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American Morning
Yemen's Opposition Seizes Taiz; "Mass Grave" Hoax In Texas?; Dog Handler Testifies In Anthony Trial; Mexican Drug Gangs Build Tanks; Unprepared for College; Kingpins
Aired June 08, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A gigantic wildfire spreading out of control in Arizona. I'm Christine Romans. Thousand of people evacuated, nearly 500 square miles burned. Now, those flames are moving closer to New Mexico.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Join CNN on a listening tour. We're traveling across America to talk to voters about their struggles and the slumping economy and the search for solutions on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: Good morning, everybody. It's Wednesday, June 8th. Our friend, Ali Velshi, is off today.
CHETRY: We start, though, with these wildfires that have really been growing out of control right now in Eastern Arizona. So far, more than 5,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes. This is an area that borders in New Mexico. An enormous wild fire scorching over 500,000 square miles of land so far.
It's already being called the second largest fire in Arizona's history, and it could get bigger because the weather is not cooperating. Winds are whipping up, and it's remained hot and dry. The flames are now heading straight for two mountain towns in New Mexico.
ROMANS: First, it was the Mississippi River, now, there's record flooding along the Missouri River and the worst of it may becoming. They're building levees and bracing for an onslaught of water in Northern South Dakota. The U.S. army corps of engineers is preparing to open a dam sending more flood water into cities Pierre, South Dakota where residents are hoping sandbags will save their homes.
CHETRY: And a heat wave is scorching the eastern half of America right now from Texas to New England. You're looking at a live picture right now of Washington, D.C. where the forecast is calling for high of 97 degrees today, and perhaps, even hotter throughout the week.
ROMANS: Speaking of hot, look at this spectacular solar storm. It erupted yesterday on the sun raising up a massive cloud of magnetic plasma. NASA has registered the event as a class M-2 solar flare. That's a medium class sun storm that shouldn't threaten any satellites or infrastructure here on the earth.
CHETRY: It's probably going to --
ROMANS: But it's certainly spectacular-looking.
CHETRY: It is. And it's probably going to feel that. It's going to feel as hot as that looks in many parts of the country today.
Rob Marciano is tracking the extreme weather for us. He's in Piedmont Park, in Atlanta.
So, we've been talking about this extremely hot weather making its way east. Well, it's here.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. And you know what? It's been here on and of for a couple of weeks. Ten or so days ago, we were talking about how, be careful out there because the first time you get that excessive heat in June, your body is not used to it. There's a bit of a shock to the system. Well, we haven't cooled down a whole lot since then, especially across the Southeast. And the wild fire situation, obviously, the hot, dry weather out there is causing issues.
Quick check on that. We've got red flag warnings that are posted for the same areas that are enduring that for the past couple of days. There's not a lot of relief in sight. Certainly, no substantial rains expected until the monsoons set in.
Look at these record high temperatures, though. As far north as Minneapolis, Minnesota -- 103 degrees yesterday. Dodge City, Kansas, 102; and Rochester, Minnesota, also seeing 101 degrees for a high temperature yesterday.
But all this heat is moving farther to the east. So, some of the larger cities on the East Coast, including Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, D.C., all have at least heat advisories or excessive heat warnings. Philadelphia in the pink there, we'll see heat indices, up and over the 100-degree mark. So, that's as measured in the shade. So, do take care of yourself and some of your neighbors out there.
As far as what we can expect for temperatures across other spots in the Southeast and the eastern corridor, a lot of bright colors on the map there -- 99 expected for a heat index in St. Louis, 95 degrees expected in Nashville, and 90s across the board -- and 100 or better potentially across D.C. and farther up towards the north.
We don't expect to see a lot of relief with this, certainly, across the Southeast. There will be some cool fronts that try to come through like Chicago, Upstate New York, over the next couple of days. But it's not going to make it very far south.
Here's the forecast showing that the big dome of high pressure that's been keeping the dry air in place and the heat baking kind of just sits there and all the front that will bring it cooler and some rain to the north will stay that way.
So, it's certainly unusual for this time of year. We're not even officially on the first day of summer by calendar standards.
And as far as the exercising, that happens a lot here at Piedmont Park, especially this time of day. And there are some folks that are trying to get their workout out early in the morning because later on this afternoon and evening, it's going to get a little bit steamy. The bigger city with the ozone, air quality is not going to be healthy.
Guys, back to you.
ROMANS: Rob, so, all spring, there was all this rain. And so, people that worked outside in construction and other jobs, they had all these delays on job sites and now, it's so hot that, you know, they are going to be working earlier, taking the middle of the day off because it's too hot to be outside working. It's just been so frustrating for people who are trying to make a living outdoors. That's for sure.
MARCIANO: Yes, that's a good point. And the guys that are going to be working, the road crews who are working during the heat of the day, certainly give them a break as you drive and walk past them.
ROMANS: We're not giving Rob a break though -- Rob, we have to stand outside and to live shots for us today. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: No problem. No problem.
ROMANS: New this hour, two years after Air France flight 447 plunged into Atlantic, officials say they are finished looking for bodies. Now, a French team saying they have recovered all salvageable remains from that flight. The so-called black boxes were recovered last month. And they showed the plane which was flying from Rio to Paris fell 38,000 feet in under four minutes, killing all 228 people on board. They didn't lay blame on a single cause.
CHETRY: Important new developments in Yemen this morning where rebels have now taken control of Taiz. It's a key city in the southwest part of the country.
ROMANS: It's a big setback for forces loyal to President Saleh, who is recovering from burns and wounds suffered last week in an attack on his compound.
Mohammed Jamjoom joins us live from Abu Dhabi this morning.
How significant is this, Mohammed?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, it's a very, very big and significant development. Let me try to set the scene.
Taiz is a city in the southwest of Yemen. It's been one of the epicenters of the anti-government movement there the past several months. Hundreds of thousands of people day after day have been demonstrating. They are calling for the ousting of the president.
In the past couple of weeks, there have been a lot of clashes between anti-government demonstrators and government security forces. A lot of international condemnation is thrown at the Yemeni government because so many anti-government demonstrators were getting killed. In the past week, tribesmen -- armed tribesmen that were trying to protect the demonstrators started coming into Taiz. They started coming into the streets of Taiz, they started clashing with government security forces there.
Yesterday, according to eyewitnesses, according to residents, they were able to drive the security forces out of the city. But the fact that you now have armed tribesmen in another major city of Yemen, a very populated city, adding much more concern as to what's going to happen? How volatile is it? Will the troops move back in?
Even though the Yemeni government denies that this happened, many of the eyewitnesses there saying the troops are outside of the city, that they are preparing to come back in.
So, that just means there's another city in Yemen where people are concerned there could be raging street battles. Does that mean the country is closer to civil war? Well, that's the question at this hour -- Christine.
CHETRY: All right. Well, this is Kiran here, by the way.
Also, in other parts of Yemen, we know that there has been a concern, of course, regarding al Qaeda taking part in the fighting as well. What are you hearing about what's going on elsewhere?
JAMJOOM: Kiran, this is another big point of worry for U.S., for regional neighbors of Yemen, because there is a city in the south of Yemen called Zinjibar, in a province that is known to be a hot bed for al Qaeda, that has been overtaken by Islamic militants in the past 10 days. There have been clashes in the past 10 days between government security forces and these militants. But the militants still very much in control of that city.
Yesterday, the Yemeni government said they were able to kill at least 30 al Qaeda members in that city. But the fact that Islamic militants were able to take this over, were able seize it, is a big point of concern in a country where there's a huge al Qaeda problem, where they'd been able to try to launch attacks against the U.S. from their base in Yemen. And it just adds much more worry that al Qaeda will try to take advantage of all the strife and violence in Yemen right now -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Mohammed Jamjoom for us this morning -- thanks so much.
ROMANS: Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi vowing to stay in Libya and fight to the death even as NATO airstrikes bombard his compound again in Tripoli this morning. Powerful explosions were heard near his residence. The blast coming just a day after NATO-led war airplanes carried out some 66 strikes on Tripoli, in some of the fiercest bombing, daytime we've seen yet.
CHETRY: And one of the most delicate missions in the U.S. military, burying Osama bin Laden at sea. And, finally, the crew of the USS Carl Vinson is back on U.S. soil this morning. The carrier pulled into Hawaii yesterday on its way to San Diego. They were out at sea for six months.
And it was a very personal mission for the commander of the strike group that includes the Carl Vinson. He was telling reporters that he was at the Pentagon on 9/11.
ROMANS: With bin Laden out of the picture, the White House is now considering a timetable to begin troop withdrawals in Afghanistan. President Obama will be speaking with Afghan President Hamid Karzai today. He says it's time for America to start relinquishing some of its responsibilities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With respect to Afghanistan, I'll be making announcements soon. What I've said is this summer is a summer of transition where we start handing over more responsibility for the security of Afghanistan to the Afghan government. I intend to follow through on that commitment that I made to the American people.
By us killing Osama bin Laden, getting al Qaeda back on its heels, stabilizing much of the country in Afghanistan so that the Taliban can't take it over, it's now time for us to recognize that we've accomplished a big chunk of our mission and that it's time for the Afghans to take more responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: President Obama met with his national security team for two hours Monday to discuss the war in Afghanistan.
CHETRY: Well, there were no party crashers, there were no controversies. There were just a show of unity between the U.S. and Germany at the White House last night. President Obama hosted a state dinner honoring German chancellor, Angela Merkel, awarding her America's top civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The first lady also was decked out in a nice -- was a really pretty gown by, by the way, by Naeem Khan, an ivory V-neck column dress.
Now, we're seeing other people. We just saw Diane Sawyer. We just saw Nancy Pelosi. Anyways, so Michelle Obama, there it is, beading on it. It was very beautiful.
ROMANS: All right. No wonder everyone was in such a good mood at the White House dinner last night. Take a look at the menu. For starters, the president, the chancellor and just over 200 guests dined on tuna tartar with rye crisps, accompanied by pickled young carrots and mustard oil. Then it was on to the main course, shaved ham and ginger snaps and petite filet with Maryland crab ravioli, topping it off with desert, apple strudel.
CHETRY: They were also quick to point out that some of the herbs and vegetables were actually picked from the White House garden.
ROMANS: That's right. The organic garden. That's right.
CHETRY: Deafening silence for Democrats in defense of Anthony Weiner. The congressman surviving for now -- fighting for survival after admitting that he sexted with at least six women, none of them his wife.
ROMANS: Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor saying it's time for Weiner to quit. And Senate leader, Democrat Harry Reid virtually turned his back on him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), MAJORITY LEADER: It's up to Congressman Weiner and his constituents to make that decision. I don't condone his activity. I think he should resign.
QUESTION: You didn't say whether you thought Congressman Weiner should resign.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I'm not here to defend Weiner.
QUESTION: What do you think he should do?
REID: That's all I'm going to say.
QUESTION: What advice would you give him if he asked you?
REID: Call somebody else.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
CHETRY: Weiner though says that he is here to stay. We caught up with him yesterday at the front door of his apartment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: He is entitled to his viewpoint. Careful. I'm not resigning, no.
QUESTION: Congressman, how did you feel when you woke up this morning?
WEINER: Thanks, guys. Appreciate your patience.
QUESTION: How did you feel when you woke up this morning?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, some Democrats are now even giving campaign contributions to charity, ones they have got from Congressman Weiner.
ROMANS: All right. Well, Mexican drug traffickers have a new weapon in their narco war monster, narco tanks. We're going to show you those, next.
It's 10 minutes after the hour.
CHETRY: That's right. Also, Facebook, there is a new facial recognition, I guess, program you could call it, that they have sort of been testing. There is a little bit of concern over privacy when it comes to this. Now, they are saying people can opt-out but it is here to stay.
ROMANS: You can always opt out but I never know how to use those settings very well.
Meanwhile, why are we the no-vacation nation? Americans work so darn hard. Why do we leave all the vacation days left unused? We'll tell you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fourteen minutes past the hour.
In less than two hours, Joran Van Der Sloot is scheduled to appear in a courtroom in Peru. He's charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 21-year-old woman. Her body was found in his hotel room in Lima last year. Today, his lawyers will try to convince a judge to consider a lesser sentence, claiming it was a crime of passion, not pre-meditated. Van Der Sloot is also the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teen, Natalee Holloway in Aruba.
ROMANS: Police, the Texas rangers, even the FBI all rush to a home in Texas yesterday after a tip about a mass grave with children buried inside, but it turns out it didn't exist. No graves. No evidence of any murder. Now, the investigation is turning to the tipster. Authority is saying it was from a woman claiming to be a psychic.
CHETRY: Police in Miami Beach now responding to a witness who, they say, smashed his cell phone after he taped them opening fire. Here's a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (voice-over): Again, that was a cell phone video recorded of the incident which happened over Memorial Day weekend. It was taken from a roof. It shows police firing shots at a suspect, ended up killing the man. One witness who was taping from the street claims that cops pointed a gun at him, cuffed him, crushed his phone, and demanded the video.
Police have now released a picture that they say is the phone in question. They say it was slightly damaged but that it still worked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. In the Casey Anthony murder trial, a dog turned out to be critical to the prosecution's case, specifically a German shepherd named Gerus, a trained cadaver dog who smelled human remains in the young mother's car and in the backyard and alerted as it called. The dog's handlers took the stand yesterday and recalled the day when he and his four-legged partner were checking out Casey's car.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON FORGEY, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: He turned downside the rear of the trunk. The trunk was open. Gerus jumped up into the trunk.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His whole body?
FORGEY: No, front end, front end, stuck his head in there, and of course, I was overwhelmed at that point, because, same thing. I'm hitting it the same time he is. I moved around, continued to walk. Gerus comes out of the trunk with his front paws, comes out of the trunk to the right rear passenger taillight bumper area, and gives me a final trained alert. He goes into a down position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: She is facing the death penalty for allegedly killing her two-year-old daughter, Caylee, back in 2008.
CHETRY: Mexican drug cartels now have tanks, Mexican soldiers finding two of them in a warehouse. They described them as having inch thick armor, capable of stopping a 50-caliber machine gun bullet. They say only anti-tank weapons could actually penetrate them. They also say they're concerned they could hold 20 gunmen who can then fire through sniper holds.
ROMANS: OK. Changes on Facebook. Why the social networking site is going to automatically scan the faces of the people in the pictures that you post and what they're going to do with those?
CHETRY: Also, why are we the no-vacation nation? It seems the rest of the world knows how to relax where as the U.S. only knows how to stress. We're going to talk more about that with our travel expert coming up. Eighteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's 21 minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
The fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, acknowledged the recovery lost some momentum. This he during a speech yesterday. Twice in the speech he said, the job market is far from normal, but he also said the economy should improve later this year. Right now, the Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 futures are all down ahead of the opening bell. The markets dropped yesterday after those comments.
Facebook rolling out its new facial recognition technology. The feature scans every picture and then suggests to you the names of people who appear in these images. The privacy concerns, of course, among some users, because this new technology is turned on by default. You can opt out of it by going to your privacy settings page.
General Motors CEO, Dan Akerson is calling for a $1 gas tax hike. In an interview of the Detroit News, he argued that the hike could be a way to encourage people to buy more fuel efficient cars. He said if the tax hike replaced tight fuel economy standards, it might actually help the auto industry.
And CNN is listening to our take of the polls of the people. Right now, a lot of pain in the economy, especially gas prices, a problem for small companies and small business. We're going to show you how some of them are outsmarting high gas prices to survive.
AMERICAN MORNING is back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour right now. Look at New York City this morning. A steamy central park because it is going to get hot. Sunny and 76 right now. Little later, it's going up to a high of 96, and that weather, that heat wave is staying in place for a little while.
ROMANS: And you know, when it's actually warm like this, it reminds you of vacation season, right?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROMANS: But, apparently, Americans are all work and no play. A recent poll found just 57 percent of U.S. workers use all of their vacation days. Do you use all of yours?
CHETRY: Oh, no. Do you?
ROMANS: I use every last one of mine.
CHETRY: You got the right idea.
ROMANS: I do.
CHETRY: Well, in France, the percentage of workers who use all of their vacation days, nearly 90 percent. Very similar in other places in Europe as well and in Latin-American, other places on the globe. So, why do Americans take so few vacation days? Joining us is Mark Orwoll. He is the international editor at "Travel and Leisure." We take some vacations or you wouldn't be in business, right?
MARK ORWOLL, INTERNATIONAL EDITOR "TRAVEL AND LEISURE": It's pretty pitiful to begin with. Most people in this country who get vacation only get two or three weeks. Compare that, you know, with around the world --
CHETRY: Six weeks in Germany.
ORWOLL: Six weeks in Germany plus federal holidays. I know. So, the fact that we don't get that many to begin with, and we don't use them all is just a pathetic state of affairs. ROMANS: But it's a cultural thing, too, because this is a country, I'm going to sound like, you know, waving American flags, you know, built by immigrants who worked very, very hard. We have a very strong work ethic. We love our job. We define ourselves by jobs. People like me who are going out there, giving advice, like you need to be an office warrior, because there are a lot of people who are, you know, it's not a great job market. Is that one of the reasons why people --
ORWOLL: Christine, when we were kids, did our parents send us off to school saying take it easy today? No, they said, work hard.
ROMANS: You're right.
ORWOLL: Right? I mean, it's bread. It's almost part of the American DNA. We don't have the same kind of job security in this country that they do in other parts of the world. So, a lot of us are concerned that if we're away from the office too much, our job might be at risk. Vacations are expensive, and especially, in the last few years. People may say to themselves, I can't afford to take a vacation.
The managers in most of our corporations, they encourage people to come in early, to work late, and to not use all their vacation days.
CHETRY: We've also heard, though, bosses sometimes say, you need a vacation. Technically, a well-rested, less stressed out employee who's been able to unplug a little, probably, is more productive or at least more pleasant to be around.
ORWOLL: Well, a forward-looking company is going to realize that the benefits of a vacation don't approve just to the employee but also to the company itself, because we've all worked with people who have been experiencing burnout or we've experienced it ourselves. They're distracted, they're irritable, they're not productive colleagues. There are health benefits.
Literally, you get on vacation, an extra hour of sleep but more important, you get an additional three hours of that productive, restorative sleep that really rejuvenates you. That wears off after a while. So, you're going to have to take another vacation. There have been something called -- this research called vigilance test where they test people before they've gone to vacation and after.
It shows that their mental acuity, their sharpness, actually, increases by as much as 25 percent after they come back from vacation. So, you're a better worker. You become healthier, you're sharper, you've built up the bonds with your family, the social support that you need to get through tough times at work.
ROMANS: Good point. You convinced us. You convinced us.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: So, you're a beach guy. ORWOLL: Yes, I am.
ROMANS: It's going to be more expensive to fly there. I mean, hotel prices, you got to really hunt for them. I mean, what do you recommend for Americans domestically if they want to do a little vacation?
ORWOLL: OK. Look, we've all heard about the staycation idea where, you know, you make a vacation at home. That's OK, but I really encourage you, as much as you can, get out there, use those vacation days. Nobody ever said at the end of their lives, I wish I had spent more time at the office. No.
You want to build up that bond with your family, spend the time with them. You're going to build up your health. You're going to be a better worker.
CHETRY: Are there deals do we have right now?
ORWOLL: There are deals but you have to scrounge for them. Look on airfare watch dot come, travel and leisure where I work, they have deals posted on there. You have to do your research.
ROMANS: You have to get in the car, drive to the beach, drive to the lake, just get out for a day or two.
ORWELL: That's right. You don't have to go far to find a great vacation destination. It doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. And you are never going to regret the time that you spent with your family away from the office. Leave the blackberry at home.
CHETRY: She has three little ones and I have two little ones so maybe you are not speaking to us. We need a vacation from our vacation.
ROMANS: A vacation for us is a lot of work.
ORWELL: I have been there, done that.
ROMANS: Top stories, rebel fighters have taken control of a key city in Yemen, more than 400 tribal gunmen taking over the town of Taiz. It's a big setback for government forces loyal to President Saleh. He is still in Saudi Arabia recovering shrapnel wounds from an attack on his compound last week.
CHETRY: President Obama will be holding a video conference with Afghan president Hamid Karzai today. The president met with his national security team on Monday to discuss the war and the situation in Pakistan. The administration is reportedly are working on a timetable to begin pulling troops out of the region.
ROMANS: The aircraft carrier that buried Osama bin Laden at sea is back in the U.S. the USS Carl Vinson" arrived yesterday. Osama bin Laden's body was placed on a board and tipped into the sea.
CHETRY: Thousands of small businesses in America are facing a financial crisis because of the high gas prices.
ROMANS: On this morning's CNN listening tour, a local flower shop owner in New Jersey found a clever way to outsmart a tough economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA BRANDIMARTE, CLOVER GARDEN FLORIST: Thank you, thank you. Nice to meet you.
ROMANS: It is busy season for family run Clover Garden Florist. They have been in business four years. Paula Brandimarte is making every effort to keep prices in check. But it is not easy. High gas prices have led her flower suppliers to increase costs.
BRANDIMARTE: They have put the freight up from $8, $10 to $13, $15.
ROMANS: On top of that, Paula pays $80 every time she fills up the gas tank, money that adds up.
ROMANS (on camera): Gas prices, they hit you coming in and when you are trying to go out too.
BRANDIMARTE: Yes, yes. It is a little difficult, because people don't understand that it is affecting all of us.
ROMANS (voice-over): One solution. Team up with the competition. Paula is part of a flower pool. She links up with 12 other florists in a central location. They swap orders taking on deliveries closest to their neighborhoods, helping their profit margins by saving on gas.
PHIL OWENS, FLORIST EMPLOYEE: We are seeing a lot more flower shops going out of business. They can't compete, can't afford to pay the gas prices and put up with what they have to put up with to get their product delivered.
ROMANS (on camera): Without this pool pooling together resources with other nurseries and floral delivery places, would you have to raise your prices, do you think?
BRANDIMARTE: If I was not on the pool system, then, yes, I probably would have to raise our prices.
ROMANS (voice-over): By collaborating, these small business competitors deliver the goods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That pool covers a 25-square mile area. One florist told us his business has to think twice about delivering to areas that around covered by the pool. It shows you how small business owners across the country take these uncertainties in the economy and have to figure out ways to outsmart it. They can't wait for Washington or OPEC to lower oil prices. They can't wait for all of these. They can't wait for somebody else to do it for them. That's what's so excited.
CHETRY: They have an improved business model when things get better, because they are saving on gas, pooling their resources. So maybe they have something figured out.
ROMANS: They don't want it -- Paula does not want to raise prices for her customers. When you this I about flowers, that's a luxury item, not necessarily a necessity. She doesn't want to pass on her higher prices. She has to find ways to squeeze it out elsewhere.
CHETRY: What could turn the economy around? It's our question of the day. There are some responses that are pretty interesting.
ROMANS: Peter B says, "Stop the drive to cut the government spending. It was attempted in the mid-1930s and just worsened the Great Depression. Does anyone in Congress ever read a history book?" A lot of clever and thoughtful responses on the blog and Facebook and Twitter.
If you can Google it, cut it -- that's part of presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty's economic fix. Pawlenty said if you can find a service on the internet, it is offered by private sector firms and the government doesn't need to be doing it.
CHETRY: Among the services he cut, he said Amtrak, the U.S. postal service, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, as well as the government printing office.
ROMANS: Be sure to join CNN next Monday night. Seven candidates will debate, Monday night, 8:00 p.m., live from New Hampshire only on CNN. We will start bright and early Monday morning with announcements and a lead-up to that.
CHETRY: You will be surprised how many college kids are not prepared for the real world. We are going to talk about problems and solutions with Steven Perry in "Perry's Principles" coming up. It's 36 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Denver has to be the place to be today. Right now, it is fair and 58 degrees, a little later, mostly sunny and 79. The eastern half of the country is dealing with a heat wave. It is beautiful today in the mile high city.
Reports suggest that nearly a third of high school students that are entering college need remedial help to take their education to the next level. Joining us from Hartford, Connecticut, CNN education contributor Steve Perry, founder of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford.
We are not talking about any of your kids. Good morning. I don't find it that odd. Sometimes for certain kids, you are doing what you have to do to make it through the subjects that you are not that strong in. You head to college and you're not really prepared. STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: The problem, Kiran, here is that these students were given the promise when they were given a diploma that said they were, in fact, prepared fort next level for whatever the rights and privileges are that come with receiving a high school diploma. So it is a pretty big problem, and it's a multi- billion dollar program because it's saying children and families are having to pay more money to send their child to college than they should have to. That's not cool.
CHETRY: What is the solution here? In some ways is "remedial" a dirty word. Do you need to brush up on math, reading, and some of the basics?
PERRY: You shouldn't have to. A 12th grade education should prepare you for the next level, college. You can play a role in preparing your child in the basics. As early as possible, get them involved in reading anything. Get them reading.
One of the things that we as Americans don't do very often is focus on math. Get in there. Get your children exposed to math. One of my favorite Web sites is the Kahn Academy. It is free. You can get up there and use it. Children can learn whatever you can't teach them but does need to happen.
Finally, we need you to help your child work on study skills. By getting the child focused on how to study, it prepares them for college. The dirty secret is not that the high schools are failing us about you that our elementary schools are failing us. Children start off in elementary schools in America in the top half in terms of industrialized nations in terms of performance. But by the time they reach high school, they have fallen down to the bottom quarter.
That's not because of the children getting less intelligent or the parents are becoming worse parents. It is because our school systems are not meeting the specific needs of our children. As a result, we as a country are suffering.
CHETRY: If he are one of these kids and you are not sure as you are leaving high school and headed into college, you have a lot to worry about already. Math was not my strong suit. I remember trying to take it, get that credit out of the way and take it at a community college before heading into college so that I would be able to focus on that one thing. That costs money and that costs time.
PERRY: It does. That's a great strategy, by the way. One of the things you can do as a student going on to college. If you think there us a course or a set of courses that you want to bone up on, you can go to your local community college. But they are not free.
The truth remains that we as the public, we as educators all agree that the expectations put upon us as educators to prepare children for college. When we go to elite public schools in urban or other areas that are college preparatory schools, that's their sole focus. They are designed to make sure children are prepared for college. They make them do two sports. They understand the colleges are looking forward to that. What they do is have a college preparatory curriculum. They are designed to do that. These big generalist high schools we see in most neighborhoods are failing our country. We must put our children in schools that are designed to produce a positive result, in this case, preparation for college.
CHETRY: The other question too is how early on should children be focusing on what they may want to do, as opposed to just saying, I'm just going to figure it out? I don't know really what I want to be. I don't really know where my strengths are, I will find that out in college.
PERRY: I believe that the purpose of a college education is to develop mind, body, and spirit. Majoring in something, double majoring in something, very often should be driven by what you love. I have a friend who is a back surgeon. He was a theater major at an elite liberal arts school. You decide to study what you love. You will do well in it because you love it. Then you will decide what your career is going to be based upon your options. The higher your GPA the more likely you will be able to get into the graduate school you want to go to or in terms of getting a job.
CHETRY: Are we sugar-coating it for some of the kids? Where the jobs are as we have said a million times is science, technology, engineering and math. A theater major that becomes an engineer is probably an anomaly.
PERRY: We know for a fact as a result of what we study, we can improve our probability of getting into a better graduate school or getting a better job. I think if you want to enter into a specialized field, you need to study that. Many think that in order to go to medical school, they need to do premed. That's not the case. There are certain specific courses that medical schools want. There are certain specific courses that law schools want and on and on and on. But I bet if I were to go through CNN and ask people what they majored in, there are quite a few people who didn't major in media.
CHETRY: That is probably true as well. Steve Perry, CNN education contributor, founder of Capital Prep Magnet school. Thanks for being with us this morning. Good to talk to you as always.
PERRY: My pleasure.
CHETRY: It's 45 minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Forty-six minutes after the hour. Here are your morning headlines.
More than 5,000 people have been evacuated and 500 square miles of eastern Arizona scorched by an enormous wild fire. Right now, the flames are headed toward two mountain towns near New Mexico.
The eastern half of America on alert for a heat wave today, and temperatures are expected to shatter records. Soaring 20 degrees above normal in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. It's expected to hit 96 degrees in Philadelphia and they could hit the century mark there on Thursday.
The markets open in 45 minutes from now. Right now, it looks like the markets may continue their losing streak. The DOW, NASDAQ and S&P 500 are all lower.
Democrats turning their back on Congressman Anthony Weiner and he's under even more pressure to resign over his sexting scandal. Some Democrats are now giving campaign contributions to charity. Those were contributions they received from Congressman Weiner.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Beautiful day if you like it hot especially in Atlanta. Right now, it's sunny and 76. But a bit later, it's going to go up to a high of 92 degrees today in Atlanta.
ROMANS: You know, Rob Marciano tracking this extreme weather from Piedmont Park in Atlanta. And Rob I mean, to think in Delaware, in Philadelphia, in New Jersey, in so many of these states, you're going to have temperatures 20 degrees above normal today.
CHETRY: Yes, we're hotter than you guys.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes that's right. I don't know if you can see these guys, but the sheep and the goats have just hijacked my live shot, ok.
What happens when it gets hot, it puts a lot of stress on your lawn. You get a lot of weed and these little varmints here they do a great job of weed control. As a matter of fact the -- the company that -- that brought this out today, it's weed control with a cute face. And it's all green. They'll even leave a little bit of green behind.
So there you go, Pete, the Border Collie, is keeping them in control here in Piedmont Park.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Rob that's hilarious, so that's organic weed control, is that what you said?
CHETRY: With a cute face.
MARCIANO: That's right.
CHETRY: But why -- they are just walking around the park?
MARCIANO: No -- in all honesty, these guys were doing a live shot with a local affiliate on the other side of the park. And they were -- just happened to be walking through. So we whistled them over. And here they are taking care of business here at -- on this end of Piedmont Park.
Anyway, you think Central Park has all the -- all the nutty, cuckoo crazy people you know. Here at -- here in Atlanta, we've got you know, goats in the middle of our park. So impromptu, petting zoo of sorts.
You guys behave all right, don't fight over that one little weed there. There is more weeds to go around you come over to my house after the show.
All right, let's -- let's talk a little bit about the heat. You know the sun is just coming up now, it's not oppressively hot yet but later on obviously it will be. And we're not the only city that's enduring this. Cities as far north as the -- as up to the Canadian border seeing record temperatures. Minneapolis yesterday saw temps over 100 degrees. My goodness and that's does not include humidity. Dodge City, Rochester, Sioux City seeing similar numbers as well.
What can we expect as going forward? Well, a lot of more heat that's heading off towards the east. So places like Detroit, Philadelphia, D.C., New York City, heat advisories or heat warnings in effect meaning that with the humidity in the heat of the day, it's going to -- it's going to feel more like 100 degrees, 105 degrees.
So take it easy out there because it's the first real heat wave of the summer. And your body is not quite used to it just yet.
Here is what we expect. There is a cool front that's going to flirt with the upper Great Lakes and Chicago and New York at some point. Yes, sorry guys, the cold front is not getting down here. I know that upsets you, me too.
So temps here across the southeast are going to stay in the mid to upper 90s. Stay hydrated. Eat your roughage too. You want to eat lighter, maybe a little bit of grass and some weeds.
Live from Piedmont Park with the goats and sheep and they are in all their wisdom walking away from me. Back at you, guys. All right.
CHETRY: They are so cute.
MARCIANO: That wraps up our live broadcast for AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: What a way to end it.
ROMANS: Wow.
CHETRY: I mean, seriously, it's gone to the sheep. Thanks Rob.
ROMANS: Dogs and kids always take your live shot.
MARCIANO: All right guys.
ROMANS: They always say and I never -- sheep, goats.
CHETRY: All right, how about gators? ROMANS: There you go.
CHETRY: Yes I mean, you're used to gators in Florida, right. I don't know if you are so used to bears.
But one family in Seminal County found a bear in their hot tub. It's a bear that the Fish and Wildlife officials have apparently have been trying to trap and move back to better places. She brought her cubs probably looking for food for a visit.
And now neighbors are complaining that these bears are messing with the dogs and now not only that. They're actually hogging the Jacuzzi. You would think with all the bear you know fur and everything, and they wouldn't need it. But maybe it's cold.
ROMANS: Wow. I guess so.
The party is over for tourists who may be banned for buying pot in Amsterdam's famous weed cafes. Why? Well, the Dutch government says this move is necessary because drug tourists are causing too much of a nuisance. Critics of the ban say this is tourism suicide. Even the mayor of Amsterdam is vowing to fight the measure. But the Dutch government is getting a little tired of -- let's say foreigners who don't know how to behave properly.
CHETRY: Yes. All right, well, "Building up America", bowling pin company trying to bring offshore jobs back home even if it means paying higher wages. Tom Foreman is going to give us a look coming up. It's 54 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: People are bidding for a private lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett. So far, the bidding has reached over $2 million. Buffett says the first financial tip he will give the winner is, try not to spend $2 million on lunch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I bet he is absolutely right.
CHETRY: Yes. It just goes to show you now how valued his advice is. Listen. I wonder if any -- also that face-to-face connection -- has anyone ever gotten a job or has something --
ROMANS: I wonder.
CHETRY: -- you know, because this happens every year. Right?
ROMANS: If you have $2.5 million to spend for lunch with Warren Buffett, you probably don't need a job. Maybe you want him to look into your company as an investor perhaps, but --
CHETRY: Maybe you want a job for your son. ROMANS: That's right. Exactly.
You know, speaking of another kind of an old-fashioned sentimental kind of American thing, bowling. Right? We have all been bowling. But did you ever wonder where those pins come from?
CHETRY: I haven't actually. I wonder why the heck I can't get a strike every time.
ROMANS: Me either.
CHETRY: Well, thanks to one company in Kentucky, they are being made in the USA again. Tom Foreman joins us today with his "Building up America report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are 7,000 places you can bowl in America, and they buy almost 250,000 sets of bowling pins each year. So in Hopkinsville, one company is betting big on bringing bowling pin manufacturing back to the States.
At Ebonite, the CEO is Randy Schickert.
RANDY SCHICKERT, CEO, EBONITE INTERNATIONAL: It always happens the other way around but we really felt that with moving the product here, we have much better control over our manufacturing, our quality, and really our cost structure.
FOREMAN: When Ebonite bought this factory last year, it was in Mexico, employing 27 people and the labor was cheaper. But company officials believe they could move all the equipment here, apply the latest time and labor saving techniques, and a dozen American workers could produce just as much.
SCHICKERT: Yes, we do pay them more than what they were making in Mexico, but our actual dollars of labor per pin is less here in Hopkinsville.
FOREMAN: The wood for these bowling pins comes primarily from Pennsylvania and Ohio, so the move cut shipping expenses. And by bringing the factory under closer supervision, they've also improved their ability to make sure each pin is precisely like the next one. That's critical.
PETE MOYER, BOWLING CENTER DIRECTOR, EBONITE: You can't have different reacting pins on different lanes in the same bowling center, because that brings an inconsistency in the scorability of the pins.
FOREMAN: Ebonite, which has long been a giant in the manufacture of bowling balls expects to make 150,000 American-made pins in the new factory's first year. And they're aiming for five to six times as many down the line.
Tom Foreman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: There you go. What's the highest you've ever bowled?
ROMANS: Me. Oh, I'm a terrible bowler. Terrible, terrible, terrible. I bowl really well when you put those kiddie things in there.
CHETRY: Exactly. You mean the bumpers. They have something better than bumpers now. You know, they actually have this thing you can put up and you like roll the ball off of it so it goes right down the middle.
ROMANS: You know what's interesting about Tom's piece is that so many things that we think are quintessentially American like bowling pins -- although I'm sure that's like probably a British sport in the beginning anyway. But you know, these things have been made overseas for a long time. And bringing them back home is news. When you bring production back home, that becomes news.
CHETRY: It's a good thing.
Meanwhile, "CNN NEWSROOM" starts right now. Kyra Phillips. Hi there, Kyra.
ROMANS: Hi, Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM: Guys, New Orleans, disco bowling at midnight. A little Cajun music, Cajun food, beer.
CHETRY: That's when you bowl better, right? I was going to say.
PHILLIPS: Absolutely.
