Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Atlantis Touches Down; Obama Optimistic About Debt Deal; Boat with a Brain; No Deal to End NFL Lockout; Hacking Investigation Widens; Final Shuttle Mission Complete; London Fines Obama Over Congestion Fee
Aired July 21, 2011 - 05:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. We are now starting "AMERICAN MORNING" a few minutes early to witness history. This is breaking news. The space shuttle Atlantis is starting back to earth. It's streaking back to earth right now. You can see it in that shot. It's hard to see at some points, but it's pretty distinct when you can see it. It will touch down at exactly 5:56 and 58 seconds. We'll get our first look at the shuttle. Right now, you'll see. There you can see it in the middle of the screen.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: So, it's the 30th voyage. It's the final voyage for Atlantis. And when the shuttle rolls to a stop, so does the space program, the 30-year space shuttle program. Truly an amazing era in American history comes to an end. We're also going to hear that Commander Christopher Ferguson has prepared a special statement that he'll make from the orbiter once he calls the formal wheels stop.
VELSHI: Let's go to John Zarrella. He's standing by at the Kennedy Space Center -- John?
ZARRELLA: Hey, Ali. We've already heard those twin sonic booms that we had talked about earlier. So, we know that Atlantis is now on the final leg home. I'm joined by astronaut Kay Hire, veteran of two space shuttle flights. And, Kay, really, you know, we keep using that word bittersweet, but it really is right now, right? There've been so many great things about shuttle program, but this is it.
KAY HIRE, ASTRONAUT: Definitely mixed emotions today. We're very excited to bring the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis home, but facing the -- this being the last time, we're used to immediately preparing for the next mission. But, now, we have to look forward to other missions but also to continue to support the international space station.
ZARRELLA: You know, we were talking about the fact -- we can see that's the heads up display right there, right?
HIRE: Yes.
ZARRELLA: That's what Commander Ferguson is seeing out the window right now. He's looking at the heads up -- HIRE: That is correct. Yes. He already can see the runway, and he's already lined up.
ZARRELLA: He's lined up at the runway. We were talking, you know, tomorrow, 24 hours after the vehicle lands, another couple thousands of people are going to be laid off. You worked here for six year in processing space shuttles. Look, there it is, there's the shuttle. As we're seeing him, he's lined up on the runway and ready to come in. It's going to be tough for a lot of people.
HIRE: Oh, definitely, but right now, we're just really celebrating everything that we've accomplished with the space shuttle program.
ZARRELLA: Yes. Let's listen to NASA. Here comes Chris Ferguson now with the shuttle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Main gear touchdown. Hurley now deploying the drag chute. Ferguson rotating the nose gear down to the deck. Nose gear touchdown. Having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time. It's voyage at an end.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mission complete, Easton, after serving the world for over 30 years. The space shuttle has earn its place in history and has come to a final stop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We copy your wheel stop and will take this opportunity to congratulate you, "Atlantis," as well as the thousands of passionate individuals across this great space airing nation. We truly empowered this incredible spacecraft which for three decades have inspired millions around the globe. Job well done, America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks. That's great words. Great words. You know, the space shuttle sees the way we view the world. It's changed the way we view the universe. A lot of emotion today, but one thing's indisputable. America's not going to stop exploring. Thank you, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavor, and our ship Atlantis. Thank you for protecting us and bringing this program to such a fitting end. God bless all of you. God bless the United States of America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inspiring comments, Atlantis. We'll meet you on 5-3.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See you there.
CHETRY: So, you're looking at the end of an era, really, the 135th flight of the space shuttle program. And you could hear it in the voice of the commentator from NASA out of Houston Mission Control. Just talking about inspiring a generation, serving the world for 30 years, a job well done, America. It really is -- it's a sad time. It's sad -- hopeful but sad. VELSHI Hopeful but sad. And there are a lot of people watching this knowing that it has brought their careers to an end, but it has been a magical sort of time in space. It's not just the U.S. It's been their cooperative effort with many countries at a time when there's been a great deal of turmoil in the world. The space shuttle has been something that has brought the efforts of a number of nations together.
John Zarrella standing by at Kennedy Space Center. John, I got to tell you, you've covered a lot of these things. What did it feel like watching that coming in for the last time?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, I was listening to Rob Davis, the voice in Houston and he got choked up there at the end and he had some really great words to say. And you know, just watching it, I say to myself, well that's it. But we've always said, Kay, there'll always be another launch to come and cover. There'll always be another landing to come and cover. Not anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, at least not any more space shuttles. But I would say stay tuned. It's going to take us a little while. We're still working on it but keep watching. We'll be launching again.
ZARRELLA: We're going to stay in the business. As they said, the United States is not out of the space business.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. We've proven for 30 years that we know how to get to lower orbit. We built this fantastic International Space Station. And it's going to keep operating at least through 2020, conducting research in this incredible laboratory with the micro gravity environment of space that we cannot replicate here on earth. So we're going to still explore and research there but we've proven that we know how to get to lower orbit. We need to go on.
ZARRELLA: Now the next step is to go beyond lower orbit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
ZARRELLA: And that's going to be the challenge for you and the rest of the folks at NASA. So, Ali, Kiran, as we see Atlantis sitting there on the edge of the runway, it is -- it is, in fact, over for the space shuttle program.
CHETRY: That's right.
VELSHI: That's right. Thank you for that.
CHETRY: We want to get the take of what it's like in Houston at mission control where it's obviously a very bittersweet day for them as well. Ed Lavandera standing by.
Hi, Ed. As we know, what about 2,000 shuttle workers getting their pink slips perhaps as early as tomorrow. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is -- you know, the transition, as a lot of people here talk about it. But this is a spectacular moment here in mission control. A lot of the men, women who've been working on this mission standing up, a lot of handshakes. And as the shuttle landed just off to the right here, you guys can't see it but there's a viewing room and it's basically filled this morning with a lot of the families of the men and women you see down in here.
And as the shuttle touched down just a little while ago, you can hear the eruption of applause. There's also several hundred people outside the mission control building here watching this on the grounds. A viewing area had been set up for a lot of the Johnson Space Center employees. A lot of these men down here, you see holding little cameras, little iPhones and what have you to kind of capture these final moments of the space shuttle for these people who have worked so closely, mostly behind the scenes.
You know, the astronauts get a lot of the glory but it's these folks down here who work on the shuttle missions tirelessly around the clock especially when they're in orbit around the world. A lot of these people take great pride in the work that they've done over the last 30 years. So emotional moments from here.
We'll zoom in here. The gentleman you see in the red shirt over there, his name is Butch Wilmore. He's the space communicator. He was the one that you heard speaking with the commander of the space shuttle going back and forth just a short while ago. Just to kind of give you a sense of who's who here. But this room here, you know, kind of going through the final checklist here, now that the space shuttle is on the ground safely.
And the other thing that is interesting you can't see it but there's -- one of the -- three large monitors here in mission control. And in the middle monitor, right there in the room, they have for each shuttle mission, there's a patch that is designed for each of these crews. And we've seen it flashing, all of the different space shuttle mission patches flashing across the screen.
You know, many of these people are veterans of many space shuttle missions. So, you know, kind of a tribute to all of the space shuttle missions that have been controlled out of here in mission control in Houston.
Ali and Kiran, back to you guys.
VELSHI: Ed, thanks very much for that.
CHETRY: And we want to welcome you again to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING where we're covering the landing of the final space shuttle. It is 6:04 here on the East Coast, 5:04 at mission control in Houston, where they're really saluting the end of an era and the astronauts who made it a success.
VELSHI: And to just join us, the final voyage of the space shuttle program is now over. Atlantis flawlessly touched down on time at Kennedy Space Center just minutes ago. Here's the historic moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Main gear touched down. Hearly (ph) now deploying the drag chute. Ferguson rotating the nose gear down to the deck. Nose gear touched down. Having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time. Its voyage at an end.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mission complete, Houston. After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle place in history has come to a final stop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We copy you wheels stop and we'll take this opportunity to congratulate you --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. So that is an end of an era. The congratulations taking place. And, you know, with the end of the shuttle program, this is a really actually controversial topic for a lot of people who cover it --
VELSHI: Sure.
CHETRY: -- because now we're reliant on our former cold war rivals of Russia, who obviously are partners in our space exploration to get there.
VELSHI: To get astronauts to the space shuttle.
CHETRY: It's $64 million per astronaut for us to get -- to hitch a ride up to space until we develop something else or decide what we're doing.
VELSHI: And there's a commercial space program in development but it's going to be a couple of years before they can -- they say it will be a lot more economical than doing it on the space shuttle but it is a couple years away.
Yes, bittersweet time. I do have some people saying why are we saying it's the end of the space program. It's the end of the shuttle program to be sure. And we don't have certainty as to what the space program is going to do after this.
All right. We'll come back to this a little bit later in the show this morning.
Here on earth and in the United States there is a real concern that even a compromise deal to raise the debt ceiling might not make it through the House of Representatives. President Obama says he's optimistic that lawmakers can reach an agreement. This morning we're just one day away from the president's self-imposed deadline to get something passed so that it has the time to move through Congress. CHETRY: Our Brianna Keilar is live at the White House. Brianna, so both sides are digging in but the president did seem to change his position or at least soften his position about saying no to any short- term extension to raise the debt ceiling.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ali and Kiran. For the first time yesterday, he entertained this idea we were told by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney of a short-term sort of stopgap measure.
You remember before he said I won't sign a short-term measure. I will not sign a 30, 60, 90, 180-day extension. Well, this is a little different than one he was talking about vetoing. To be very clear, we're talking about some sort of stopgap measure to increase the debt ceiling just for a few days. The idea here, the White House says, is to give some time, assuming that a framework on a larger deficit reduction package is in place and it's literally a matter of kind of executing the paperwork and giving the Senate and the House of Representatives time to push that through Congress.
Here's the thing, though. He met yesterday separately with Democratic and Republican leaders and there was really no sizable progress to report on moving forward on a big deficit reduction plan that includes massive spending cuts, tax reform, entitlement reform, tax increases. So you can see here the clock is ticking and the end game here still very unclear, Ali and Kiran.
VELSHI: All right. Brianna, this thing just keeps on developing and you hear hopefulness and then you hear schedules. You'll keep us posted when you hear that there's actually some kind of timeline that we've got to figure out whether we're going to have money to pay our bills on August 3rd or not.
Thanks, Brianna Keilar.
CHETRY: So after two days of explosive hearings in the U.K. phone hacking scandal, relatives of 9/11 victims here in the U.S. are now saying that they will be meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder soon. They asked for the meeting one-on-one since the FBI started investigating allegations that "News of the World" reporters attempted to hack the phones of 9/11 survivors, victims and their families. That meeting with the attorney general has not yet been set.
Rupert Murdoch is back in the U.S. The News Corp. chief and his wife, Wendi, returned to their New York home yesterday. And there is, of course, a lot on Rupert Murdoch's plate. News Corp. is facing an FBI investigation as well as at least two U.S. based lawsuits filed by shareholders. Also a possible Standard & Poor's credit downgrade.
VELSHI: Developing this morning, CNN learning at least 22 deaths have now been blamed on the stifling heat gripping the nation. Right now, more than 140 million people in at least 30 states are under advisories or warnings dealing with near triple-digit temperatures. Forecasters say the extreme heat is expected to remain in place across much of the East Coast throughout the weekend. CHETRY: Terrorists may be targeting private utilities here in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security is putting state and local law enforcement on alert for potential threats. While there is no specific credible intelligence, officials say, quote, "several recent incidents highlight the ongoing threat to private sector utility facilities."
Some 22,000 state workers in Minnesota are back on the job this morning. They had been out of work since July 1st because of a government shutdown in that state. But that shutdown is over this morning after the state's governor signed a $35.7 billion budget yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK DAYTON, MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: Given the impasse that last week showed no signs of ending, it was imperative that somebody step forward and make an offer that would break the ice and get Minnesota back to work. And I did so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And as part of the deal, the governor gave up on tax hikes. The Republican legislature gave in a bit on spending cuts.
VELSHI: All right. Here's a lesson to all you kids out there, pouting works.
Check this out. A young fan at the San Francisco Giants game just can't handle the fact that a couple in front of him got the foul ball. He didn't even try. Check him out. Look at him. Look at him. Pouting, the whole routine. Curl on the lips, wraps the arms, holds back the tears. But later on, the broadcast team brought the whole row -- the whole row the balls from the game.
CHETRY: Nice. There you go.
VELSHI: Finally got a smile out of the kid.
CHETRY: Everybody moves out.
VELSHI: Nice.
CHETRY: They're right.
VELSHI: Fantastic.
CHETRY: Unfortunate lesson for five-year-olds, pouting works.
VELSHI: I want to read this next thing.
CHETRY: Not working here.
VELSHI: All right.
CHETRY: Good try. VELSHI: I don't think I was effective as he was.
CHETRY: He's really good.
VELSHI: He was good.
CHETRY: An international hotel chain going the extra mile to ensure that guests get a good night sleep. The Crown Plaza has introduced snore controls and snore absorption rooms in dozens of hotels in Europe and in the Middle East.
VELSHI: I have heard people snoring in rooms adjacent to me.
CHETRY: Build bigger walls. If you can hear the person snore --
VELSHI: You don't need a snore absorption room.
CHETRY: Yes. They have snore monitors that patrol the corridors of the quiet zones to listen for offensive noises. Snore-proof rooms are another measure being tested and they include soundproofing on walls and headboards as well as anti-snoring pillows and white noise machines.
VELSHI: What's a snore patrol going to do? They're going to knock on your door?
CHETRY: They're going to wake you up and say excuse me.
VELSHI: Because when I snore --
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: -- and somebody wakes me up, I go -- sorry. Then I go back to sleep and start snoring again.
CHETRY: Start snoring again. Exactly.
VELSHI: Are they going to sleep with me?
CHETRY: Yes. They're going to sleep with you and roll you over.
VELSHI: You can get up and stay there if you want me to stop snoring.
CHETRY: Brilliant.
VELSHI: That brings us to our question of the day. What is your funniest hotel experience? Send us an e-mail, a tweet or let's go on Facebook.
CHETRY: Because that's just downright hilarious.
VELSHI: We're going to read some of your comments a bit later. I bet you this is going to be a very successful question of the day. I think people are going to have very funny hotel room experiences.
CHETRY: Coming up --
VELSHI: Keep it clean.
CHETRY: Less is more. The TSA has a software solution to eliminate the so-called naked body scans at airports.
VELSHI: And a boat with a brain of its own. The U.S. Navy thinks it's just what we need to fight terrorism at sea. We're going to show you how it works.
CHETRY: And the government of Nepal is going to try to recalculate the height of Everest. We know it is the tallest mountain in the entire world, but China says I don't think you guys measured it right. We're going to tell you what they're planning to do about Mount Everest.
It's 13 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: The Transportation Security Administration is installing new software to give passengers more privacy when they're screened at airport checkpoints. So the machine instead of seeing right through your clothes, the body scans will now show the generic outline of a person. The TSA says the technology protects privacy while maintaining security standards. It will be used at dozens of nations - airports nationwide.
I don't really get it -
CHETRY: I don't understand either -
VELSHI: -- because the whole point was that -
CHETRY: - that you need to see the (INAUDIBLE) -
VELSHI: -- they need to see your body to see if you had something attached to it or inside of it and now it's going to be just - I don't understand it. But the point is it is supposed to give you more privacy.
CHETRY: All right. Well, good luck. Because I know a lot of people not like that at all.
VELSHI: They don't like the fact that somebody's taking a close look at the body.
CHETRY: Well, take a look at the U.S. Navy's latest weapon to combat terrorism at sea. It is known as the Unmanned Surface Vessel or USV. It's a boat with brains technically. It's not controlled by humans.
It has a rotating laser that canvasses the water and can use - and it can actually - this laser can then sense an unauthorized ship approaching.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. CARL CONTI, DIRECTOR, FLEET EXPERIMENTATION: That's exactly our mission is to make this unnerving. And if we can have the terrorists think twice about coming anywhere near us because of technology like this, then we are doing our job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Very cool. The technology used in the Unmanned Surface Vessel was also used by NASA in its Mars Rover.
VELSHI: OK. So you're alluding to this before the break. How tall is Mt. Everest? It's not a trick question, right? You can look it up and find out how tall it is.
The governor of Nepal has announced plans to re-measure the mountain. It's a long-running dispute with China over exactly how tall the mountain is. Mount Everest spans the border of two countries. China says it should be measured by its rock height. And Nepal says it should be measured by its snow height, which is four feet higher. The official height is designated at 29,029 feet.
CHETRY: So no disputing whether or not it's the tallest peak in the world.
VELSHI: Correct.
CHETRY: But the two countries have had a - been going back and forth.
VELSHI: Snow. So I often think, is a person's height their hair height or their bald height?
CHETRY: Exactly.
VELSHI: So I'm on the Chinese side of this discussion.
CHETRY: You are.
VELSHI: You would be on the Nepali side of it for several reasons.
CHETRY: Of course. Because, A, I was born there; and B -
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: Yes. The higher the hair, the closer to God. Yes.
VELSHI: There you go.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center right now. The bottom line is none of us have climbed it and I would love to do that, but I don't know if I can make it (ph).
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Who knew the two of you would have such a connection to that story? VELSHI: Yes. That's right. The Chinese and the Nepalese, right? Who knew I was Chinese?
MARCIANO: Fantastic. I -
CHETRY: He's not. He claims a new nationality weekly. I don't know what it is.
VELSHI: Yes.
MARCIANO: You've go to go with it. Hey, we're America, the great melting pot.
VELSHI: Be anything you want to be.
MARCIANO: Claim it all.
Good morning, guys. America is trying to keep cool, that's for sure. With the heat advisories and warnings throughout 30 states or so, about a third of the country now in it. Same deal, 110, 120 degree heat indices.
The difference today is that we've shifted this a little bit farther to the south and - and to the east. And with that, will come a heat now to even more populated areas. But Chicago is still in it, Minneapolis, Wisconsin, and you've seen a little bit of a repeat. But this is not going to drive all the way down to the south and it's not going to drive much farther to the east. So enjoy it in Minneapolis. You saw your record breaking levels of humidity do points into the mid-80s. Crazy, crazy stuff. And the amount of moisture that we saw in the spring with the flooding certainly exacerbated that.
Ninety-six degrees expected it feels like temperature in Chicago today, it will be 99, that's what it will feel like in New York tomorrow. Maybe even higher than that in spots, and 111 in D.C. So you see where this heat is going. It's really not going anywhere any time too soon. Maybe Sunday into Monday, but Saturday certainly looks to be hot. And there's your Sunday forecast for New York City, 82 degrees. We'll start to see things moderate just a little bit.
All right. So - and heading into Monday we might - Tuesday, I didn't realize this map went - wait, Wednesday, the hits juts keep on coming here. Raleigh, you'll stick - that's a triple digits. Thanks, Sean (ph) for the extended map (ph).
Boston, isolated thunderstorms today in the afternoon. And there will be spots where thunderstorms will percolate. Might not be around the airports, but you'll see folks flying airplanes having to fly around that and that will delay your flight time.
Here's a way to cool off. In Columbus, Ohio, kids are sweltering there. Now, look at the guy opening up this fire hydrant, guys. This is a tried and true method of - you know, cooling off the neighborhood. That guy - he doesn't look like a fireman to me, I mean. He looks like one of the, you know, a parent where the kids were juts saying, dad, why don't I have a pool? Why don't we have - I'll give you a sprinkler, kid. Get in the street. We're going to open this puppy up. And that made him a very popular figure, I think, in the streets of Columbus, Ohio. I think a lot of cities will be doing that probably today.
VELSHI: I'm assuming you're generally not allowed to do that. I mean, I see it happened in some places.
CHETRY: Some - don't sometimes the firefighters actually open it up?
VELSHI: Yes. But the firefighter is supposed to do it, right?
MARCIANO: Yes. And maybe he's a fire - maybe he's a firefighter maybe out of his garb.
CHETRY: See. You never know. Either way, the kids appreciate it.
MARCIANO: I'm just making stories up. Isn't that what we do?
VELSHI: Excellent. Rob, good to see you, my friend.
MARCIANO: My pleasure (ph).
VELSHI: We'll be checking in on that heat as we go through the morning. It's pretty bad in a lot of places, I mean.
CHETRY: It's really bad. And, I mean, even if you are cool, you know, it's still you're in the sun -
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: -- and the humidity, it's -
VELSHI: It's very -
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE).
VELSHI: And when, you know, and people - when people are dying from the heat, I mean, it sounds obvious, but you really got to do everything you can to try and keep hydrating and keep cool.
Bless you.
CHETRY: Sorry about that. I was holding it for a really long time. I thought it will go away.
VELSHI: Why didn't you tell me? I could have done something about it. I could have told them to -
CHETRY: All right. We want to show you something pretty cool here.
VELSHI: We're just, you know, we're giving it to you as it comes on this show - unedited and raw.
CHETRY: Can I please show you this demo?
VELSHI: Yes, please.
CHETRY: This is really cool. This is our new streaming video. You don't have to be sitting in front of your TV anymore to get the latest news. So this is the CNN app. This is a picture, by the way, of me and you and Christine and Larry King.
VELSHI: And Larry King.
CHETRY: I have it as my screensaver. OK. Get the CNN iPad app and you go to this top corner which shows Live TV. Right there. You click that. And then what's live right now? AMERICAN MORNING, of course.
VELSHI: Nice.
CHETRY: So we click on that and the show streams live. There we are.
VELSHI: I bet it's going to show you sneezing.
CHETRY: Is this before or after? Please say it's before I sneezed.
VELSHI: Are you about to sneeze? I don't know. But - it's on a few second delay, but it's great. You can watch it live on your -
CHETRY: Here it comes.
VELSHI: Oh.
CHETRY: Oh, no. Of course, we've got to relive the sneeze. Sorry about that.
VELSHI: The sneeze that lives forever.
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: Excellent.
CHETRY: What's so nice, you saw it twice. But, anyway, this is really cool. You can check out all of our - all of both CNN's programming as well as "HEADLINE NEWS." They're both available, CNN.com/Video. Or if you have the iPad app here or the iPhone, the new streaming service is available to about I think 50 million people who subscribe to certain cable providers.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: So you can head to our website and see if your company is one of them and they give you a little code and - boom.
VELSHI: Do you need to sneeze or anything?
CHETRY: No, I'm fine. I'm going to cough now. Are you - VELSHI: Are you a snorer?
CHETRY: No. Thank goodness.
VELSHI: I'm a vicious snorer.
CHETRY: I know my daughter snores and my hubby snores -
VELSHI: Angry bear fighting with an angry wolf.
CHETRY: Did you know what that means, though, right?
VELSHI: I don't know.
CHETRY: You got to wear one of those strips or they do something to your epiglottis and then you can stop snoring. They will laser the -
VELSHI: That's not the approach at a number of hotels are taking. If you're a chronic snorer, you may want to steer clear of the Crown Plaza Hotel when you're traveling, because they're all about making sure guests sleep well if they are being bothered by snorers.
CHETRY: That's right. So good for them. Congratulations.
VELSHI: If you're a snorer, you have to have other plans.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, they need a plunger size of a Superdome. Sixty-four thousand pounds of toilet paper clogged a river.
VELSHI: Oh, come on!
CHETRY: How did it happen?
It's 23 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-six minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning. This just in.
Express Scripts is buying Medco and the $29 billion merger agreement, making this one of the largest deals ever in the health care services industry.
U.S. stock markets closed pretty flat yesterday and futures are down this morning. Investors feeling concern over more stalls in the debt talks in Washington. Lots of potential market movers this morning, however. New numbers on initial jobless claims for last week came out - come out in about two hours from now.
Greece is back in the spotlight today. European officials gathering for an emergency meeting in Brussels this morning. Top on the agenda, the debt crisis in Greece and how to prevent financial problems there from spreading to other countries in Europe like Italy and Spain. A ton of quarterly earnings coming out before the opening bell this morning. AT&T, Nokia, Pepsi, United, Continental, US Airways all on the list. And later today, after the closing bell, Microsoft will release its earnings report for this last quarter.
The Federal Reserve is slapping Wells Fargo with an $85 million fine. The bank is accused of falsifying loan applications and pushing customers with good credit into expensive mortgages when they actually qualified for better rates. Wells Fargo has agreed to pay the fine, but did not admit to any wrongdoing.
And the Federal Trade Commission says failed mortgage lender Countrywide overcharged more than 450,000 borrowers when they fell behind on their mortgage payments. Now, they're finally getting paid back. More than $108 million in checks will go out to compensate for the overcharges.
AMERICAN MORNING is right back after this with the last ever landing of NASA's space shuttle Atlantis program. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We're crossing the half hour now this morning.
Space shuttle Atlantis flawlessly touches down at Kennedy Space Center just a half hour ago. Here's a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS FERGUSON, SHUTTLE COMMANDER: There's a lot of emotion today, but one thing indisputable: America will not stop exploring.
Thank you, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour, and our ship, Atlantis. Thank you for protecting us and bringing this program to such a fitting end.
God bless all of you. God bless the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The shuttle mission, final shuttle mission, is now complete. The end of the line for the shuttle program and thousands of people who helped put it in orbit.
Atlantis will be retired. Will stay at Kennedy Space Center and be put on display.
President Obama saying he remains hopeful that lawmakers can reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling by the August 2nd deadline.
But CNN political analyst David Gergen says he now believes there is a better than 50 percent chance that the government will default next month.
Just in to CNN: British police are now expanding their investigation into illegal phone hacking by reporters. That means it is going beyond -- the investigation now going beyond Rupert Murdoch's "News of the World" tabloid to include many other papers. That's according to the British information commissioner's office. We are following this closely and we are going to have an update for you as soon as we get more information.
Meantime, here in the U.S., relatives of 9/11 victims say that the attorney general agreed to meet with them and discuss allegations that their loved one has their phones hacked by News Corp reporters.
VELSHI: It's the last we'll ever see it. The space shuttle Atlantis pulling off a picture perfect landing just before sunrise at Kennedy Space Center.
CHETRY: The end of one of the most ambitious programs in human history.
Our John Zarrella is live at Kennedy Space Center.
Hi, John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. That's right, Kiran. Atlantis coming home. Commander Chris Ferguson bringing the vehicle home about 40 minutes ago -- as you mentioned perfect landing.
Live picture from the Kennedy Space Center there. The shuttle sitting on the ground, the vehicle is being safe.
The crew is probably already out of the vehicle inside of that mobile white room that they pull up right next to the orbiter hatch. And so, the crew is probably in there. The flight doctors are in there, checking them out, making sure everything is OK.
We expect that Commander Ferguson may make in remarks later here this morning after he is checked out by the doctors. We, of course, are waiting on that.
And as you mentioned, a picture perfect landing this morning and Commander Ferguson with some very poignant words as he brought the shuttle Atlantis wheels to a stop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FERGUSON: The shuttle has changed the way we view the world and it's changed the way we view our universe. There's a lot of emotion today, but one thing sin disputable: America is not going to stop exploring.
Thank you, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour, and our ship, Atlantis. Thank you for protecting us and bringing the program to such a fitting end.
God bless all of you. God bless the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: The shuttle Atlantis is going to be towed back now to what's called the orbiter processing facility, the OPF. It will stay outside there so that the workforce will be allowed to go over there later this morning and get a close-up look at the vehicle. And then the process will begin to take it from flight-ready to museum-ready. And in about two years, it will be in its new house over at the visitor complex here.
It's going to take about two years for them to get that building ready for Atlantis, but that will be its permanent home, just a couple of miles from here -- Kiran, Ali.
CHETRY: All right. John Zarrella for us -- thank you.
Tragic day at Yosemite National Park when three hikers went over the side of a water fall. They are missing and now presumed dead after they climbed over a guardrail at the top of a park waterfall and were then swept away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARRI COBB, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK: There's railing at the very top of the waterfall. They were on the other side of the railing, just standing in the water, playing around in the water. And, unfortunately, they slipped, and all three of them went into the water and over the waterfall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Park officials have called off the search and rescue effort. They say the teams will continue to scour the river for the bodies of the victims.
VELSHI: A 6-year-old girl is recovering from a shark attack on North Carolina's outer banks. Authorities say she was bitten on her right leg and foot while playing in the shallow water on Ocracoke Island. Her condition has been upgraded from critical to good. That's good news. No other swimmers were injured. The incident didn't shut down any are --
CHETRY: Scary, though, because it was in the shallow water.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: And it wasn't like she was swimming out pretty far, mistaken for sea lion or something.
VELSHI: And a sheared fire hydrant triggered a massive geyser in a southern California neighborhood. Geyser. I say geyser, right?
CHETRY: Yes, geezer is something else.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: It's how we pronounce it in China.
Police say suspected carjacker was trying to flee when he crashed into the hydrant, sending water hundreds of feet into the air. At least two nearby homes were damaged and had to be evacuated. At least one geezer is spotted in the area.
CHETRY: All right. How much T.P. do you need --
VELSHI: That's a lot of water.
CHETRY: -- to clog a river? Yes, it was.
VELSHI: This is a crazy story.
CHETRY: I know. These crews have to clean up a huge mess in Idaho because a semi lost control, hit a guardrail, overturned and then slid into a river. Well, guess what that semi was carrying? Sixty-four thousand pounds of toilet paper went into the water.
The truck was carrying eight mega-rolls. That's a much larger mega-roll than the ones we have in our rooms.
VELSHI: Mine is usually two rolls.
CHETRY: Right, exactly. Those are their mega-rolls that they're referring.
VELSHI: These are the giant -- the unprocessed, right?
CHETRY: Weighing 8,000 pounds each. So, that would probably last a week with my two kids.
But that's what they were like before they were cut up and the driver actually was hospitalized, released. And I don't know anything more about how they will clean it up.
VELSHI: OK. We will definitely keep you posted on that story as new developments warrant.
CHETRY: Such a geezer or geyser.
VELSHI: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING: They are still sitting on the goal line.
CHETRY: They are. NFL players, they left a deal on the table last night. But, some say, they are hopeful the walk out will end today. We'll live outside the talks, with more.
VELSHI: Coming up, unique way to save money when it comes to be maintaining vacant lots. We'll tell you what they're doing.
It's 37 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-one minutes past the hour right now.
The new labor deal is still sitting on the table. NFL players have decided not to vote on the new labor contract. That was -- that vote was set for yesterday. They did not do it. But both sides did work into night trying to resolve the issues. So far, right now, players and fans are still locked out and many of them are frustrated.
VELSHI: David Mattingly is live in Atlanta airport, Marriott, where the talks are taking place.
David, tell us what's going on.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, the sticking point right now is the same overriding problem they had at the start of this lockout back in March. It comes down to money and lots of it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Who gets how much of $9 billion in annual revenue? The numbers are so big, NFL fans in a tough economy had a tough time keeping score.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten percent unemployment in the country, right? Us poor folks scraping to get by. Come on! It's billionaires against millionaires, right? Can you not meet in the middle somewhere?
MATTINGLY: In March, with owners and players reportedly $800 million apart, the owners voted for lockout. Even the president had something to say about it.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My working assumption at a time when people are having to cut back, compromise, and worry about making a mortgage and paying for their kids' college education, is that the two parties should be able to work it out.
MATTINGLY: The owners came to the table with three main demands: give players a smaller percentage of annual revenues, play more regular season games, 18 up from 16, and no more top dollar contracts to unproven rookies.
But four months later, word from inside the closed door meetings was close but no deal yet. Already, the first economic fallout, some towns are losing millions because of training camps that won't be opening. And pressure builds by the day.
UNDENTIFIED MALE: We want to play football. Between want to go back to work. But we're not going to agree to any deal unless it is the right deal for all the players.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And the clock is ticking. Before the owners here in Atlanta can do anything today, the players in D.C. have to reach an agreement and vote on it. Everyone watching right now what happens in Washington, D.C., will they be able to have this season without any problems. The first preseason game, Ali, is August 8th.
VELSHI: Let's hope that actually happens. We'll keep a close eye on it with you. Thanks very much.
CHETRY: Wow, the first week in August. We got to get the debt ceiling --
VELSHI: It's going to be busy week. Which one do you think will happen first? Which one is going to be easier to solve?
CHETRY: I don't know. I need more details on this, I got to tell you. If you mow it, you own it.
VELSHI: How much more details do you need?
CHETRY: Well, it's because it's an idea in Sandusky, Ohio. And what they want to do is they want to save money by maintaining vacant lots. The city will give residents credit every time they mow grass on vacant lots, as long as they do this for one to two years, they may get to keep that property.
VELSHI: Yes. That sounds straightforward.
CHETRY: Does anybody think that makes sense? You can just show a vacant lot, you can just -- as long as you mow it, you get to keep it.
VELSHI: Sounds like a good deal. I might be moving to Sandusky, Ohio.
CHETRY: Well, you can visit Cedar Point quite often and run on the beautiful roller coasters there.
VELSHI: Watch Buckeyes games.
CHETRY: Yes, I think. You should drive a little further.
VELSHI: I know, it's the same state.
CHETRY: Yes. Forty-four minutes past the hour, we're going to get a check of the top stories when we come back. Including this latest development of Britain government saying that they are investigating perhaps hacking that took place in other newspapers, other reporters outside "News of the World."
VELSHI: All right. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-six minutes past the hour right now. A look at your headlines this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Just in to CNN, British police are expanding their investigation into illegal phone hacking by reporters. And according to the British Information Commissioner's office, this is going beyond Rupert Murdoch's "News of the World" tabloid to include many other newspapers. We're getting a live report from London coming in just a couple of minutes.
Space shuttle Atlantis flawlessly touching down at Kennedy Space Center less than an hour ago. The final shuttle mission now complete. And NASA is saying that the spacecraft has fired the imagination of a generation and vowing that America will not stop exploring space.
The rapidly approaching deadline to raise the debt ceiling is just 12 days away this morning. With time running out, the president and Congress may be forced to focus on a short-term increase so the government can continue to pay its bills after August 2nd.
More than 30 states right now are under heat watches, warnings, and advisories. Triple digit temperatures are expected to last through Saturday. Officials say the heat may be to blame for at least 22 deaths.
Full body scans at airports will now be less revealing. The TSA says that new software produces a more generic body image. It will be installed at dozens of airports in the coming months.
U.S. women soccer goalie, Hope Solo, on the cover of "Sports Illustrated." She was one of the breakout stars from their inspiring world cup run. Only two other women soccer players have ever gotten the cover of "Sports Illustrated."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-nine minutes past the hour right now. No one likes London's $16 congestion fee. Now, you can add President Obama to that list, because the city of London just slapped the president with a $193 fine. It seems he failed to pay the $16 fee when his limo, also known as The Beast, the presidential limousine, was used in a motorcade during a visit to London in May. The Beast didn't have license plates, and that's how it managed to escape London's roadside camera system until now.
VELSHI: What does that mean? Somebody tracked it down. Some guy in the office in London said, oh, I know who owns that car that has no license plate?
CHETRY: Yes. And let's collect on that $193 fee.
VELSHI: All right. They're calling it, by the way, a "white earthquake." That's a quote. A cold wave and heavy snowfall blanketing parts of Chile. The snow is so deep in some places its cut off access to a number of towns leaving thousands isolated and without food. Right now, the government is sending trucks with aid to rural areas. It's remarkable. It's winter there. It's supposed to be somewhat snowy, but it's just unbelievable how much snow Chile is getting.
CHETRY: And it's surreal to see given we're dealing with triple digit temperatures here.
VELSHI: Right. Yes.
CHETRY: And the heat is causing a lot of problems in many places around the country, including in New Haven, Connecticut, where officials are shutting down the Grand Avenue Bridge for emergency repairs. The problem is, it's getting stuck when the temperatures get too hot. So, the bridge is supposed to swing open to allow boats to pass through. The heat causes swelling in the joints, and it prevents it from swinging back. So, they have to close it.
VELSHI: All right. Nearly half a nation is overheated this morning or shall I say sizzling under scorching sun. No shortage of expressions you could use in the weather world except to say you like to say it's not fair, it's hot out there. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know it's really, really hot when the weather forecast reads like a romance novel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What a scorcher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sweltering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flirting with 100.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You love the hot weather.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you are hot.
MOOS: But sometimes, the word "hot" just doesn't generate enough heat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pressure cooker.
MOOS: Especially if you're a weatherman looking for new ways to say the same old thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really got some blowtorching heat coming for tomorrow. And tomorrow, we are back on the burner. Not the back burner. We're back on the burner. Do the wheels come of the wagon.
MOOS: And while we're all gasping for air like fish out of water, reporters are taking the temperature on the grass --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 155 degrees.
MOOS: And in New York subway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The temperature reads 100 degrees.
MOOS: On a swing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 131 degrees.
MOOS: We're talking heat so oppressive that sometimes it's hard to spit out the word.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That means the heat indices -- heat and humidity combined.
MOOS: The current heat wave has been christened with a four- letter word meaning an area of high pressure that's compressing hot, moist air beneath it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We return now to that heat dome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when we say heat dome --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This whole hot dome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This big dome.
MOOS: All this talk of domes conjures up missions of heat radiating UFOs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A giant heat dome surrounded by a ring of fire.
(SINGING) I fell into a burning ring of fire.
MOOS: Put some water on it. The heat wave is alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The heat gobbling up most of the country like a virus.
MOOS (on-camera): But if you want to see the newscasters most appropriately dressed for the heat wave --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to naked news in brief --
MOOS (voice-over): And in brief, even they are covering.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Officials call a heat dome.
MOOS: But at least the heat dome left Al Roker feeling hot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When will it end? Al has some answers.
MOOS: It's not every day Al gets labeled too hot to handle. The heat wave brings out a wave of weather chefs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We put this egg in this pan out under the sun for about an hour. This is the result. It's fried right to the pan.
MOOS: But the Julia child of weather reporting is ABC's Matt Gutman cooking steaks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to see if we can cook it on the dashboard of this car. Dashboard reads 151 degrees.
We came back about two hours later.
It's probably about medium well.
MOOS: Well done, Matt. Now, let's see you eat it.
(SINGING) And it burns, burns, burns
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Cool out there.
All right. Combat in childhood obesity is First Lady Michelle Obama's signature issue as you probably know. Research shows that more than 23 million Americans including 6.5 million children living in so-called food deserts. These are urban areas, generally, but there are areas with no access, no easy access, to fresh and healthy food. Some of the nation's biggest retailers are teaming up with the first lady in an effort to turn food deserts into oasis of healthy eating.
Gregory Wasson is the president and CEO of Walgreens. He joins us live from Lancaster (ph), Ohio. Leslie Dach is the Wal-Mart's executive VP of corporate affairs. She joins us from Bentonville, Arkansas. Gentlemen, good to see you. Thank you for joining this morning.
Leslie, let's start with you. Leslie, what is it that Wal-Mart is doing, teaming up with the first lady? What are you trying to do to get fresh food, healthier food to these areas that don't have access to it?
LESLIE DACH, EXEC. VP COPORATE AFFAIRS, WALMART: Good morning, Ali. Thanks for having us. We believe that every American deserves the right to have access to healthy food right there in their neighborhood at prices they can afford. And they particularly need access to healthy fruits and vegetables and healthy food options, so that they don't have to make a choice between having great food for their family and meeting their family budget.
And so, yesterday, standing with the first lady, we announced that Wal-Mart was going to open between 275 and 300 stores in areas of the country designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as food desert.
VELSHI: And you think that that is going to get access to almost -- about 800,000 people who, otherwise, don't have that sort of access. Describe that to me. These are 800,000 people who would have to drive too far to get fresh food? It becomes too costly, and they end up buying sort of less expensive processed food, fast food, that kind of thing?
DACH: That's exactly right. We have a lot of people particularly in today's economic squeeze, they just don't have the time to travel far distances. They can't afford the cab rides or the public transportation to get there. And the only way that they can squeeze healthy food into their busy lives is if it's really close by.
VELSHI: Gregory Wasson, you have -- almost 8,000 drug stores in the United States. You say that about 45 percent of your stores already located in these food deserts. You want to make more of them. You want to create another thousand -- so-called oasis stores. What does that mean?
I think we've got -- Gregory, can you hear me? All right. I think he can't hear us. We're going to just -- we're going to try and get him back. Leslie, let me --
GREGORY WASSON, PRES. & CEO, WALGREENS: I'm on now, Ali.
VELSHI: Oh, you got it. OK. Good. Tell me what you're doing with these thousand stores that you want to add? How will they be different? Will they be different from existing Walgreens stores or they will be the same?
WASSON: Yes. We're adding about -- up to 60 percent additional healthy food items, fresh fruits and vegetables to a thousand of our stores across the country. Ali, the thing that we think we can really help and be a part of the solution for the first lady's initiative is the fact that we have 45 percent of our stores are in these communities. And -- we think we can really by bringing in expanding our food selection be a big part of the solution.
So, we're really looking forward to partnering with the partnership for healthier American and first lady to create much greater access in these communities, and frankly, create a food oasis within our stores.
VELSHI: Gregory, one of the issues is, of course, habit. One of them is access. And the other one is habit. "Newsweek" reported -- this was a 2009 report, but they said, after the recession, sales of frozen vegetables picked up because customers were working on a tight budget. Didn't want to risk the idea that fresh food will spoil. Is the idea that if fresh food is closer to them, they'll buy it more regularly. They won't buy more than they need, and they'll be able to eat healthier?
WASSON: Yes. Absolutely. What we're seeing in the ten stores here in Chicago that we've converted over the last six months, we're seeing an increased awareness and excitement, frankly, to have fresh fruit and vegetables and bananas and so forth available. So, yes, we're not seeing a restriction based on habit. We're seeing people absolutely enjoying and appreciating the fact that they have the accessibility.
VELSHI: All right. Very good. Gregory Wasson is the president and CEO of Walgreens. Leslie Dach is executive vice president of Corporate Affairs at Wal-Mart. I hope, gentlemen, that this (INAUDILE) and gets a whole lot more Americans access to good, healthy, fresh food. Thanks very much for what you're doing. Thanks for joining us.
WASSON: Thank you.
DACH: Thank you.
VELSHI: It's 57 minutes after the hour. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
