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American Morning
Aruba Holds Suspect in American Woman's Disappearance; President has Run-in with Tea Partyer; Warren Buffett Calls For Higher Taxes on the Very Rick; The Battle for Libya; Soul Food and Success; Arrest in London Riots; North Sea Oil Spill; Flash Mob Robs Maryland 7-11; A Call for Change; Teen Swept Over Niagara Falls; Bishops Sue to Block Immigration Law; The Last Heart Attack
Aired August 16, 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)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: An American woman missing in Aruba. The prime suspect now in prison. A live report from that Caribbean island ahead.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: And on the road in Middle America, President Obama on the attack against the GOP. This morning, the president looking to connect with angry voters in Iowa.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: An Illinois elementary school doing its part to fight childhood obesity. Healthy choices are the new normal. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a special report just ahead.
ROMANS: And a restaurant in New Orleans serving up hope to inner city kids. The inspiring story of a young man who beat the odds and the woman who gave him a chance on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Good morning. It is Tuesday, August 16th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
COSTELLO: Four days until Friday, baby.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. We begin with new developments in the case of a missing American woman in Aruba. The prime suspect now being held for at least 16 more days. A judge ruling there is enough evidence linking Gary Giordano to Robyn Gardener. She vanished earlier this month.
CNN's Martin Savidge joins us live from Aruba with the latest. So, how long are they holding this man?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you point out, it's going to be 16 days. It was exactly two weeks ago today that 35-year- old Robyn Gardener of Maryland went missing. And according to her traveling companion, the man who's now in custody, Gary Giordano, she disappeared as a result of a snorkeling adventure they were on on a beach not far away from the one we're standing here.
Yesterday Gary Giordano had to go before a judge, and the judge had a simple determination -- keep him or let him go, let him travel back to the United States. His defense attorney said look there's no evidence here. You haven't charged him with any crime. And even though she's missing it only means Mr. Giordano was witness to a horrible accident, nothing more to suggest it was any different.
The prosecution sees it vastly different than that. They say, look, he's not been cooperating. We have a woman who's missing, potentially extremely serious and we've got the help of the FBI. The end result, they decided to skip just the eight-day extension went all the way to doubling that to 16 days now. It doesn't sound like a lot, but to the prosecution that is huge. It buys them more time to make a case, if there is a case to be made. Carol?
COSTELLO: I guess what I meant to ask you, how long can they hold this man? And also, is the Natalee Holloway case impacting this case?
SAVIDGE: Most definitely. There is no question here that the shadow of the Natalee Holloway case hangs heavily over Aruba. After that case had a strong impact, a downturn on tourism. They do not want to see that happen again.
Here's the problem, they don't want to have happen with what happened with Natalee Holloway. In other words there was no end result. We never found out what happened to Natalee and never anybody who was prosecuted. The concern is that with Robyn Gardener, again, a vanishing that would have no resolution. A cloud of suspicion hangs over the island, which is why they're going aggressively.
The can hold him now for 16 days. He'll have to go before a judge. After that, it could be an additional 60 days. But the bar of evidence that they will have to provide to get that will be much higher. Carol?
COSTELLO: Martin Savidge live in Aruba, thank you.
ROMANS: Now to politics and the next stop on president Obama's heartland bus tour. He will be talking jobs with farmers and small business owners of rural Iowa today and no doubt taking more shots at Republicans. He's been accusing them of playing politics with the economy.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no shortage of ideas to put people to work right now. What is needed is action on the part of Congress, a willingness to put the partisan games aside and say we're going to do what's right for the country, not what we think is going to score us some political points for the next election.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: CNN's Brianna Keilar joins us live from Peosta, Iowa. Good morning, Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. We're here in Peosta, Iowa, the single stop for President Obama today for this rural economic forum. We're at northeastern Iowa community college. This is really the anchor of his three-day bus tour. This is an event that the White House committed to months ago and they built the bus tour around it.
And he'll be talking today with people in this community about some of the things they've been doing, because it's interesting, if you look at the counties the president is going to on this bus tour, they have much better unemployment rates that the national average, which is 9.1 percent. Looking at the counties, the five stops he'll be making over these three days, they have unemployment rates between 4.8 percent and in the high sixes.
So one of the things the White House says they want to do is get a sense of what's working in these areas that maybe they could use in other parts around the country. But also, rural areas, very important. As you know, Christine, a place where Democrats did very poorly in the 2011 midterm elections. And so certainly they're hoping to make some strides coming into the presidential election.
ROMANS: We know that Iowa can swing in either way for a president over years. It has. So it's an important place for an incumbent president to be, especially as the other party is spending so much time there in the Iowa straw poll and the like.
The president was in a heated exchange with a member of the Iowa Tea Party. I want to listen to that with you.
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RYAN RHODES, IOWA TEA PARTY: When you're talking about civility, how is your vice president calling us terrorists?
OBAMA: Sir.
RHODES: I would like to understand that.
OBAMA: OK, I will explain right now. He did not call you guys terrorists.
RHODES: He said we were acting like terrorists, hostage takers.
OBAMA: No. No. What you said was for us to be willing to take the economy to the brink of irresponsible. And it was. Now, the truth of the matter considering what's said about me consistently --
(INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Brianna, you caught up with that man shortly after the event. What did he say?
KEILAR: Yes. Christine, he isn't just a member of the Iowa Tea Party, that's Ryan Rhodes. He's the founder of the Iowa Tea Party. And he went to this event yesterday in Decorah, Iowa, asking the president about some language that it was reported Vice President Biden had used behind closed doors.
Talking to Rhodes he's just, generally speaking, someone who's very frustrated with President Obama, frustrated with Washington in general. He actually spoke to President Obama after the town hall, and here's how he described their exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RHODES: I don't think he wanted to hear what I had to say and so he stated that I didn't want to hear what he had to say. He kept saying, my vice president didn't say that. But it's been on the news everywhere that he absolutely said it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So ultimately it sounds like and certainly we didn't get the president's point of view the gentlemen sort of agreed to disagree. This language that has been used by some Democrats where you've heard "hostage taking," I think you heard President Obama use the term "brinksmanship," but this language like "hostage taking" has been frustrating to the Tea Party. And so that's why Mr. Rhodes really, obviously, wanted to go and kind of raise certainly raise the issue in a public way he knew would get attention, Christine.
COSTELLO: Brianna, forgive me, clear it up for me, the vice president did or did not say or use the word "terrorist" to describe Tea Party tactics?
KEILAR: This is what's interesting, because it was used beyond -- it was used behind closed doors, so the reporting is about what he said behind closed doors. Actually some of the clearest indication that we got was what President Obama said, where he said, he didn't call you hostages. He was talking about sort of a change in semantics.
So I think it's kind of difficult exactly to tell exactly how it went down. We don't have it on camera. But I think the general take away from this is that obviously this is language you've heard Democrats use, terribly frustrated with that debt ceiling battle, Christine, and we have heard from many people this use of hostage taking and to a lesser -- not to a lesser degree but sort of lesser language of brinksmanship, and a lot of frustration from some Republicans and certainly Tea Party Republicans about that they've been in their opinion sort of lumped in with terrorists, and so they're very upset about it.
ROMANS: Brianna Keilar, thanks so much.
Be sure to catch Wolf Blitzer's exclusive one-on-one interview with President Obama today. That's going to air on "THE SITUATION ROOM" at 5:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.
Coming up in our next hour, I'll talk with the former Iowa governor, now agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, who is a big supporter of the president's move through his home state, obviously.
VELSHI: All right, so he's only been in the Republican presidential race for a few days, but Texas governor Rick Perry is making up for lost time, in full campaign mode. During a swing through Iowa at a visit through the state fair, yesterday, Perry kissed off criticism from GOP rival Mitt Romney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Romney took a swipe at you today, saying that he has private sector experience and that makes him better qualified to create jobs.
GOV. RICK PERRY, (R-TX) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Give him my love.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think about that?
PERRY: I think oranges and apples. Running a state is different from running a business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He will make that a centerpiece of his campaign --
PERRY: What I would say is take a look at his record when he was governor and look at my record when I'm governor and then you got some apples to apples.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Governor Perry plans to hold an economic roundtable today in Dubuque. Is that how you say it?
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: That's the French version.
VELSHI: You wouldn't say long "u."
COSTELLO: It was funny. Thanks for the laugh.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question this morning, is Warren Buffett's tax compromise good or just plain politics? Now that we've had a day to digest Buffett's plea to tax me, please, it's time to ask that very question.
Buffett is largely a Twitter hero this morning, but as far as Republicans are concerned he's a shill for President Obama. Buffett begs to differ. He's offering an alternative. Instead of raising taxes on Americans making $250,000 and above, he told Charlie Rose raise taxes on the very, very rich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN BUFFETT, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: We're also in the process under taxing the very rich. What I propose, incidentally, would not touch the taxes of 99.7 percent. I'm talking about three- tenths of one percent of the American public. But the people from a million dollars on up I think should be asked to share in a little sacrifice we're all being asked to share in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: President Obama has embraced the idea, Republicans not so much. Senator John Cornyn tweeted -- "For tax raising advocates like Warren Buffett I am sure treasury would take a voluntary payment for deficit reduction, as in, hey, Mr. Buffet, just send the U.S. treasury a $5 million check."
Conservative blogs fired back. The "Red Dog Report" said "Everybody knows that if tax hikes on the rich fails to solve our economic crisis, which we know they will not, then team Obama can go back and ask for more, opening the door to a big tax hike on America's middle class." Never mind polls show most Americans favor taxing the rich more, and many economists say spending cuts alone will not solve our debt woes.
The so talk back question today, is Warren Buffett's tax compromise good or is it just politics? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning, Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read some of your comments later this hour.
ROMANS: And how are the multimillionaires, Carol, weighing in this morning?
COSTELLO: I didn't get any on facebook. I'm still waiting.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: All right, Vice President Joe Biden leaving today on a week-long trip to Asia. He'll spend most of his time in China meeting with his counterpart there, Vice President Xi Jinping. And this is a man considered most likely to be the successor to Chinese president Hu Jintao. America's financial relationship with China expected to dominate those four days of meetings. And of course the Chinese just scolded the U.S. for the debt ceiling debacle. We'll see what goes on there.
VELSHI: The Indiana state fair open again this morning two days after heavy winds brought down a stage on to a crowd of concertgoers. Five people were killed. A memorial service was held yesterday. Audience members observed a moment of silence and sang "Amazing Grace."
COSTELLO: An international manhunt may be over. Paul Douglas Peters arrested in Kentucky for allegedly strapping a fake bomb around a girl's neck in Australia earlier this month. They said he was trying to extort money her wealthy parents. It's unclear what connection he might have to the girl's family.
ROMANS: And California's Bay Area Transit System is fully operational this morning. Protesters swarmed BART stations yesterday, furious over several shootings involving transit police. They were also retaliating against BART's decision last week to turn off cell phone service to stop protesters from organizing. Officials had to close and reopen stations during the evening rush last night.
Elvis fans are gathering to remember the king on the 34th anniversary of his death, a candlelight vigil held at Grace land. Presley died in his Memphis, Tennessee, mansion on this day back in 1977.
COSTELLO: Still to come this morning the battle for Libya escalates, Gadhafi forces reportedly using a weapon they haven't used before. We're live in Tripoli just ahead.
VELSHI: Then a flash mob in action, an attack on a 7-Eleven. Thirty robbers, you can see them here, working in sync. The stunning surveillance video just ahead.
COSTELLO: And a recipe for success, how one New Orleans restaurant gives inner city kids an extra helping of hope. You are watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 12 minutes past the hour.
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VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
Libyan rebels may be in their strongest position yet against Moammar Gadhafi's forces. Take a look at this amateur video of opposing forces firing a missile along a highway in Al-Zawiya. They are trying to isolate Gadhafi's stronghold by cutting off a major supply route to Tripoli.
CNN's Matthew Chance joins us live from the Libyan capital via Skype. Good morning, Matthew. What is the - what is the latest?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as far as we understand, it's very difficult for us to - to get up to the place where the fighting is taking place to - to verify the situation, but it seemed that the rebels are in pretty good position in Zawiya, that important strategic town to the west of Tripoli.
It's important because it cuts off the main entry points into Tripoli from the west and essentially along with the other advances the rebels have made in the south - to the south of Tripoli and to the east of Tripoli as well, essentially puts the Libyan capital in a rebel stranglehold. And that could have an enormous impact on the ability of the Gadhafi regime to survive separately.
There's been a new development as well, a military development. It's been reported by the U.S. officials who have been launching a situation from Navy ships off the coast of the Mediterranean that Gadhafi loyalists fired a scud missile to the east of the capital from a place called Sirte into the Port City of Brega. It's the first time that Colonel Gadhafi's forces have used these ballistic missiles in this civil war so far and could mean a very ominous development that he's prepared to deploy these very heavy weapons against the rebel fighters.
On this occasion, it missed its target by some 50 miles. They're very - apparently difficult to - to target and to aim. But nevertheless, it's of some concern to - to the rebel forces that have made huge gains in the east of the country and elsewhere.
VELSHI: Matthew, we remember from the Gulf War how inaccurate and - and clumsy they can be. But the bottom line is, what does this mean? When you say it could signal an escalation, willingness of Gadhafi's forces to use that kind of heavy weaponry, they have a lot more in the way of heavy weaponry? Is that the kind of thing if they chose to escalate it would change the direction of the sort of stalemated battle?
CHANCE: Well, it's not clear. First of all, the scud missiles take about an hour to deploy and - and because of that, they're very cumbersome, they can easily be spotted by the NATO war planes that are, you know, constantly on surveillance missions, striking these kind of military hardwares of the Gadhafi forces. So it's going to be quite difficult for Gadhafi to use these kinds of weapons and they are inaccurate.
But, you're right. I mean, Colonel Gadhafi does have an arsenal of perhaps 200, 300 of these weapons that he bought from the Soviets back in the 1970s. Fortunately back in 2003, you may remember, the kind of chemical weapons and the unconventional warheads that Gadhafi was developing were surrendered by the Libyan regime in exchange for international recognition, of course. And so he doesn't have those. He just has, as we understand it, the conventional warheads on top of them.
They've got a range of about 200 miles or so. So potentially if they are used in any - any greater numbers it could cut the kind of rebel advances that they've made in areas they thought were safe, it could put them under jeopardy.
VELSHI: All right. Matthew, thanks very much for that reporting. Matthew Chance joining us now from Tripoli.
COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about the weather because, Rob Marciano, it has been raining and raining -
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
COSTELLO: -- and raining here in New York. And it's going to rain again.
MARCIANO: Exactly. It's just today, though. And then tomorrow you will have a dry day and then back in.
Listen, a lot of people want - need the rain. So, you know, it's - it's not a bad thing.
COSTELLO: OK. I know.
MARCIANO: Keeps you hydrated.
COSTELLO: I was being selfish. I'm sorry.
MARCIANO: Here it is.
As Carol mentioned, we do have more rainfall coming into New York, spiraling around a low that's been very slow to move out to sea. Scranton back up through Binghamton and Albany down the Thruway into New York City. Most of this is light.
But you've already seen the tremendous amount of rainfall and some of this heavy yesterday, over 6.5 inches of rainfall in Willow and then parts of upstate and northern New England, seeing a decent amount of rainfall as well. And even down to the south, Baltimore, you had a torrential downpour early in the day yesterday.
As a matter of fact, they had to shut down Amtrak because the rails flooded quickly. Obviously some trucks and some secondary roadways also seeing some flooding across Baltimore. You will see less in the way of rain.
But Philadelphia may see some afternoon thunderstorms that may slow down some air travel. Here's a look at what we expect for travel delays today. New York City, metro airports there, Boston as well, the leftover showers and the low clouds will lower visibility and that may limit some of the travel in and out of the airports there.
Thunderstorms particularly across the Northern Tier again. We saw some heavy thunderstorms with rain and winds gusting to 70 miles an hour in Bismarck, North Dakota. Continued hot across Texas and the southeast seeing a little bit more in the way of comfortable weather.
And here is Gert, tropical storm continuing to move out to sea, did not become a hurricane. So that is a record. This is the latest we've been in the hurricane season with only seeing tropical storms. This got some potential moving into the Eastern Caribbean. Nothing now. Probably wouldn't be anything for a couple days.
But as it gets into the Western Caribbean, it would be something that bears watching especially for folks who live in and around the Gulf of Mexico.
All the rainfall that Carol has been talking about in New York City, this is what you get. This is the prize. Check it out. Not just one, but double your pleasure there. The rare double rainbow is seen from the top of the Time Warner Center there in the southwest corner of Central Park as that shower moved off towards the north and east.
Notice this, guys. Notice how in that fainter -- the double rainbow there, how the colors are reversed.
COSTELLO: Wow.
MARCIANO: It goes from red to indigo. Anyway -
COSTELLO: I feel so much better now.
MARCIANO: Don't you? Come on.
COSTELLO: Who cares about the rain?
MARCIANO: Right.
COSTELLO: That rainbow has made my day and my -
MARCIANO: And, look, it does look like it ends - the pot of gold may very well be in Christine's parking spot there.
VELSHI: That's right. Yes. It's close.
ROMANS: You know what I did, Rob, on the rainiest day in New York history, I took with my husband and sister and brother-in-law seven children - or six kids under the age of 7 to the Statute of Liberty.
COSTELLO: She's crazy.
ROMANS: The rainiest day. Because you know what's worse than being with six little kids in the Statue of Liberty in the rainiest day?
VELSHI: Six little kids at home.
ROMANS: Exactly.
VELSHI: Yes.
MARCIANO: OK. Lesser of two evils.
ROMANS: We were so wet. We were so wet. And there was nobody there. There you go.
MARCIANO: I'm sure the kids loved it.
ROMANS: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
VELSHI: All right. Still to come this morning, what is the better bargain, buying your -- buying or renting a home? We'll find out after the break.
ROMANS: And the New Orleans restaurant serving up soul food and success for inner city kids. The inspiring story of one young man who beat the odds next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROMANS: "Minding Your Business" this morning. Stocks are set to pull back today as markets in Europe slide in today's pre-market trading. Right now, Germany's DAX Index down more than two percent while French stocks are not far behind, down 1.5 percent. The culprit, Germany, Europe's largest economy stalled in the second quarter. New estimates, though, today show that Germany's GDP, that's the broadest measure of goods and services produced in an economy barely grew at just 0.1 percent and that has markets concerned in both Europe and the U.S.
OK. On the housing front, should you buy or should you rent? The real estate website truly has crunched the numbers and says it may be cheaper to buy a two-bedroom home in most states over renting that's because home prices have taken such a beating, that demand for rentals is way up driving up rent prices.
The Philadelphia School District has a help wanted sign out. The school system needs to fill 1,300 teacher vacancies. Officials say the district's budget crisis is largely to blame and more than 1,000 teachers retired this summer leaving a high number of vacancies to be filled all over the school system. Right now, the school year is about to start.
And just imagine you pay more than $100,000 for a car and then it's recalled. More than 700 Maseratis are at risk for real suspension problems that could cause drivers to lose control. 2009 model year four-door Quattroporte sedans and two-door Gran Turismo coupes are part of that recall.
Don't forget for the very latest news about your money, check out the all new CNNMmoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this quick break.
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COSTELLO: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
In a section of New Orleans where crime and violence is common, there is a special place that's serving up hope for young people.
ROMANS: It's called Cafe Reconcile, a popular restaurant with a kitchen full of inspiration.
VELSHI: It prepares students for the work force and for the future. Ed Lavandera has the incredible story of -- the incredible journey of one of its success stories.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It devastated all of our staff, everybody here.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You wanted to throw your hands up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. LAVANDERA (voice-over): The devastating news was the murder of 22-year-old Marvin Watts, a recent "Cafe Reconcile" graduate, working for one of the top chefs in New Orleans. His senseless murder made Sister Mary Lou Specha want to walk away.
SISTER MARY LOU SPECHA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CAFE RECONCILE: The last thing I said to him was, I said, Marvin, I love you. That's what I hear in my head every day. He said I love you too, Sister.
LAVANDERA: But it didn't take long for Sister Mary Lou to realize she couldn't give up. She sees inspiration in every face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big white chicken sweet dreams.
LAVANDERA: Because of young people like this Causey Davis, a kid with so much talent and the biggest smile around looking for a place to blossom. Causey is 22 years old, taught himself to play the piano.
CAUSEY DAVIS, CAFE RECONCILE STUDENT: I feel every key that I play is real emotion.
LAVANDERA: Because his family left New Orleans when he was in high school, he stayed behind and started drifting. Davis said he wasted countless days smoking weed, no place to call home.
He started living out of a car, no future for this father of two children. He turned to "Cafe Reconcile." But the first time he failed a drug test and got kicked out.
LAVANDERA (on camera): What did you think of yourself?
DAVIS: I felt like a failure.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): You would never guess, but Causey's constant smile hides the reality of home life, now living in this drug plagued corner district in New Orleans.
DAVIS: This is the living room.
LAVANDERA: This is a young man who has almost nothing.
DAVIS: And this is my bedroom. Either it's this or homeless. It's a roof and I'm grateful for a roof.
SPECHA: The people who are most vulnerable, the poorest, get judged the hardest, the harshest because I think people don't want to see the poor.
LAVANDERA: Thanks to "Cafe Reconcile" you can now see Causey Davis working in a fancy New Orleans restaurant and he's got even bigger dreams.
DAVIS: I have feet. I have a strong belief that I will be successful. Nothing this time will stop me. Nothing.
LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN, New Orleans. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Awesome. All right, top stories right now including police in London making a new arrest in the deadly riots that rocked Britain over the past 10 days. Zain Verjee has that for us live this morning in London. Good morning, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning to all of you guys. Well, police here are setting up an independent inquiry into the riots and they say they're going to come out with a report in about six to nine months. The metropolitan police also released this pretty dramatic video.
I just want you to take a look at this. What happens in this video, you see, is that police are basically trying to get a bunch of looters away from a clothing store. You see it on the bottom right-hand side. Look at the area where it's highlighted. A car just whizzes by and look at that, one police officer is down. The car just leaves him there.
Turns out that they've taken him to a nearby hospital and he's OK. A few other cops were injured. Everyone is OK. But the police are saying based on this video if there are any witnesses to know who was behind it, to come forward. But that's pretty gruesome pictures there for that police officer who was pretty lucky, guys.
ROMANS: Very lucky, indeed. Also Zain, an oil spill in the North Sea, it looks like it's bigger than many had feared. Tell us about that.
VERJEE: They're calling its worst in the last decade. It is a Royal Dutch Shell problem and what's basically happened is that there's something like 1,300 barrels of oil that have been spilled into the North Sea.
Just off of Scotland, actually in less than a week. Now what they're saying is, is that it's actually been shut down, the well, but there still is a small seepage.
Experts say that situation isn't that severe because you've got the wind and the waves that are favorable in this instance and what hair' doing, it's breaking up parts of the spill. The environmental and marine life there is being threatened. Birds are at risk. Puff fins and other creatures.
Just to give you a comparison, though, if you just think about the Gulf of Mexico and the BP oil spill, it was something like 62,000 barrels of oil a day.
Here, it's about five barrels of oil now that are being spilled. So the seepage you can see is not that dramatic, but it is worrying because it was so bad.
ROMANS: Thanks so much, Zain Verjee in London.
VELSHI: Flash mob action in Maryland all caught on surveillance tape. Take a look at this, police say about 30 people walked into a Germantown Maryland 7-11 early Saturday morning.
Check this out. They're all walking in there, raiding the aisles, grabbing drinks and snacks, lasted just about a minute before the thieves left, again, as a group.
Police say they've been able to identify a lot of people. You can see nobody is wearing (inaudible) or disguising themselves. They're just walking through.
ROMANS: Just text messaging, this is the address, show up, I mean.
VELSHI: It does seem to be that's how flash mobs work. I find the whole thing quite fascinating that you just get a message to say show up somewhere and do stuff that's bad.
Before they were attacking people in Philly, this is what was happening. They were converging on stores and sort of walking through. What can store security or management do when you have 30 people walk in at the same time?
COSTELLO: Maybe it's time to find the person who organized the flash mob and slap charges on that person.
VELSHI: Right, right. Start finding out who's deciding this is a cute idea.
COSTELLO: Like stop it.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: Fears of teen violence spreading now in Kansas City. The mayor is vowing to come up with a plan to curb the problem by this weekend. The city is considering a curfew for its young people and its holding parents accountable while falling in line with other major U.S. cities like Philadelphia. The call for action coming after three teens hurt during a shooting on Saturday night.
ROMANS: A Japanese student presumed dead after being swept over Niagara Falls. The 19-year-old fell from a railing yesterday while takes pictures. Her body has not been recovered. But during the search, police say they found the remains of a man at the bottom of one of the falls. That death is now being investigated too.
COSTELLO: Still to come this morning, taking on Alabama's top new immigration law. Why one group actually it's the church, the church is suing Alabama for its law. We'll talk about that when we come back.
VELSHI: Plus, we're on to you if you think you're the only one who pretends to be on your cell phone so that you can avoid talking to someone, think again. I know exactly who you are. People do it to me all the time.
COSTELLO: Present company not included. ROMANS: I have a call right now. And we're going take you inside an Illinois school trying to become the healthiest in America. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a special report. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 37 minutes after the hour.
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COSTELLO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's 40 minutes past the hour. Religious leaders in Alabama are fighting back against what's being called the toughest immigration law in the country. It takes effect on September 1st.
And several bishops say if it's enforced, it would prevent them from helping the needy and practicing their religion. That's because the measure makes it a crime to transport or harbor illegal immigrants and that has those four bishops headed to court.
One of them is Bishop Henry Arsly from the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, he joins us now. Thank you for joining us, Bishop.
BISHOP HENRY N. PARSLEY, JR., ONE OF THE FOUR BISHOPS WHO FILED LAWSUIT AGAINST STATE OF ALABAMA BECAUSE OF IMMIGRATION LAW: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good morning. You have sued the governor and attorney general of Alabama over this immigration law and you're specifically concerned about sections that say it is a crime to harbor or transport an illegal immigrant. Why? How will this affect your ministry?
PARSLEY: Carol, our churches have been working with Hispanic persons, immigrant persons, for many years in various ways by offering worship and sacraments, baptism, celebrating marriages, reaching out to provide food and shelter and medical care and other ministries of hospitality and care for the strangers among us.
The Bible's clear that we're supposed to love the stranger and welcome the aliens. We feel that this law could make some of our ministries criminal activities.
COSTELLO: So what you're saying --
PARSLEY: -- which is why the churches have gotten involved in speaking about the law.
COSTELLO: What you're saying, Bishop, is if you see someone in need, let's say on a street corner and you approach them and you put them in the car and take them to the church to counsel them, this law requires that you first ascertain if they're an illegal immigrant.
PARSLEY: That seems to be what the law requires. And we feel that would interfere with the freedom of our expression of our faith and living our faith and caring for others. And so we have spoken up about this law to ask for a temporary injunction while the law can be, perhaps, changed or amended or removed.
COSTELLO: As far as I know, and you know the governor of the state of Alabama says this is just not a concern, nobody's going to go after priests or bishops or church leaders who are counseling those in need and that this is something you need not worry about.
PARSLEY: Well, the law as written does not define words like shield or transport or harbor, and we believe that it could be interpreted by certain people to interfere with the church's ministries and our freedom of expression and living our faith.
So, we have some disagreement about the meaning of the law, which is not very clear. I would also say -- let me also say, Carol, that we believe the law is an extreme law and creates a climate of fear, which is not good for our communities.
And the church is a place where we try to help people live together in harmony and mutual care and this law, we think, creates the kind of division and fear in the community, which is not good for anyone.
COSTELLO: In general, with the number of immigration laws being enacted or trying to be enacted across the country, what does this say about the climate in this country for immigrants?
PARSLEY: Well, I think many of us, I certainly believe that we need to reform our immigration laws to make them more just and fair to the immigrant population as well as to everyone else.
It's important that our immigrant law -- our immigration laws be just and work effectively. So, the church has spoken up for the need for immigration reform for many years. And I recognize the frustration some people have about this.
COSTELLO: Are they Godly?
PARSLEY: Say that again.
COSTELLO: Are they in the spirit of Jesus?
PARSLEY: I couldn't quite hear you, Carol, but I will say this, but I think it's so important that the church be able to minister to all people, regardless of status or race or situation.
That's the nature of the church. And the bible is very clear about loving the stranger and being good Samaritans and being able to love and care for all people in God's name.
And that's really the church's point in our complaint that we want to be free to express and live our faith.
COSTELLO: Bishop, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
PARSLEY: You're very welcome.
COSTELLO: We want to get the other side of the debate right now. We're joined by Mark Krikorian and he's live in Washington. He's the executive director for the Center for Immigration Study.
You support Alabama's immigration law. You just heard Bishop Parsley saying the law is infringing on his right to practice religion freely.
What do you think?
MARK KRIKORIAN, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDY: Well, I'm afraid this is a phony issue and the bishop, at the end, sort of made clear what was going on. The opponents of enforcing immigration law and supporters of amnesty for illegal immigrants are using this as kind of an emotional issue, raising this phony idea that a nun ladling out soup to an illegal alien is going to be wrestled to the ground by SWAT team. I mean, it's complete baloney.
Nobody believes -- including the bishop and everyone involved in this lawsuit -- no one believes that any priest or nun is going to be arrested for dispensing communion or serving illegal aliens in a soup kitchen. The point of that provision in the law is to target alien smugglers and those that transport and harbor illegal immigrants for purposes of sneaking into the country.
COSTELLO: But what if a church does that? What if they're harboring someone who is illegal and then they're doing it for religious purposes because that's the spirit of the Bible?
KRIKORIAN: Well, then, I mean, if a church -- if ostensibly religious organization is smuggling illegal immigrant --
COSTELLO: Not smuggling, helping. Not smuggling, but an illegal immigrant in this country who is in need, who needs a place to live, and they happen to pick that church and religious leaders say, look, this is our duty, we're doing what it says in the Bible?
KRIKORIAN: No. The Bible says, render under Caesar what is Caesar, and to God what is God's. I read the whole thing. It doesn't say anything about Alabama's immigration law.
This is a pernicious use of Scripture to apply to these worldly laws.
The fact is the immigration laws need to be enforced. And the people involved in this lawsuit object to the idea of enforcement of immigration laws, period. This is really just a pretext, a kind of emotional straw man used, waved in front of people to make them oppose the law.
Let's face it, if this ever happened, if some nun ladling out soup to an illegal alien is arrested the law would be changed in 10 minutes. It's not going to happen. It's a phony issue.
COSTELLO: So, you're saying that the wording in the law is not too vague and that something like this, like the scenario you just put forth would never happen because the law is worded correctly?
KRIKORIAN: Yes. I'm willing to put money down it's not going to happen. Anybody wants to take me up on that, you can e-mail me at our Web site, CIS.org.
COSTELLO: We will. Mark Krikorian, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
KRIKORIAN: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Interesting conversation. And a debate that's raised in this country for a long time with no apparent resolution in sight for the federal government.
ROMANS: It is the states. And that's the whole issue. This is Alabama and there's Arizona. And the states are doing it themselves because they feel like they haven't seen the federal government do anything but sit on their hands about immigration.
VELSHI: The problem -- the problem, though, is many years or decades after a law is put into place, the reasonable view that's not what it meant, tends to get forgotten. And then we end up 100 or 200 years later with a law that somebody didn't intend for that to mean that. I hear what he's saying. I wouldn't take him up on that bet right now.
But one day, he may not be around to be the same voice of what that law wasn't meant to do.
COSTELLO: Well, it's in the courts right now. So, we'll see what happens.
ROMANS: Another irony --
VELSHI: It was good, though, back-to-back guests who read the Bible.
ROMANS: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: All right. Still ahead, Dr. Sanjay Gupta's special report, "The Last Heart Attack," the battle against heart disease, starts early.
VELSHI: This is going to be good.
ROMANS: The last heart attack. Imagine if you could -- that's it. No more. Sanjay tells us about one school teaching kids healthy habits at a very young age.
It's 48 minutes after the hour.
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ROMANS: We hear a lot about the epidemic of childhood obesity in America. More than a third of young people in the country are overweight or obese.
VELSHI: Yes. And one Illinois elementary school is fighting those odds.
Now, as part of his special report you really got to watch this week, "The Last Heart Attack." Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us that they are making healthy choices into the new normal.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They say if you can get to age 50 without any risk factors for heart disease, you've got virtually zero chance of ever having a heart attack. Here's the thing: trouble starts early. In fact, it's shocking nowadays. About one in five kids isn't just overweight but obese.
But there are some best practices out there, things that are working. In fact, I found a school in Illinois where they are doing everything they possibly can to turn these abysmal numbers around.
(voice-over): Northeast Elementary School in Danville, Illinois -- the kids here eat healthy foods.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: We had chicken sandwich and apples.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yogurt.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Fruit and juice.
GUPTA: When she got hired, the school board told the Principal McIntire, make health a priority.
CHERYL MCINTIRE, PRINCIPAL, NORTHEAST ELEMENTARY MAGNET SCHOOL: We had lots of fried foods. We had a lot of processed food.
Now, nothing is fried. We have to have fish several times a month. We have fresh fruit and vegetables at every lunch.
GUPTA: And there are also 30-minute phys ed classes every single day.
Kids take yoga breaks during class and the annual fundraising event that used to be a bake sale. It's now a one-mile walk.
All these changes made Northeast the first elementary school in the country to earn a gold award from the nonprofit group Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which was cofounded by the Clinton Foundation.
And the changes at school are changing habits at home as well.
MCINTIRE: They are going home and talking to their parents about the new things that they have tried and tasted at school and encouraging their parents to buy it at home.
GUPTA (on camera): Because you said these students are sort of a mirror of the community at large?
MCINTIRE: They are.
And the word has gotten out that this is what we have to offer here and parents have come to us wanting that further children.
GUPTA (voice-over): Heart disease is America's number one killer and the risks -- well, they start right here with children. Northeast Elementary is one of a growing number of schools fighting back and pointing the way toward a healthier future.
(on camera): And I want to add something else here. You know, when we talked for this documentary, "The Last Heart Attack," Mr. Clinton was very candid about his own history of heart disease and how he was in the White House receiving executive level health care his heart disease was missed. How his doctors missed when he was in the White House, it's an amazing story and there really is a lesson in there for everyone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: It's amazing. I'm going to watch it.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: You can watch Sanjay's entire special report, "The Last Heart Attack," Sunday night, 8:00 eastern, right here on CNN.
VELSHI: Yes, I'm totally going to watch that.
I can make such a net improvement for current life chance of heart attack from just doing one thing that Sanjay say, eat a piece of fruit, walk somewhere. I mean, can you imagine yoga breaks when you were in school?
COSTELLO: I would have loved that.
VELSHI: We should do yoga breaks here, during commercial breaks.
ROMANS: I know. How about we take in like one in two minutes.
COSTELLO: We'll do a couple of downward dog in the break.
VELSHI: That's it, just not the hot sweaty yoga.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: I can't even think of that right now. Stop!
Now, we have so many responses to our talk back question of the morning. You know, billionaire investor Warren Buffett. He said tax the rich, please tax the rich.
So, our question this morning, did Warren Buffett come up with a good compromise or is it just plain politics?
This is from William: "Warren Buffett is absolutely right. We have proof of 10 years of Bush era tax cuts have lost millions of jobs and not created a single job. Calling the rich job creators is one more example of propaganda I think the American people into supporting policies that are actually not in their interest. Face it, greed does not create jobs. It does free up more capital for funding political campaigns, though."
This is from Gail: "I have admired Mr. Buffett and I realize that he cannot, out of the goodness of his heart, contribute a gift to the working capital of this nation. That said, if he truly wishes that the tax structure be changed, why does he use the tax loopholes that need changing? He can go back and amend the taxes for himself and his company and he can call publicly for his friends to do the same. In other words, he could put his money where his mouth is."
And this from Elvin, "Warren Buffett is my hero. A gazillionaire that drives a plain ordinary car and has a plain ordinary house. Someone with that kind of restraint has my respect and I'm inclined to believe them."
Keep those comments from. Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. We'll read more later in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: Great feedback you're getting. That's excellent.
All right. Your top stories are next, including Wall Street rallies up three days in a row. That's the longest winning streak in a month. Can we expect good news today from the market? We'll tell you on the other side.
ROMANS: Plus, the crew from the space shuttle Atlantis will be with us live. We can find out what it was like to be part of NASA's final shuttle mission.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 57 minutes after the hour.
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