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American Morning
2011: A Wild Year for Weather; Rat Poison Banned; Protecting Kids From Concussions; Rebels Capture Key Yemen City; Slow Economic Burn; Suing to Stop School Closings
Aired June 08, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: A wildfire so big you can see it from space. Nearly 500 square miles of Eastern Arizona blackened, and the flames are moving fast toward two towns near New Mexico threatening lives and homes on this AMERICAN MORNING.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Wednesday, June 8th. Ali Velshi has the day off today.
CHETRY: That's right. Up first though, a wildfire so spectacular, so enormous, that you can actually see it from space. Nearly 500 square miles scorched this morning in Eastern Arizona. All of that property torched by a fire that's forced thousands of people to leave their homes, and now, two mountain towns near New Mexico are threatened. This is the second largest fire ever to hit Arizona, and there's a look from space. It's so large that the flames and the flames so intense, that it is actually visible from a NASA satellite.
Jim Spellman is live in Springerville, Arizona, this morning. So the national weather service issuing this red flag warning because of the possibility that this could quickly grow rapidly and erratically as they're describing it. Have most people gotten out of harm's way?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some people have gotten out but there's still a lot of people here in Springerville ready to go, though, should conditions get worse. Fire fighters here trying to get a handle on this fire, but these bad conditions are making it nearly impossible.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SPELLMAN: It's a fire bigger than New York City. And so far it's zero percent contained.
STEPHEN MILLER, FIREFIGHTER: The wind is our enemy right now. As soon as the winds die down and give us a handle on the fire that's what we're waiting for.
SPELLMAN: But it could be days before a break in the high winds. Until then the nearly 3,000 fire fighters battling the blaze are doing what they can to try to get ahead of the flames.
RIGOBERTO TORRES, FIREFIGHTER: Right now we just completed at least part of our buffer that we're creating just before the fire front hits here. We're trying to maintain and hold it here on this road. SPELLMAN: On this side of the road they've created an intentional fire to stop the fire in moving this way. Crews here are monitoring this side of the road to be sure no ember comes across and start a new fire on this side of the highway.
This team has come from Iowa and California to fight the fire. 12 hours days in stifling heat but you won't hear any of these fire fighters complaining.
MIKE MANION, FIREFIGHTER: It's a lot of work. You just take it one piece at a time. There's a lot going on out there. We just focus on our job.
TORRES: We go anywhere, anywhere anybody needs help and we're just here to do our part.
SPELLMAN: It may be a while before they can return home. Winds are expected to pick up through the week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SPELLMAN: So they hope to use those buffer zones to send the fire around this community of Springerville and eager, spare the 7,000 or so residents damage or injury. Back to you, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Jim, thanks so much. We'll check in with you later.
Meanwhile, summer is nearly two weeks away but it's going to feel like summer is here. A heat wave that broiled the Midwest is gripping the eastern half of the country.
ROMANS: At Memphis, the temperature has been dealing with, you know, record-setting heat. They could top, gosh, 100 degrees today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Rebel fighters have control of the key city in Yemen, and 400 gunmen taking over the town of Taiz. It is a big setback for government forces loyal to President Saleh who, as we know, is still in Saudi Arabia right now recovering from burns and wounds that he suffered last week during a raid on his compound.
And NATO stepping up air strikes against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's regime this morning. Powerful explosions rocking the area around Gadhafi's residence in Tripoli, but despite more than 60 air strikes in Tripoli yesterday, Gadhafi is still vowing he will not surrender.
No party crashers, no controversy, just a show of unity between the U.S. and Germany at the White House last night. President Obama hosting a state dinner honoring German chancellor Angela Merkel awarding her the presidential medal of freedom. The two leaders agreeing that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi has to go, pledging cooperation on issues like the economy and the war in Afghanistan. NBA finals tied at two games apiece after the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami heat 86-83 last night, another comeback victory for the Mavs. They trailed by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter. Their star player Dirk Nowitzki fought off the Heat and also his own internal heat. He had a 101 degree fever last night when he was playing. He scored 21 points. The pivotal fifth game of the series will be tomorrow night in Dallas.
ROMANS: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, can Anthony Weiner survive his six sexting scandal? We'll find out what he has to do to keep his job. It's six minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Calls for Congressman Anthony Weiner's resignation are growing louder this morning. Certainly Washington and politics in general has had its share of scandals with mixed outcomes. Some lawmakers have been able to take the pressure and keep their jobs. Others have disappeared.
Let's take a look at some of the most recent examples. First Congressman Chris Lee. He is also from New York. He resigned in February after it was revealed he sent shirtless photos of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist. So the congressman resigned.
Let's take a look at Democratic Congressman Eric Massa from New York. In March of last year he admitted to inappropriate behavior with congressional aides. He, too, ended up resigning.
What about those who have kept their jobs? Take a look here. This is Senator David Vitter, a Republican out of Louisiana. Back in July of 2007 the senator's phone number was discovered among a list of clients of the so-called D.C. madam. The Republican Vitter held a televised news conference, his wife by his side, he asked for forgiveness, refused to step down and, in fact, went on to win reelection and is still in office today.
Charlie Rangel, Congressman Rangel, kept his job even though the House ethics committee found the 20 term democrat guilty on 11 counts including failing to pay taxes on a vacation home in the Dominican Republic. Censured by the full house, forced to step down as chairman of the house wanes and means committee but he did keep his job.
How about Democratic Congressman Barney Frank. Let's take a look at him. Back in the 1980s questions arose about Frank's relationship with a hired male prostitute. He, too, was eventually censured by the House, but he, too, also remains in office and is a powerful member of the Democratic House leadership. Ironically one of those who called for frank's resignation back in the '80s was Senator Larry Craig.
In June of 2008 Craig was arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport on suspicion of lewd behavior accused of soliciting an undercover male police officer for sex. He ended up resigning from office three months later. Three Democrats, three Republicans, three kept their seat, and three ended up resigning due to scandal. ROMANS: So which column will Anthony Weiner end up in? Joining us Democratic strategists Robert Zimmerman and in New Orleans James Carville. Welcome to the program. I want to talk about you have been in crisis communications for some 20 years and democratic strategist. Clearly this was handled badly from the beginning, going out and lying about all of this and trying to clear it.
Now what? Can he repair that week of lying and stalling and calling a producer trying to get the facts a jackass, can he get over that?
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look, the one rule in crisis communication, to get your story out there, because if you don't someone else will write the story. You can't get away with lying and insulting the media for not believing your lies. For Anthony Weiner it's about showing true remorse and removing politics from the calculation.
He's got to get through the hurdles of the ethics committee. He has to then not just worry about his constituents but worry about whether he'll have a district to run for. Realistically for Anthony Weiner his next steps have to be showing real remorse, focusing on his work as a congressman, and also demonstrating a commitment to public service not just politics and sound bites.
ROMANS: James, let's listen to what Eric Cantor now the first sort of Republican to come out and say he should go, and deafening silence from his own party about what he should do. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ERIC CANTOR, (R) HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: I think it is up to Congressman Weiner and his constituents to make that decision. I don't condone his activity. I think he should resign.
HARRY REID, (D-NV) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I'm not here to defend Weiner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think he should do?
REID: That's all I'm going to say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What advice would you give him if he asked you?
REID: Call somebody else.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: James, can he repair his relationship with his fellow Democrats?
JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, first of all, I think there are a couple things unique about this. The times in which it happened, We're in a really, really terrible economic situation right now. That adds to his trouble. Number two, Congressman Weiner a bright guy but never been that popular a member of the caucus and he was going to lead the Congress and up front about his intent to run for mayor of New York. They don't view him as one of their own, if you will.
The third thing, his wife is very popular in Washington, very popular in democratic circles and people are mad at him for that. He's got a little bit of a perfect storm brewing against him.
Having said that, people have certainly done worse things and survived. And I don't -- his big problem right now is, you know, they might be more than this out there. Generally people that engage in this behavior they're not limited to six times or whatever he says it is. He's got that hanging over his head.
His computer is going to be -- I'm sure the House ethics committee will get it. He may decide he wants to punt for reasons other than just legal reasons. I'm not sure. But the economic -- the political climate and the economic downturn is not good in Washington.
ROMANS: Why do you think the economy makes it worse for him?
CARVILLE: You know what, some people tweeting something and other people have a job, to some extent it's kind of funny. Now it's a huge distraction and people say look at what these clowns are doing and doesn't sit as well with people. And when these congressmen go home, people start screaming at them at town meetings and people not happy in a country right now.
ZIMMERMAN: It's a valid point, James, in this climate certainly it frustrates his colleagues who he's not close to in the first place. I think the bottom line is to be immersed in the scandal is bad enough. To lie about it and harass the press makes it even more difficult to dig his way out of this.
CARVILLE: Well, they're calling the producer a jackass might help with some people.
ROMANS: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: That's a very good point. Well, listen, guys, we're going to leave it there. Robert Zimmerman, Democratic strategist, Zimmerman/Edelson Public Relations, and James Carville, of course, CNN political contributor -- thanks, guys.
You know, we'll see if it just -- time heals this and it goes away or if he finds this drum beat of opposition continues and he finds himself having to step down. Thanks, guys.
ZIMMERMAN: Thanks.
CARVILLE: OK. Appreciate it.
CHETRY: Floods, tornadoes, heat waves, wildfires -- 2011 has been a year of extreme weather and there are many who ask, why? But is there a scientific reason? We're going to be talking with the director of the National Weather Service, Jack Hayes. He joins us in a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It is 19 minutes past the hour. Minding your business this morning.
Stocks finished lower for a fifth day in a row. The market the dropped after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the job market remains far from normal. He acknowledged that the economy is weak. The Dow is off 19 points. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 were both down by about a point.
Twelve OPEC nations are meeting in Vienna. Top of the agenda: whether to boost oil production to push prices down worldwide. Announcement is expected at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Oil futures were down Tuesday ahead of today's meeting.
More concerning news for the U.S. economy: a recent Treasury report shows that national debt will exceed the size of the U.S. economy this year, earlier than expected. And that's a first since World War II.
And a new study shows CEO pay is back on the rise. A report by GovernanceMetric International says the cash bonuses for CEOs is back up, too. Cash bonuses for the highest paid CEOs actually three times pre-recession levels.
It's graduation season. Many students and teachers may be heading into the summer without the school yearbook. Many schools nationwide are doing away with the keepsakes as part of state budget cuts.
How is this for global rankings? And we're not talking about GDP. The U.S. is the world's most hilarious country, a global poll by Badoo.com says. And according to this poll, Germany is the least funny nationality.
Don't forget -- for the very latest about news about your money, check out all the new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning, Washington, D.C. Cloudy, 73 degrees. Later, it will be mostly sunny, maybe 97.
Nearly 500 square miles of Arizona are burning this morning and a heat wave choking the eastern half of the country right now. We're not halfway through 2011 and it's already been a wild year for weather -- starting with intense winter snow storms. Remember this?
At one point in January, there was snow on the ground in 49 of 50 states -- everywhere except for Florida.
Then, came the tornadoes. The past record for April was set back in 1957, 407 tornadoes. This year, 875 of them touched down.
Next, was flooding. This is Memphis, folks. Before and after the Mississippi swelled over its banks. Look how narrow the Mississippi River here is and Memphis before. After this record flooding -- unbelievable, this is what the river looked like.
Now, it's just hot. Between Sunday and Tuesday, close to 500 high temperature records have been broken seen here with the little red dots. Heat that has worsened the drought in southern parts of the United States.
This is where you're seeing drought -- the driest areas in red, areas like Springerville in Arizona where a wildfire has burned some -- wow -- 486 square miles of pine forest forcing thousands to flee their homes -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Christine, thanks.
So, you know, we talk about this and you showed us many great examples of this extreme weather we've been dealing with. It seems this year we just can't catch a break.
Joining me to discuss why we're experiencing wild swings, Jack Hayes. He's the director of the National Weather Service. He's live from our Washington bureau.
Thanks for being with us this morning, Jack.
JACK HAYES, DIRECTOR, NOAA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: Thank you, Kiran, for the invitation.
CHETRY: We talked about this historic flooding, the record number of tornadoes and today, we're also following, of course, these wildfires in Arizona and record heat across the country.
Is all of this related somehow?
HAYES: Well, I think so. I think we've seen intense weather since at least the Christmas time with the snowstorms, followed by the tornadoes and floods that we've experienced this winter. And I think that the intensity we've seen, it's a very active year. We've seen active years in the past, and certainly, this is one of the more active and intense weather years.
CHETRY: This is called a La Nina year, and how they define it is a cooler than normal sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, which is more complicated than that. But, obviously, it affects weather patterns. This was the quote from one scientist saying it's near record-breaking La Nina year. This La Nina year has been near record-breaking in its intensity.
What do they mean by that?
HAYES: Well, I think the active weather that we've seen over the United States is approaching record limits. I think if you look at the number of tornadoes we've had already this year, we're on a path to exceed the number of tornadoes we had in 2009, which was about 1,800 tornadoes.
If you look at the hurricane season we put out an outlook just a few weeks ago, that says that we should expect 18 named storms, 10 hurricanes, six major hurricanes. Last year was the third most active hurricane season on record and it had one more named storm than we're predicting for this year.
CHETRY: And yes, exactly. Above average hurricane season on the horizon for us, at least those are the predictions. But when people talk about extreme weather, and they talk about climate change, they're related but they're not the same. Explain that.
HAYES: Well, I think climate change is an end state. I think what we've seen over the past two decades is increasingly warm temperatures, warmer nights, more widespread and intense heat waves, one of the reasons that NOAA has proposed a climate service is to bring the expertise that we have to delve more deeply into the questions in partnership with other federal agencies and with the academic community.
HAYES: There's a Stanford University study that came out, a report that is really troubling. I mean, it basically says that temperatures will rise irreversibly within the next 20 to 60 years and they talk about the fact that this will have enormous consequences for human beings. They point out that 40,000 people that were killed in the 2003 heat wave in Europe, but also concerns when it comes to growing our world's food.
How concerned are we about irreversible changes in our temperature?
HAYES: Well, I think all Americans and -- are concerned with irreversible changes to temperature. All the more reason that we need to invest in climate surfaces where we can begin to probe and bring to bear the power of science to find the answers to questions necessary to plot the nation's future.
CHETRY: It's always so political, that's the interesting part. Why is there a big political element in this that sometimes seems to get in the way of just looking at it objectively?
HAYES: Well, as a scientist, I tend to focus on the objective pieces and I think science is apolitical. I guess I wouldn't feel comfortable offering an opinion on why the politics enter into it. My -- I think my earlier comment, the nation needs to invest in the necessary research so we can bring to bear the power of science, to meet the nation's need.
CHETRY: All right. Jack Hayes, it was good talking to you this morning -- director of NOAA. Thanks for being with us.
HAYES: Thank you.
ROMANS: OK. It's 29 minutes after the hour -- time for this morning's top stories. Rebel fighters taking control of a key city in Yemen. More than 400 tribal gunmen are taking over the town of Taiz. It's a big setback for government forces loyal to President Saleh. He's still in Saudi Arabia, recovering from burns and shrapnel wounds suffered during an attack on his compound last week.
President Obama will be holding a video conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai today. The president met with his national security team for two hours on Monday to discuss the war in Afghanistan and the situation in Pakistan. The administration is reportedly working on a timetable to begin pulling troops out of the region.
The aircraft carrier that buried Osama Bin Laden at sea is back in the U.S. The ""USS Carl Vinson"" arrived in Hawaii yesterday. It's the ship's first stop on U.S. soil in six months. It was a very personal mission for the commander of the strike group that includes the "Carl Vinson". He told reporters he was at the Pentagon on 9/11.
CHETRY: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is now saying what most Americans are feeling, a growing frustration about the economy. The recovery has been painfully slow for millions of people that are unemployed and even more who feel underemployed.
ROMANS: This morning, the CNN listening tour takes us to Central Florida. David Mattingly is getting an earful about politics and the economy. He joins us now from the Villages Retirement Community. Good morning, David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. You know, Central Florida is always known as a very deep well of independent voters and for any candidate to appeal to them, he's going to have to first appeal to their wallets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Four different people from four different walks of life, all feeling the pain of a down economy. In Kissimmee, the mortgage crisis hit Arilez Martinez-Rodriguez.
ARILEZ MARTINEZ-RODRIGUEZ: I purchased the house for 255 and right now the house is for $87,000.
MATTINGLY: The biggest investment of her life, withering away in a market chilled by one of the nation's highest rates of foreclosure.
RODRIGUEZ: I'm stressed out because I need a house for my kids and for me and I'm trying to work with the bank and the bank doesn't want to work with me.
MATTINGLY: Strawberry farmer Carl Grooms in Plant City knows what that feels like.
CARL GROOMS, FANCY FARMS: I'm like most folks. I feel it in the pocketbook.
MATTINGLY: Rising costs of everything from labor to fuel has him thinking there's a disconnect in D.C.
GROOMS: I don't think they got a clue. They've never walked in the shoe of the common person. They've never been down here at the level.
They never had to wonder what they're going to eat tomorrow or where they're going to live or how they're going to get their fuel tank filled up.
MATTINGLY: Donna Thomas of the Villages worries about that all the time.
DONNA THOMAS, RETIREE: We basically had to give up our regular insurance and go to an HMO and we've had to cut back on everything.
MATTINGLY: When her real estate company of 40 years went under during the mortgage crisis, she lost everything she was saving for retirement. Harold Williams can't think that far ahead.
HAROLD WILLIAMS, FORMER TEACHER: Pressure because you don't want your family to be without. They look upon you to be the strong leader. I don't want to let them down.
MATTINGLY: In two months, this former Orlando math teacher has had just two interviews. Williams says the job market will affect his next vote for president.
WILLIAMS: I don't want him to have sympathy for me, but empathy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And it could take a lot of empathy from a candidate because the unemployment rate here is 10.8 percent, more than a point above the national average.
ROMANS: All right. David Mattingly in Florida. Thanks, David.
CHETRY: So a lot of people are asking what would be the solution to turning the economy around? A lot of people have ideas. It's our question of the day. Here's some of your responses. Neskrov from Twitter writes, "promote the swap/barter system and embrace the fall to get back up, learn from our mistakes, fund research not wars!"
Brad Taylor on Facebook writes, "It's going to take innovation and new technologies to create new jobs. It's going to take effort from people as well. I don't have a degree and I worked my way up from the bottom with a temp agency."
ROMANS: Vicky on Facebook says, "Time, patience, wisdom and reduced, "all about me" attitudes. There's no immediate gratification on this issue." Frankly after immediate gratification with credit, right, for 10 or 15 years.
Joshua on Facebook also says, "We must figure out a way for businesses to justify hiring more American workers. It's cheaper for the government to give tax incentives to hire us than to keep paying unemployment benefits. I've heard that point before as well. Interesting.
CHETRY: Speaking of the economy, Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty is out with his fix. He says if you can Google it, you can cut it.
Speaking yesterday, Pawlenty said that if you can find a service on the internet, it's offered by a private sector firms and the government doesn't need to be doing it.
Among the services he would cut, Amtrak, the U.S. Postal Service, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Government Printing Office. He's also proposing some major changes to the tax structure including corporate and personal and individual income taxes.
ROMANS: Eliminating an awful lot of federal regulation. So he's got a sweeping, but very conservative view of what to do with big government.
CHETRY: Well, be sure to join CNN next Monday night, you could hear from him and the other seven GOP candidates for president debating. It's Monday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern live from New Hampshire only on CNN.
ROMANS: Meantime, we're going to talk next up with the NAACP there suing New York City to stop some school closings. We'll find out why they're weighing in on this. Why keep these failing schools open and what it is that they're hoping for right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning, New York City, 76 degrees and sunny today. Perfect summer weather except you're going to add another 20 degrees on to that, partly cloudy and 96 later this afternoon so prepare accordingly.
He's passionate about education issues and this week, our CNN contributor Steve Perry was fired up about the NAACP's decision to join a New York City's teacher union in a lawsuit to stop New York City from closing some of its worst performing schools and open the building space to new charter schools. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: The NAACP has become a jobs program. What they're doing is they've come into bed with the teachers union for one purpose and that's to protect teachers jobs, not the children, but the teachers who making $70,000 a year on average, and they have a master's degree. It's them they're protecting not the children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Kim Keenan could not disagree more. She's joining us to respond to Steve Perry's take on this, from Washington, the general counsel for the NAACP.
First off, tell me, why did you join with the teachers to protest or try to stop these failing schools from being closed?
KIM KEENAN, NAACP GENERAL COUNSEL: Well, what happened is we went to court and we got a court order that said that they had to comply with New York State law, which required that they create, fund and implement plans to change these schools.
And that didn't happen and we tried to work with people, we tried to talk, we went to hearings and at the end of the day, nothing happened. We're hoping that the new chancellor is listening and watching and that he will take the steps to follow the law. We won twice.
ROMANS: So do you think they just gave up on these schools?
KEENAN: Well, you know, it's easy to have the luxury for some people to stay we're going to give up, but having a lottery and letting 4 percent of the kids get the resources that every child should have, is not the answer.
The answer is to comply with the law, which New York has great law on these issues and here we are 96 percent of the 1 million plus students in New York are under the public school system.
And they are not getting the resources and the effort put into making sure that they have an equitable education. We have two cities and one building. Some kids have computers, some kids do not.
ROMANS: That's when the charter schools have space in these buildings you're saying?
KEENAN: That's right. When they're co-located they get the best spaces and they get the most resources. So what happens is --
ROMANS: How do we elevate it for everyone? I mean, the point of a public school education is it's supposed to be the great equalizer for all kids, no matter what.
They come into the school. They're given the tools to get this standard education and take it off into the American way of life and build something with it, but that's just not happening. Fixing it is so frustrating, isn't it?
KEENAN: Fixing it is frustrating, but you know what, not fixing it is not an option. And continuing on the way it is, ignoring the law, put -- squishing all those students in together into the same building where some of them are having classes on stages and in hallways, is not the answer.
They have a new chancellor in New York and they have a new opportunity. We filed that lawsuit so they can focus and prioritize, getting these schools in a way where they are the great equalizer.
Children are watching and if they're looking across the hall and people have computers and access to labs and they don't, they're learning a lesson that she shouldn't be learning at school.
ROMANS: There are four models under federal guidelines for failing schools to improve them, transformation, turnaround, restarts and closure. These 20 were targeted for closure. In this case you would like to see these schools transformed, how?
KEENAN: Well, first of all, in order to close them in New York, there's a process that, you know, in New York, they involve parents and that wasn't done here. It wasn't done properly. It didn't comply with the law.
And as a result, it would be like, you know, they just send you a note one day, the school that your child goes to no longer exists. Without going through any of basically the safeguards that were put into place.
So yes, we would like to see them create the plan they're supposed to create, fund it and implement it so these children have the opportunity to get that equitable education that is the foundation for the American way.
ROMANS: People like Steve Perry will say that's just throwing good money after bad. That these are failing schools and taxpayer dollars should not be going into schools that, you know, maybe cannot be helped. That they need to be closed and started over, charters or the kids move to school districts that are working. What do you say to that?
KEENAN: Well, then they need to start them over in the schools that they're in. There isn't enough space to just move them off. They're talking about sending kids an hour and a half away in New York to schools.
It would seem that if we can co-locate a charter school in that school, we can transform a school within that school and again, this is about they're pitting parents against parents. Where at the end of the day all the NAACP is for is making sure that every child gets the equitable education that the law promises.
ROMANS: All right. Kim Keenan, general counsel of the NAACP. Thank you so much for joining us and have a nice day today.
KEENAN: You too.
CHETRY: It's 44 minutes past the hour. A heat wave reaches the northeast. We're going to have more on our morning headlines this morning.
ROMANS: And Dr. Sanjay Gupta, does your food make you sick? Did you know that salmonella poisoning is on the rise? We're going to tell you why and how you can protect yourself and your family.
CHETRY: Also, some foods that have historically been off limits for babies. Big no, no's from pediatricians such as introducing honey or nuts at an early age. When is it OK? There are some new revised recommendations.
It's 44 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-six minutes past the hour. A look at your headlines this morning.
Nearly 500 square miles of Eastern Arizona on fire. An enormous wildfire is now threatening two towns near New Mexico as well. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes.
Meantime, on the eastern half of America, they're on alert for a heat wave. Temperatures expected to shatter records today, soaring 20 degrees above normal in places like Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. It's actually expected to hit 96 degrees in Philadelphia, and they could hit the century mark on Thursday.
It appears the markets may continue their losing streak. Right now, we're looking at futures, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P futures all pointing down this morning.
Facebook is about to change the way you tag friends in photos and yourself. The new system will scan every image on Facebook and try to figure out who's in the picture. You can opt out of this facial recognition if you prefer not to. Have it used on you.
Deadlocks in Dallas. The Mavericks beat the Miami Heat 86-83 to tie the NBA finals at two. It was another comeback victory for the Mavs who trailed by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter. Star, Dirk Nowitzki, managed to score 21 points, even though, he is suffering from a 101-degree fever. Game five is tomorrow night in Dallas.
Ohio State quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, won't be playing for the Buckeyes this year. He's leaving the school and says he'll likely enter the NFL supplemental draft this summer. Pryer is one of five Ohio State football players suspended for selling team memorabilia to the owner of a Columbus tattoo parlor.
Well, you're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING will be back after a quick break.
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CHETRY: Forty-nine minutes past the hour right now. The government pulling rat poison from the shelves saying that too many children and pets are accidentally getting sick. The ban affects pellet rat and mouse poison that sold by Decon, Victor and Hot Shot. At least two of those companies are planning to appeal. The EPA says that as many as 15,000 children under six years old are exposed to rat and mice poisons each year.
ROMANS: You know, pets can knock the canisters off, you know, in the garage or something because it smells good or taste good or something and they go after it and they can poison them as well.
Protecting future generations of athletes, the NFL and the NCAA are now asking states to make laws design to prevent and properly treat concussions in young athletes. We're learning so much more about concussions now and the long-term effect. They say legislation should be modeled after a law in Washington State.
It's named after a youth football player who almost died when he returned to a game with a concussion. It says kids must be removed from a game if they're suspected of having it, a concussion, and only a licensed healthcare professional can clear a player to return in coming days and weeks.
CHETRY: Parents, no need to hold back on the milk, eggs, and nuts for very small infants. A new study is now saying that it is OK to feed your baby certain allergy-related foods before they're six months old. Now, that's fully the opposite of what doctors have been recommending for years.
Usually, you've heard hold off on the peanut butter until they're at least 12 months old. Other things like honey. The new research shows that it really doesn't necessarily change whether a child will develop allergies, eczema, or asthma.
ROMANS: Parents weigh all of these new advice and guidelines and they just say, wait a minute. You know, it's very --
CHETRY: It is hard. It's hard because the research is constantly changing and no child is alike.
ROMANS: Yes. OK. The U.S. has made great strides when it comes to keeping the nation's food supply safe. The CDC releasing its latest report, though, showing a number of foodborne infections. It's down, but there is one illness, at least, that is up.
CHETRY: Chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us live. OK. First, start with the good news. We talk about how many foodborne illnesses are actually on the decline.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. There has been some progress here. This report was a little bit surprising to me, because we were reporting on, you know, these food outbreaks for so many years now. There has been some progress made. Let me give you some of the good news first. Overall, take a look at the top six causes of foodborne illnesses, and again, some of these may surprise you if you think about, you know, what we've heard over the last several years.
Salmonella is at the top of the list. And this is one area where there hadn't (ph) been a lot of progress. All these other areas, including E. coli, which is something that, obviously, we've been talking about quite a bit over the last few days, has come down significantly. You know, some of it have several other bacteria that have sort of surpassed it in terms of causing foodborne illnesses.
These are confirmed cases in 2010. See, 82, salmonella, only 442 of one of the worst kinds of E. coli, one of the kinds that we're talking about now. So, the good news is with regards to E. coli, these particular bacteria, they're making some gains in the United States over the last 15 years.
ROMANS: Can you hear me, Sanjay?
GUPTA: I'm sorry. I missed that. What was that?
ROMANS: So, the bad news then though is that salmonella is on the rise again.
GUPTA: Salmonella is on the right, and I think overall -- you also look at the number of outbreaks still that occur, and this is, I think, a bit staggering to the people, and they think, you know, go to the grocery store, you buy food, there are still a thousand plus outbreaks every single year. Forty-eight million people get sick.
Now, you may wonder, how is 48 million people getting sick? One in six Americans getting sick, but there's only, you know, tens of thousands of confirmed cases. These are estimates based on these confirmed cases. They predict how many more people likely got sick. Keep in mind that most people won't go to the hospital. They're not going to get, you know, really sick, but they're still getting these particular bacteria in their food and having problems.
128,000 hospitalizations and still 3,000 deaths, you know, as a result of this. That's the same number of people who died from lung cancer who are nonsmokers. That gives you a little bit of context of still how big a problem foodborne illness is.
CHETRY: And when it comes to salmonella, why is it at the top of the list of causes for these outbreaks? I mean, when we think of it, I think of uncooked chicken, the way you handle raw chicken and the way you handle raw eggs.
GUPTA: This may surprise you then because even processed foods, eggs, certainly, all kinds of beef, certain vegetables, there are so many different types of food that can carry salmonella and therein lies part of the problem. Also, I'm always still stunned at just how rudimentary the process is to try and trace an outbreak. It's a real medical mystery to have to literally go back to each step of the process from the farm where the food is grown all the way to the fork, you know, when it gets to your table and figure out when the bacteria was introduced.
I can tell you, in a lot of these outbreaks, they never exactly pinpoint it. It also relies in part because salmonella can affect so many different foods. You're relying on people's memories as far as what they ate several weeks in the past. So, that can be a challenge, and that's part of a reason they've had a really hard time sort of nailing it down.
ROMANS: What's really frustrating, Sanjay, for consumers is there's only so much we can do to avoid cross contamination.
GUPTA: Yes.
ROMANS: We can wash our hands. We can cook our food properly. We can have the right kind of cutting board, but it comes down to the farm, to the truck, to the people who are moving the food, to the processing of the food. What more can be done to prevent people from getting sick?
GUPTA: You know, I was sort of amazed that even up until this past year, the FDA or the USDA did not have the regulatory authority to go in and make a mandatory shutdown of a particular plant if there was a concern. They could only make the recommendation. So much of the attention was focused on dealing with an outbreak after it had already occurred and very little on the prevention side.
That's changed now as a result of what's called the Food Safety Modernization Act. It gives the FDA more authority to go and say, look, we can inspect this plant. We think it's a concern. We think the cooling or the heating temperatures aren't correct. And you know, you could have an outbreak as a result.
So, I think prophylaxis, prevention, is going to be really key here. And it's done in many countries across the world. The United States was a little bit slow to catch up here, but I think we're going to see some decrease, even in that salmonella number, as a result of that.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we hope so for sure. Sanjay, good to see you. Thank so much.
GUPTA: You got it.
CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. On the other side, your top stories including the latest from this wild fire in Arizona and this heat wave for the east coast.
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