safety issue to put water over the top of the oil so the fumes basically don't come up.
PHILLIPS: Because when we were flying in, the smell was so strong. It's like fresh tar smell.
ALLEN: And one way to reduce that is to basically spray water to reduce the vapors.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And as you saw, it was also the first time that we actually got to talk to those rig workers. It's been very difficult to be able to get through to them, to get their side of the story. And that was a pretty remarkable experience, to see the hundreds of Transocean workers out there trying to stop this oil gusher and to also get the emotion from them, how this is affecting their families. And every day that they get up and go to work, they also cannot stop thinking about those 11 coworkers that they've lost.
ROBERTS: Sure, you know, we see the oil on the surface. We see the oil on the shores. We see the oiled birds. And at the same time, you know, it's very easy to forget that 11 people died in that rig explosion.
How are they being remembered by Transocean employees?
PHILLIPS: Well, as I was leaving, a number of the rig workers came up to me and they handed me this magazine, "The Beacon" magazine that Transocean puts out. And this is the special memorial edition. And they just asked me, could you please do something more to honor and remember our co-workers that died.
And so, I just want to be able to give you a look of the pictures. And it has a little personal information about each worker that died on that rig explosion.
This is Jason Christopher Anderson. And you see pictures. He's got two kids. One of his babies, he's holding in his arm. Also a picture of his wife. He was a tool-pusher.
Aaron Dale Burkeen, a crane operator.
Over here, we got Donald O'Neil Clark. He was an assistant driller.
These are various family photos -- also photos that were taken on the rig by co-workers.
This is Stephen Ray Curtis. He was an assistant driller.
Gordon Lewis Jones, drilling fluid specialist.
Also, Roy Wyatt Kemp, a family picture here of him and his wife and two children. He was a derrickhand.
Carl Dale Kleppinger Jr., a floorhand.
Also, Keith Blair Manuel, senior drilling fluid specialist.
Dewey Allen Revette, a driller. You see a number of family photos here as well that his wife gave them.
Shane Michael Roshto, floorhand. You also see a family picture there of his wife and their son.
And, finally, Adam T. Weise, a floorhand.
Every day that they wake up on those rigs and start working to end that oil gushing, they tell me they think about every single one of those employees -- John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Beautiful family that Roy Kemp had there, those two kids. Wow.
It's got to be tough for them to, you know, be under so much pressure and still be, you know, grieving the loss of their colleagues.
Kyra, great reporting for us this morning -- thanks so much.
CHETRY: Thanks, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, we've heard a lot about the oil spill's effect of wildlife in and around the Gulf. But when you see the heartbreaking images like this, it rally hits home. Shore birds covered in oil struggling in Grand Isle, Louisiana, struggling to breathe. Hundreds of others have already died. And the steadily growing oil slick has done untold damage to Gulf Coast breeding grounds. ROBERTS: Yes. All along the Gulf Coast, from the Louisiana wetlands to the beautiful barrier island beaches of Alabama, all the way now to the shores of Florida, tar balls dotting the shoreline, they are a blemish right now. But a lot of people fear that a full- blown onslaught of crude -- mucky crude -- could be close behind them.
CHETRY: Yes. And Rob Marciano is live in Orange Beach, Alabama, this morning.
And it is literally like watching a nightmare unfold in slow motion. And, you know, the tar balls sort of the foreboding of what else is to come. We saw that in Louisiana. And now, it's being repeated in Alabama.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, guys, we use an analogy when trying to predict this oil slick. And tar balls are just kind the big rain drops that come before a thunderstorm. Sometimes, you'll get hit hard with thunderstorm often, it will miss you. But considering the expanse of this oil slick and where it was heading, we believe that tar balls in this case are a sign of what's to come in a larger scope.
Yesterday, we left Louisiana because of these reports of oil and tar balls across Mississippi. We made a stop there. We made a stop here in Alabama and across the way in Florida. And this is what we saw along the way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: We are on our way out to an island called Petit Bois. It's part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. It's one of the spots here in Mississippi where oil has been reported, kind of held up a little bit by the weather.
But we're on Mississippi Sound, you can see actually, there are a couple of shrimping vessels out there. Just recently, the shrimping season for the state waters has opened up. So, they are out there trying to catch something before this oil slick expands even further north and east.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Park service personnel found oil in the form of tar balls. It was about 2.25 miles of the length of the beach. And it only affected about one meter width of the beach.
MARCIANO: Another spot where there have been reports of tar balls is here in Perdido Key, Florida, definitely north and east of the spill. So, we came and check it out.
Within minutes of us coming here, a woman walked up to me with this, a water bottle covered in what certainly looks to be oil.
Did you find that bottle?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just down on the beach a little bit that way. My mom told me not to pick it up, because she didn't want the oil to get on me. But -- MARCIANO: This is not what vacationers here want to see.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are sick about it because we're down here from Missouri. And we're snowbirds. And we brought our family back down for vacation.
MARCIANO: Are you going to go swimming again tomorrow?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably at the pool.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably at the pool.
MARCIANO: Why do you like this beach?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we come -- I have been coming here since I was born. So, we just always come here. It's pretty and we'll just stay until the oil comes, I guess.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: It is a beautiful beach, remarkably. So, we called the park ranger service and they called scat teams and scat teams said, you know what, put that oil container back on the beach and we'll come get it. It didn't make much sense to us but we did what we were told.
We're now across the bay here in Orange Beach. Behind me, this is a staging area for workers -- cleanup workers. You got a whole expansive area of storage facility for booms, both absorbent booms and booms that are at least designed to keep the water away from sensitive areas.
This is Perdido Bay, and then you can see the kind of the mouth of bay out there. There's a boat working and there's (INAUDIBLE) some orange boom out there. We watched them put it out yesterday. And now, the water is kind of washing up and over the top. At least part of that boom, it is so difficult to keep that stuff in place, especially when you got waves in the open gulf at the mouth of a bay like this with tidal currents playing games on it as well.
So, the battle continues all the way up the northeastern shoreline here of the Gulf of Mexico. And, obviously, we saw some oil there in Perdido Key Beach in Florida. And, likely, we'll probably find some in Pensacola, maybe even the other beaches further down the road later on today.
So, this story doesn't seem to want to end for the folks here in Florida with these beautiful beaches and in Alabama as well. This is the time of year where tourists come. And at least one -- the ones we saw yesterday, guys, didn't seem too alarmed by it, at least that little girl. But the more we see, obviously, the more damage it's going to do.
Back to you.
CHETRY: Yes. And, Rob, we'd also be interested to see -- so keep us posted, hopefully, you will be able to get some pictures of them being able to clean off the birds. We saw them being gently lift into those baskets and taken away. You say that they can actually be cleaned and returned to non-soiled waters. I know a lot of people are concerned about that.
MARCIANO: Well the first, let me just say, the first thing they do with those birds is they get a full medical checkup. And they don't clean them right away. Because they want to make sure they are stabilized and given any sort of antibiotics. And then they are cleaned and then the facilities that they have in Port Jackson and other spots along the tri-state area are amazing. And those professionals are certainly working very hard to clean those oiled birds and those pictures we saw this morning are quite devastating -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Rob, thanks so much.
Well the president is returning to Louisiana today. He is going to be assessing the oil leak situation. We are going to be speaking about the politics of this spill with Candy Crowley and our own James Carville coming up.
ROBERTS: And childhood obesity, it's a very, very big problem. Chefs head to the White House to join the first lady's school food program, Iron Chef Cat Cora, White House chef Sam Kass, joining us live in just a little while here in the Most News in the Morning. Sixteen minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eighteen minutes now after the hour, President Obama is heading to the Gulf today. It is his third time there since the oil spill started, 46 days ago. He is also fighting back against criticism that he is not showing enough anger towards BP. Larry King asked the president about that in his CNN exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST: Are you angry at BP?
BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF THE UNITED STATES: You know I am furious at this entire situation because this is an example of where somebody didn't think through the consequences of their actions. And it is imperiling not just a handful of people. This is imperiling an entire way of life and an entire region for potentially years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well joining me now our chief political correspondent and host of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" Candy Crowley and CNN political contributor and democratic strategist James Carville.
Candy, let's start with you, so the president definitely showing his passion here, his anger saying he is furious with BP. He is carrying with him a lot of emotions as he heads down to The Gulf again. CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, I am not huge for wanting to see our presidents emote. I think people want to see our president produce. I think that is part of the problem, and that somehow we get caught up in this argument about does he emote enough, is he emotional enough, is he mad enough, is he sad enough. Because this is going to be the first time I think since he has been down there that we will actually see him with some of the people that are hardest hit.
Now he may have met with them privately, but nonetheless that has been sort of a gaping hole. I don't think you would see the administration going down there again so soon had they thought that they had projected what they need to project. Because after all, people do want their president to show leadership.
I don't think he needs to, you know, beat his chest and jump up and down and yell and scream. But I mean I think that -- it sort of encompassing the argument, is he doing enough, does he get it?
ROBERTS: Right, James Carville, you told us a week ago that you wanted the president so say, who is your daddy, I'm your daddy to BP has he gone far enough for you?
JAMES CARVILLE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well let's see what happens today. I think if we saw that, I agree with Candy, I don't think that he doesn't emote that well or something like that. But I do know this, when the federal governor turns it's power, or the president turns his power, he is a man of formidable intelligence, he has a ton of power.
And I think what we want to do is feel that power down here and let the people feel the wrath and let people feel that he is standing up for the state. Because people -- he is going to get an earful on this drilling moratorium down here. This thing is killing this economy. And they are going to have to figure a way to get some of these rigs back up and running in a safe way?
ROBERTS: I got to tell you it is kind of a damned if you do and damned if you don't scenario. Candy, the president late last night, canceled his trip to East Asia. It is difficult for him to get anything done while this is on the table. You know politically, has this kind of sucked the air out of everything else he was trying to do?
CROWLEY: It certainly sucks the air out of the air time about what people are talking about. The White House, Robert Gibbs yesterday was asked this question and gave a long list of things that the president is doing and keeps his attention and all that kind of thing.
I think though it is always sort of interesting to me that when presidents go on vacation, they say oh my goodness they are going on vacation, yes, but he has all the communications power and is in touch and he is talking to all these people. And yet, they have to cancel an overseas trip. I think the fact of the matter is, this would have continued whether the president went overseas to Australia or not. But it just politically gets a little unsustainable when this really doesn't feel like it is in any way going the right way.
ROBERTS: And Candy, I know we have to cut you lose because you have an interview that you have to do. So we will do that. And we will continue with James Carville. James, let's take a look at what Tony Hayward is saying these days. Over the weekend, he really stepped when in it in response to a question to an interviewer. He said, I want my life back. Now, he is doing these advertisements promising to make it right. Let's take a look at what Hayward is saying in these ads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY HAYWARD, COO, BP: To those affected in your family, I am deeply sorry. We know it is our responsibility to keep you inform and do everything we can so this never happens again. We will get this done. We will make this right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You know a lot of heat coming down on BP for the spill. They are working hard. Is anybody buying what Tony Hayward is saying?
CARVILLE: No. Tony Hayward is going to have to prove it every day over a long period of time. People don't trust BP down here at all, for good reasons. Everything that we have gotten from BP has turned out to be erroneous and worse than we think. I think important things that American people remember is that this is not a disaster. This is an environmental catastrophe. And I think that it is starting to get out now, thanks in a large part to CNN.
And you know Mr. Hayward is not going to get an ad or a slick newspaper thing and people believe it. It is going to take a long, long time if ever before people really trust him. He has misspoken on too many occasions. And the negligence leading up to this was just horrendous. And that's just way it is. And you know he says he has to get up in the morning and compensate these people and get this thing done the best he can.
ROBERTS: Yes you know and you see those pictures of those oil birds coming in now, and it just, you know, compounds the tragedy even further.
You know, a couple of weeks ago, people were making comparisons to hurricane Katrina saying that the government response for President Obama might be similar to the situation that George Bush faced during hurricane Katrina.
Some people though, including David Broder of "The Washington Post," are saying well maybe this is more like the Iran hostage crisis. You know the government is powerless to really do anything about this. And that it might just, you know, as they did with Jimmy Carter back in 1979, just keep slowly eroding the president's political capital.
What do you think?
CARVILLE: Well I don't know, and I certainly don't buy and I have never made a comparison to what I refer to as the engineering failure of 2005. I mean when President Bush was told by Mayfield he was going to lose an American city he didn't ask a question --
ROBERTS: Sure, sure but what about the comparison to the hostage crisis?
CARVILLE: I'm going to get it right. I don't know if that is valid because of the military, they did try some things. But there is nothing that the government - nothing in the government tool box to pull Tony Hayward that would have allowed them to fix this. And so but it does, I think this thing just reminds people of the kind of hallmarks of our age, and that is corporate negligence and greed and the government's inability to do anything about it. Now I think to that extent it sort of hurts everybody in government.
ROBERTS: All right, James Carville for us this morning, James thanks so much.
Also, our belated thanks to Candy Crowley that had to go. Be sure to catch Candy by the way on STATE OF THE UNION this Sunday morning, 9:00 eastern, right here on CNN. She will also be filling in for Campbell Brown 8:00 o'clock tonight as well with more coverage of The Gulf oil spill -- Kiran.
CHETRY: She is a busy lady today.
ROBERTS: She is.
CHETRY: All right well still ahead, a newly developed rocket blasts off in Florida today. Is this the future of space travel? We will take a look. It is 25 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Our top stories only three minutes away but first an "A.M. Original" something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING. The space program has always been about one thing, and that is progress.
ROBERTS: Today, we could get a sneak peek at what space travel will look like after the space shuttle retires with a newly developed rocket that's ready to blast off. Our John Zarrella live for us at the Kennedy Space Center. So maybe the shuttle retirement is not the end of man's space travel here in American, John?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Not the end but maybe a little bit delayed, John, Kiran. You know usually, we are at the Kennedy Space Center press site, NASA press site to watch launches. But this is not about NASA. We are going to be bused to a viewing area to watch a new rocket that may well lead to a profound change in space travel.
(voice-over): You are looking at the future of space travel. After half a century of flying astronauts into space, NASA is hoping commercial companies will soon be ready to take over its responsibility of flying astronauts and cargo to the international space station.
ELON MUSK, CEO, SPACEX: It is time for NASA to hand that over to commercial industry who can then optimize the technology and make it more reliable, make it much lower cost, make it much more routine.
ZARRELLA: Elon Musk is the founder and visionary behind SpaceX and there is literally a lot riding on what is the most critical test to date of his company stock rocket. If it works, Falcon 9 will lift off from Cape Canaveral and make it to orbit. Several companies are developing commercial rocket, SpaceX is furthest along.
GEORGE MUSSER, EDITOR, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: They probably hate each other's guts but their competition is really good for space and for all of us. I mean ultimately, what do we want from this? We want to get into space cheaply.
ZARRELLA: That's the Obama administration's hope too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: X down, 195.
ZARRELLA: By the middle of next year, the space shuttle is expected to be retired. SpaceX and other commercial companies would take over the shuttle's role freeing up NASA's limited money allowing the space agency to focus on getting humans to the planets, the catch? There is a several years gap between shuttle retirement and when a commercial rocket will be ready. Until then, the U.S. will rely on Russia to fly astronauts to the station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I were setting policy for the country, I would set a policy that we fly the shuttle until the next manned American rocket is up and running and we can transition very smoothly from the shuttle program to the next program, whatever that may be.
ZARRELLA: SpaceX is targeting a cargo flight next year and astronauts by 2013 even if there are setbacks.
MUSK: There is a very good chance there will be problems in the early launches. There is a lot can go wrong. And during the test phase, that's why you have a test phase, because things may go wrong.
ZARRELLA: NASA has not decided which companies will carry their astronauts to the space station, prudent to wait until they make it to orbit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: I mentioned NASA is going to be using the Russians to get astronauts to the International Space Station until commercial rockets are ready. But they are not taking Americans for nothing. It is $35 million a ride that the Russians are charging NASA, and that could go up.
Now, the launch window today sometime between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., so hopefully, it will go off as scheduled -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: $35 million a ticket?
ZARRELLA: And there are some estimates that it could go up to $50 million a seat.
CHETRY That's why you want to check your baggage.
(LAUGHTER)
ZARRELLA: And Katy Coleman, the astronaut we are profiling, that's somehow she is going to get to the space station in December, and a Russian rocket. Her seat is pretty expensive.
ROBERTS: If Richard Branson is listening, maybe he can do it for a tenth that price. John, great look at that this morning, John. John Zarrella for us.
Crossing the half hour. It's time for this morning's top stories. BP has positioned a cap over the gushing oil well. As you can see from these pictures, oil and gas still spewing into the water. BP says it is supposed to look like this.
They will slowly start closing some vents that are open right now and hopefully get the oil flowing towards the surface. We should know if this latest fix has done anything.
CHETRY: There is one scenario that could play out if oil continues to pour into the Gulf in the weeks and months ahead. Computer model from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, it has the slick entering the Gulf's loop current that would make it travel around Florida, up the east coast side, winding up on the beaches of Cape Hatterus, North Carolina possibly by July. Then it could eventually reach European.
ROBERTS: President Obama is heading to the Gulf, his third trip since this started 46 days ago. He is facing criticism for not showing his anger about the spill. In an exclusive interview with Larry King, the president did make his feelings known and also made it clear this is BP's mess to fix.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: BP caused this spill. We don't yet know exactly what happened, but whether it is a combination of human error, them cutting corners on safety, or a whole other variety of variables, they are responsible.
I am furious at this entire situation, because this is an example of where somebody didn't think through the consequences of their actions.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: The president plans on meeting with local business owners in the gulf during this trip, and we will probably see some pictures of him doing that this time around as well -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, thanks so much.
Just in to CNN, the new job numbers for the month of May. And we have been awaiting this report. We have the numbers now. Joining me to break them down, Jill Schlesinger, editor at large at CBSmoneywatch.com, and our own Christine Romans. So the number, 431,000, what does it mean?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So we just got off a call with the Labor Department, 431,000 jobs created, almost all of those were census workers, 411,000 of them. The momentum that people had wanted to see from the April when the private sector in this country was creating jobs, that momentum did not carry through to the next month.
And in fact, you had a downward revision of private sector jobs created in April. So you have jobs increased 431,000, but 411,000 of those were census workers. The unemployment rate fell slightly to 9.7 percent. That is the brightest spot of the whole report.
But the long-term unemployed still stick in there about 6.8 million. These are people who have been out of work for six months or longer. So we still have a structural unemployment problem with people that can't get a job for more than six months. That is a problem.
The March -- gosh, there is a down ward revision in the number of jobs created in March as well. You saw some manufacturing jobs created, 29,000 of those. Not a lot. Temporary workers, 31,000 created there, Kiran. But construction workers lost 35,000 workers, and health care workers were also a disappointment, only 8,000 created in health care.
CHETRY: What does this tell you, Jill, why we haven't seen more growth outside of the census?
JILL SCHLESINGER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, CBSMONEYWATCH.COM: The reality is that employers are not convinced we are in a true recovery, because when you feel like we are in a growth mode, you want to add people. You have so much business. You have to add people to your payrolls.
We're sort of downbeat today, and I think Christine and I are feeling the wind out of our sails, because frankly the economy needs to create about 125,000 jobs to keep pace with the new entrants into the workforce. And to really put a dent in this unemployment rate, I don't see this happening for a couple of years at this pace.
We need to be creating 250,000 jobs a month. These have to be consistent jobs. And I want to point out one more thing, not to be too downbeat -- next month, the effect of the census workers being laid off is going to detract from these jobs. This is a rough patch on the employment front, not good news here in the United States.
CHETRY: What about some of the stimulus jobs that we talked about, that were supposed to be, when everyone was yelling, where are the jobs, where are the jobs, they said this was meant to roll out over the coming months?
ROMANS: Without the stimulus, it would have been much, much worse. But the stimulus is running out. The stimulus projects were last year, when we were starting to see the real bulk of jobs being created.
The number of companies who you say are not confident enough to hire full-time. They are dipping their toe in the water and hiring temporary workers. And while that is job creation, it is an ever- increasing part of our economy, temporary workers. These are people that may not have health benefits or job security or a 401(k). They have to pay their own taxes.
CHETRY: And they may not have a set number of hours. We are seeing some of the reporting talking about this is a growing group in the job market, that it could be up to 40 percent in the coming years of people that don't have a fulltime, regular gig where they get benefits and are guaranteed a certain amount of pay.
SCHLESINGER: And it's interesting, because you have a dichotomy. You have some younger workers that are happy not to be attached in any sort of significant way. They are OK with it. You have some older workers, maybe they qualify for Medicare, they don't need it.
But the folks in the middle are quite disgruntled about this. Frankly, employers who don't have to be on the hook for a full-time job and have that carried on their books, they are happy do it.
By the way, in the health care reform, temporary workers or contract workers don't have to be covered under your health insurance plan. It is sort of like a sidestep.
This is a real change in the workforce in America. It could turn around. We need one big fat growth spurt and it will turn around. But it as you say be a longer trend that changes the face of what it looks like over time.
ROMANS: We will see if there are any contract workers who are falling off the pay roles because of drilling moratorium in the Gulf as well. There is an estimate that there are at least 6,000 of those jobs will be idle. That's something to look at over the coming months.
CHETRY: It will be interesting to see how that plays out because then, there are thousands more being called in for the cleanup. Those are temporary jobs as well.
But as you said, 431,000, most of the census, and so neither one of you are too terribly thrilled this morning.
SCHLESINGER: I like the direction of the unemployment rate. It is going down to 9.7 percent.
ROMANS: I like that. I also would say for college graduates, it pays to be a college graduate. They are doing much better than the overall workforce. That's good news. The unemployment rate for people who don't have college degrees is three times higher. So go to college.
CHETRY: All right, Jill Schlesinger, Christine Romans, appreciate it, thanks. John?
ROBERTS: Top chefs head to the White House to join the first lady's school program. Iron Chef Cat Cora and White House chef Sam Kass join us coming up live next. It's 38 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: It's 41 minutes past the hour.
New this morning, McDonalds is now recalling 12 million Shrek collectible glasses for concerns of levels of cadmium in the paint outside of these glasses, a chemical known to cause cancer and kidney damage over periods of time. It has previously led to other recalls involving children's metal jewelry. Those were made in China -- John.
ROBERTS: No surprise there.
First lady Michelle Obama has something cooking at the White House today. Hundreds of chefs will be on hand joining forces with the first lady, each agreeing to adopt a school to teach students, parents, and educators about the importance of eating more healthily.
With childhood obesity rates tripling in America, this project is priority one for Mrs. Obama. Joining us from the White House is Sam Kass, the assistant White House chef, and Cat Cora, one of the Food Network's Iron chefs.
Sam, how did you come up with the idea of pairing chefs with local schools?
SAM KASS, ASSISTANT WHITE HOUSE CHEF: Well, the first lady has launched her let's move initiative to solve the problem of childhood obesity in a generation. She is calling on people to come together from across the country to solve this problem.
And a great group to do this who are really well positioned are chefs. They are uniquely positioned with their deep knowledge of food and nutrition and ability to teach kids and make healthy eating exciting to go into school and really support the efforts to foster our children's health.
ROBERTS: Cat, not too long ago we saw Jamie Oliver go out to Huntington, West Virginia, I think the unhealthiest city in America, and he was appalled at what he was seeing with these school lunch programs. He was trying to get people fired up about the importance of health. Do think you can do something similar? CAT CORA, "IRON CHEF AMERICA," FOOD NETWORK: Absolutely. I think chefs are in a great position to have a huge impact on the nutritional movement around the country and schools and cafeterias.
We are trying to do is get kids invested in nutritional eating, knowing where food comes from. It doesn't come from the grocery store tree. It grows in the ground. If we can get kids invested, that will be the key to getting kids to eat healthier.
ROBERTS: You have adopted a school. It is Washington Elementary School in Santa Barbara, which just happens to be the school that your son attends. What's your plan there?
CORA: Well, the same thing. We want to go in. I have already started doing demonstrations in his class. I have started teaching kids about where food comes from. We have a garden there that we have started. And, you know, we continue to teach kids, get them in that garden to not only grow food, water it, harvest it, and put it into the cafeteria. That's where it has to start.
ROBERTS Yes, Sam how -- how difficult do you think it will be to teach kids about the importance of healthy food. You know, it's one thing to put a plate of healthy food in front of them like my mom used to do with me --
KASS: Right.
ROBERTS: -- so many years ago, but you know, I wasn't really thinking about healthy food when I was a kid. So how do you -- how do you connect those two things together?
KASS: Well, I think it's really important to make kids excited about it. And I think kids are curious. They want to learn. And -- and getting them engaged into that whole process and where food comes from, gets them thinking about ok, what is actually on their plate.
ROBERTS: Yes.
KASS: So I think once you start to engage and make it fun and exciting, which only chefs can do --
ROBERTS: Yes.
KASS: -- in that same way, you have a real chance. So we have chefs from over 37 states coming today. And as long as we have chefs around the country engaging, we have a really good shot.
ROBERTS: Now Sam, we know that the President, whom you cook for every day --
KASS: Yes.
ROBERTS: -- has a pension for junk food, he's known to sneak a little bit every once in a while.
KASS: Yes. ROBERTS: What do you do with the First Family to try to instill good eating habits?
KASS: You know we try to eat a balanced and healthy diet in on a regular basis. But as long as you're doing that, we love cheese burgers and French fries and that's all great as long as it is just once in a while. We run into trouble if that is all we're eating.
CORA: Right, everything in moderation.
KASS: Yes.
CORA: I mean that's the key too.
KASS: There is nothing more that I love than a burger so --
ROBERTS: And of course Cat, we should -- we should point out that you come from Mississippi which has for years had the worst obesity rates in the country, particularly among kids. And you could -- you could give them good -- good food at school and you can try to teach them about healthy eating habits but still the problem goes so deep because there are these food deserts that we talked about in these urban areas where you just can't get your hands on fresh food.
So is this just kind of like the tip of the iceberg here? There is still a long way to go?
CORA: There is but I think that we're making such huge progress. I think the First Lady being involved on a national level is going to just jump-start everything. We've been doing this. This isn't something that started today.
KASS: That's right.
CORA: This is something that chefs have been doing for a very long time. Health has been -- health and nutrition has been my platform for a very long time. But having the First Lady involved, the White House, this administration --
KASS: Yes.
CORA: -- is going to make a huge impact on getting this program jump-started.
KASS: Right.
ROBERTS: Well, it's great to talk to you folks this morning. Thanks so much for joining us and our apologies for the construction going on behind you as well.
Cat Cora and Sam Kass, it's great to talk to you this morning.
KASS: Thanks guys.
ROBERTS: Good luck to both of you.
KASS: Thank you, bye-bye.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: There's always something going on there.
All right, well still ahead we have exclusive video (AUDIO GAP) murder of a young woman in Peru being arrested in Chile. We have the video and more details this morning in a live report coming up.
Forty-seven minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: New video coming in to us here at CNN. This is Joran Van Der Sloot being arrested in Chile. This is video you'll only see right now on CNN. The man was arrested twice for the disappearance of Alabama teenager, Natalee Holloway, in Aruba.
Well, he's in custody again this morning on his way to Peru, where he'll be charged with murdering another young woman according to police.
Journalist Brian Byrnes is live for us at the airport in Santiago, Chile where he was found. Tell us more about how they nabbed Joran Van Der Sloot.
BRIAN BYRNES, JOURNALIST: Yes, good morning, Kiran.
Well, they nabbed him yesterday on a road between the coastal city of Vina del Mar and the capital of Santiago. The request had come from Interpol in Peru and then of course authorities here in Chile were able to apprehend Van Der Sloot. They took him into custody by his own free will. He did not go kicking and screaming. They did not handcuff him. He spent the night overnight at the investigative police headquarters in Santiago.
And then just a few minutes ago he left that building in downtown Santiago and is on his way right now here to this airport, about 25 kilometers about 20 miles or so from downtown Santiago. He is going to board the Cessna 310 plane you can see behind me with some officials from the investigative Chilean police for the five-hour trip to Arica, Chile and then from there he will be transported by car to the Peruvian border and handed over to authorities in Peru for the murder of Stephany Flores in Lima, Peru -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, journalist Brian Byrnes for us at the airport in Santiago, where you just saw that video of Joran Van Der Sloot being taken into custody. Thanks so much.
We are going to take a quick break. Fifty-one minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: Forever young. Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. The question we are asking today in that regard is who will take care of tomorrow's elderly as baby boomers head for requirement. In 20 years, 1 in 5 people -- 1 in 5 people -- will be over the age of 65.
This week's CNN hero is starting right now helping older Americans stay active, engaged and most importantly independent. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IRENE ZOLA, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: Before my mother's experience, seniors on the street were pretty much invisible to me. My mother went in the nursing home after a stroke. I didn't want to leave my mother in a place where people were ignoring her.
Here is my mom. This was a month before she passed away. I was shocked that our culture doesn't have a place for very old people, except in nursing homes. I decided that I wanted to do something about that.
My name is Irene Zola and my organization is helping seniors age at home.
Do you want to sit on a bench for a moment?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ZOLA: We help to connect seniors with people from the community. The volunteers provide any kind of informal care that's wanted by the senior.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I brought you chicken noodle soup.
ZOLA: There is a growing population of elders. Families are living great distances from one another.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
ZOLA: So this is one way that a community really makes a difference.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're sweetie.
It makes you feel enriched and she has a way about her, like somebody cares.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It definitely made me more aware. It has made me feel more connected to my own neighbors and my own neighborhood.
ZOLA: Some people believe that old age is a time when people stop learning but it is not. Why not live life to the fullest? That's what I love to see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: That's a look this morning at the top cap that has been put over the top of the riser pipe coming out of the blowout preventer from BP at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
Right now an awful lot of gas and oil still coming up but it's designed, according to BP's engineers, like that. Four vents that they'll slowly close and try to get that oil moving up the pipe to the surface of the water.
We will keep watching this for you all day long here on CNN.
CHETRY: Yes. They say it is going to be some time before they can confirm whether or not it was successful so we'll be watching for that.
And meantime, the President is heading to the Gulf today to see the crisis for himself. This will be his 3rd trip to the region since the oil spill. And our White House team will be reporting from the areas that the President is going to be in. He is meeting with fishermen, local businessmen and others affected by the disaster.
ROBERTS: Sure. The President has been fighting criticism in recent days that he has not shown enough anger or emotion toward BP.
Our Larry King asked him about that in a CNN exclusive interview. Here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Are you angry at BP?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I am furious at this entire situation because this is an example of where somebody didn't think through the consequences of their actions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Live coverage of the President's visit to the Gulf all day right here on CNN and online at CNN.com.
CHETRY: And meanwhile, continue the conversations on today's stories by going to our blog, CNN.com/amFIX. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and we'll see you back here on Monday morning.
ROBERTS: All right. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Fredricka Whitfield starts right now.
