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American Morning
Research in Motion to Restore Internet Service to Blackberries; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, may Declare Bankruptcy; Herman Cain New GOP Frontrunner in Some Polls; What Should the United States Do about Iran?; Bali Shaken By Quake; Radiation Concerns in Japan; Storm Floods Mexico's West Coast; Amtrak Trains Crash in California; BlackBerry Blackout; Jackson's Doctor on Trial; Gacy Victims' Bodies Exhumed; Eight Killed in Salon Shooting Massacre; Accused Hollywood Hacker Charged; Un "Occupy Wall Street" Park; Bank of America Responds to Fee Outrage; Cash-Strapped Capital; Harrisburg, P.A., Files for Bankruptcy; Scientists Solve Puzzle of Black Plague; Blackberry Losing 16,129 Customers Per Day; Study: Fewer Teenagers Having Sex; Paula Dean Voted Sexiest Female Chef on TV
Aired October 13, 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)
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Thumbs down. BlackBerry service still very sketchy this morning. Some e-mail, more like snail mail. When will your BlackBerry service be fully restored?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Cash strapped capital. Another Americans had crippled bidet files for bankruptcy. And vote on a state takeover is looming.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Buried by a river of mud. Hurricane Jova strikes Mexico's pacific coast forcing more than 1,000 people to shelters and rooftops.
VELSHI: And pizza party. Herman Cain surges to the front of the GOP pack in a new poll, but does his 9-9-9 tax plan add up for you on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And good morning to you. It is Thursday, October 13th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
We're talking Blackberries this morning. My battery just died, so I don't know if --
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: That you can't blame the Research in Motion.
ROMANS: That's your own fault, Carol.
COSTELLO: I know.
VELSHI: That's your own fault. COSTELLO: I know.
ROMANS: But it's true that -- they say -- the company says they're back up and running in the U.S. I'm now getting my e-mails, but you're getting a lot of tweets.
VELSHI: Tweet saying services are not fully --
ROMANS: We're going to get to the bottom of that just a minute.
VELSHI: The delay, even if the system is up from BlackBerry's perspective, it could take a long time for people to start (ph) their e-mails. We'll check with the company in just a minute.
COSTELLO: Yes. We're going to have a spokesperson there. Actually, we're going to have more than a spokesperson, right?
ROMANS: Managing director of the UK. Yes.
COSTELLO: The man in charge. But we start with this this morning. In Southern California, eight people are dead, one still in critical condition after a mass shooting inside of a salon. The gunman identified as 42-year-old Scott Dekraai. He opened fire in the busy hair salon at Seal Beach near Los Angeles and the suspect was arrested as he tried to drive away. The peaceful seaside community is in total shock this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. STEVE BOWLES, SEAL BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT: Seal Beach is a small, safe community. We don't experience these things ever. It has been a long time since we had something -- we don't very often have homicides, and especially anything of this magnitude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: In fact, Seal Beach has seen just one other murder in the past four years.
ROMANS: Many BlackBerry users in the U.S. telling us they are still without service this morning. It is four days now. Blackout spreading to North America. The outage primarily affects e-mails and Internet access, not the ability to make calls.
VELSHI: The problem started Monday affecting customers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. By Tuesday, it spread to South America. And yesterday customers in the U.S. and Canada were hit.
Joining us now from England where it is believed the whole problem started is Stephen Bates. He's Research in Motion's U.K. managing director. Stephen, thank you for being with us. Let's start right now with what the current state of the servers and then mail traffic for BlackBerry users around the world is as far as you understand it.
STEPHEN BATES, RIM'S U.K. MANAGING DIRECTOR: First of all, thank you for giving me an opportunity to give you an update. So as of 6:00 a.m. British standard time, we have seen a significant improvement to all services across Europe, Africa, Middle East, and India. However, we are remaining vigilant on taking all necessary action to make sure the service levels are at the level we would expect and our customers expect.
COSTELLO: So what happened?
BATES: Fundamentally back to the delays we have incurred are due to a problem within the infrastructure. As you know within the infrastructure is designed with multiple layers of backup and resiliency. But in this instance, the core stretching systems did not back up as expected or as tested. And that's caused this messaging and browsing delay we have all seen.
ROMANS: Massive computer problem. You mentioned Europe, Africa, Middle East, India. You did not mention North America. What's the status for people heading to work this morning in North America? Many, many big companies, all their employees, are carrying BlackBerry devices. What's the status for the outages in the United States and North America?
BATES: Certainly other companies -- other regions have been impacted by this. And we expect some customers to still see a little bit of delay in messaging or browsing. This is due to the backlog of messages we have the clear through the system. Due to this, we have a backlog cleared up. While we believe we got on top of the main issue and Europe and Middle East and Africa and India, we do expect some customers to still see a delay due to the backlog of processing of messages.
VELSHI: Just to be clear, the problem that's caused this, you have remedied. But like in previous outages, people may -- it may take them a few hours to get the e-mails that have been backlogged.
BATES: Yes. This has been a rather complex issue. It created quite a backlog of messaging. We believe we are on top of it now and understand the nature of the problem. We are now trying to clear all that backlog and maintain network stability is maintained. In addition the teams are investigating and understanding that the cause by this backup failure to ensure we need to take all necessary action to ensure the resiliency of the infrastructure on a global basis.
ROMANS: Do you feel that you owe BlackBerry users an apology for the inconvenience that they have suffered over the past few day around the world?
BATES: Yes, absolutely. We fully understand the frustration of our customers and expect a much better service from us. Now ex-tend an apology to our customers affected. You know, our primary focus at this point in time is to maintain service, get the service back to the levels we expect but more importantly, our customers come to expect from the BlackBerry service.
COSTELLO: Stephen Bates, thanks so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it. And we are glad that you are working out that problem. Thank you.
VELSHI: Most folks have been tweeting us. This has happened in the past it happened it takes hours to get everything back up to speed.
ROMANS: When you hear everything is fixed, it doesn't necessarily mean everything is fixed for you this very moment.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: Switching gears, new information this morning about Iranian-American suspect accused of orchestrating a plot to kill a Saudi ambassador in Washington. Manssor Arbabsiar is described by friends as happy-go-lucky, a used car salesman, an unlikely orchestrator of an international terror campaign. Some world leaders and U.S. officials expressing skepticism now about the Iranian government's alleged plot in this role.
COSTELLO: This rough economy has certainly taken a toll on the city Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The state's capital filed for bankruptcy protection. It's hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. There is now a showdown with the state over the control of the city.
VELSHI: This is quite a story. Alison Kosik is live in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Alison, this all started because of garbage.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It did. I'm going to get to that in just a minute. You know this as well as anybody, Ali. You cover finance and know that when it comes to financial problems as deep as this, these things don't happen overnight. That's exactly the case from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
You know what, it found itself sitting on $310 million of debt. The city council earlier this week decided to go ahead and file for bankruptcy because it just couldn't pay the bills.
And what you said is true. All of this pretty much was tipped over the edge financially, I'm talking about, because of the trash incinerator. It seems the incinerator burned more cash than trash. Especially in the past ten years. Incinerator faced really stuff financial problems and it was redone and revamped with the hopes that receive new that would be brought in from this upgraded incinerator would wind up financing all of the renovation. That really didn't pan out.
Now the city finds itself in deep financial turmoil. And exacerbating a problem is the slowing economy, high unemployment which means that fewer tax receipts coming in. There is a showdown as to whether the bankruptcy filing is legal, the city's mayor, Linda Thompson is challenging it saying the bankruptcy filing is illegal. Ali and Carol?
COSTELLO: In the meantime, though, Alison, what's happening to city services in Harrisburg? You can hear a siren behind you. KOSIK: Services will remain the same. I talked with an attorney for the city council saying city services, sanitation services will remain the same.
But something that the mayor is doing, she is moving forward with a proposal to try to balance -- put the balance sheet in order for Harrisburg. So some of the things she is looking to do is sell the incinerator, lease the city's parking lots, and even raise property taxes, obviously something that's not very popular but something that many cities across the country may have to deal with, taking some very unpopular measures really to get a had an doll the balance sheets.
ROMANS: Wow. Alison Kosik reporting live for from us Pennsylvania. Thanks so much.
VELSHI: The sirens stopped right as they got to the point and Alison is now being arrest.
COSTELLO: No. I hope not.
VELSHI: Speaking to one of the city counselors this voted in favor of the bankruptcy later in the show.
ROMANS: A lot of people are saying my property value is going down but property taxes are going up. That doesn't make any sense, but that's happening in a lot of different place ace round the country. Your tax bill could go up even though the value of what you are sitting in is going down.
COSTELLO: The only place they can get revenue these days is from increased taxes.
VELSHI: And to give you a sense of how it affects new different places, municipal bankruptcies are very rare.
Havana, here we come. New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport joining the ranks of U.S. airports cleared for flights to and from Cuba earlier this year. The Obama administration loosened travel restrictions to the island nation. Flights to Cuba have been flying out of airports from New York, Miami, and Los Angeles so far.
ROMANS: South Korea's president and first lady will be the honored guest at a White House state dinner tonight. It will be the fifth state dinner hosted by the Obamas. On Friday President Lee Myung-bak will accompany President Obama on a visit to a General Motors auto plant in Detroit.
COSTELLO: Still to come this morning, Herman Cain, he is hot, hot, hot. He's now the GOP frontrunner for president. What is it about Herman Cain? What's resonating? Or is his competition fading? We'll explore.
VELSHI: Also, a number of people are stranded on their roofs after a hurricane turns tiny streams into raging rivers. We will show you where this is when we come back. It's nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. You can tell how well Herman Cain is doing by increasing number of attacks coming his way from his Republican rivals. The Georgia businessman must have felt like a pinata at this week's GOP debate in New Hampshire, the other candidates ganging up on him and his so called nine-nine-nine tax plan.
But the shots he's taking don't seem to be sticking. Look at the turnaround for Cain. He's surging while Mitt Romney treads water and Rick Perry plunges. In the latest NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll Cain is the Republican front-runner with 27 percent of the vote, four points better than Romney.
Let's bring Shira Toeplitz in, the politics writer for "Roll Call." She is in Washington. Welcome and good to see you again.
SHIRA TOEPLITZ, POLITICS WRITER, "ROLL CALL": Good morning. Good to see you, too.
VELSHI: Somebody said to me the other day, they love Herman Cain as their grandfather, not necessarily as president. Sounds like a lot more people are liking the idea of Herman Cain as president.
TOEPLITZ: There's no question Herman Cain has done a really good job in the last several weeks of connecting with voters especially on the national level. He's had a very good couple of weeks. I don't think it is a coincidence that he has gone up in the polls directly as governor Rick Perry has gone down in the polls. That's something to do more with another candidate, Mitt Romney, who some people call the front runner in this race. I think a lot of voters that don't like Mitt Romney and don't like some of his positions are looking for an alternative, and Herman Cain now is that alternative. Will it be lasting? We will see.
VELSHI: Let's talk about where he is losing support from. We are not talking a lot about Michele Bachmann these days. We are not talking about Jon Huntsman or Rick Santorum all that much. We are still talking about Rick Perry. But boy, Rick Perry in the last poll seems to have lost a lot of steam.
TOEPLITZ: Yes. Rick Perry has definitely had a bad couple of weeks. He started off the race really well and is very strong. He started off great, getting up to 38 percent in some polls, doing terrific.
But these last couple of weeks following his debate performance in Florida a few weeks ago just has not been that good for him. Really one of the last chances to turn it around is the debate earlier this week. A lot of people think he didn't do it. He is quiet and put it into the background and Herman Cain got up there and fighting one-on-one with Romney.
VELSHI: Herman Cain's campaign is doing well in spite of itself. There have been some people saying he is not properly staffed up and he is campaigning in states that don't matter, that he seems to be more campaigning for a TV, you know, show or to sell more of his books. He's now said that his book tour is over. He hasn't been to New Hampshire since the summer.
So what does this say? Can Herman Cain decide that he actually wants to step this up and - and goose up his campaign and maybe actually be a contender here?
TOEPLITZ: I think if Herman Cain is really serious about winning the Republican nomination, we'll see him change his travel schedule a lot. I've seen him in states like Arizona, Texas, doing things like promoting his book. If he really is serious about this, he's got to go to Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida. And maybe Nevada, too. These are the key early primary states.
And if he's not in the States, it can be really hard for him to meet with voters. You know, it's not all about a national presence or national - how you do in national polls. It's meeting these voters in these key early states that decide the nomination process.
VELSHI: Tell me this, Shira. The conservative faction of the - of the party, these folks who are going to vote in the primary, have really been spreading their love between Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum and Rick Perry and Herman Cain. And nobody has sustained the very conservative love for too long in this campaign and we're still more than a year out from the election.
What about Herman Cain suggests that he lasts longer as the - as the darling of the conservative part of the Republican Party?
TOEPLITZ: You know, I'm not sure there is something that suggests he'll last longer except that we're running out of candidates to become flavor of the month right now. You know, it seems like every month conservative alternatives to Mitt Romney pops up with Chris Christie for a while, and Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann late in the summer.
You know, I wonder when we're going to run out of candidates. I'm not quite sure.
In fact, Herman Cain is relatively new to politics as he says that a benefit to his candidacy. But sometimes some of these new candidates, there are some things we don't know about them -
VELSHI: Right.
TOEPLITZ: -- I think you'll see some new stories in the next couple of weeks probably digging into his past. We probably are going to see a whole new side of Herman Cain in the next couple of weeks.
VELSHI: But he always says fun things on TV. I will - I will have our viewers listen to this because somebody accused him not of even being flavor of the month, but flavor of the week. Here's what Herman Cain said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: Will not be the flavor of the week? Well the answer is an emphatic no. Because Haagen-Dazs black walnut taste good all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: He is appealing. People like the way he talks. He sounds not very political when he talks. But I think you're right. We'll find out a lot more about him.
Shira, good to see you. Thanks so much.
TOEPLITZ: Thanks for having me.
VELSHI: Black - Haagen-Dazs black walnut taste good all the time, he says.
All right. Next Tuesday night, CNN will host the Western Republican Presidential Debate in Las Vegas. Anderson Cooper will moderate the debate. That's Tuesday, October 18th at 8:00 P.M. Eastern right here on CNN.
Our own Carol Costello will attend the debate and she'll have all that morning after analysis. See if can you talk to Herman Cain, he's always fine.
COSTELLO: Oh, I'm definitely going to do that.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: I think Erin is talking to him tonight, right?
VELSHI: That's right. Erin Burnett on "OUTFRONT" tonight.
COSTELLO: Yes. It is interesting, though. He's not really even trying very hard. He went on his book tour the middle of it and people are still like -
VELSHI: It's a very strange campaign.
COSTELLO: Yes. I think that put it mildly.
ROMANS: That's right.
All right. It's - wait - 18 minutes after the hour. That means it is time to check in with Rob in the Extreme Weather Center. Good morning, sunshine.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys.
It has been about month since we saw tropical action here stateside, but Mexico, this is what they dealt with yesterday. Hurricane Jova came on shore as Category 2 storm with winds of 100 miles an hour, but it was the rainfall that really did the damage there. These are shots out of Manzanillo. About five fatalities in Mexico alone from the tremendous amount of rain that fell. And, of course, if you have ever been there, you know the mountains, it get off the beach, they pretty much go straight up. And that caused not only torrential flashfloods like you're seeing, but very, very muddy water. A lot of debris in there and dangerous conditions.
Other spots, Colima and Manzanillo, seeing around a foot of rainfall from this, so that's what did the most damage as now it's beginning to rain now. We do have rain stateside. It is mostly east of the Mississippi, you go to Chicago, up through Milwaukee, stretching into Cincinnati. It's very light stuff.
And then a second pulse through across the northeast and that will cause some travel delays today. New York metro will see it in all spots, Chicago as well. And to a lesser extent, Boston and Philadelphia. Atlanta might see a couple of scattered showers later on today as well.
So there's your little front, one and two. And then heat down across parts of the southwest. We're getting into Santa Ana season and that cranks up the temperatures. You better believe it. Long Beach, right down the shore, 102 degrees; Los Angeles, 99; we'll see similar numbers out there today. Meanwhile, not too chilly across much of the northeast; 67 degrees in Chicago with a chance of rain and 69 degrees with scattered showers across parts of New York.
That's the latest from here. Guys, back up to you.
ROMANS: Thanks, Rob.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob.
Now is your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, what should the United States do about Iran?
An alleged Iranian agent charged in an assassination plot on U.S. soil, just the latest twist in a difficult and contentious relationship or should I say non-relationship. The United States hasn't talked to Iran officially since the 1979 revolution. Since then, Iran has been part of the, quote, "axis of evil." A nuclear want to be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: In 2009, newly-elected President Obama was pitching engagement with Iran. But that was before this, before Tehran's brutal crackdown on election protesters, the imprisonment of three American hikers, and the Iranian president's America-bashing speeches. Engagement? That's doubtful.
Congressman Peter King says the United States needs to respond boldly to this latest provocation, consider military options and throw out Iranian diplomats in the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETER KING (R-NY), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE CHAIR: It violates all international norms, violates international law. And basically you're talking about an act of war. I think we have to - United States has to really consider taking very significant action. I don't think sanctions alone are enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It is debatable whether sanctions on Iran, North Korea or Iraq really changes behavior. So could this go beyond sanctions?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it could, but we're not - we're not going there yet. It's critically important that we unite the world in the isolation of and dealing with the Iranians. That's the - that's the most - the surest way to be able to get results.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So the "Talk Back" question today - what should the United States do about Iran? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning, Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your responses later this hour.
ROMANS: All right. Still to come this morning, more riveting testimony at the Michael Jackson death trial concerning Dr. Conrad Murray's treatment of Jackson and his actions in the critical moments after the singer stopped breathing.
VELSHI: And Bank of America responds to the tens of thousands of people, hundreds at this point, who signed the petition to get the bank to cancel its proposed $5 debit card fee. What's the bank saying? We'll tell you about it when we come back.
It's 22 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Right now, U.S. stock futures are down. The Dow turned positive for the year at one point during trading yesterday, but that rally lost steam right before the close.
In about an hour from now, we'll find out how many jobless claims were filed for the first time last week. Economists expect that number to be slightly lower than the week before. But it will give us a read on the labor market and how many layoffs are still happening. Banking giant JPMorgan Chase just released its third quarter earnings report. We're going through that right now. It looks like it topped estimates. Search giant Google releases its earnings report right after the bell this afternoon.
The billionaire convicted in the biggest insider trading case involving hedge funds in the U.S. is expected to be sentenced today in Manhattan today. Raj Rajaratnam was found guilty of conspiracy in securities fraud back in May. He could spend as many as 25 years in prison.
If you own a Sony TV, we may have some important news for you. The company is recalling 1.6 million Bravia LCD TVs sold since 2007. Sony says a faulty component may cause them to melt or catch fire.
And as the temperature heads south, your heating bill is about to go up. According to the Energy Department, homes that heat with oil can expect prices to rise nearly $200 over last year. The biggest reason for the increase, the rising price of crude oil compared with a year ago.
Don't forget, for the very latest news about your money, check out the all-new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. Top stories now.
A powerful earthquake has struck off the Indonesian Island of Bali. Take a look at these new pictures. They're just in to CNN.
The quake actually hit earlier this morning. You are looking at video taken from inside of a home obviously. The quake damaged several ancient Hindu temples. It's also damaged a number of homes and businesses.
ROMANS: You are about to see new video from Tokyo. Where radiation is believed to be coming from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor was found in a residential.
According to local reports, radioactive sediment was also found on top of an apartment building in the town of Yokohama about 150 miles from the nuclear plant.
VELSHI: Scenes of other devastation as Mexico's Pacific Coast struggles to cope with the aftermath of what was Hurricane Jova.
The storm slammed into the region yesterday turning small streams into raging rivers that trapped a number of people on their roofs. It also triggered mud slides leaving more than a thousand people homeless.
COSTELLO: More than a dozen people reportedly hurt after two Amtrak trains crashed in Oakland, California. It happened late last night. Authorities say one of the trains was parked and was dropping off passengers when it was hit by another train from behind.
ROMANS: All right, that BlackBerry blackout is now testing the nerves of those who depend on that smartphone for a fourth day now. The outage which started overseas spread to the U.S. and Canada yesterday.
Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry says the problem has been fixed. There is backlog of messages, which is resulting in service disruptions.
VELSHI: Well, the prosecution may rest its case later today in the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray. One of their final witnesses delivered bombshell testimony yesterday concerning Dr. Murray's medical conduct, which he said is the reason Michael Jackson isn't alive today. CNN's Ted Rowlands has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a damaging day of testimony against Dr. Conrad Murray, an expert for the California Medical Board concluded that Murray's actions directly caused the death of Michael Jackson.
Dr. Alon Steinberg, a cardiologist hired by the prosecution, called Murray's behavior, quote, "bizarre" and listed multiple examples of his extreme deviations from standard medical care.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In your opinion, is the use of Propofol as a doctor's medical practice to treat insomnia gross negligence?
DR. ALON STEINBERG, CALIFORNIA MEDICAL BOARD: Yes. It's indicated for procedures and patient comfort, not for sleep.
ROWLANDS: According to Steinberg, not only did Murray administer a dangerous drug to Jackson, he did it without the proper equipment.
STEINBERG: First, you need a pulse oximeter with an alarm. Dr. Murray's machine did not have an alarm. The next thing you need is an EKG monitor. He did not have an EKG monitor. The other things you need is a bag mask or an ambu bag and you need to know how to use it. Dr. Murray had an ambu bag, but he did not use it.
ROWLANDS: Another deviation, according to Steinberg, Murray's failure to call for help immediately.
STEINBERG: It's basic knowledge, in America, you don't have to be a health care professional, that when someone is down, you need to call 911 for help. Dr. Murray should have known that. So instead of that huge 20-minute delay, I mean, 20-something-minute delay, he could have gotten help that he needed within four minutes.
ROWLANDS: Murray had told police he was busy trying to resuscitate Jackson, which is why he didn't call 911 right away, but Steinberg says Murray didn't even follow proper procedures in trying to revive the singer.
STEINBERG: His CPR was poor quality. So he should have put Mr. Jackson on the floor and done CPR on the floor with two hands.
ROWLANDS: Previously, the jury heard a two-hour recording of a police interview with Murray. On the tape, Murray described monitoring Jackson after giving him Propofol, until he felt comfortable enough to leave the room. Murray said he was only gone for two minutes.
STEINBERG: When you monitor a patient, you never leave their side especially after giving Propofol. It's like leaving a baby that's sleeping on your kitchen countertop.
ROWLANDS: The defense now says they'll drop their theory that Jackson had swallowed extra Propofol without Murray's knowledge. Instead, they will argue that Jackson administered the fatal dose himself through a syringe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: A sleep expert also testified that Murray's use of Propofol to treat insomnia was, quote, "unusual and dangerous." The prosecution is wrapping up their case. They are expected to get to their final witness at some point tomorrow. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.
VELSHI: And for a complete coverage and analysis of the developments in the Michael Jackson death trial, check out our sister network, HLN.
COSTELLO: Authorities exhuming the bones of some of John Wayne Gacy's victims. The serial killer was convicted of 33 murders, mostly of teenage boys.
But eight of those remains were never identified. Police in Cooke County, Illinois are asking relatives of boys who disappeared in the 1907s to come forward so that they can compare DNA.
ROMANS: And eight people dead, one in critical condition this morning after a gunman opened fire inside a salon in Seal Beach that's near Los Angeles. One suspect who is said the man believed to be the lone gunman was arrested as he tried to drive away.
VELSHI: The FBI saying that they have the Hollywood hacker. He's accused of breaking into dozens of celebrities' cell phones and e-mails and leaking nude or almost naked photos of stars like Scarlett Johansen, Mila Kunis and Christina Aguilera.
Christopher Cheney of Florida is facing a 121 years in prison on more than two dozen counts of hacking, identity theft and wiretapping. The U.S. attorney also saying Cheney stole personal information and movie scripts.
COSTELLO: The Wall Street protesters will soon have to pack up and head out of the park they've been using for the past four weeks, but they'll probably be back, right?
That because New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he stopped by the park yesterday to let the protesters know the park will be cleaned tomorrow. The protesters will be allowed to return after tomorrow once the park has been cleaned.
ROMANS: All right, Bank of America responding to those tens of thousands, almost 200,000 people who have signed a petition railing against Bank of America for that new $5 a month debit card fee. The person who is leading this petition is 22-year-old Molly Katchpole.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOLLY KATCHPOLE, FORMER BANK OF AMERICA CUSTOMER: I finished. I will probably move on to a credit union. I knew that other people would be fed up with it, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: She spoke to a B of A official and they told her they understand customers are upset, but it would be premature to say whether or not the bank will cancel that fee.
COSTELLO: So it appears they are not going to cancel their fee. That would be my guess.
VELSHI: Kudos to Molly and people who signed the petition. She did what one should do. She canceled her card. She's moving to another bank because you can and got the bank to understand --
COSTELLO: She did this online petition and she got a meeting with an actual vice president of the bank. That says something. So at least she could vent.
ROMANS: And remember credit unions are not for profit. There are a lot of online banks. Yesterday, there was a viral story on cnnmoney.com about, you know, seven good banks. I will tweet it again right now. Everyone was talking about this story yesterday. I mean, there are a lot of people who are looking for alternative.
VELSHI: There are a lot of regular brick and mortar banks. You do have options. Good for Molly and all those folks.
All right, still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a cash- strapped capital forced to file for bankruptcy protection, Harrisburg. We will tell you what it means for the city and for the state and someplace you may live in with cash problems as well. It's 38 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's 41 minutes after the hour. Pennsylvania's capital is not weathering this economy well. The city of Harrisburg has filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.
As you can see, it is one of the biggest municipality bankruptcies to ever be filed. Harrisburg faces a total debt burden of about $458 million according to the city council, which voted to file the petition.
Joining me now is Brad Koplinski. He's a city councilman in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Councilman Koplinski, thank you for being with us.
Explain to me lots of cities around country have gotten themselves into serious financial situations. What is it about Harrisburg that caused you and your colleagues on the city council to vote to put it into bankruptcy?
BRAD KOPLINSKI, CITY COUNCILMAN, HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA: Sure. Thanks, Ali. Thanks for having me. We had a situation here, obviously, as you know, we have an F-47 financial recovery plan process in this state, which allows cities to get out from under their debt.
The mayor unilaterally put us into this plan about a year ago and the plans that were put forth did not solve our problem. First, the state plan and then problem by the mayor. They overestimated their revenues and liabilities were underestimated and allowed for $26 million at least in stranded debt.
And just did not work. It did not go to solve the problem. And secondly, we have a problem in our state legislators who want to meddle in the affairs of the city. They have taken steps to limit the ways in which we can negotiate with our creditors, ways that we can generate revenue and also taking steps to limit the way to get bankruptcy really.
Then, you know, when that happens, we signed up for Act 47 under a certain set of rules. We were going to play under those rules and that will legislate and growing and changing that.
VELSHI: Our viewers are across the country so they may not know some of the nuances that are specific to Harrisburg and Pennsylvania. This was not unanimous on the city council and the mayor says she didn't even know it was happening.
The mayor says it is not right. The governor says it is not right and there are some arguments this may not even be legal because there is a process by which Harrisburg would have had to file for bankruptcy that involved having a third party involved.
Was this a political point that you were making or do you believe this actually is going to solve the problem?
KOPLINSKI: Sure. One of the problems that we have always had here in the city is we haven't been able to get everybody to sit around one table. We have had conversation with the mayor. We have conversations -- some conversations with the county, all the parties.
The main problem is the bond holders here. You know, we've tried to get them, have correspondents with them. They've said we demand payment in full, principal and interest. You know, so that's one of the main problems. Bankruptcy is going to be able to get this city in a better place five years from now than where it is today.
It will allow everyone to sit around the table and fair and impartial bankruptcy judge will determine what the equitable process is to be able to do. All we ever wanted is a global solution with shared pain in which all the stakeholders come together with a fair and equitable solution to get to this point. That's where the bankruptcy process is -- legal process. Go ahead.
VELSHI: One of your fellow councilmen, Patty Kim, did not want to file for bankruptcy and this is what she said. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATTY KIM, CITY COUNCILWOMAN, HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA: Our creditors are going to sue us out the wazoo even before we get into bankruptcy court. That's not a good plan for residents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: So what do you make of that point? That because some say you didn't follow the right procedure. This may not be a legal bankruptcy filing. That your creditors will sue you for trying to get out of your responsibilities and that may cause a bigger problem than you already have.
KOPLINSKI: Sure. Sure, absolutely. Well, right now, what we have is a situation where the bankruptcy filing has frozen all of the lawsuits in which the city is being sued right now for money that's being owed.
So number one, that's a good thing. Secondly, this is the right thing for the people of Harrisburg. No one is standing up for the taxpayers of Harrisburg. If this was the political or the -- some would say practical thing to do, we wouldn't have done this.
Listen, I'm up for election in four weeks. All right? This is a popular or practical thing to do, sticking my neck out there? If it was popular or practical, I would keep my mouth shut so I could make sure I win my election. Nobody is sticking up for the people of Harrisburg, not the bond loaders, not the lobbyists, not these legislators, and I would venture to say this administration, because we have to make our city better than it was and better than it is right now in five years and down the road.
VELSHI: Obviously, there are different views on how so many cities across the United States have to deal with this. The mayor, in this case, wants to sell this troublesome incinerator that seems to be a big part of the problem, wants to lease out city parking lots --
KOPLINSKI: Sure.
VELSHI: -- and raise property taxes. So many cities across the country are having to do that sort of thing, privatize things that were city services, cut certain things. Why is that not a solution for Harrisburg?
KOPLINSKI: I'm not saying that's not necessarily a solution for Harrisburg. If we go into bankruptcy court and we say we are not going to sell or get rid of assets to generate cash to be part of the process, we are going to get laughed out of bankruptcy count. We realize we have to sell the incinerator. It may have to go to something to generate funds. The problem with the plan is, when it says you may sell the incinerator and sell the parking garages, it never left us a new source of revenue. That's why we needed a new source of revenue. The legislator and the plan never allowed us to do that. The problem is we will be bankrupt in five years anyway because we won't be able to sustain our budgets.
VELSHI: Brad Koplinski, thanks so much for joining us and shedding light on the situation.
KOPLINSKI: Thanks.
VELSHI: Brad Koplinski is a city councilman in Harrisburg --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: -- who introduced the resolution seeking bankruptcy for Harrisburg.
COSTELLO: Morning headlines coming your way next.
Also, the world's first scientists solved a puzzle of the Black Plague. So what did they find out? We'll tell you.
ROMANS: And today's "Romans' Numeral," 16,129. Here is a hint --
VELSHI: 10 ounces of gold.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: -- how many customers one company is losing every single day? Losing that many customers a day.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: Who is it?
VELSHI: Who even has that many customers?
ROMANS: So many choices.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: It's 45 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Forty-eight minutes past the hour. Here are your morning headlines. U.S. stock futures trading slightly lower ahead of the opening bell. Now stocks have been climbing since the start of the month as investors feel more optimistic Europe will solve the debt crisis.
Blackberry's maker, Research in Motion, says the problem that caused a four-day blackout has been fixed. But because of a backlog of messages there may still be disruptions in service.
More than a dozen people reportedly hurt after two Amtrak trains crashed in Oakland, California. Authorities say one of the trains was parked and dropping off passengers when it was hit behind with another -- by another train, rather.
One of Moammar Gadhafi's sons has reportedly been captured by rebel soldiers. The head of Libya's National Transitional Council said he was arrested while trying to escape after a fire fight in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte.
Two U.S. hikers, who spent over two years in an Iranian jail, will meet this afternoon with the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal will be accompanied by Sarah Shourd, who was also in prison but freed last year.
South Korea's president and first lady will be the honored guests at a White House state dinner tonight. And then on Friday, the president will accompany President Obama on a visit to General Motors in Detroit.
And members of Congress have finally come together and agreed on something. Yesterday, they passed several free trade agreements that are supposed to boost exports to South Korea, Panama and Colombia.
Herman Cain now leading the field of Republican candidates for president. The latest NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll has the Georgia businessman on top with 27 percent of the votes. That's four points higher than Mitt Romney.
That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING, back after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: An ominous looking sky over Atlanta this morning. 62 degrees and, as you can see, cloudy. Thunderstorms later and 72 degrees.
Good morning, Atlanta. Wake up.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: It looks like San Francisco, doesn't it?
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: The morning's "Roman's Numeral" is equally murky and depressing for the company involved. COSTELLO: Oh.
ROMANS: The number is 16,129. That's the number of customers Blackberry's Research in Motion is losing every day.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: That's according to a new study by comScore. Every month they loose a half a million customers.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: People just turn in their Blackberries and getting something else. In the past year, the company has lost 4.3 million customers and now has about the same number of users as it did in late 2009.
VELSHI: So, there are several problems at play here. One is this particular service issue. Two is that some software issues they've with new releases and, of course, the growing competition in Androids and iPhones.
COSTELLO: Well, if you even look at the product, it looks antiquated now, doesn't it? Compared to an iPhone?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I've got the --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: -- which touch screen, and they look the same.
COSTELLO: They're trying.
VELSHI: They are trying. One of the criticisms specifically around the last few days -- this is a bit of a fair criticism of Research in Motion, the bosses are nowhere to be seen on this one. You know, even for the first two days, there were sort of these weird denials of things not being broken, and it becomes difficult. Just get out in front of it. And I think they're trying to do that now. We spoke to the managing director of the U.K. office, which is where the trouble seems to be originating, and I thought he was pretty straight forward.
COSTELLO: Yes. He apologized.
VELSHI: He apologized, very, very clearly.
COSTELLO: He said he was sorry.
VELSHI: But --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: You can be as sorry as you want, but you're losing 16,000 customers a day. I know why they're sorry? The stock was down 50 percent last year.
VELSHI: I mean, I've used -- we've all used them for a long time.
COSTELLO: Yes.
VELSHI: 10 years I've had a Blackberry of some sort, and generally they do what you need. But this is a business where generally doesn't cut it.
COSTELLO: But other devices do so much more.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: And I think that's what people were hungry for. Even when you use these things for your business, it's just nice to have.
VELSHI: Right. I think the reliability is one of the biggest issues. People want to know that it will do what you need when they say you need it.
COSTELLO: That's the first thing it needs to do, right?
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: Secrets of the Black Death revealed after 700 years. Scientists say they now have cracked the genetic code of the Black Plague. Skeletons of a cemetery where Black Death victims were buried in the 14th century were used to decode the DNA of the disease. The plague killed between 30 million --
ROMANS: Wow.
COSTELLO: -- and 50 million people, about one out of every three Europeans. And they found it's not that much different than some bacteria found around today. But we are -- researchers say our bodies are now stronger at fighting off disease. And that simple antibiotics today could beat the Black Plague.
VELSHI: That's interesting.
COSTELLO: Yes, that makes me feel a lot better.
ROMANS: We'll talk more about viruses and things like that later on in the program with the Indiana Jones of Viruses. So that we ask him about that too.
A new report from the CDC says fewer teenagers are having sex. The number down slightly from its last report in 2002. The reason, not the fear of diseases, it's the fear of God. The report asked teens why they chose not to have sex, and the number-one reason, for both males and females, was that it was against their religion or morals. No word on whether they lied on the actual survey.
VELSHI: Didn't we just report yesterday --
COSTELLO: You're such a cynic.
ROMANS: I'm just saying.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: And it's like --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Why are you all laughing at me? We always ask kids about drinking, but then --
VELSHI: Nobody drinks.
ROMANS: And then scientists are wondering, are they lying about the drinking or are they serious about the drinking?
VELSHI: I think, with social media, I don't think anybody lies about having sex. Like having kids tell you so much about -- oh, you can surmise if sex is involved.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: But, didn't we just report that too much sex makes you lose your memory?
COSTELLO: What? So maybe they have forgotten.
VELSHI: That's good (ph).
(LAUGHTER)
All right, listen to this one. You are going to love this one. You're particularly going to love this one. She's so hot that she melts butter instantly, a lot of butter.
(LAUGHTER)
"Maxim" magazine has named Paula Deen, our good friend, 64-year- old Paula Deen as the sexiest female chef on TV.
COSTELLO: Wow.
VELSHI: Because butter is sexy, y'all.
(LAUGHTER)
The magazine explains that dangerously high-calorie dishes are a bit of a turn on. And thinking about her, apparently makes them hungry for a beer-battered, bacon-wrapped fried stick of butter. Weirdly.
Paula Deen beat out Padma Lakshmi and Giada de Laurentiis for the honor.
COSTELLO: Wow. ROMANS: She even puts a stick of butter in a pound of hamburger before she puts it on the grill.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Because butter makes everything better, y'all. That's what she says.
VELSHI: That's right.
COSTELLO: And it makes you sexy, so, ladies and gentlemen, if you're cooking dinner, add some butter.
VELSHI: Y'all.
COSTELLO: Time for our "Talk Back" question of the day. The question we ask you this morning -- getting serious now -- what should the United States do about Iran?
This from David, "Let the Saudis handle it, maybe with a little help from Israel. The Saudis can afford to spend billions on military equipment, cruise missiles, F-16s and bombs, and we're set up to build them. So more jobs for Americans, not more fighting wars."
This from Mark, "Nothing, stay out of it. No Americans were killed or hurt in this plot. We have enough problems already. We don't need another war."
This from Scott, "Iran is out of control. I believe military action is the only option. We need to deal with this now while it's a relatively small problem instead of waiting for it to grow to the point we are forced to deal with it, which would result in major disasters.
And this from Sherry, "We should formerly ridicule them for their weird plot. They don't like to be laughed at."
Keep the comments coming, Facebook.com/Americanmorning. We'll read more later.
ROMANS: All right, top stories when we return, including Herman Cain's 9, 9, 9 plan. Is it a solution or is it a slogan? Jon Huntsman called it the price of a pizza. We're going to check out the pros and cons.
(LAUGHTER)
It's 57 minutes after the hour.
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