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American Morning
Heat Wave Grips Much of the Country; NFL May be Close to Ending Lockout; Debt Ceiling Deadline Looms; Obama Pushes Compromise Debt Plan; Tiger's Fired Caddy Talks; Pentagon to End Gay Military Ban; Eleven Days to Raise the Debt Ceiling; NFL Owners Approve Deal; "You Don't Fit The Uniform"; Deadly Heat Spreads; Report: New Arrests in Fan Beating; "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Set to Go
Aired July 22, 2011 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The heat is on, but the power may not be. In Tennessee (ph), moving into the east this morning, utility companies are nervous. They are warning that they may not be able to deliver in this record-breaking heat.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And do they have the wrong guy? A new report that the man suspected of beating up a baseball fan on opening day in L.A. may be off the hook.
Jude Law versus News Corp. He says that his phone was hacked on U.S. soil by the "News of the World." Now, the FBI wants to hear from him. What that could mean for the American wing of Rupert Murdoch's empire.
STEVE WILLIAMS, TIGER WOODS' FORMER CADDIE: I've stuck with him through thick and thin. I've been incredibly loyal. Basically, you could say, I've wasted two years of my life.
VELSHI: Another bad breakup for Tiger Woods. His ex caddie is teed off on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (on-camera): A good, hot Friday morning to you. That is a view of New York City. It is soupy, it is muggy, 87 real degrees out there, but the real feel when you take the humidity into account is 98. We don't have the worst of it. It is really hot. I'm Ali Velshi. Christine is off today, hopefully, doing something cold.
CHETRY: Yes. And I'm Kiran Chetry. We have a lot going on today. Let's get right to it.
We're talking about the intensely hot weather again stretching across a huge portion of the country. And the deadly heat wave started in the Midwest spread east. Places like Washington today it's going to be 103 degrees, but it will feel upwards of 115. Triple digit temperatures are expected across the mid-Atlantic, up and down the east coast, and in the Ohio valley. As many as two dozen heat- related deaths have now been reported. VELSHI: As Kiran mentioned a moment ago, utilities across the country, begging you to conserve. They are warning of rolling blackouts as people crank the AC. As you know, electricity cannot be stored. So they have to provide as much as anybody needs. And 7,000 have lost power in Chicago during this heat wave. In New York the power company said store owners who leave their doors open could be fined. Rob Marciano's tracking this for us in the extreme weather center. Rob, what do you got?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you saw some of that video of people drinking water and pouring water over their heads. That certainly helps. What hasn't been helping because the humidity is so high, is sweating, which is your body's way of cooling things off, evaporative cooling. When it's so hot outside, that sweat doesn't evaporate. That's how you overheat.
And we're going to see overheating again in 29 states, warnings and advisories out for these states, including parts of the Midwest that have seen the heat. They'll see a bit of a break today and through tomorrow. But until then, the New York City area, the 95 corridor is all dressed up in pink and it's going to dangerously hot.
We say this and we mean it because heat-related death, that's the number one cause for weather-related fatalities is heat. You saw it as long ago as 2003. In 1995 in Chicago we saw it. In modern day it happens. You've got to take care of yourselves and look after your neighbors as well.
These are the record highs that we saw yesterday, 106 in Fort Smith. Upstate New York, Elmira, 104, Toledo, Ohio, 102, 100 degrees was yesterday's high in Detroit. And, again, these don't include humidity in their measurements. When you include the humidity you get that heat index, and that's what we're seeing right now. At least 94 degrees is what it feels like right now, 7:00 a.m. in New York City, 95 is what it feels like in Philadelphia right now. These numbers are going much, much higher obviously throughout the day today, and it will be the same deal I think tomorrow. The heat will eventually breaks on Sunday on Monday. Guys?
CHETRY: All right, hang in there and try to do all you can to stay cool. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: You bet.
CHETRY: We could actually be in the middle of the hottest span since 1950. Here's a live look across the street, our street.
VELSHI: It's Central Park. It's right across the road from us, and that's how soupy is out there.
CHETRY: A high of 101 with the heat index it will feel more like 115 degrees. Our Susan Candiotti is a real trooper this morning outside in the park right now. And some concerns with some of the local power companies about the potential of having some sort of disruption in service. Hopefully that won't be the case, but there are concerns today. SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are plenty of them. And that's why in the city of New York there are at least 200 cooling centers that the office of emergency management has opened up so that people who need extra help, maybe their air conditioning isn't working or they don't have it, they have some place to go, locations like community senior citizens' centers or libraries where they can take a break.
I'm going to give you a quick look at the top at the temperature sign, the CNN sign. It says it's 85 degree. I'm not sure I believe that. It feels much hotter than that. And because the air is thick with humidity it feels like soup. You can cut it with a knife.
Out here, despite the heat, we have a group of people who were here this morning for a summer. And let's talk to a couple of them. Now, I don't know. With the heat index being so high, in the 90s, why are you running on a day like this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it's great to see Heidi working with AOL. AOL works with my company. And it's great to come out --
CANDIOTTI: She's running a lifestyle website lifestyles. What concerns do you have about the heat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really just keeping hydrated, making sure I drink a lot of water. And we have a lot of people looking out for us and making sure we're able to keep up with her in the run and stay hydrated. And just go out and have a great run this morning. There's a nice breeze. It's something we should definitely enjoy with her.
CANDIOTTI: That certainly helps. Thank you very much for joining us today. It's one -- we're seeing a lot of joggers out here. People who say they are used to it so they think they can make it through the day. And they're just drinking plenty of water to get through it all. If I can borrow a line from our engineer Vick who said, you know, what's known as the big apple, but today it's the baked apple. I liked that one. Back to you guys.
VELSHI: AOL owned by the same company we are. I have to tell you, Heidi from AOL needs to change her plans today. Heidi needs to go into some place with air conditioning. I cannot think of anything more ridiculous than going on a run in Central Park right now.
CHETRY: I'll tell what you else, there are people who don't change their plans. I have a friend who said we're playing tennis today. People don't get it. I mean, it is -- it is enough to make you ill. It doesn't matter how healthy you are.
VELSHI: All right, good. Susan, excellent on finding unusual folk out there who don't seem to be paying attention to the fact it is one of the hottest days ever. Susan Candiotti in Central Park meeting some interesting folks.
CHETRY: The treadmill counts, people.
VELSHI: I got to meet Heidi from AOL who is dragging a whole bunch of people out on a run this morning.
CHETRY: Our question of the day -- with the heat index scoring well past 100 degrees in many place, we want to know how you stay cool when you're not in the AC. Here are some responses.
VELSHI: Donna on Facebook says "Wet the hair down, wear a towel soaked with water around the neck, and try to stay in the air if at all possible."
CHETRY: See, that doesn't work for you. Your try to wet your hair down at work, next thing you know --
VELSHI: I have an advantage over most of you right now.
CHETRY: You're nice and cool. A lot of people have been writing and asking about Ali's outfit as well. It's linen. Thanks for caring.
William on Facebook writes "lots of beer and ice in my cooler."
VELSHI: William's got a plan.
CHETRY: Keep your comments coming. Send an e-mail a tweet. Tell us on Facebook. We'll read more of your thoughts a bit later.
VELSHI: Actor Jude Law front and center in the phone hacking case, and if his claims are true they could trigger criminal charges against News Corporation here in the United States. The FBI reportedly plans to get in touch with Law. The actor is suing Rupert Murdoch's empire, claiming the "News of the World" hacked his voicemail in 2003 while he was at New York's JFK airport. If that happened, federal prosecutors in America could step into the case. News Corporation says Law's claims have, you know, "no foundation," and they plan to fight them in court.
CHETRY: A couple of surprise developments in the search for the man who beat a fan and almost killed him outside of Dodger stadium on opening day. The victim, Brian Snow, Giants fan and a father of two, suffered a skull fracture, a traumatic brain injury, underwent another emergency surgery in fact earlier in the week. Now the "L.A. Times" is reporting a man arrested for this beating back in May may be off the hook. In fact, it may have been a case of mistaken identity. Two new suspects were taken into custody.
VELSHI: NFL owners taking the first step towards ending a lockout. They approved a new labor deal last night, but the players refused to vote on it.
CHETRY: So now we have the first real casualty of the lockout, which is the cancellation the hall of fame game. Roger Goodell, the commissioner, announced that that would be cancelled. It was set for August 7th. CNN sports caster Joe Carter is live in Atlanta where stalks are taking place this morning. Hi, Joe.
JOE CARTER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning, guys. Yes, you said it, the owners -- 31 of the 32 team owners yesterday in Atlanta agreed a new collective bargaining agreement, an agreement that's unprecedented, that's going to last 10 years and it's going to be the most lucrative the NFL has ever seen. But more importantly it's an agreement would get football back on the field on time. Here's commissioner Roger Goodell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: The clubs have approved an agreement that was negotiated with the players this afternoon. In addition to approving that agreement we also approved a supplemental revenue sharing system for the next 10 years. Hopefully we can all work quickly, expeditiously, and get this agreement done. It is time to get back to football. That is what everybody here wants to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: So it's a deal that the players are not sure they want yet. We know the owners want it. So the players will have today, tomorrow, actually until Tuesday to comb over a 500-page-plus document, a new agreement putting football into place starting September 8th for the first regular season game. But at this point the ball is in the players court, per se. They've got to vote on it, agree to it, and then recertify as a union before any football can happen. Guys?
VELSHI: Joe Carter in Atlanta covering those -- the next stage of what the players end up doing.
Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, President Obama is said to be pushing a new debt deal, while some Republicans insist it's no big deal if we don't raise the debt ceiling. We're going to break down what actually could happen if they don't get an agreement.
CHETRY: He's known Tiger Woods longer than Tiger even knew his ex-wife. Now his former caddie Steve Williams is talking about their breakup, and he's not holding back. It's nine minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Do me a favor. Don't change the channel. I know it's tough to keep on talking about this debt stuff, but you need good understanding of it. So I'm going to try to show it to you with some pictures to give you a sense of where we are.
Let's just look at last year, August. We're not in August yet, and August is when this becomes really important. Last year in August we took in, the government took in $194 billion from in whole month and spent $342 billion in the whole month and had a shortfall of $148 billion. That's just that much. Some months are less, some months are more. Bottom line is we always spend more than we take in.
Now let's look at projections for this August. Last year we took in $194 billion. We're taking in less this year, $172 billion. And last year our outgoing was $342. We're actually putting less money out this August, up $306 billion. So we're looking for the month of August at a shortfall of $134 billion. OK, that's one month. Now I want you to look at two very specific dates. August 2nd is the date we run out of money to pay all of our bills. Now on August the 3rd, the next day after the debt ceiling whether it's raised or not, we take in $12 billion. I don't know what's left from August 2nd. But let's say we start with a blank slate, we take in $12 billion, and we have payments, particularly over $20 billion in Social Security payments that day adding up to a total outgoing of $32 billion. So the shortfall on August 3rd, it's hard to do the calculations, but basically on August 3rd we'll be about $20 billion short. Now maybe we'll have some extra money from the previous week. Who knows?
Now, the next important date after August 3rd, there are going to be days like this all the way along, but August 15th is a very important date. We'll take in $22 billion and we'll have to pay out $41 billion because interest on particularly bonds becomes due that day. Remember, here, you can shortchange Americans who have Social Security. Here you're shortchanging people who have American with bonds, a $19 billion shortage. That's the problem.
Now, somebody is going to have to choose if we don't get to that debt ceiling what you pay for and what you don't. Let's just go through the list. You have to pay interest, right, because that's money you owe. You have to pay Social Security. You've got to pay Medicaid. Let's look at a few other ones. Veterans' Affairs, you want to pay for that. How about unemployment insurance? Let's pay our military, choose that. Federal salaries, if you don't want the federal government to shut down. And what about internal revenue service refunds for people owed money? We're still below the amount of money we have to pay out.
What's the big one? Look at this one -- defense venders. We've got wars going on. You have to pay those defense weapons otherwise your wars stop. There you go. You're already over the limit.
And by the way, we're over the limit without having paid food and nutrition services, housing and urban development programs, education, tuition assistance for kids. There's a lot of ways you can do this. We get this from the center that I'm going to talk to you about in a second. But you can go on there and take a look at the various choices you want to make. By the way, there's another category of $74 billion.
OK. So this is what I want to talk about now with Jay Powell. He's the -- he was a former treasury undersecretary under President George H.W. Bush. He's a visiting scholar with the Bipartisan Policy Center which gave us these numbers.
Jay, you've run the number. You and your group have run the numbers many different ways. What happens in your mind on August 3rd?
JAY POWELL, TREASURY UNDERSECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH: Well, first of all, we don't think that there'll be a default on our debt. We think that interest will always be paid first.
VELSHI: OK. POWELL: That's the way it has to be because we don't have any choice but to default on our debt. But after that, about half of the other payments can't be made in the month of August, and on certain days it's worse than that. You know, the average temperature in Washington might be 70 but today's 100. So if the average day is 50/50, you showed August 3rd. August 3rd is a whole loss worst than 50/50. You really have a calamity potentially on the very first day after the deadline expires.
VELSHI: And what I was short of trying to illustrate is that somebody in the Treasury Department or somebody somewhere is going to have to start making choices like this, because if everything can't get paid they've got to decide what does get paid.
You know, the other day, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that whether or not, everybody thinks you've got to pay interest to keep your credit rating good, but the credit markets don't look at it that way. They think if you miss any payments, that's a default.
POWELL: Well, that's a labeling thing. I mean, I think our creditors, our debt creditors will understand and should understand that we will service our debt. That doesn't mean that interest rates won't go up.
VELSHI: Right.
POWELL: That means we won't get downgraded. The real problem is going to be, you know, in the economy where you're cutting $134 billion over the course of about four weeks, which is 10 percent of GDP, it's a huge negative shock to the economy and a lot of people aren't going to get benefit checks and that kind of thing.
VELSHI: All right. When you say -- when we talk about the idea of being downgraded, what some people think is tolerable in order to get our budget mess under control. It's a lesson and it will teach us to really get our budget under control. What are the consequences to the average American of the U.S. stellar AAA credit rating being downgraded?
POWELL: Well, the consequences will appear over time in the form of higher interest rates which will play into their mortgages, mortgage payments and car payments and interest rates, and frankly into the broader economy. This is going to set the economy back, higher interest rates and all this turmoil. You're not going to see good economic growth. You're going to see a blow to the economy because of this downgrade if it happens, which seems like it will.
VELSHI: Jay, you are part of a group of people who are constantly briefing congressional elected leaders on this. You've been doing this a few times. Do you get a sense that they know this?
POWELL: Yes. Well, certainly at the leadership level across both parties on both sides of the Hill, uniformly, they get it, that we really should not as a country fail to raise the debt ceiling by August 2. It's just a terrible failure of governance if it happens. As you get down into the caucuses, I think that that realization has grown dramatically in the last three or four weeks. I won't strictly point to our presentation but I think lots of presentations have been made up there that have opened people's eyes on that subject.
VELSHI: Jay good to talk to you again. Jay Powell, former under treasury -- undersecretary of the treasury and a visiting scholar with the very helpful Bipartisan Policy Center.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Ali, thanks.
Well, he was the one of the few who stood by Tiger Woods during his sex scandal. Now his former caddy is letting it all out after he was fired by Woods earlier in this week. Steve Williams didn't go into the why, about why he was let go, but he didn't hold back about how he felt about that decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE WILLIAMS, TIGER WOOD'S FORMER CADDY: Extremely disappointed. You know, given the fact that the last 18 months have been a particularly difficult time for Tiger, obviously working through a scandal, he's had a new coach, a swing change and the last eight months have been very difficult and I've stuck by him through thick and thin. I've been incredibly loyal and then, you know, and then to have this happen, I mean, basically, you could you say I've wasted two years of my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, Woods was sidelined at the British Open. Steve Williams took a fill-in job with another golfer. "Golf Week" says that that was the reason for the split.
Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, the Pentagon is expected to remove one of the last obstacles that was preventing gays from openly serving in the military. We'll have new details on how the plan is going to take effect.
It's 19 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-two minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
The progress in the debt ceiling talks in Washington pushed markets higher this afternoon -- or yesterday afternoon. Investors are feeling cautious going into today's trading session because we're inching closer and closer to that August 2nd debt ceiling deadline.
European leaders meeting in Brussels finally reached a deal for a second bailout package for Greece late yesterday. $157 billion U.S. dollars, that's how much the plan is worth. News of the agreement pushed U.S. stocks higher and world markets were higher overnight as a result as well. Verizon just reported strong earnings for the last quarter. And earlier this morning, General Electric announced its earnings beat Wall Street's expectations as well. Caterpillar and McDonald's also expected to report before the opening bell at 9:30.
The Justice Department reportedly preparing subpoenas as part of its investigation of News Corporation. The "Wall Street Journal" which is owned by News Corp. is reporting that the subpoenas would seek information about the alleged phone hacking of September 11th victims here in the U.S. and other issues related to the scandal.
U.S. taxpayers likely lost $1.3 billion in the bailout of Chrysler. The Treasury Department says it sold its remaining stake in Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat for more than half a billion dollars. This marks the end of the 2009 bailout that was part of the troubled asset relief program or TARP.
AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We're actually -- we have a new way of telling the temperatures today, because it's not necessarily just what it says. Right now, it says it's fair and 85 degrees as we look at a shot of the White House. But it actually feels like 93 already in Washington because of the humidity. A bit later, it's going up to a temperature of 104. But when you factor in the humidity, it's going it feel like 120 degrees in Washington, D.C. today.
VELSHI: Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
All right. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is coming to an end. Today the Pentagon is expected to announce the 17[-year policy preventing gays from opening serving is no longer needed.
CHETRY: And our Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon. I know you covered this from day one. What does today's certification mean?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you are going to hear that word "certification" throughout the day and it's very important to understand exactly what does that mean. What this means is the president, the secretary of defense, Leon Panetta, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Mike Mullen, later today are expected to certify to Capitol Hill that the military's ready to go, to finally lift this ban on gays serving openly in the United States military. They are expected to make this notification to Congress.
What it means is that the military has trained its people, that it's rewritten the regulations. It has to rewrite, and that it can tell Congress that recruiting and readiness and retention of people in the military will not be impacted by lifting this ban.
An advocacy is really applauding this morning. And I want to read you what Servicemembers United is saying about this. They're saying, quote, "We are glad to see that just three weeks into his tenure as secretary of defense, Panetta, he is already confident that this policy change can take place with little or no disruption to military readiness." That's what certification is all about. What will happen next after Congress is notified later today, a 60-day waiting period, still 60 days and then it will be gone once and for all, but, still, plenty of controversy ahead with questions over spousal benefits, whether same-sex marriages are civil unions can be performed in military chapels. Still a lot of things to iron out -- Ali, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Barbara Starr, thank you.
VELSHI: Back to our top story. Record-breaking heat wave now claiming as many as two dozen lives across the country. There are excessive heat watches and warnings from the plains across the Midwest and now to the east coast. Power companies across the country are warning that they are overloaded.
CHETRY: New information is coming out about that fiery bus crash in upstate New York. Police say that a tractor trailer collided with the bus on the New York State throughway around 1:30 this morning. This happened just west of Syracuse, New York. There were 50 people were on the bus at the time of the crash. Fifteen were taken to nearby hospitals. A U.S. soldier was in a car behind the accident and troopers say that he actually helped pull passengers out of the bus while it was still burning.
VELSHI: Well, today, the Senate is expected to vote against the Republican cut, cap and balance plan at the same time President Obama is trying to persuade Democrats to back a plan that would raise the debt ceiling while cutting $3 trillion in federal deficits over the next 10 years. And that plan would also start to boost revenue in 2013. And that to some people means tax increases.
CHETRY: Well, NFL owners are ready for some football. They approved -- Ali's pen just broke -- late last night. Players though refused to vote on it.
VELSHI: That was sort of an analogy.
All right, the league announced that the lockout has forced it to cancel its first preseason game, the hall of fame game, which was supposed to take place on August 7th. They're getting very close now to disrupting games that actually count.
So joining us now is Jon Wertheim. He's a senior investigative reporter for "Sports Illustrated." Jon, you know, being a slightly peripheral to the story, we keep hearing that a deal is imminent. It's about to happen. It's going to happen. Tell us what you think.
JON WERTHEIM, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": I think we're near the goal line, I don't think we're quite there, but I think we've come a long way.
This has been characterized by postures and sabre rattling the whole time. I think we're awfully close. I mean, these sides have both compromised. We may miss some preseason games, but I think eventually a deal gets done.
CHETRY: So the players are not voting for the deal just yet. Some of them have been tweeting criticisms saying that things were thrown in at the last minute by owners that weren't agreed to. What are their remaining hang ups?
WERTHEIM: Well, I think the big one is this expectation that they reformulate as a union. Remember, they decertified to get this anti (INAUDIBLE). They're technically not a union.
I think this is a 10-year deal with no opt out. I mean, the last contract had this opt out. Owners exercised it. Ten years, you better really like what you're getting.
So I think - I talked to a player from the Ravens yesterday. He said, look, it's like getting a new car. We seem to agree on the price, but we want to look at it. We want have it inspected. We're not just going to take the price and sign off and hope that everything works.
VELSHI: One of the tweets Kiran was referring to was one player saying, there's things in here that we simply didn't agree to. Is that some posturing and sabre rattling? Other things --
CHETRY: This is from the New Orleans Saints representative, Keith Evans who's been one of the more vocal. Saying these were never agreed upon provisions.
WERTHEIM: There's a minor provision that still needs to be worked out, some injury comp claims. Remember, this is about splitting a $9 billion pie. The rest of the details are not to be overlooked, not to be glossed over, but this mostly about revenue.
Remember, too, there are different layers of this, you know, there's the executive committee then there's general membership. I think players are going to read this. They're going to say, look, we need to get back to work here, but again, we've got a few more days to go here.
VELSHI: September 8th is the first game - that's when -- the season officially opens. Are you confident we'll see games on September 8th?
WERTHEIM: I'm pretty confident at that. Preseason of the NFL - do you know how big this league is? This preseason is worth $800 million.
CHETRY: That's right. They cancelled August 7th game already.
WERTHEIM: I think, you know, maybe we'll lose the preseason game, but I do think the regular season will start at the assigned date.
CHETRY: Meantime, all right, we've solved that. How about the NBA strike? Because we're still dealing with it in pro basketball as well? Any chance owners and players might look at this NFL agreement and say, we have to try to work this out? They're just very different issues?
WERTHEIM: I mean, the big difference between splitting a $9 billion pie in a league where two thirds, three-fourths of the owners claim to be losing money.
CHETRY: You're talking about the NBA.
WERTHEIM: Different situation. Yes. Football players don't really have anywhere else to go. NBA players, they've got a little leverage. A lot of them already investigating playing overseas.
I think, you know, fans will say, look, the football guys figure it out, why can't you guys figure it out? I think basketball is a much different story.
CHETRY: More complicated you think?
WERTHEIM: Much more complicated.
CHETRY: Right, we'll see what happens. Hopefully, we'll have something to sit on our couch and watch come September.
VELSHI: Thanks. Good to see you. Jon Wertheim, senior writer, "Sports Illustrated."
CHETRY: More than a dozen cocktail waitresses in Atlantic City say they were fired because they didn't fit into their skimpy new uniforms and now they want the casino to ante up. It's 33 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I can't escape it no matter where I go. This is the other city I live in, Philadelphia. So sunny Philadelphia, I wish it weren't so sunny today, 86 degrees that's the temperature.
What it feels like is 97. Later on, it's going to be 103 and what it's going to feel like because of humidity is 115. I can't catch a break. Atlanta, Philadelphia and New York, they're way too hot. You know what I'm doing?
CHETRY: You're moving to San Diego?
VELSHI: For the weekend, but I'm going to Toronto.
CHETRY: Smart. What are they looking at there?
VELSHI: It's going to be hot - but, it's hot. It's in Celsius.
CHETRY: Well, you don't fit the uniform -- like that's it. It's only 30.
VELSHI: Yes. Feels cooler when you say it's 30.
CHETRY: Well, that's what several cocktail waitresses are claiming. They say that they were told that they had to switch to skimpier costumes, you know, to be in this casino that sort of had a speakeasy theme.
Flappers from the 1920s and they say, look, that's just not fair. Jason Carroll is here this morning. So they didn't refuse to wear the outfits. When they did wear the outfits, they lost their jobs because they didn't look good enough in them.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And not only that, they say it was a really humiliating experience because they had to go to this photo shoot where they say they were given dresses that were too small in order to fit. So that's part of it as well.
You know, representatives from resorts casino in Atlantic City say they have a right to update the image, but several older cocktail servers say betting on youth isn't the fair or legal way to do it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remember what it was like before there was somebody else up there who loved you?
CARROLL (voice-over): Forty years ago, airline work rules required flight attendants back then they were called stewardesses to be single, female, young and thin. Since then, women and employers have come a long way or have they?
MARIE STEWART, COCKTAIL SERVER: -- anxiety, devastated. I just think it was so demeaning.
CARROLL: Marie Stewart and these other women used to work as cocktail servers at resorts casino in Atlantic City that is until new owners decided to dress servers in skimpy flapper-style getups to keep in step with their casinos' roaring 20s theme.
STEWART: That's when I received a call, we don't fit the uniform. You don't meet the requirements.
CARROLL: And so, after auditioning in those outfits, Stewart and several other female servers say they were fired.
MARGIE DEPAMPHILIS, FIRED COCKTAIL SERVER: They gave me two sizes too small. I told them I took a size 6. They gave her 2. They purposely made us look bad in these uniforms.
CARROLL (on camera): All of you in good shape. All of you are attractive. So I don't understand what really the issue is here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's age.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's age.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Age.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was age.
CARROLL: The women say resorts casino should ante up, suing for age and sex discrimination.
GLORIA ALLRED, PLAINTIFFS' ATTORNE: Employees must not be discriminated in employment in any way because of a stereotype of what a beautiful woman is supposed to look like.
CARROLL: The union representing the women says most of their replacements are nearly 20 years younger.
DONNA DECAPRIO, UNITEHERE LOCAL 54 UNION: I've never seen anything like this. This takes the women's movement back 50 years. It's outrageously disgusting.
CARROLL: Resorts representatives decline to be interviewed, but issued a statement saying it acted within the law adding the selection process was conducted in a fair and objective manner. We empathize with the cocktail service who lost their jobs and gave them hiring preference in other open positions at resorts.
(on camera): What would you say to owners of resorts and management at the resorts casino?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody's going to get older and if you allow this to happen, they're going to kick you to the curb, too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, there are a number of Atlantic City casinos that have been struggling to turn profits over the years. Pressure has been put on many of them to re-invent themselves. So the women suing the resorts say they are simply the victims of that effort to try to reinvent.
VELSHI: When this whole business - they were offered other positions, did they speak to that?
CARROLL: Well, it's a good point. Well, look, yes, they did. They said, look, they were offered other positions at the casino. But these women say they've been cocktail servers for so long, that's what they have a right to continue doing.
CHETRY: And the other question is any legal sense to whether or not they have a real case here?
CARROLL: Well, if you listen to Gloria Allred, they have a case there. But you know, on the flip side, these resorts casino says, look, we acted within the law.
We offered them other positions here at the casino and they simply didn't want to do that. You know, I think there is an argument on both sides.
But you know, when you speak to these women, I think that there are a lot of, you know, women's groups out there who say, when you've given a dress that's two sizes too small.
CHETRY: Humiliating, right? VELSHI: Yes, that's definitely the key to this whole thing. They really go out of their way to make these women not look right in these outfits.
CARROLL: Right.
VELSHI: Jason, thank you.
CARROLL: You bet.
VELSHI: All right, morning headlines next, plus he stole the show at the Super Bowl. Remember, Mini Darth Vader from the Volkswagen commercial? Now he's battling lawmakers on Capitol Hill. We're going to talk to him. I hope he brings the outfit in a CNN exclusive coming up. It's 41 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 44 minutes past the hour right now. Here are your morning headlines.
A record breaking heat wave now claiming as many as two dozen lives across the country. Power companies are now warning they may be pushed to limit as people try to stay cool in these triple digit temperatures.
NFL owners approving a new labor deal. The lockout though continues. Players have not yet signed on and the first preseason game of the year has now been cancelled.
The "L.A. Times" reporting that two new people are under arrest in connection to a brutal attack on a Giants' fan outside of Dodgers Stadium. The paper also says the man they already had in custody may be the wrong guy.
The Pentagon is expected to announce later today that it's set to clarify or certify the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." A full repeal would then take place in 60 days.
Well, it's just 11 days left to raise the debt ceiling. Today, the Senate is expected to vote on the cut, cap and balance plan. It is not expected to pass. President Obama is pushing a different plan calling for immediate spending cuts followed by revenue increases in 2013.
And a quick check on the markets right now. U.S. stock features are quickly losing ground this morning trading pretty flat at the moment. They were up earlier riding gains from yesterday, but uncertainty is running high on the debt ceiling talks in Washington. Investors are also feeling a bit cautious going into today's trading session. So we'll continue to follow that for you.
Meantime two former "News of the World" executives are disputing what James Murdoch told parliament Tuesday. Murdoch said that back in 2008 he thought phone hacking by the tabloids was being done by a single rogue reporter. But two former editors say that they told Murdoch about an e-mail proving that the hacking was widespread. The younger Murdoch may be called back to parliament for more questioning.
The FBI reportedly wants to interview Jude Law. The actor is suing News Corp claiming that Rupert Murdoch's reporters hacked his cell phone in 2003 while he was at JFK airport. Now if that's true, it could lead to criminal charges against the media empire here in the U.S.
The Duchess of Cambridge's stunning wedding gown is now on display. Fans have purchased more than 125,000 advance ticket for the Bucking Palace exhibit which opens tomorrow and includes the Alexander McQueen gown.
You're caught up on the headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Washington, D.C., 86 degrees and fair right now. That doesn't tell the whole story. Does it, Kiran?
CHETRY: Nope.
VELSHI: It's 96, feels like 96. Going up to 104. What's it going to feel like?
CHETRY: Hundred and 20 degrees. Ah. For people who don't have air-conditioning, get to one of those cooling centers or go to a mall. Make sure you hydrate because it is treacherous out there.
Well, he was one of the stars of the Super Bowl, the cute little kid who played the mini Darth Vader in the Volkswagen commercial. You remember. Here's a look.
VELSHI: All right. The boy behind the mask, Max Page, is just 6 years old. He's already gone through more than most people do in their lives.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent the day with him out in L.A. He joins us now with a CNN exclusive.
Sanjay, that kid is too cute. What's the story?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: He is. He is. Crazy cute. And you're about to actually see him. We're going to introduce you to him here in a second.
One thing a lot of people who don't know about him is he actually was born with a congenital heart defect and went through eight major operations, has pacemaker in place now. He and his family believe that he absolutely was dependent on children's hospitals in order to get the care that he needed.
A lot of those children's hospitals are on the cutting block now as part of some of these budget reforms that we've talking so much about. As is Medicaid, which provides care to tens of millions of kids, the type of care that Max ended up getting. So he's headed to Capitol Hill to basically lobby on behalf of some these programs. But we've got a chance to meet him up in L.A. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): On behalf of all those kids, Max is headed to the nation's capital to put his force behind the National Association of Children's Hospitals.
(On camera): What's the value of a place like this?
JENNIFER PAGE, MAX'S MOTHER: When max was 3 months old they operated on his heart the size of a walnut. My heart is about the size of an orange. We were seeking out a surgeon that would operate on a walnut. And you can't just take your expertise and make it on something small.
GUPTA: He's so charming. So charismatic. I mean and part of that -- do you think of that in some part as a reflection of what he's been through?
JENNIFER PAGE. Absolutely. I say that a lot of his acting and Hollywood success is because he was trained here. Because there's lights, and cameras, or organized chaos, and everyone barking out orders and this little thing looking up.
GUPTA: What happens when you put on the --
MAX PAGE, BORN WITH CONGENITAL HEART DEFECT: Helmet? I get the force. I'm kidding. I mean, I just like to put it on.
GUPTA: I mean you -- do you feel different when you put the helmet on?
MAX PAGE: Mm-hmm.
GUPTA: Like how do you feel?
MAX PAGE: I feel like happy and like cool.
GUPTA: So you got the helmet anywhere around here?
MAX PAGE: Like --
GUPTA: Right there.
JENNIFER PAGE: Well, Max is our home entertainment since we couldn't go out and about and do the typical mommy-and-me playdates. And when the doctor finally said, you know, he can go and be around other children --
MAX PAGE: I hate my life right now.
JENNIFER PAGE: Then we got him involved in the little itty-bitty Broadway program locally. GUPTA: You were 3 years old?
MAX PAGE: Yes. And it was 4 to 8-year-olds. But I think they picked me because I was, like, so talented. Anyways.
GUPTA: And modest. Do you know what I mean by that?
MAX PAGE: I have no idea what modest means.
GUPTA (voice-over): Which might come in handy when he goes to battle the dark side in Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Which how he puts it. He's going to be meeting with both sides of the aisle, guys. He is not actually testifying but he is, you know, going to lobby again on behalf of these children's hospitals and trying to prevent some of these Medicaid cuts.
CHETRY: Well, he's a good voice because he's adorable and he is showing that you can have a very serious medical problem and still live, you know, a full life and be, you know -- and follow your dreams.
GUPTA: No question about it. And you know, what they pointed out to me, you know, he got care at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. This may surprise you. It surprised me. But there are only 56 dedicated children's hospitals in the country. Children's hospitals oftentimes are the only type of institutions that can provide the type of care that he needed.
So without them, you know, it's very hard for him to get the specialized cardiac care. They also train about 40 percent of the pediatricians and pediatric specialists. Those hospitals go away, you're going to start losing a lot of these doctors dedicated to kids.
So this is an issue that sometimes gets lost in all these talks about budget cuts but these are some of the real specifics of it.
VELSHI: That's a good story. Sanjay, thanks very much, good to see you.
You can see the rest of Sanjay's report on mini Darth Vader Max Page on this weekend's "SANJAY GUPTA, MD." Washington feels the force on Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 a.m. right here on CNN.
CHETRY: Back to our question of the day this morning, it has to do with the heat. We know we're in a heat wave right now. The heat index that feels like temperature soaring well past a hundred degrees in many parts of the northeast.
And we want to know how do you stay cool when you're not in the air-conditioning? Here are some of your responses.
Elizabeth on Facebook, "I'm a letter carrier." And you know how hard that is because you're out there all day. VELSHI: Yes. Kind of.
CHETRY: "And when the tiny desk fan in my truck just isn't doing the job I've been known to run around in the sprinkler on your front lawn."
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Well, you know what? You're welcome to do that.
Shelley on Facebook says, "Yesterday I heard Joy Behar say that she puts her bras inside her fridge. Now that's creative."
CHETRY: Sure is.
Ali McBell on Twitter, "Besides drinking water to the point of sprouting gills, stock up on otter pops and ice cream. Fight the heart with sweets and stay indoors."
Good advice.
VELSHI: And Paul on Twitter says, "Drink water or Gatorade. Look for shade and keep pouring cold water over your head," like boxers do.
CHETRY: Good advice.
VELSHI: Good advice.
CHETRY: All right. Top stories coming up after the break. Plus we're going to be sitting down with golfer Phil Mickelson. He joins us live coming up as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
The state of Florida raked in $63 million last year by selling the personal information of drivers who registered with the DMV. No one knew about it and get this, it's all perfectly legal. That means names, addresses, dates of birth, type of vehicle you drive all being sold to personal data collection companies as long as they promise not to harass anyone.
State officials assuring drivers their Social Security and license plate numbers are not being shared. Well, that's certainly cold a comfort for Floridians who are irate about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SANTALLA, TALLAHASSEE RESIDENT: Honestly, it's pretty shocking. That's not something that I think the government should be doing or the DMV. It's definitely a violation of privacy.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: Under the law, the only people who can stop the state of Florida from selling their personal DMV information are judges and police officers.
Another story making headlines this morning. He was one of the few people who stood by Tiger Woods during his sex scandal. Now his former caddy is letting it all out after he was fired earlier this week.
Steve Williams didn't go into why he was fired but he didn't hold back about how he felt about that decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE WILLIAMS, TIGER WOODS' FORMER CADDY: I'm extremely disappointed. You know, given the fact that the last 18 months has been a particularly difficult time for Tiger, obviously, working through a scandal, he's had a new coach, a swing change and yes, the last 18 months have been very difficult, and I've stuck by him through thick and thin, been incredibly loyal and then -- you know and then to have this happen, I mean, basically, you could say I've wasted two years of my life.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: While Woods was sidelined at the British Open Steve Williams took a fill-in job with another golfer. "Golfweek" is saying that is the reason for the split.
