Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Tragedy at the Indiana State Fair; GOP Winners and Losers; Obama Job Performance; Mubarak Back in Court; Ruth Madoff Cutting Ties with Bernie?; "Be Ready For The Fight"; Syrian Navy Launches Attack; Jordan's Push For Equality; Indiana State Fair Tragedy
Aired August 15, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: A disaster at the Indiana State Fair. I'm Alina Cho.
Five people killed when a powerful wind gust sent a concert stage crashing down on the audience. It happened on Saturday night and this morning, stories of courage are emerging. Ordinary people rushing toward the danger instead of away from it to pull victims from the wreckage.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello.
On Saturday he finished third, on Sunday he was finished. Tim Pawlenty bows out of the Republican race after a disappointing showing in Iowa where fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann has bragging rights on this AMERICAN MORNING.
CHO: And good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning.
CHO: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning, everybody. It's Monday, August 18th. This is AMERICAN MORNING. A lot going on this Monday morning so let's get to it.
Shall we? We begin this morning with stories of extraordinary courage and unimaginable heartbreak. In the aftermath of the deadly stage collapse Saturday night at the Indiana State Fair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 2012.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Five people died in this tragedy. Investigators still working to determine an official cause. Susan Candiotti joining us live from Indianapolis this morning.
Susan, the fair was closed yesterday, but it's just about to reopen and I guess, they're going to start with a memorial service? SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Of course, before sun up now, but the doors will open at 8:00 Eastern Time and then about an hour later, there will be a prayer service to remember and honor the five people who were killed.
And the more than 40 who have been injured as investigators try to figure out whether this tragedy could have been prevented. What no one will forget is how quickly people jumped in to help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): When the stage canopy collapsed at the Indiana State Fair on Saturday night, everyone who could run did. Moments later, something remarkable happened. Fans started running back, toward the stage, dozens of them coming together to lift hundreds of pounds of scaffolding and debris off trapped victims.
Using broken chairs as stretchers. In all, some 40 people were injured. The National Weather Service estimates winds at the time of the collapse were between 60 and 70 miles per hour. The governor of Indiana nearly moved to tears by the quick response to the tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Individuals who ran to the trouble, not from the trouble. The character that we associate with our state, people don't have to be paid to do it.
CANDIOTTI: Brook Shnel and Elizabeth Pillger were 12 rows from the stage when the sky darkened and winds kicked up. They decided to head for cover and barely made it out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The wind was so heavy in a circular motion and I was holding on to her like this, and we made it to the aisles and we turned around and we heard the like -- and we watched the stage collapse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By the time we made it to the aisle all I can remember is looking back at her and looking at the stage and seeing the thing just completely fall down.
I mean, my main thing that I just remember is seeing the guy that was up in the lighting and I just saw him completely just timbering down.
CANDIOTTI: On a gray Sunday as the rain poured down, friends and relatives grieved for the victims. The 23-year-old Alina Bigjohny of Fort Wayne was among the five people killed. She was about it to start a new job, teaching.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was a good person and she was very smart and caring and loving and she'd do anything for anybody.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: What a tribute. But the question is, could anything more have been done to get people out of the way sooner as the storm was approaching? And how well was the stage crafted? You can see what's left of it over my shoulder. All of this as the investigation continues and the fair reopens today. Carol --
COSTELLO: Susan, also structurally, that stage, I know 60-mile- per-hour wind gust is a pretty strong wind gust, but should that stage have blown over like that?
CANDIOTTI: Well, that's the big question, isn't it? That's something they're going to be looking at. Certainly those wind speeds are nearing hurricane force when you get up to around 75 miles per hour.
But what's odd about this, is that this big gust of wind that came through, did not do any major damage at all to all the rides along the midway.
So they'll be looking at whether, again, how well this was constructed and whether the people here at the fair did enough to get people out of the way of the storm here at this stage much earlier than they were -- than they did.
COSTELLO: And the band Sugarland was going to take the stage. It's lucky they did not. Susan Candiotti.
CANDIOTTI: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: Live from Indianapolis. Thank you, Susan.
In the next half hour, we'll be joined live from Indianapolis by Jenna Joy. She was sitting seven rows from the stage when that canopy came crashing down, her firsthand account of the disaster in 25 minutes.
CHO: Now to politics and the Republican race for president looks a lot different this morning than it did just on Friday. Tim Pawlenty is officially out after finishing a distant third in the Iowa straw poll.
Meantime, Rick Perry officially in and Michele Bachmann has cemented her place among the top tier of GOP candidates with a victory in Iowa.
Jim Acosta watching it all for us. He's tracking the race live in Washington. Jim, if you're waking up this morning having not watched television over the weekend a lot has changed.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot has changed big time. Tim Pawlenty, T-Paw, as he's called is out of the race. Michele Bachmann is the big winner out at the Iowa straw poll, perhaps not a surprise winner, but a winner nonetheless.
And, you know, Bachmann is credited, Alina, with knocking Pawlenty out of this race. But she can't rest right now because she has got another Republican contender to worry about and that is Rick Perry.
What we're starting to see emerge in the race for the GOP nomination is a battle for the Tea Party vote. Take this event that happened last night in the town of Waterloo, Iowa.
Both Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann were at the gathering. This was Perry's first big speech in the state, but he chose the town where Bachmann was born to make it.
This is also where she announced her campaign a few weeks ago and Perry appealed directly to the Tea Party vote, a key base of Bachmann support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I heard people say, wait a minute, you Tea Party types, you all are angry. We're not angry. We're indignant. We're indignant at the arrogance and the audacity that this administration is showing about the values that are important to the people of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Meanwhile, Bachmann got on the same stage next and also reminded folks why she's been called the queen of the Tea Party Movement. She slammed critics of the Tea Party and touted her own record fighting against the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Issue after issue after issue, I've been at the tip of the spear and I've been a champion for people on these issues. I've been the fighter. People want to know, who can we trust, who can we believe, who's going to fight for us when they're in Washington? They see that I've been -- I demonstrated that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: That was Bachmann talking to our Candy Crowley. Observers in the room last night, Alina, say Perry and Bachmann had a chance to cross paths, but they did not talk to each other, perhaps a sense of some of the tension starting to emerge in this contest.
They both had an opportunity to sort of go after each other, but they did not. You know, indicating that we've got some time to go. Remember, the president is going to be crisscrossing the Midwest this week.
He's going to be out there talking to voters about what he has at stake in the upcoming election and so, you know, you're going to see these Republican candidates going after the president this week. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch.
CHO: And Jim, with all of this talk about Perry and Bachmann, what about Romney, isn't he still the frontrunner? ACOSTA: He is very much the frontrunner. You can't forget Mitt Romney. One thing that we've seen about Mitt Romney through all of this is that his strategy has been to go after the president. His approach is essentially, I'm going to stay above the fray.
I am not going to be talking about some of these other Republican challengers. He was asked about Rick Perry, I think half a dozen times over the last few days and he's been holding his fire.
It's interesting, Alina, his approach at this point is to stay out of the, you know, the battling that is going on between the other republican challengers and just focus on the president.
We'll have to see if that approach is going to work, because at some point he's going to get dragged into this.
CHO: The act like the frontrunner approach.
ACOSTA: Exactly.
CHO: Jim Acosta live for us in Washington. Jim, great to see you. Thank you.
New poll numbers giving the GOP more ammunition against President Obama. The president's approval rating dipped below 40 percent for the first time.
That's according to the latest Gallup tracking poll. Just 39 percent of Americans approve of President Obama's job performance while 54 percent disapprove. Those numbers, the worst of his presidency.
COSTELLO: On the topic of President Obama, now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question this morning, what does President Obama need to tell Middle America?
President Obama knows all too well that most Americans have had it with Washington, so he's leaving just temporarily, of course. Today he kicks off a bus tour of the heartland. The White House says so he can hear from Americans about their economic struggles.
It's worth noting he'll be visiting Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa, states he won handily in 2008, but he won't visit Ohio or Indiana, swing states he won by the skin of his teeth.
In the lead up to the 2008 election, candidate Obama spent 29 days campaigning in Ohio. Last year, Mr. Obama stopped at a Youngstown steel plant that created jobs, thanks in part to federal stimulus money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Youngstown can compete against anybody, got the best workers. There's no reason why we can't compete with anybody, if you guys have the support that you need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Fast forward to today, Ohio is mired like the rest of the country in high unemployment. It isn't feeling the love. Youngstown University Professor Paul Serrassic said there's a perception in Middle America that President Obama does not feel their pain.
Serrascic says to win over the rust belt Mr. Obama has to do more than give a stump speech, in other words, less talking and more listening.
So the talk back question today, what does President Obama need to tell Middle America? Facebook.com/americanmorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.
Accused of giving the order to kill more than 800 people former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is just back in court. This happened just hours ago. Live pictures now from inside the courtroom.
Mubarak is charged with using violence to crush the anti- government protesters back in February. An uprising, by the way, that toppled his 30-year reign. His sons and former interior minister face similar charges.
CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom joins us live from Cairo. Mohammed, good morning.
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina. And talking about this trial, we can't help but mention just how remarkable it is. It still is that the former president and his two sons and other former members of his regime are actually appearing in this courtroom.
It was remarkable, extraordinary, that somebody who ruled this country for 30 years with an iron fist that he had been in that courtroom on August 3rd. Many people thought he wouldn't make it. There would be some sort of excuse or granted amnesty or clemency. He was there august 3rd, he's back today inside an iron and mesh cage utilized for defendants in criminal procedures.
Standard protocol in Egyptian courtroom. Now today it's been a bit chaotic, a bit confusing inside the courtroom there are a lot more attorneys present, attorney for civil claimants, people representing families of victims who were killed during the revolution.
Those 840 people you spoke about who were killed during the uprising, they want to link their cases with the criminal procedure that's in there. They're asking for certain people to testify. Outside the courtroom today, also drama. Outside the police academy today, clashes between Mubarak supporters and those anti-Aubarak demonstrators that are out there.
We saw those clashes on August 3rd. We're seeing them again today. People throwing rocks at one another, riot police being deployed, really going to show that emotions are running high about this trial.
Even though there are many people here in Egypt that believe that the former president should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and are gratified that this trial is going on, and those out there as well who support him and feel it's undignified for a former head of state, somebody who ruled this country so long, to be in that courtroom treated as a common criminal. Alina --
CHO: Mohammed Jamjoom, live for us in Cairo. Mohammed, thank you.
Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, a gruesome re-enactment, the man police say is behind the Norway massacre, returns to the scene of the crime and shows investigators just how he allegedly ambushed 69 people, many of them teenagers.
COSTELLO: Eerie scene there.
Plus San Francisco's transit system bracing for another attack from hackers who have already exposed passenger information online.
CHO: Something crazy, Carol, is going on in your home state. Her eyes aren't what they used to be. This 94-year-old Ohio woman was sure that the thing that swallowed her backyard picnic table, it just didn't belong there. We'll tell you what it is. It's 14 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's 17 minutes past the hour.
The hacking group Anonymous strikes again. This time targeting BART, San Francisco's Transit System. Anonymous took credit for the breach in a news release on Twitter. It appears passenger information was posted online including names and phone numbers.
Anonymous claims yesterday's attack was in response to the system's decision to shut off cell phone service at some subway stations. BART is also warning riders about a protest that Anonymous has planned for today.
CHO: Ninety-four-year-old Lillian Bernhagen has seen a lot in her time, but certainly not this. A huge blimp in the backyard of her home in Worthington, Ohio. High winds ripped the blimp from its moorings at a nearby airport in Columbus. Lillian was asleep at the time and didn't know what happened until police knocked on her door hours later. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LILLIAN BERHAGEN, BLIMP LANDS IN HER BACKYARD: Well, don't be surprised if you see a lot of policemen in your backyard. And I said, oh, what's going on? And he said, well, you have a blimp in your backyard. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: She looks great for 94, doesn't she? And it seems fitting, Carol, that somehow the blimp is on a 20-city tour advertising a brand of vodka.
COSTELLO: Hey, Rob. It's not often a blimp blows into your backyard.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No. I wonder if it was carrying any of the stuff it was advertising.
CHO: It probably was.
MARCIANO: You know, spread a little good cheer to your neighbors. That might do a little damage control right there.
Hey, guys. Good morning again. And I have to tell you this, boy, it was a rough weekend especially yesterday across parts of the northeast. It's still raining in spots. This is what it looked like in Sayreville, New Jersey, where the rain was coming down in buckets. And that's not the only spot. I mean, Eastern PA, including Philadelphia, up through -- up towards New York and even towards Boston, we saw numerous scenes like this and although we probably wouldn't see a lot more of this to this extent today there's going to be some flooding because we have more rain on the way for the northeast.
Here's what it looked like for yesterday, for totals, my goodness, over 10 inches in Lido Beach, JFK saw 7.8. For the month of August they average a total of just over 3.5. So they saw twice the month's rainfall in just one day. That shattered the 24 hour record. Newark and Philly seeing similar numbers.
All right. So we'll see delays today in New York metros and also in Philly and Boston because of that heavier rain. It will be 88 degrees in Atlanta, 86 degrees in Memphis, so a little bit of a cool down across the southeast, thankfully, from that front that's moving across the northeast.
Here's Gert, tropical storm, almost a hurricane. It's going to scoot across Bermuda, just to the east of Bermuda giving us some heavy swells, maybe a little bit of wind. Forecast right now to stay a tropical storm. If it does that, we know -- by the time we get to the Gs in the storms, guys, we typically have at least one hurricane. If so if we don't get this to be a hurricane, that would be a record.
It's been a pretty -- pretty fairly busy hurricane season, but we haven't had many storms reach the U.S. and we have any -- haven't had any hurricanes. So we'll take that. Wouldn't you?
Back up to you.
COSTELLO: Yes. That's good. It's been quiet. Rob Marciano, many thanks.
MARCIANO: You bet.
CHO: Up next on AMERICAN MORNING, is the one person who stuck by Bernie Madoff finally cutting ties with him? We'll have details.
COSTELLO: Plus, a Sin City businessman gives those in need a clean shirt to wear. But some say his good deed borders on exploitation. We will explain when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
The oracle of Omaha is telling Congress to stop coddling the super rich, coming from the super rich himself. In this morning's "New York Times" Op-Ed page, Warren Buffett writes, it's time to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans to help cut the U.S. budget deficit. Buffett also argues higher taxes will not slow job growth saying, quote, "Those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what's happened since then? Lower tax rates and far lower job creation."
There you have it. He also says our leaders called for shared sacrifice but they spared me and I asked my super rich friends and they spared them, too. So --
Anyway, point taken.
COSTELLO: Felicia Taylor is the perfect person to talk about this because --
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Why? Because of my super rich friends or the lack of them?
COSTELLO: We know the circles you travel in, Felicia.
Why aren't more very wealthy people like Warren Buffett coming out and saying exactly that?
TAYLOR: Well, I think people are beginning to kind of come to the forefront. I mean, we talked about this just in the break. Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, has now come out and said he wants to end all political contributions until somebody comes back to the forefront and starts doing things.
And I think they are beginning to take a stand, which is refreshing frankly. I mean, that's what America stands for. We are a nation of people that work and like to work and people are coming forward and saying it's time to take responsibility. I think it's terrific. I think it's fantastic.
As far as the markets are concerned, I think they're still trying to find a little bit of a footing. We have a better than expected, you know, sort of a little bit of an uptick this morning. Futures are up not that much, but after Japan, which was a significant bit of news, they only dropped about 1.3 percent. They were looking for 2.7 percent drop in GDP. And after the tsunami and what's happened there with -- with everything, it's really refreshing news.
Europe was actually better than expected. So the U.S. markets might open to the upside. But take a breather. We've had a very volatile week.
COSTELLO: Don't bring me down, Felicia.
TAYLOR: Sorry, Ma'am, I'm trying. But we're going to see this churning back and forth. I mean, there's no question about it. The markets need to find some footing. We've got a lot of economic numbers coming out this week, manufacturing, jobless, and that's where the market is going to be looking for a lot of direction.
So, as we've seen a bigger flight safety than after Lehman's fall with $50 billion moving into money market funds as investors cash out of this volatile stock market, sales -- get this -- of safes and vaults have soared in recent weeks. Florida-based Value Safe says it more than tripled its daily average sales last week alone while a competitor Brown Safe saw sales of its high-end safes and vaults jump almost 40 percent --
COSTELLO: Wow.
TAYLOR: -- in the past few weeks. Can we say cash in a box? Overall, sales in the industry really started picking up with the onset of the recession.
But the stock market's wild ride in the recent few weeks has fueled a rush to cash and as we know gold. Gold, by the way, is pretty much flat this morning. And new safe and vault -- I have just to throw that in there -- a new safe and vault customers need a place --
COSTELLO: What? Like $1,800?
TAYLOR: Not quite. To stash all those assets.
And on a sad note, Bernie Madoff's wife has reportedly left the disgraced Wall Street financier. That's according to "The Daily Mail" out of London. The British tabloid claims Ruth Madoff hasn't visited her husband in more than six months ever since their son, Mark, committed suicide last December.
Madoff, of course, is facing a 150-year sentence for defrauding investors of billions of dollars. "The Daily Mail" cites author, Diana Enriquez, who says she interviewed Madoff for an upcoming book.
You know, this couple met in high school. They've been married since about 1959. I mean, it's obviously an astounding story, but she's choosing to try to reconcile with her children at some point because she was turned away by her -- her daughter-in-law --
CHO: About (ph) her son?
TAYLOR: -- her daughter-in-law when he committed suicide, at the funeral. COSTELLO: Right.
TAYLOR: So I think that's an effort to try make amends.
CHO: Well, on the flipside, I think a lot of people, too, who were quite surprised that she stayed as long as she did after what happened, but -- but that's -- they were together a long time.
COSTELLO: Yes. That's a long time.
TAYLOR: It's a very sad story. It really is.
COSTELLO: Ugly, too. Felicia, thank you.
CHO: Ahead, disaster at the Indiana State Fair. Imagine what it must have been like to be beneath that canopy when it collapsed on Saturday night. Our next guest was sitting just seven rows from the stage when everything came crashing down.
COSTELLO: Plus, the plane passengers who've had an in-flight encounter with a bat. Why federal officials want to have a word with some of them.
It's 28 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Good morning and welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
It's 32 minutes after the hour -- time for this morning's top stories.
The Indiana state fair reopens in less than three hours.
Five people were killed, 40 others injured Saturday night when high winds caused a concert stage canopy to collapse right on to the audience. Investigators are still on the scene trying to determine an official cause.
The GOP recalculating this morning, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty took a disappointing third place finish in this weekend's Iowa straw poll as a signal to get out of the race. Pawlenty was eclipsed by fellow Minnesotan, Michele Bachmann, who won the contest. The victory cements Bachmann's place among the top Republican contenders to unseat President Obama.
And, ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak back in court, only hours ago. He arrived by helicopter and was wheeled in on a bed.
Mubarak's charged with ordering the killing of anti-government protesters. Amnesty International says more than 800 people died during the demonstrations back in February. The 18 days of uprising toppled Mubarak's 30-year reign. His sons and former interior minister are also in court on similar charges.
COSTELLO: Back to our top story now.
Truly, a terrifying sight. A massive gust of wind knocking down the main stage at the Indiana state fair, crushing spectators who were there to se the band Sugarland perform. As you can see there, these concertgoers quickly turned into first responders trying to lift the scaffolding off the crowd and treating the dozens of people who were injured.
Still, five people died that night from the tragic accident, which has shaken the state of Indiana.
Jenna Gioe was at that concert, just seven rows up in the stands when the stage collapsed.
And Jenna joins us now to talk about what she saw.
Thank you for joining us this morning, Jenna.
JENNA GIOE, WITNESSED STAGE COLLAPSE AT INDIANA STATE FAIR: Thank you.
COSTELLO: So, just tell me what you saw?
GIOE: Well, what we saw is after they had changed the set from the opening act, they had come on to the stage and they had let us know that there was some severe weather coming our way. They were going to try to proceed with the concert. They gave us an evacuation plan. And then they said to just hang tight, that they were going to try to continue on and Sugarland should start in just a couple minutes.
And at that time, everyone had seen the storm coming our way. So, a lot of people had started to already evacuate. And as people started to evacuate, a gust of wind came in and just took the grand -- it took the stage area, actually, and it just took it and it swayed it to the right and it just completely crashed right all over the pit area and the people on the track.
COSTELLO: Just -- I can't imagine. You probably were sitting there in total shock and frozen for a moment. And then there were people also rushing the stage. So tell me about the aftermath, after that -- after it fell.
GIOE: After it fell, everybody was in complete shock. A lot of people just did everything they could to just leave the grandstand area. I was -- it was absolutely pandemonium in a mob kind of sense of people trying to get out of the grandstand because of the shock of the weather and what had just happened.
A lot of the men, though, had rushed the stage and rushed the scaffolding to get it to lift it up. There was almost nothing they could do to try to lift it but a lot of people were standing there in shock and were unsure what to do at that point.
COSTELLO: I can't even imagine. The wind gusts that knocked that thing down, 60 to 70 miles per hour, maybe 65 miles per hour, that's enough to knock down trees and power lines. You know, but a lot of people are wondering, should it have knocked down a stage like that? What goes through your mind?
GIOE: What went through our mind was, in Indiana we have very unexpected weather. We have had the state fair for a very long time. We definitely have quite a bit of concerts at the state fair and this isn't our first time we have had unforeseen weather at a concert at the fair.
So, what was going through our mind was -- this isn't the first time that this has happened, you know. What was different about this time than in the past? This hasn't ever occurred because -- like I said, the weather is up and down with us. So, what went through our mind was how it happened, because it's absolutely baffling.
COSTELLO: Well, the governor said it was just like a freak wind gust. At the same time, there was a symphony going on about 15 miles from the fair grounds and they canceled the symphony and told people to go to their cars.
GIOE: Yes. It definitely looked almost tornadic, the weather did, because it was a very nice day. And then all of a sudden, the clouds and everything turned pitch-black and very dark very quickly. And you could see the dust on the track just starting to come up from the ground and starting to swirl and come towards us as the storm really quickly approached us.
COSTELLO: So, do you think that -- I mean, they're conducting an investigation right now. Are you blaming anyone?
GIOE: No. I don't think that there's anybody to blame or anything that you can. I think that until everything, you know, comes out, I just -- I don't think that there's anything to really explain it. I do -- like I said, this has not been our first storm here at the fair with our concert. We've had to cancel plenty of them.
So, what actually happened, it's beyond all of us. And we're just so unsure because I don't think there's anyone to blame.
COSTELLO: Jenna Gioe, thanks for joining us this morning. And we're glad you're safe and sound. We really are.
GIOE: Thank you.
CHO: The man suspected of killing dozens of people in Norway last month returning to the scene of the crime, as part of a police investigation. Anders Breivik reportedly showed investigators how and where he allegedly ambushed 69 people at a youth camp. Now, you can see if you look carefully, that he made out a gun with his hands at one point. Breivik is also accused of killing eight people in a bombing in Oslo.
A follow-up to a story we first brought you last week about a bat that flew inside the cabin of a Delta Airlines flight. Well now -- oh, my goodness -- federal health officials are searching for 15 passengers who were on the plane to protect them from possible rabies infection -- as if the fear of having a bat in your plane wasn't enough.
No one knows if the bat had rabies because it escaped. The CDC wants to take precaution. It has already contacted 35 of the passengers. And so far, none of them needed treatment.
COSTELLO: Thank goodness -- because get a series of rabies shots that's no fun.
A Las Vegas businessman came up with a way to help the homeless, only some argue his good deeds borders on exploitation. That's because the owner of Chrome Gypsy Tattoo is handing out t-shirts to the homeless. And on the front it says "A lot or a little -- a lot or a little anything helps." A lot or a little, anything helps. That's what the t-shirt says.
But underneath and on the back, is an ad for his shop. It's an idea that sends the wrong message according to one homeless advocate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
LINDA LERA-RANDLE EL, STRAIGHT FROM THE STREETS (via telephone): If he's getting advertisement, his shirts are advertising his business, but also giving them, you know, a license to panhandle, you know, in style.
CLEEN ROCK ONE, GYPSY FORUM TATTOO: When we pull up to him, we're like what's up? You want a water or, you know, a soda, or a cigarette? They're -- of course, they're already begging. So, they're like, yes, sure.
And I'm like, well, you got to do me a favor. Wear the shirt. Every time we see you with the shirt on, we're going to take care of you. They're like -- best offer I got all day.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
COSTELLO: There you have it.
Homeless advocates say that if a business really wants to help, they should give to programs that actually work to reduce the number of people living on the street.
CHO: There's an idea.
Keegan Bradley is your 2011 PGA champion. He's just 25 years old and he's from Vermont. He was playing in his first major tournament and, well, he made it count.
Trailing by five strokes with four holes to play, Bradley managed to catch leader Jason Dufner by making birdies on two of the last three holes. He then went on to capture the final major of the season in a three-hole playoff.
COSTELLO: Good for him.
Dennis Rodman was known as much for his outrageous behavior off the court as his extraordinary rebounding. Rodman nicknamed "The Worm" was inducted into the pro basketball Hall of Fame this weekend and gave one emotional acceptance speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS RODMAN, RETIRED AMERICAN HALL OF FAME, PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER: It wasn't -- I didn't play the game for the money. I didn't play the game to be famous. What you see here is more just an illusion that I love to just be an individual that's very colorful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And back in the day he was good. Rodman won five NBA titles, two with the Detroit Pistons and three with the Chicago Bulls.
CHO: And his hair was all one color.
I bet he wishes we could do a story just once and not call him "The Worm." you know?
COSTELLO: Maybe so. He's done more controversial things, which is why he's called "The Worm."
CHO: True. Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING: Gearing up for a fight. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi calls on his supporters to pick up their weapons. Could the embattled leader's regime be crumbling? We'll be live in Libya.
COSTELLO: Plus, a rare sight, snow in a place that has not seen it since the 1970s.
It's 41 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back. Rebels in Libya making gains that could set the stage for a decisive battle. And Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi, is trying to rally supporters. In an audio address yesterday, Gadhafi urged those who still support him to, quote, "be ready for the fight."
Our Matthew Chance is live for us in Tripoli, Libya, this morning. Matthew, good morning.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alina as well. That's right. The speech was made by Col. Gadhafi to thousands of his loyal supporters, apparently, who had gathered in the center of Tripoli, the Libyan capital, after news that had been significant advances by the rebels in various areas around the Libyan capital, most notably in Zawiya, about 30 miles or so to the west of the capital strategic city because it controls the main transit route for goods in and out of Tripoli from the western neighboring countries.
(INAUDIBLE) Colonel Gadhafi. The man himself struck a very defiant tone for those crowds of supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You are hearing from me even under shelling. To the front always, to the fights, to the weapons, to the battles, to liberate Libya, inch by inch, from the traitors and the NATO. The blood of martyrs is fuel for the fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Later, of course, the western military alliance providing air support, what are essentially a rag-tag bunch of rebels, but that air support has been pivotal, it seems, in allowing the rebels to put Tripoli in something of a stranglehold now. It's unclear, at this point, how long the situation will last like this.
CHO: Matthew, then, the question is, you know, how much support, you know, he comes out with these strong words, but how much support does Gadhafi actually have in the country?
CHANCE: Well, after 42 years in power, clearly, the man has a degree of support. It's not easy for us to gauge what proportion of that support is actually genuine or not, but, you know, obviously, as we know, half the country has turned against him. Here in Tripoli, you know, people are pretty frightened to speak to us, certainly, on camera, certainly in front of the government minders with us all the time, about what their real opinions are.
And they talk -- they follow very much the government line. I think on the military situation, Alina, what we're waiting to see now is whether the rebels that have apparently made these important military advances, whether they will be able to hold their positions. If they can, they've got themselves in a very strong position, indeed, could be the start of the end game.
CHO: Matthew Chance live for us in Tripoli this morning. Matthew, thank you.
COSTELLO: A bloody weekend in Syria. The Syrian navy is attacking its own town.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Shelling the coastal city of Latakia yesterday, opposition groups claimed security forces even opened fire in residential neighborhoods. It's part of a crackdown on anti- government protesters. At least 21 people were killed. The opposition says three of those were children. Dozens more were hurt.
CHO (voice-over): Jordan could be on the verge of enacting sweeping changes to its constitution. The proposals would decrease the king's authority, reinforce the separation of powers, and improve civil rights. King Abdullah II says the changes would promote freedom, unity, and equality. Protesters in Jordan, like many other nations in the Muslim world, forced these changes over the past few months.
COSTELLO: And here's something you don't see every day or every decade, for that matter. Snow in New Zealand. A polar blast shutting down roads and knocking out power in Wellington and Auckland. It's the first snowfall they've seen in these cities since the 1970s. And the weather people say, there's more snow on the way.
CHO: Of course, the grass is always greener when we had sheets of rain like we did here yesterday and 90-degree temperatures.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO (on-camera): That looks pretty good, right?
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO (on-camera): It does, actually. It does.
CHO: It's 49 minutes after the hour. We'll check this morning's top stories straight ahead, including the college sports program forced to make a major change starting today.
COSTELLO: And from 89 feet away, an 11-year-old sinks an incredible hockey shot winning $50,000. But now, he may have to forfeit all of that cash. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Fifty-one minutes past the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): The Indiana State Fair reopens in just over two hours. Five people died Saturday night, and dozens more were injured when high winds knocked a concert stage canopy on to the audience.
A lost weekend for Tim Pawlenty after finishing a distant third in the Iowa straw poll. Pawlenty dropped out of the Republican race for president. The winner, Michele Bachmann, gaining major momentum going forward.
Violence erupting across Iraq. The majority of the 13 explosions targeted that country's security forces. The attacks killing at least 69 people and injuring more than 170.
Sixty pounds of beef recalled. National Beef Packing Company says it may be tainted with E.coli. The bacteria discovered during routine testing. So far, no illnesses were reported.
The university of North Dakota must drop its fighting Sioux nickname today or face severe NCAA sanctions. The NCAA says the nickname is hostile toward Native Americans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (on-camera): That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Fifty-three minutes past the hour. Now, as you turn to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. Today, President Obama hits the heartland. His three-day bus tour will take him through Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. The White House says the president wants to hear from Americans who are angry about the economy and the political gridlock.
So, we asked you this question, what does President Obama need to tell Middle America?
Here's what you wrote in. This from Rodney. "It's not what he should be saying, it's what he should be doing to help the middle class. He should champion initiatives to help the middle class and not compromise on those issues even if he faces Republican opposition."
This from Marwan, "The raising taxes and cutting government spending alone will not help us end this recession. Many other actions need to be taken by everyday citizens, such as using energy resources wisely and so on. People cannot expect to live the same lifestyle they enjoyed before these hard times."
And it's from Heather, "How about the truth? That the United States has serious fiscal problems. Stop soft-soaping us. And that he will strop trying to push big budget busting programs and look at the bottom line."
Keep those comments coming. Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. We'll read more of your thoughts a bit later.
CHO: This is certainly the talker, the water cooler story of the day. Talk about a money shot. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: One 11-year-old fan nailed an almost impossible shot in Minnesota. Look carefully there. Shooting a puck from center ice into a 3 1/2-inch slot. And, there it goes. He won the chance during a raffle at a charity game. The prize, $50,000.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATE SMITH, MADE SHOT: I didn't like know how to shoot and stuff, so I lined it up and yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, your brother just made the shot.
NICK SMITH, BROTHER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what did you think right away?
NICK SMITH: And I was like no, you didn't, and he was like go look over in the bench, and I was just like shocked.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHO: Here's the catch. Nick Smith was the lucky name drawn in the raffle, but he was apparently outside when his name was called, so his twin brother, Nate, took the shot and made it, of course. And that swap could cost them all the money.
COSTELLO (voice-over): No.
CHO: Say it ain't so.
COSTELLO: That would be some bad PR, man. If they decide to do that, they're crazy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (on-camera): I know.
COSTELLO (on-camera): Crazy. Crazy. Give that cute kid his 50k.
CHO: That's right. Let him save for college.
COSTELLO: That's right.
Ahead next hour, spilling U.S. military secrets. A new report says Pakistan allowed China to see the super stealth chopper that was left behind after that Bin Laden raid. What is the Pentagon saying about it this morning? We'll have a live report for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Absolute terror at the state fair, but this morning, inspiring stories of the human spirit and Hoosier (ph) pride after a freak stage collapse in Indiana.
CHO (voice-over): In presidential politics, Tim Pawlenty is out, Rick Perry in, and new frontrunners are emerging and fighting for the spotlight in Michele Bachmann's hometown.
COSTELLO: And brace for the aftershocks that could be another bumpy ride on Wall Street.
CHO: And children with autism, are their brothers and sisters at risk, too? Startling new statistics every parent will want to hear on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
