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American Morning
"America Will Not Stop Exploring"; NFL Accused Of Concussion Cover-up; Heat Wave Blamed For 22 Deaths; Newspaper Scandals in Britain Expanding; U.S. Women's Soccer Team Goalie Makes "Sports Illustrated" Cover; If You Can't Beat them, Eat Them; How Hot Is It?
Aired July 21, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: End of an era. I'm Kiran Chetry. It was a beautiful textbook landing for space shuttle Atlantis, closing the book on the shuttle program. Now, NASA, though, says it's aiming even higher.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi.
Scotland Yard expanding its investigation in the U.K. phone- hacking scandal, going beyond Rupert Murdoch's media empire, to include many other newspapers. We're going live to London with breaking details -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC)
CHETRY: Good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us on this Thursday. It's July 21st. Christine Romans is off today.
VELSHI: I feel like she is missing a lot of news, including this. It was the last time we're ever going to see this. The final voyage of the space shuttle program is now complete.
CHETRY: Atlantis touched down at Kennedy Space Center just about two hours ago. Here is a look at the historic moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Landing here down and locked. 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. Its voyage at an end.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And mission complete, Houston. After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle earned its place in history and it's come to a final stop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We copy your wheel stop and we'll take this opportunity to congratulate you, Atlantis, as well as the thousands of passionate individuals across this great space fearing nation who truly empowered this incredible spacecraft which for three decades have inspired millions around the globe. Job well done, America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the moment the orbiter rolled to a stop, a new space race started heating up. NASA making it clear this morning that America will not stop exploring.
VELSHI: But still remains unclear to some. Some people need convincing on this.
Joining us now to talk about the future of space travel is somebody who is part of that history, Leroy Chiao, flew on three shuttle missions. He's the executive vice president of Excalibur Almaz, a company working on private space flights.
And that's the part that's curious to people. Leroy, first of all, good to see you. Boy, how many times did you fly on that shuttle?
LEROY CHIAO, ASTRONAUT: Well, I got to fly three times on the Schultz out of my four missions. My last flight, I got to go up and down with the Russians on the Soyuz.
VELSHI: And you mentioned, by the way, to me that the Soyuz, Kiran, is a little snugger than the shuttle. We're going to be relying on the Russians at least for the next two years or so until we got a commercial, you know, enterprise to get people to the International Space Center. That's how U.S. astronauts are getting back and forth. They hitch a ride with the Russians.
CHIAO: That's right. For the foreseeable future, the next several years at least, the U.S. astronauts will be flying up and back to the International Space Station via the Soyuz, just like I did several years ago.
CHETRY: And there are people that are very sad, frankly, that the shuttle program is ending, and it almost as a symbolic feeling, symbolically that we're not in the game. For you to say you have flown on three of these shuttles -- what was it like today to see that final shuttle? And also what are your perspectives moving forward on whether NASA has changed forever?
CHIAO: Well, it was definitely a bittersweet moment to watch the shuttle program come to an end this morning. I was with Ali at the launch a few weeks ago. And that was an emotional moment.
And this morning was no exception. I got up early, watched the shuttle land and shed a tear as the program came to an end. You know, it's still the most amazing flying machine ever conceived of, designed, built and operated. You know, there is nothing even close on the drawing boards of anyone that can match its capabilities.
But as to the future, as you know, NASA is focusing primarily on commercial means to get to and from the international space station in the future and the little company that I work for, Excalibur Almaz, as you mentioned, is pursuing part that. We are in talks with NASA to get unfunded space act agreement. We hope to be a part of that in the future.
VELSHI: You know, Leroy, most of the Americans watch the takeoffs. They watched the landings and it's been uneventful in most cases, thankfully. The fact is the real work gets done up there. The real work is the building and what has been done on the International Space Station, the experiments and things like that.
Now that we are hitching rides with the Russians, can that same amount of work and research be done by Americans in space?
CHIAO: Well, there's no question that we are losing a lot of capability with the shuttle going away. The shuttle can carry seven astronauts and right around 50,000 pounds of payload. So nothing else comes close to that.
And so, the Russian program Progress resupply ship, for example, carries about 2,000 pounds of payload and, you know, the other cargo vehicles can carry a little bit more. But nothing really comes close.
So, you're right -- from a logistical standpoint, I mean, NASA has made careful plans to be able to do this. But a big open question is whether the commercial cargo carriers will show up on time. And we hope they will, but they are in the critical path. And if they don't, there's got to be some contingent plans.
But you bring up a very good point. We don't have that excess capability of bringing logistics up, you know, experiment, samples, new experiment racks, things like that anymore, now that the shuttle has finished.
CHETRY: And what happen to the 2,000-plus employees of NASA that are going to be given pink slips because the shuttle program is ending in the next few days and weeks? What is the future for continuing to have the agency to be strong and be manned and be developing new things?
CHIAO: Well, it is a tough time and, as you know, over the past few years. I mean, layoffs have been happening in anticipation of the end of the shuttle program. And now, the final layoffs will commence, I'm sure, and it's difficult for everyone.
I mean, Houston is hard hit. Florida has been very hard-hit. You know, it's -- it is a problem. I mean, there's no -- there's no way to sugarcoat it. A lot of people will be out of work.
And I'm worried also that we're going to be losing this corporate knowledge, if you will, of how to build an operate and launch and recover spacecraft.
VELSHI: Well, we'll all miss it. But we look forward eagerly to whatever the next thing is, Leroy, and we'll be sure to be talking to you about that. And like you said you company, Excalibur Almaz, is one of them that hopefully will be the future of space flight.
Leroy Chiao, what a pleasure to have been dealing with you throughout all the last few shuttle missions and on other cases. I'm sure we'll have lots of opportunity to talk again.
CHETRY: Thanks, Leroy.
CHIAO: Thanks. Great to be with you.
CHETRY: A new development in the U.K. phone hacking scandal. Scotland Yard is now expanding its investigation and goes beyond Rupert Murdoch's media empire, to include many other U.K. newspapers. That's according to the British Information Commissioner's Office.
There are also reports that 15 investigators have been added to the 45-member Scotland Yard team that's been working in this hacking case.
VELSHI: After two days of explosive hearings in the U.K., relatives of 9/11 victims here in the U.S. say they are going to be meeting soon with Attorney General Eric Holder. They had asked for the meeting ever since the FBI began investigating allegations that "News of the World" attempted to hack the phones of 9/11 survivors victims and their families. Now, a date for that face-to-face meeting has not been set.
CHETRY: Rupert Murdoch is back in the U.S. The News Corp chief and his wife returning to their New York home yesterday. And there's a lot on Rupert's plate. News Corp is facing an FBI investigation. At least two U.S.-based lawsuits filed as well filed by shareholders and a possible Standard & Poor's credit downgrade.
VELSHI: Most people hate London's $16 congestion fee. Now, you can add President Obama to that list, because the city of London just slapped the president with $193 fine. It seems he failed to pay the $16 fee when his limo, which is known as "The Beast" was used in a motorcade during a visit to London in May. The Beast didn't have license plate, so it didn't get that automatic billing that you get. The roadside cameras didn't get it until now.
Curious to see how they figured this out when somebody said, oh, I know where this car is registered. Let's send him a bill.
CHETRY: The president forgot to pay the fee. I mean, I'm sure
VELSHI: Right. He wasn't going to pay in the first place.
CHETRY: I'm also sure that he has people who keep track of that. And I'm sure --
VELSHI: No word as to whether they're going to pay it. I wonder how you handle that, because on one level, it's like you pay, you drive in London, you pay the fee. On the other hand, I wonder if somebody at the White House is calling somebody up in the London saying, you got to be kidding me, right?
CHETRY: Right. All right. Well, urgent efforts are underway to avoid an unprecedented debt disaster. Negotiations continued as we're now just 12 days away from the government no longer being able to pay all of its bills.
President Obama says that he is hopeful that lawmakers can still reach an agreement in time. But last night, CNN's senior political analyst David Gergen said it's not looking good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think the danger now is that the gang of six is out. I think the grand bargain is out. We're down to the Reid-McConnell plan and I'm even not sure that can pass the House.
So, I worry like we're on a boat floating somewhere above Niagara Falls and we're getting closer and closer to the edge. I think the prospects tonight have risen above 50 percent that we could have a default before this is over.
CHETRY: And with time running out to reach an agreement, the White House press secretary said that President Obama would be willing to accept a short-term increase in the debt ceiling, but only to give lawmakers more time to work on a larger debt reduction plan.
VELSHI: And while her husband works on the debt ceiling, First Lady Michelle Obama will be working on a different type of ceiling. She's making an appearance on the reality show, "Extreme Makeover Home Edition." The first lady will be helping to renovate a community center for homeless female veterans. And according to ABC, the first lady will not only work on a center, but also a greenhouse and children's playhouse.
CHETRY: That's cool. I bet she's thrilled to have her -- bring attention to that.
Still ahead: dangerous heat and humidity baking nearly half of the country. The extreme heat could last for several more days. Rob Marciano is up next with the details.
VELSHI: An amazing video you've got to see. Somebody carved their name in the sand. It's two miles long and it's visible from space. We'll show it to you after the break.
Also a little later, how do you get rid of a pest that terrorizes local ecosystems? Invasive species of fish like Asian carp. Well, you eat it. We have a live cooking demo on how to make these critters delicious.
Nine minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twelve minutes past the hour. A look at Detroit this morning.
VELSHI: Beautiful!
CHETRY: It's a beautiful shot.
VELSHI: Eighty-three degrees!
CHETRY: Sunny. A little bit later, though.
VELSH: It's going to get real hot.
CHETRY: Ninety-nine. Join the club, Detroit. Pretty much the scene for much of the united states today.
I think 30 different states are under an advisory or a warning.
Our Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center.
VELSHI: It's taken an extreme turn.
CHETRY: It sure is.
VELSHI: It's not just hot. It's become very dangerous. In some cases, deadly -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, true. And, you know, as far as weather-related fatalities go, heat is the number one cause. So, it's something not to be taken lightly. I'm sure now the heat wave guy is expanding, place like Chicago, got it yesterday.
Take a look at some of this video. You know, early in the morning, because it was so hot and humid and that rolling over the top of that relatively cold Lake Michigan, there was fog and then the fog broke through and the heat was on and people just ran to the beach on Lake Shore Drive to try to get to any sort of relief in the heat. At least this early in the morning it was cloudy and later in the afternoon, it's certainly got steamy in a hurry.
Hazy, hot and humid the conditions across much of the lower 38, about a third of the U.S. --
VELSHI: I'll finish that for him -- about a third of the U.S. is under some kind of heat
CHETRY: -- advisory or watch or warning.
VELSHI: Yes. I only know because he has been telling us that all morning. It's bad. Be safe out there if you can.
I mean, it's one of the things you think -- I'm often the kind of guy tough it out, it's summer. Dehydrate very quickly.
CHETRY: Right. Find out if there's cooling centers in your area. Check on the elderly.
VELSH: Check on other people. Check on the elderly. Some people don't have air-conditioning, you know?
CHETRY: You know what happened yesterday? I was driving by on the way to the pool and I saw somebody had their dog in the car even though they had the windows cracked. The dog in a car! It was 90 degrees!
VELSHI: They just have to remember, people with animals at home, let's look out for other folks!
We'll get back to Rob in just a minute.
This guy has put his name on the map literally. Check this out -- a super rich sheikh workers carve his name. Hamad by the way is his name. Can you see that? Yes. On the right -- into a desert he owns near Abu Dhabi.
It is so big that it's visible from space. The name is more than two miles across, some of the letters are so big that they are actually being used as waterways.
CHETRY: That's so great. I mean, it almost looks like we super-imposed it on there. It's carved so perfectly.
VELSHI: Right. It looks like art. That's incredible.
CHETRY: That's hilarious.
VELSHI: Hamad clearly has a lot of money.
CHETRY: Yours would have been easier, is only three letters!
VELSHI: It would have been -- I don't know how much money I'd have to have to carve my name in the desert. Oh, well.
CHETRY: We want to show you something that's pretty amazing as well. This is -- hold on. Let me get it. I have it.
This is a new thing that you can do if you love to be able to have access to CNN or Headline News at all times, without having to worry about sitting in front of your television. It's our streaming video.
Actually, that's picture of you, your head. OK. Go to CNN.
VELSHI: App, OK, there we go. And then the top corner here, you hit live TV. What do I do?
CHETRY: I did something wrong. I'm sorry. You have to have a Wi-Fi connection. Bottom line.
So, we have that. Now, we have our Wi-Fi connection. OK, ready? Go ahead. Do it again.
VELSHI: All right. You go to CNN app. And then the top right corner, when it shows you up, you hit live TV, and we got a bunch of options here. We're going to pick CNN. AMERICAN MORNING is on right now. And --
CHETRY: This has worked every other time, ironically.
VELSHI: Because they only paid us 48 bucks every time we did the promo, but now, we're not getting paid for this one. CHETRY: The bottom line is these are the service providers. If you have Cox, Comcast, Suddenlink, AT&T. I'm supposed to click Comcast.
VELSHI: I think you have to bail on this.
CHETRY: All right. I'll bail.
VELSHI: We have to come back and do this the right way in a minute. Oh, is it working? There we go! Look at that! The 48 bucks just cleared PayPal.
CHETRY: Yes, you can do headlines news as well, and they're both available at cnn.com/video or as I'm showing you, on here with the iPad app or the iPhone app.
VELSHI: Nobody is going to see your password, are they?
CHETRY: I hope not.
VELSHI: OK.
CHETRY: Probably.
VELSHI: It's very cool.
CHETRY: All right. The new streaming services available, as we said, to all of those different providers. Fifty million and probably growing. So --
VELSHI: Head to the website, by the way, to find out if your cable provider is one of them.
All right. We're loving this story. It's not something typically a hotel has on its list of guest services, but the Crowne Plaza has introduced roving snore patrols and fully loaded snore-proof rooms at some of its hotels to help guests get a good night's sleep. BY the way, it's usually the spouse who has a problem with somebody snoring. This is for other guest. This is for another room.
CHETRY: You must snore so loud or their walls are so thin that the other guests can hear it.
VELSHI: So, they've got snore-proof rooms. They've got sound proof in the polls (ph) and the headboards, anti-snoring pillows, white noise machine. I don't get the whole snore patrol thing, right?
CHETRY: Me either, but it's one of the many funny or unique bizarre hotel experiences. We want to know what yours was like. Tell us about your funniest hotel experience. It's our question of the day. E-mail us, give us a tweet, or tell us on Facebook, and we'll read through some of them later in the show.
VELSHI: And we're "Minding your Business" next including music to economist ears. At least someone's business surged during the slow economy. We'll show you who's on top of the concert marquees. Sixteen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It's 20 minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Several fresh earnings report are out. AT&T, United Continental, and Morgan Stanley all reporting stronger than expected earnings for the second quarter. Later today, Microsoft will report its earnings after the closing bell.
Stock futures turn higher in the past hour. Right now, they're trading higher ahead of the opening bell boosted by the strong earnings reports. Investors do remain concerned about the stall in the debt talks in Washington. Potential market movers today are new jobless claims numbers coming out in just a few minutes.
Big news in the health care sector this morning. Express Scripts is buying Medco in the $29 billion merger agreement. This makes it one of the largest deals ever in the health care services industry.
The Federal Reserve slapping Wells Fargo with an $85 million dollar 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. And, in addition to the fine, Wells Fargo must also compensate affected borrowers.
Federal Trace Commission says failed mortgage lender, Countrywide, overcharged more than 450,000 borrowers when they fell behind on their mortgage payments, and now, they're getting paid back. More than $108 million in checks will go out to compensate for the overcharges.
Some 22,000 state workers in Minnesota are back on the job this morning. They've been out of work since July 1st because of a government shutdown, but that shutdown is over this morning after the state's governor signed a $35.7 billion budget yesterday/
And the U.S. concert business making a comeback to the tune of a billion dollars. That's how much concert goers paid in the U.S., so far, this year. Up more than $150 million from the same time last year according to Poll Star with U2, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, and Lady Gaga leading the pack.
Coming up next, the finish line is insight, but there's no vote yet to the NFL lockout. What's the hold up?
And check out the new look of CNN.com ground breaking new video experience at cnn.com/video. It's bigger, brighter, and easier to find. CNN's most compelling video. AMERICAN MORNING back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-five minutes past the hour. Seventy-five retired players are now suing the National Football League. They're accusing the NFL of deliberately hiding for nearly 90 years what it knew about the dangers of concussions. The company that makes helmets for the league is also named in the lawsuit.
VELSHI: Yes. The new labor agreements between owners and players would include nearly $1 billion in additional benefits for retired players many who've developed a dementia and other medical problems.
CHETRY: Right now, the new labor deal is still sitting on the table. NFL players decided not to vote on the new labor contract yesterday. Both sides worked into the night to resolve the issues.
VELSHI: So, for right now, players and fans still locked out. Many are getting frustrated. David Mattingly is live at Atlanta Airport Marriott. That's where the talks are taking place. Where do we stand, David?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the owners are going to be meeting here at 10:00. They hope that, by then, the players will have voted and have a final vote on their collective bargaining agreement, and they can get on with the season. But at the moment, the word is that no deal, at least not yet, but they are close. Close to ending this lockout that began very -- very unpopular circumstances four months ago.
(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.
SHAWN SCHUSTER, NFL FAN: Ten percent unemployment in the country, right? Us, poor folks, scrapping and scraping to get by, come on. It's billionaires against millionaires, right? an 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 the time when people are having to cut back, compromise, and worry about making the mortgage and, you know, 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.
KEVIN MAWAE, NFLPA PRESIDENT: We want to play football. We want to go back to work, but we're not going to agree to any deal, unless, it's the right deal for all the players.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY (on-camera): And what that right deal will be remains to be seen at this moment, but right now, the pressure is on. The season begins, the pre-season game is on the first Sunday in August. Training camp is supposed to begin for one team tomorrow.
VELSHI: First Sunday in August is the -- that's the 7th. OK. So, we're close. We're a little over a week, David. All right. You'll be on it. We'll let our viewers know as soon as there's some movement, but as you point out, the players have got to make the first move here by approving that deal, and then, see what the owners do. Thanks, David.
VELSHI: Top stories now. "Atlantis" is home. The shuttle flawlessly touching down at Kennedy Space Center this morning. The final shuttle mission is now complete. It's the end of the line for the shuttle and for the thousands of people who help put it into orbit. "Atlantis" now retired, will stay at Kennedy Space Center, and be put on display.
CHETRY: Almost half the country will be sizzling under triple digits today. Heat watches, warnings, and advisories cover more than 30 states, and it's not just uncomfortable out there. It's dangerous. The National Weather Service is saying that the heat may be responsible for at least 22 deaths.
VELSHI: A new development in the UK phone-hacking scandal. British police are expanding their investigation. It's going beyond Rupert Murdoch's media empire to include many other UK newspapers. That's according to the British Information Commissioners office.
CHETRY: Also, Atika Shubert joins us live from London with more on this. Just explain the circumstances around the widening investigation. I mean, obviously, a lot of attention focused on this hacking because of the News Corp scandal.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, previously, the investigation seems to basically focus on "News of the World" and other media associated with News International, but we've learned from the information commission is that the police have also requested files on another private investigator who was illegally obtaining information and not just for News International, for newspapers like "The Daily Mail" and the "Daily Mirror." Those are not News International newspapers.
So, the scope of this investigation does seem to be widening and not just in terms of the media, but also in terms of the kind and the ways the information is being obtained. It's not just about phone hacking any more, apparently, but also something called blagging, which is impersonating someone in order to get their personal information from, say, their bank accounts or their house information.
And so -- and it does appear that these private investigators were paid and used by newspapers to get this information. VELSHI: Atika, Scotland Yard, it's hard to follow this. That was the British information service. Scotland Yard now, the police, the metropolitan London police beefing up its investigation looking into hacking allegation -- same thing or different thing?
SHUBERT: Same thing. This is a widening scandal so they need more resources to dig up more of this information. I mean, remember, they have 11,000 documents sitting basically in garbage bags earlier. So they do need a lot more manpower to go through all of this evidence, find out who may or may not have had their phone mail messages hacked. Now it seems they have more information coming in from another private investigator, so they do need to commit a lot more resources to this.
VELSHI: All right, Atika, thanks very much for this. We will follow it with you and your team doing a great job uncovering what is happening in this case.
CHETRY: A lot to keep track of.
VELSHI: It really is.
(WEATHER BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, friends and family of three hikers who were swept over a waterfall at Yosemite National Park are desperately hoping that they are still alive. Witnesses say the three ignored warnings and crossed over a protective guardrail to take pictures too close to the edge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARRI COBB, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK: There's a 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)
VELSHI: Park officials fear their bodies may not be found for weeks.
CHETRY: A California wind surfer was rescued after spending more than 12 hours stranded in San Francisco Bay. A Coast Guard rescue swimmer found the 62-year-old woman clinging to her board. She is now in stable condition at a local hospital.
VELSHI: and a six-year-old girl is recovering from a shark attack on North Carolina's outer banks. Authorities say she was bitten on right leg and foot while playing in shallow water on the beach. No other swimmers were injured.
All right, I love this video that we are going to show you. We will do it after the break, though. A kid at the Giants game, he pouts because a foul ball came his way and the people in front of him caught it. He is up there in the corner. Is that a pout or is that a pout? We will show you what ended up happening.
By the way, Kiran.
CHETRY: What? I've seen that too many times.
VELSHI: Does it smell in here?
CHETRY: Yes. If you had smell-evision, you would say what are you frying up? It's because we have a chef with us preparing Asian carp and lion fish. Now, you may think, we are we eating them. They are considered an invasive species that's taken over and destroyed reef fish populations across the east coast.
VELSHI: That's why we're eating them.
CHETRY: Rivers in other parts of the country. And guess what, environmentalists say the solution is --
VELSHI: Eat them.
CHETRY: -- fry them. And we're going to see just how delicious they are.
It's 35 minutes past the hour.
VELSHI: Looks fabulous.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: That is New York City.
VELSHI: It's not. The producer said we will get a shot of Central Park, but this is the problem with the producers. They tell you something and don't pull through. That is Central Park. It's across the road from us.
CHETRY: It just happens to be extremely soupy out there. Barely you can see through the haze right now. It's 79 degrees right now and later on it's going up to 95. It's not what the temperature is. The humidity is putting these -- feels like temperatures in place across the country --
VELSHI: There are in places -- 100 degrees in the shade without counting humidity. It's unbelievable.
CHETRY: You said it's national what?
VELSHI: It's national tug of war day today, by the way.
CHETRY: Nice.
VELSHI: You know we always do a national day.
CHETRY: They always make you the anchor, right?
(LAUGHTER) VELSHI: From America's team to "Sports Illustrated" cover girl, U.S. women's soccer goalie Hope Solo landing on the cover of "SI."
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: I'm so proud of my joke. I'm sorry. It was corny.
VELSHI: It was corny. Hope Solo is just the third female soccer player to be on the cover after coming just short in the women's World Cup. Solo and teammate Abby Wambach joined David Letterman in one of his favorite past times, kicking stuff at moving taxis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": Do you kick much? All right. Whoa! Whoa!
(APPLAUSE)
LETTERMAN: Nice job! Oh, my God! Tremendous! Abby, thank you very much! Congratulations! Hope, good to see you. We will be right back, everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Do you think the cab driver knew that was coming?
CHETRY: I think that one did. He was driving by with his little door open.
VELSHI: Most cab drivers, I wouldn't --
CHETRY: They wouldn't find the humor in that.
VELSHI: No.
Next up for the women's soccer team defending their gold medal in London next year. They were here the other day. They were so fantastic, but they seemed a little sad. They're going to kick it off, and they're going to get back in it.
CHETRY: They will be training for that and qualifying for the Olympics. They are moving on. Good for them.
Forget about Oprah's book club. David and Victoria Beckham's new baby has fueled a sale -- I don't know. This is crazy how many people want to buy the literary classic "To Kill a Mockingbird." Harper Seven is the baby's name, named for Harper Lee, the author of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Since she was born sales of the novel according to Amazon in the U.K. have surged 123 percent.
VELSHI: Percentages can be tricky. Did they sell 7 six before this and now they have sold another 9?
CHETRY: So you want the actual book count?
VELSHI: Yes. What is the "Seven" part in Harper Seven?
CHETRY: I don't know.
VELSHI: OK. I don't follow the --
CHETRY: Celebrity baby thing? Odd baby naming?
VELSHI: Yes.
Here is a lesson to all of you kids out there -- pouting does actually work. Look at this little young guy. He's at the San Francisco Giants game. There's a foul ball caught by the couple in front of him. Look at him on the top right there. OK? That is pout. He didn't even try to get out of that. He does the whole routine. He curls his lips.
CHETRY: Look at his dad. His dad is like, snap out of it.
VELSHI: He holds back his tears. But now look what happened. Later on in the broadcast, the team gave the whole row game balls. Finally, he smiles.
CHETRY: Good job, kid.
VELSHI: That is the best pout ever. Can we see his pout one more time? Look at that.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Look at his dad? Come on, snap out of it, buddy!
VELSHI: That is fantastic.
CHETRY: I love the other boy is just looking on.
VELSHI: Couldn't care less.
CHETRY: Cool as a cucumber.
All right, well, still ahead, the Mississippi River overrun with Asian carp. Don't pout about it. We're going to find a solution here. Lion fish, by the way, are gobbling up anything they can along reefs. These are animals that don't have natural predators.
VELSHI: Like green crab.
CHETRY: They are ousting the blue crabs at an alarming rate. The solution is?
VELSHI: Eat them.
CHETRY: Right. It could help with ability to get food out of the ocean, overfishing. Could this be the answer?
VELSHI: We have a live cooking demo out for you coming up.
CHETRY: You will be the official taster. How much do you like lion fish?
VELSHI: It's 42 minutes after the hour. Look at that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It's 44 minutes after the hour. Here are you morning headlines.
A development in the U.K. phone-hacking scandal. British police expanding their investigation. It's going beyond Rupert Murdoch's media empire to include many other U.K. newspapers, that according to British Information Commissioner's office.
Space shuttle Atlantis lands Kennedy Space Center this morning, ending NASA's 30-year program. NASA saying the spacecraft has fired the imagination of a generation and vowing it will not stop America from exploring further.
More than 30 states right now under heat watches, warnings, or advisories. Triple digit temperatures expected to last through Saturday. Officials say the heat may be to blame for at least 22 deaths.
The Department of Homeland Security issuing a new terror warning just weeks before the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Officials say private utilities in the U.S. like oil refineries or chemicals or nuclear facilities could be Al Qaeda targets between now and then.
Airport security scanners now seeing less of passengers. Instead of seeing right through your clothes, new body scans will show the generic outline of a person. The TSA says the new technology will better protect passenger privacy while maintaining security standards.
The rapidly approaching deadline to raise the debt ceiling is just 12 days away this morning. President Obama says he's hopeful Republicans and Democrats will be able to reach an agreement before the August 2nd deadline.
418,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week. That's 10,000 more than the week before and more than economists had expected.
Stock futures turned higher in the past hour. Right now they're trading higher ahead of the opening bell boosted by strong earnings reports this morning but investors are still concerned about the stalled debt talks in Washington.
First Lady Michelle Obama will make an appearance today on the show, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." She'll be helping to renovate a community center for homeless female veterans.
Tiger Woods has fired his long time caddy, Steve Williams. Woods made the announcement on his Web site, saying quote, "It's time for a change". Williams posted a response on his Web site saying quote, "After 13 years of loyal service, needless to say, this came as a shock". And by the way the answer to the Beckham's kid, I hope, Harper Seven, Beckham's number was seven when he played for Manchester United.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ouch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.
MATTINGLY: That hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: -- over this video but here at CNN it's legendary. It is our David Mattingly doing a story on Asian carp. They are literally leaping out of the water and into the boat smacking him on several parts of his body over and over again.
Asian carps, though, actually nothing to laugh at. They are an invasive species and along with the lion fish they are threatening to destroy the eco-system of rivers and lakes and other water ways across America.
Let's take a look at that video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Whoa. Ouch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.
MATTINGLY: That hurts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The carp and the lion fish decimating our reefs and native fish population. And now a group called "Food and Water Watch" has paired up with the James Beard Foundation to find a solution to the problem and their proposal that if you can't beat them, eat them.
Joining us now is award-winning chef Kerry Hefferman, he's the executive director of Food and Water Watch -- along with the executive director of Food and Water Watch, Wenonah Hauter. Thanks to both of you for being with us this morning.
KERRY HEFFERMAN, FOOD AND WATER WATCH: I'm glad to be here. CHETRY: You guys have been here for about an hour preparing this. And I just want to show what the lion fish looks like before preparation because this thing is -- that thing looks scary.
CARRIE: It is. Absolutely, and there are these venomous spines here that you do not want to mess with. They are very easy to get rid of. You can just use some scissors and trim them away. And if you do that and that, and that most of the danger is now gone.
So then it simply fillets like any other fish afterwards. It's quite tasty, it's a nice firm white meat. And we're going to saute some of it in a second.
CHETRY: Yes, you're going to saute some of it because I want -- because this is what the outcome of what you've done; obviously you're a tremendous chef. But if more and more people could do this Wenonah we would be dealing -- we'd be solving a problem.
Explain the scope of this problem when we talk about this invasive species. This is a lion fish and we're also looking at the Asian carp and you said this one is actually a small version.
WENOHAH HUATER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FOOD AND WATER WATCH: That is a small one, a carp could be as long as this table that we're standing in front of. The problem is that these fish out-produce native species, they eat the other fish and plant life that native species depend on.
A lion fish can move into a reef and kill 74 percent of the fish that live there and that are native.
CHETRY: And you said the lion fish could have just been someone's pet that ended up getting --
HAUTER: That's exactly right.
CHETRY: -- and they let them out not thinking anything, off the Florida Keys and they have been able to reproduce in numbers and now threaten the species.
HAUTER: Right and they were just let loose in the 1980's and already they're the second most prevalent fish in the Caribbean. It is a major problem.
HEFFERMAN: That's frightening, yes.
CHETRY: So let me ask you this Kerry, why don't people eat more, we're always -- we're always talking about over-fishing, and we're always talking about the need to have new fresh alternatives to -- to what we eat now in terms of food fish. Why aren't these on the menu in more places?
HEFFERMAN: Awareness and that's why we're here. People --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: They're just as edible, they're just as tasty?
HEFFERMAN: We're going to find out right now.
CHETRY: All right. Good.
HEFFERMAN: And make of -- the lion fish in particular makes a very delicate, firm, white fillet and it sautes up lovely. It's very much between a jonduri (ph) and a monk fish. So it's got a great firmness to it. It's a little unpleasant to look at, at first. But when you taste the result, it's pretty incredible.
The carp has a few more bones. So we have to come up with a solution there to -- what we've done is to fillet around the bones. Given the size of the animal there is lots we can do with that in terms of extracting those bones and making a good deal of useful proteins.
CHETRY: I mean some of this is going to be up to -- obviously the commercial fish markets, right? I mean, are they on board with you? Or any company is doing this?
HAUTER: Not yet. What we need is a demand for these fish.
HEFFERMAN: Yes.
HAUTER: We need a new name for Asian carp. You know, we've seen this before with the patagonian toothfish that became the Chilean sea bass and now is over-fished.
CHETRY: And now the Chilean sea bass is now over-fished. That's right.
HEFFERMAN: Right.
HAUTER: So this could be a win-win situation for the environment and for consumers.
HEFFERMAN: Right.
CHETRY: All right, so tell us what you did. Because if I'm sitting at home this does look intimidating to me in terms of trying to prepare it. You can ask somebody to fillet it free.
HEFFERMAN: In all likelihood you would never get one of these, in the whole. You would get the fillets. You'd be eating it in a restaurant. But until people start asking for it it's going to stay in the water, killing lots of little fish.
So it's very easy to fillet and much like any other fish. You just come right down the back and go across. The same fillets. What it does do is make a very nice little saute.
CHETRY: It looks beautiful. All you did was put a little olive oil in the pan?
HEFFERMAN: A tiny bit of grape seed oil. CHETRY: Grape seed oil.
And then you -- I saw that you lightly put a little bit of flour, coated it with flour but nothing big.
HEFFERMAN: A tiny bit of wonder flour on. Yes.
CHETRY: Salt and pepper?
HEFFERMAN: Salt and pepper and then we take a little butter and baste it because at Southgate, we like to use best products, as local as possible. In this case, something that is helping the environment in terms of this baser qualities.
CHETRY: Smart. I mean if you think about it. And the other thing too, if I was going out to catch these, how do you catch these? I mean how did you get these lion fish.
HAUTER: Well, we are very lucky that Atlantis Charters went out and speared these for us. Right now people are diving and actually spearing. If there was a commercial market for them, they can be trapped and they would be filleted and the poisonous -- the venomous spears would be removed.
HEFFERMAN: We have actually removed them.
CHETRY: You, you did something pretty creative. You removed them, dried them. They're free from poison and now they are toothpicks.
HEFFERMAN: Right.
CHETRY: This is --
HEFFERMAN: That's the lion fish.
CHETRY: This is the lion fish.
HEFFERMAN: Yes.
CHETRY: And so I'm eating from the spear of the lion fish. Really good.
HAUTER: Delicious.
CHETRY: It is.
HEFFERMAN: Firm, delicate. Great, soon to be on the menu at Southgate.
HAUTER: Absolutely.
CHETRY: Well, good for you guys. I know you're trying to do a good thing. It tastes great and it would be wonderful if it would help our oceans and waterways that need all the help they can get right now. HEFFERMAN: Absolutely. Use the market to your effect.
CHETRY: Kerry and Wenonah, great to see both of you. Thanks so much for joining us.
HAUTER: Thank you so much.
CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. It is 6 minutes until the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Sweet. Look at that. Washington, D.C. Looks fair and 86. Going to be mostly sunny and 100 degrees. That is Washington. It can be muggy and humid, you know?
CHETRY: A good day to stay inside and have AC. Unfortunately that is not the case for everybody either due to their job or whatever but man, it's going to be tough out there. And it's going to be like this through the weekend for many parts of the country.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: So just be aware and be extra vigilant.
VELSHI: There's no shortage of ways to say it's hot out there. In fact Jeanne Moos has been looking into some of them. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know it's hot when the weather forecast reads like a romance novel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What a scorcher.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sweltering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flirting with a hundred.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You love the hot weather but 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 have some blow-torching heat coming for tomorrow and tomorrow we are back on the burner. Not the back burner. We're back on the burner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, do the wheels come off the wagon.
MOOS: While we are all gasping for air like fish out of water, reporters are taking the temperature on the grass.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 155 degrees.
MOOS: In the New York subway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The temperature reads 100 degrees.
MOOS: On a swing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 131 degrees.
MOOS (on camera): We're talking heat so oppressive that sometimes it's hard to spit out the word.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That means the heat indices the heat and humidity combined.
MOOS (voice-over): The current heat wave has been christened with a four-letter word meaning an area of high pressure that is compressing hot moist air behind it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to turn now to that heat dome. And when we say heat dome --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This whole hot dome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big dome.
MOOS: All this talk of domes conjures up visions of heat radiating UFOs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A giant heat dome surrounded by a ring of fire.
MOOS: Put some water on it. The heat wave is alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shows 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 and brief.
MOOS (voice-over): And in brief, even they are covering.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What 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 are 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.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Jeanne is very creative about that stuff. That's the great thing. You go get to see everybody else's local news when you're in one particular market.
Hey, you know, I learned about that Harper Seven thing.
CHETRY: Yes, you learned about that it has a significance to his soccer.
VELSHI: When he was with Manchester United. That was his number, Beckham
CHETRY: Very, very cute.
VELSHI: We are always researching around here. I got that off from somebody on Twitter, by the way.
CHETRY: All right. Well, the news continues.
"CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now. Good morning Kyra.
