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American Morning
Camp Victory Tribute; Asia Joins Wall Street's Rally; World Markets Ride Wall Street's Rally; Cain Still "Reassessing" Campaign; Plaguing Cain; New Sandusky Accuser; Egypt Waits For Election Results; Clinton Meeting Aung San Suu Kyi; World AIDS Day; Grammy Nominations; China Hiding Nukes in Tunnels?; Second Day of Hearings for Reagan Shooter; Cain "Reevaluating" Campaign Future; Iraq Tribute Ceremony; Cain Still "Reassessing"; World AIDS Day
Aired December 01, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Marking the end and the beginning. Iraq holding its ceremony this morning honoring U.S. soldiers who are leaving after more than eight years of war.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Rally on. Can world markets keep it going after the Dow has its biggest day of the year?
COSTELLO: And U.S. students pick up China's nuclear secrets. What's the country hiding behind an underground great wall on this AMERICAN MORNING?
ROMANS: Good morning, everyone. It is Thursday, December 1st. Ali is off today. I'm Christine Romans along with my friend, Carol Costello. Good morning.
COSTELLO: Happy day before Friday. Up first this hour, Iraqi officials honoring the service and sacrifice of U.S. and coalition troops as well as their own in a special ceremony at Camp Victory overnight.
Vice President Biden was on hand. The event coming just weeks before American troops complete their withdrawal from Iraq. CNN's Martin Savidge live in Baghdad. We were hoping you could attend that ceremony, but you could not.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. You are right. We were told just about 12 hours before that ceremony was to begin. That western members of the media were not allowed to attend.
Even though in the build up in the week ahead, we have been told absolutely we would be there. The explanation that was given was security. Does not appear we were the primary security threat, but the concern was that they only had limited space.
This is actually going to be held indoors for security reasons at a palace out there at Camp Victory because they needed to get the soldiers in and because they needed get the dignitaries in and because they needed to get Iraqi media in, there wasn't enough room for the western media.
So that's why we weren't there, but as you say, that ceremony is wrapping up now. You had Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, you had the president of Iraq. You also had Vice President Joe Biden who was there.
A little bit of a discrepancy as to what this was all about. The Iraqis says, well, this commemorates the official end of the U.S. involvement or the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. The American military are saying no. That's not what this is about. It's actually about a service to commemorate the sacrifice that was made by U.S. service members and by Iraqi military forces.
That is exactly what the vice president was addressing, too. But he did say this does mark the end of the war. That is a significant statement in either in Iraq or in the United States -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Martin Savidge reporting live from Baghdad this morning, thanks.
Meantime, this morning overseas, markets are riding the wave of Wall Street's rallies. Stocks closed up in Asia. The markets are mixed right now in Europe. All of this coming after a milestone day for your investments.
The Dow posting its biggest day in more than two and a half years yesterday, a 490-point rally. That's rare, folks. Nasdaq, S&P 500 also up more than 4 percent. Why? The Fed teamed up with other central banks around the world to shore up the global financial system.
Again, another very rare move and something we haven't seen since the bad old days of 2008. Our Nina Dos Santos is live in London.
Nina, good morning. The question for everyone now is, can it keep going or is the Fed's move -- the global central bank's move, a Band-Aid on a pretty bad wound?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONALCORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Christine. Well, that's exactly what many investors are asking themselves today because, as you say, we had that massive bounce in world markets.
The United States markets closing up to 2 to 4.25 percent. Similar situation here in Europe. What we are already seeing the doubts centering these markets particularly the Euro zone markets like the DAX and Frankfurt and also the CAC quarante or CAC 40 in Paris.
Those two markets showing signs of weakness today and that's basically because many economists are concerned that even though we did see this super-important concerted effort for the world's central banks to step in when the euro zone policymakers haven't stepped in is still perhaps might not be enough in that.
And absolutely followed up with some kind of concerns concerted -- concerted leadership, let's say, from the euro zone, 17 heads of state.
ROMANS: So it is basically the world's central bank saying look, we are too -- too close to the brink here and the cost of dollar funding got too alarming. We are going to try to -- we are going to try to put salve on the wound. There's still a lot of work to be done in Europe.
SANTOS: Yes. There's plenty more work to be done in Europe. We've already had an indication from some of the really senior policymakers in the European Union saying that we have only got about 10 days to solve this crisis.
Otherwise, the single currency could fail. That could bring down not just the single currency that's shared by 17 nations, but the other 10 part of the European Union as well. so this is some pretty sobering messages that are coming out of the heads of the European state.
And we're also talking about a day when big countries in the euro zone like, for instance, France, Spain, have tested the bond markets raising about $11 billion worth of funding. But as we know, each time they do so, Christine, they have to pay more money out because it is getting more and more risky.
ROMANS: We're watching this credit markets still to see how this is all going to fare and then, you know, three and a half hours when the stock market opens here. So we will watch futures as well. Nina Dos Santos, thank you, Nina.
COSTELLO: On to politics now, the donations may be drying up, but Herman Cain is not giving up yet. The embattled candidate says he's still reassessing his presidential campaign and will make a decision about what weather to press on by Friday.
If he is throwing in the towel, it is sure hard to tell, Cain is getting ready to launch a new TV ad in Iowa. CNN's deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser is live in Washington. But the big test for Cain, I supposed, will come Friday when he meets face to face with the misses.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, we really are getting kind of two messages from Herman Cain, from the Republican presidential candidate.
Talking yesterday to crowds in Ohio, he sounded pretty forceful, pretty determined to march on. But talking to reporters he said yes, it is going to come down to a meeting with his family starting Friday. Take a listen to what he told reporters last night in New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Number one, since I have been campaigning all week, I haven't had an opportunity sit down with her and walk through this with my wife and my family. I will do that when I get back home on Friday.
Secondly, re-evaluate the support of my supporters. It has been overwhelming so far. Thirdly, re-evaluate the impact that this has on fundraising.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Fundraising is very, very important here. Cain in that news conference last night did acknowledge it. His fundraising took a hit earlier this week after a Georgia businesswoman came out and alleged that she had a 13-year affair with Cain.
But he said the numbers are starting to rebound. He also said some of his fair weather or warm weather supporters have started to drop off. Again, all eyes will be on Cain, I guess, starting next week.
If he goes back on the campaign trail, I guess, things are back to normal, but if he maybe holds a news conference in Atlanta, his home base, maybe that's a signal that it is the beginning of the end -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, he is releasing this new ad in Iowa. That's going to be released, what, today or tomorrow?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. Coming out tomorrow, it's the second ad in Iowa. It is not a very big bite. They're not spending a lot of money on this ad, just about $80,000.
But the ad basically touts Herman Cain's business credentials for the presidency touting his many years in corporate and business world. So that is one signal that maybe he is continuing on.
Also the campaign says they expect the candidate to be the next presidential debate, which is in Iowa on December 10th. But of course, that could all be very different if he comes out next week and announces he is stopping his campaign -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Paul Steinhauser, thanks to you.
Tonight, a CNN exclusive, Piers Morgan goes one on one with Herman Cain's attorney, Lyn Wood, that's at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.
ROMANS: All right, the first lawsuit has now been filed in the Penn State sex abuse scandal. It is coming from a new accuser who is not included in criminal charges. The lawsuit claims that Jerry Sandusky abused this boy more than 100 times and threatened the boy's family into keeping quiet.
The victim who is now 29 years old also claims that Sandusky's abuse began well before authorities think it began and the suit also names Sandusky's Second Mile charity and Penn State University. COSTELLO: We could learn the first initial results from Egypt's parliamentary elections today about the Muslim Brotherhood and the Al- Nour Salafist Muslim Party claimed they're ahead in the ballot counting. Once the lawmakers are selected they will have to draft a new constitution.
ROMANS: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi today. Their dinner comes one day after the Nobel Peace prize winner announced she intends to run for parliament in the Southeast Asian nation. Clinton's visit there is the first by U.S. secretary of state in five decades.
COSTELLO: Today, President Obama will mark World AIDS Day by taking part in a panel discussion on the disease at George Washington University. Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will join via satellite. It will be moderated by Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
And today at noon, CNN welcomes Bono to the NEWSROOM.
ROMANS: Here?
COSTELLO: No, he might be in Atlanta.
ROMANS: Darn.
COSTELLO: But maybe he's in New York. I don't know. But he will be on CNN, I know that. He will be joined by Dr. Gupta to discuss AIDS day and what still needs to be done in the fight against HIV today in the CNN NEWSROOM at noon Eastern.
ROMANS: All right, it's music's biggest night. The 54th Annual Grammys, Kanye West scored the most seven nominations. Surprisingly he was shut out of the album of the year category, but the real showstopper is Adele.
British singer came away with six nods including record, song and album of the year. She is a clear favorite to take home the most awards this year. Bruno Mars and Fu Fighters also tied with six. The Grammy will air in February.
She came out of nowhere. I mean, I feel like she came out of nowhere and just -- that voice, you know, amazing, absolutely.
COSTELLO: She is like the Amy Winehouse, right?
ROMANS: Right.
COSTELLO: Just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, China hiding nuclear secrets deep underground, thousands of miles of tunnels. What U.S. students uncovered on the web about China's military secrets.
ROMANS: A college cheerleader hospitalized after her stunt goes very wrong. That video straight ahead.
COSTELLO: Santa is stuck on a rope. He can't get down. This mall Santa could have used a sleigh and some reindeer to avoid a major malfunction. Ten minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. It's being called China's underground great wall. The country may be hiding a major secret about its nuclear capability and enormous network of secret tunnels. Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While the Chinese were building these tunnels, a Georgetown professor was digging into China.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Students downloaded 200 hours of Chinese video.
LAWRENCE: Dr. Philip Karber and his team of students have produced the world's largest report on China's tunnels. China admits they were dug by a secret branch of its military responsible for deploying ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads.
PROF. PHILLIP KARBER, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: They had 3,000 miles of these tunnels, 3,000 miles.
LAWRENCE (on camera): Can you put that in any perspective?
KARBER: Imagine a tunnel 30 feet by 20 feet high running from Nova Scotia to Tijuana.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Karber is a former Pentagon strategist who used to look for weaknesses in the old Soviet Union. Based on the size of the tunnels he says China could have as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads.
LAICIE OLSON, CENTER FOR ARMS CONTROL AND NON-PROLIFERATION: The problem with the study and the way that it comes to this estimate is that the students and their professor made the assumption because the -- because China's working on this system of underground tunnels, this must automatically mean that they have -- working on new nuclear weapons.
LAWRENCE: Policy analyst Laicie Olson and others working on Arms Control question the Georgetown team's methods. Olson says suggesting that China has 3,000 weapons is a huge jump from the current estimate of a few hundred warheads could lead rival Asia nations to start an arms race.
OLSON: It all leads us to estimates that could potentially impact foreign policy in a very negative way.
LAWRENCE: But students who saw through 200 hours of video and translated more than a million words disagree.
NICK YAROSH, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY STUDENT: Seeing hundreds of thousands of Chinese men who worked to build these things and hearing their stories, and see how much effort they put into this, is another issue and it shows how important it is to the Chinese military.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They may provoke an arms race, even unintentionally.
LAWRENCE (on camera): Well, no matter how many nuclear weapons you believe China has, the team's research did yield some fascinating revelations including how China reduced disguised rail cars to transport some of its long-range missiles in secret.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Day two of hearings set for the man who shot President Reagan. Lawyers for John Hinckley, Jr. fighting for his freedom saying he is not dangerous and should eventually be released from a government mental hospital. One psychiatrist who evaluated Hinckley said that may depend on whether he's taking his meds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he's on medication, Mr. Hinckley could move in next door to me as far as I'm concerned. If he's not on medication, I would do everything I could to block him from moving in next door.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Government lawyers say Hinckley is still capable of great violence and he recently went to a bookstore to look up information on presidential assassinations. That happened during a visit to his mother's home in Virginia.
ROMANS: Terrifying moments during a college cheerleading routine. Check this out. A Michigan cheerleader, Taylor Young, takes a nasty tumble during a performance at the Michigan State/Florida State basketball game last night. She fell hard, face first.
Medics took her away on a - there you can see the video now - took her away on a stretcher. But she flashed thumbs up and a smile on her way out. She's doing OK, we're told.
It's really - believe it or not, it is a very dangerous sport. And there are a lot of rules -
COSTELLO: Unbelievable.
ROMANS: -- not to (INAUDIBLE) people shoulder high or one man high, you know, you can't go too high because just you have a hard basketball court floor, nothing in between to stop you. It's very dangerous.
COSTELLO: Yes. Good for her, though. That's a brave woman.
Here's one for the Santa blooper rail (ph). A mall Santa trying to make a grand entrance in South Florida ends up getting stuck about halfway down. Turns out his beard got caught in the propelling gear. Eventually he had to rip off that - it was a fake beard, so it was not painful.
ROMANS: Santa has a fake beard? It is like -
COSTELLO: I know. It's shocking.
ROMANS: -- devastating for the children watching this.
COSTELLO: I know. But he had to take it down to make it down all the way to the floor. Looking at the bright side, this could be a teachable moment for kids. I don't know what it might be, but -
ROMANS: I'm told by one of our producers that this is - this is one of Santa's helpers. It's not the actual Santa, who is too busy of course right now overseeing the elves.
COSTELLO: Oh. That's why he had a fake beard because he was a Santa helper.
ROMANS: Right. There you go.
All right. Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center now. Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
If we do show that again, I think it might be wise to give our viewers a warning to move the children out of the room so we can eliminate all of this confusion.
Good morning, guys. It's December 1st, so, you know, just 24, 25 more days until Santa makes the big trip. He wouldn't mind the temperatures across the East Coast. Chilly in some cases cold enough for snow.
But check this out, 30 degrees right now in Atlanta. Frost on the windshields down across the south. So still flip-floppy 38 degrees in New York; 38 degrees in D.C., but things get a little bit back to normal as we go on throughout the day today. Temps will get - although breezy, will be cool like they should be this time of year.
The other big story is out west. This big storm coupled with a deep Arctic air mass, moving into the Rockies. We had winds last night in some parts of L.A., gusting over 100 miles an hour. Mammoth Mountain, they've been sustained about 130, 140 miles an hour. So this is not just through the Canyons, down low into the low lands. This is up on the mountains as well. Back through Nevada and parts of Salt Lake City in Utah also getting this. And today we will see this again.
Maybe briefly dying down in the afternoon and picking back up at night. Winds gusting 60 to 90 miles an hour. And that's in populated areas. So we do have some power outages and probably we will see more today until this event tapers off tomorrow afternoon.
Daytime highs today 55 degrees in Memphis. It will be 61 degrees in Atlanta and 50 degrees in New York City.
If you are traveling today there will be delays. Flights were diverted yesterday from LAX because of the gusty winds and we'll probably see similar events today at least an hour in some spots and at some point today in Los Angeles and San Francisco as well to a lesser extent in New York and Boston.
Also to a lesser extent, we have winds across parts of Lake Erie and the Great Lakes yesterday. So what are you doing, Cleveland? Well, you've got the - get the tide board out. Check it out. Yes, big - big waves as well, 39-knot winds.
Water temperatures there, you know, probably in the 50s right about now. But, hey, listen. If you're in the air, you are not in the water too much.
COSTELLO: Wow.
MARCIANO: Not bad.
COSTELLO: That water has got to be cold, though, Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes, it's chilly. Like I said, it's in the 50s now and the air temperature was no laughing matter either. We got winds - with winds at 30 miles an hour and temperatures in the 40s. That was - that will wake you up in the morning for sure.
ROMANS: And so will the fear of heights, the fear of going into those rocks. All the other things that are - who cares about the cold water. We care about - I care about the whole - the whole thing looks scary to me.
MARCIANO: Exactly.
COSTELLO: It looked pretty cool.
ROMANS: All right. Up next on AMERICAN MORNING, a billionaire investor, Warren Buffett, putting his money someplace you may not expect. We're going to tell you about his latest investment.
COSTELLO: And a shark sighting turns a routine fishing trip into something special and just a little bit terrifying.
It's 20 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. "Minding Your Business."
Will Wall Street's rally lose a little steam this morning? That's what we all want to know. European markets are mixed right now. U.S. stock futures are slightly lower. But it was a huge move yesterday, so a little pullback. Not that much of a surprise. Look at this. So Dow rocketed 490 points higher yesterday. That's about 4.5 percent. That makes the Dow now positive for the year. It's the biggest gain since March of 2009. No question. Not your average triple-digit rally.
The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 also closing up more than four percent. All of this because of a major move by Central Banks to ease the flow of dollars into the global financial system. A very rare intervention to make sure that the banking system stays healthy in Europe.
The global rally pushing commodity prices up across the board. Oil is now over $100 a barrel for the second time in almost six months. And experts tell CNNMoney this time prices may actually keep climbing because of this global economic intervention.
In about two hours from now, we'll get a fresh read on the employment situation in the country. Initial jobless claims report is expected to show that 390,000 unemployment claims were filed for the very first time last week. If that's true, it might be seen as good sign for the labor market.
More than 99,000 Americans could get a nice check just in time for the holidays. The IRS says it's sitting on, get this, $153 million in unclaimed tax refund checks because people didn't update their addresses. If you think you might be entitled to a refund, just head to IRS.gov and click on "Where Is My Refund."
The maker of BlackBerry says it's looking into allegations of hackers who are able to jail break the Playbook tablet. A claim that could threaten Research In Motion's reputation for making devices with tough security. Apple and Google's operating systems are routinely attacked by users who want to run unauthorized programs. But breaches of BlackBerry software are more rare.
And Warren Buffett still betting on newspapers. That's right. His Berkshire Hathaway just announced plans to purchase the Omaha World Herald Company, which owns his hometown newspaper and several other papers in Nebraska and Iowa. Buffett's firm already owns "The Buffalo News: and has a stake in "The Washington Post" Company.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The establishment does not want Herman Cain to get this nomination.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Herman Cain trying to put the brakes on new accusations that he cheated on his wife for 13 years and we are waiting to hear about the future of his campaign on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: And welcome back. It is about 30 minutes after the hour. Time for this morning's top stories.
Just weeks before U.S. troop withdrawal is complete, Iraq holds a tribute ceremony at Camp Victory honoring American troops and those from other countries who fought alongside Iraqi forces during the last eight years.
COSTELLO: The first lawsuit has now been filed in the Penn State sex abuse scandal and it's coming from a new accuser who is not included in criminal charges. The lawsuit claims that Jerry Sandusky abused the boy more than 100 times and threatened his family to keep him quiet.
ROMANS: Initial results from Egypt, its first parliamentary election since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. Those results could be released as early as today. Both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Noor Salafi Muslim Party claim to be the leading in the initial count. The lawmakers who are elected will be in charge of drafting a new constitution.
COSTELLO: We could be witnessing the final hours of Herman Cain's roller coaster campaign. The embattled candidate says he will decide whether to continue his pursuit for the White House on Friday. And he is conceding that a Georgia woman's claim she had an affair with him has shaken his organization.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The day that this latest one hit, fund-raising went way down. I admit that, because a lot of people were in doubt. That's not unusual. But here's the good news. As the week has gone on, and this woman who has made these accusations is basically started to contradict herself, our fund- raising started to go back up. It's not up to the level where it was, but a lot of people are saying, you know what, they don't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. If Herman Cain about to call it quits, there are no apparent signs of surrender yesterday when the candidate barn-stormed across Ohio with our Jim Acosta on his trail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Carol, when asked by CNN whether he is staying in this race, Herman Cain did not give a direct response. It is a sign that at this point, his campaign up in the air.
CROWD: We want Cain! We want Cain!
(voice-over): The crowd was in a fighting mood and so was the candidate.
CAIN: They want you to believe that, with enough character assassination on me, that I will drop out. They --
CROWD: No!
ACOSTA: But in a fiery speech, that was as close as Herman Cain came to talking about the accusations of marital infidelity that now threaten his campaign. The conservative businessman did not deny the allegations, as he has this week, and he made no promises to stay in the race.
CAIN: One of the reasons that they want to try to shoot me down and tear me down is because of the strength of my message that's resonating with the American people.
ACOSTA: But he accused unnamed political forces of trying to block his quest for the GOP nomination.
CAIN: The establishment does not want Herman Cain to get this nomination. The liberals do not want Herman Cain to get this nomination, but I happen to believe that the American people have a different idea.
ACOSTA: After the speech, the man behind the 9-9-9 tax plan sounded 50-50 on whether he will remain a candidate.
(on camera): Mr. Cain, Mr. Cain, Jim Acosta with CNN. Are you vowing to stay in this race? Is that your message?
CAIN: We are reassessing and reevaluating.
ACOSTA: Are you staying in the race?
CAIN: We are reevaluating and reassessing.
How are you?
ACOSTA: How soon until we have a final answer on your future plans?
CAIN: We will be making a decision in the next several days.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Supporters at the event were still lining up for yard signs long after the candidate was gone.
Diane Phillips questioned whether the allegations dogging Cain's campaign are true.
DIANE PHILLIPS, CAIN SUPPORTER: What is a woman in his background compared to all the socialists and communists and whatever that were in Obama's background? They elected him. So I don't worry about that woman as much as I do the theology and the ideology of the man. I want him in there.
Either way, Karla Creager said it won't change her vote.
KARL CREAGER, CAIN SUPPORTER: I don't know whether it's true or not. But I still hope he keeps on fighting.
ACOSTA: Cain's campaign strategy is as mysterious as his future. He just spent a full day barnstorming through Ohio, a state that doesn't hold its primary until June 12th, a full six months after the Iowa caucuses -- Christine and Carol.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Jim Acosta, thanks to you.
Republicans now pushing a new way to keep the payroll tax cut on the books. Senate Republican leaders introduced a bill that will keep the payroll tax rate at its current level for another year by freezing the pay of federal employees through 2015. The GOP plan also invites billionaires and millionaires like Warren Buffett to voluntarily pay more taxes if they feel they aren't being taxed enough.
Democrats want to tax everyone making more than a million dollars to pay for the payroll tax cuts. It could cost the average family $1,000 if Congress lets it expire.
ROMANS: Yes. This is a fight that's happening now that affects literally every working family in America, what happens to this payroll tax holiday. And one interesting thing that the Republicans did as well yesterday, Carol, is they also said that they wanted to stop millionaires from getting food stamps and unemployment benefits, that they could raise millions of dollars that way.
COSTELLO: What?
ROMANS: I'm going to have more on that in the next hour.
COSTELLO: What? What?
ROMANS: That's right.
COSTELLO: Millionaires are actually collecting --
ROMANS: That's what the GOP says. So, that's their way of saying that, look, you know, there's a lot of excess in the system. And you start to bring out some of that, waste and fraud and abuse, and we can get some more money. Also, by means testing on Medicare. We'll talk more about it next hour.
But a former Colorado Sheriff of the Year is behind bars this morning. Sixty-eight-year-old Patrick Sullivan Jr. is accused of dealing meth in return for sex from another man. Police began investigating Sullivan in October. He's now being held on a half million dollar bond in a jail that is ironically Carol named after him.
COSTELLO: Wow.
Stunning images of a plane crash at Boeing field in Seattle. The small aircraft began to take off but it crashed shortly after that. It hit an unmanned parked plane. That means it was empty. And then it flipped over. Both planes caught fire.
Two people were inside the cockpit but they managed to walk away with only minor injuries.
ROMANS: A rare and stunning sight off the North Carolina coast. A great white shark. About fisherman took video of the great white on his iPhone. There are about 25 miles out when they spotted the shark. He said it swam around them for some 20 minutes, even slapping the boat with his tail.
COSTELLO: Glad that's the only thing it slapped the boat with, huh?
Let the bidding wars begin. Longtime talk show host Larry King is joining in on the effort to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is part after group of investors interested in taking over the franchise. King says he has been a Dodgers fan since he was a kid. And it would be a thrill of a lifetime to become a partial owner.
ROMANS: All right. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, are you ready for some NBA basketball? I mean, NBA team facilities, they're finally going to be open today for players to work out. We are going to talk to a former pro-athlete about what the players and the fans can expect after such a long lockout.
COSTELLO: And the pastor of presidents. The Reverend Billy Graham hospitalized again. We'll have the latest on the 93-year-old's condition.
It's 36 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Thirty-nine minutes past the hour. Welcome back.
And they are back. NBA players can begin using team practice facilities today as they prepare for the start of training camp in just eight days. The lockout shortened season begins on Christmas Day.
Our next guest has written piece in "TIME" magazine on the impact of the NBA lockout on its players and especially on its fans.
Doug Glanville, ESPN analyst and former Major League Baseball player, joins us now.
Thanks for coming in so early. We appreciate it.
DOUG GLANVILLE, ESPN ANALYST: Absolutely. Good morning.
COSTELLO: So, do you think the excitement is still there for basketball?
GLANVILLE: I think people don't know what to expect. Certainly Christmas brings a lot of central attention to the game. So, they're definitely be excited to finally get it going. But there's uncertainty. You don't know who is even going to be on what roster this time.
So a lot of things have to be worked out.
COSTELLO: So, supposedly on Christmas Day, there are going to be like three different games or something showing. Do you think that people will really take time out to watch all of those basketball games?
GLANVILLE: Well, there are also discussions about adding a couple more. So, they maybe up to five games. So, it's definitely a cram job. They have to get everything in and start it off with a bang. So, it will be interesting to see how the fans respond to that because all of a sudden, out of nowhere, games are starting.
COSTELLO: When baseball went on strike, fans got so angry. And I was one of them, frankly. I couldn't watch a baseball game for a long time just because it's like what are you doing? You are ignoring the person that's most important in this scenario and that would be the fan. Do basketball fans feel the same way?
GLANVILLE: Well, they have a different experience from '98 to '98, which was the last lockout. They didn't lose the finals. Major League Baseball lost the World Series. So, that's the golden goose and people are very insulted and carried that with them for a long time.
Basketball lost a little bit of attendance in '98 and '99. But it wasn't a huge drop compared to baseball.
COSTELLO: And just about conditioning of the players right now, there's not -- like you write in your article, there's nothing quite like practicing with a bunch of pros. You can go -- you can work out on your own or with your brother or something. But it's just not the same. And that might mean more injuries for these NBA players who have been, you know, sitting, waiting for this thing to be over.
GLANVILLE: Absolutely. And that's a huge concern. I mean, December 9th, they're getting involved. All of a sudden, now, you have to get 16 days to try to be ready important this Christmas extravaganza. And guys are getting hurt.
You have free agents who haven't sign yet and they are trying to scramble to figure out what's next. You have rookie players unfamiliar with training camp routine. So, they don't have a lot of time. That usually makes players susceptible to more injuries.
COSTELLO: I have heard that because it's a shortened season, it might actually be better. I have heard that theory. Do you agree with that?
GLANVILLE: Well, if it started, there's more games -- the frequency of games. But it depends on the perspective. If you are a player and you're trying to get yourself oriented, maybe you're about to sign with a new team and you have to move your family halfway across country, that's a huge challenge. You're not sure about your health.
The fans may see more games more often but there are matchups that are going to be lost because they used to play every city, every team in the league. Now, there's a couple that are going to be drop off. So, maybe you don't see Kobe Bryant in Charlotte, or maybe you don't see LeBron James in New York. So, there's going to be games lost that are going to be great matchups.
COSTELLO: Yes, I was going to ask you that. What team do you think will be hurt most by the shortened season?
GLANVILLE: Well, definitely, the veteran teams. The teams that are older and have that experience and rely on the timeline to get ready for the season. Those teams are going to suffer because endurance questions at the end of the year. We saw that with Patrick Ewing in 1998, 1999. He hurt his Achilles heel in the finals, or before the finals. So, attrition is going to affect these veteran teams. That may be a huge factor this year.
COSTELLO: OK. So, will you be watching every single game on Christmas Day?
GLANVILLE: With some eggnog, though.
COSTELLO: Lots of eggnog. Thank you so much for coming in. We appreciate it.
GLANVILLE: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Christine?
ROMANS: OK, Carol.
"THE NEXT LIST" is the new CNN programming focusing on some of America's most creative minds. Each Sunday, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to profile people on the cutting edge of technology and innovation. And this week, Sanjay visits the whacky world of robots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the beginning I have always gotten to be able to create robots that people cared about and that were installed in places where I could watch that interaction. When you see people laugh, when you see their eyes light up, that definitely makes you want to keep doing what you are doing. That was awesome.
ROBOT: Thank you, everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Man, he loves an audience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: You can catch "THE NEXT LIST" each Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
COSTELLO: And still to come on AMERICAN MORNING: unsolved murders on Long Island. Police with new revelations about who may have dumped 10 bodies along the remote beach.
Forty-four minutes past the hour.
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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A single invention promises to make driving green, safer and cheaper. It's not a new car, it's a new road.
SCOTT BRUSAW, CO-FOUNDER, SOLAR ROADWAYS: A lot of people at least initially were off to a raucous.
BALDWIN: Scott Brusaw created Solar Roadways, a company that's developing glass road panels embedded with solar cells.
BRUSAW: If you could replace all of asphalt and concrete surfaces in the lower 48 states, the road could provide electricity to the nation, surrounding buildings or homes or whatever.
(voice-over): For those wondering if the glass will break, the developers say each 12 by 12 foot panel can support at least 80 tons. A solar roadway can light up to let you know there's an accident ahead or heat up to melt snow in the winter.
BRUSAW: That's the fun part of engineering. It's just coming up with more and more ideas and realizing that this is actually a wonderful thing.
BALDWIN: It's early. Solar Roadway is still working on the prototype. Up next, they're building a solar parking lot to test in all weather conditions.
Brooke Baldwin, CNN, Atlanta.
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ROMANS: Welcome back. Forty-eight minutes past the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
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ROMANS (voice-over): Iraq giving thanks in a camp victory ceremony. Iraqi leaders pay tribute to the foreign troops who fought there over the past eight years. The U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq is scheduled to be complete by the end of the month.
Herman Cain says he'll have a decision about the future of his presidential campaign in the next several days. The embattled candidate admits a Georgia woman's claim that denies that she had an affair with him, but he admits that it's taking a toll on his wife and his campaign contributions.
Police in New York now believe that a single serial killer may be responsible for the ten set of human remains found along a Long Island Beach. Officials initially suspected multiple killers were involved. Police also say the body of a woman who triggered that investigation is still missing.
Today, President Obama will mark World AIDS Day by taking part in a panel discussion at George Washington University and what needs to be done in the fight against HIV. Former president, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, will also join via satellite.
The Reverend Billy Graham is in a North Carolina hospital. The 93-year-old evangelist is being monitored and treated for possible pneumonia. Graham has met with 12 presidents dating back to Harry Truman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two, one.
ROMANS: Wow. New York officially ready for Christmas. The Rockefeller Christmas tree lit up at a ceremony last night. 30,000 lights decorate the 74-foot Norway spruce. The tree came from a small town in Pennsylvania.
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ROMANS (on-camera): That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this.
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COSTELLO: And welcome back. Anything can happen on live television, trust me. NBC anchor, Brian Williams, found it out the other night when a fire alarm went off and continued for most of his nightly newscast.
ROMANS: He was pretty cool under fire, and it got us thinking about some other alarming television moments. Jeanne Moos.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No cause for alarm.
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Uh-oh.
MOOS: Fire alarms go off everywhere, from the U.N. to church.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No play --
MOOS: But the one that went off at the beginning of the "NBC Nightly News" made news.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, ANCHOR, "NIGHTLY NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS": For all the bankruptcies we've covered in this grim U.S. economy, this one gets your attention. You'll forgive us.
MOOS: The alarm was unforgiving.
WILLIAMS: Well, perhaps, not something special anymore. MOOS: It went on.
WILLIAMS: Andrea, thanks. The fire alarm, we assured everybody, we have been given the all clear and is back on.
MOOS: And on.
WILLIAMS: Thanks for bearing with us here.
MOOS: Not totally stopping until 23 minutes into the newscast.
WILLIAMS: We continue to be under no danger. It's just clearing the electronics.
MOOS: But poor Brian Williams is not alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Especially in some (FIRE ALARM) already close races here in the northeast. Fire alarm.
MOOS: The fire alarm has been alarming anchors regularly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to sneak into the U.S. now facing (FIRE ALARM)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my goodness.
MOOS: Connie Chung was tortured by one during her very first show at CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-oh. There it goes again.
MOOS (on-camera): There is one surefire TV strategy when the fire alarm goes of when you're live on the air. Go to break.
(voice-over) No, even that --
WILLIAMS: We'll take break. We'll be right back.
MOOS: Didn't help Brian Williams. In his case, workers changing ventilation filters in the new studio triggered the alarm, but sometimes, it's the real thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Florida became the first state to allow citizens -- excuse me we're having some technical problems in the studio. Let me try to get through this and while we figure out what to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to have to go to a break, guys. We have a fire in the studio.
MOOS: Abandon set, the popped light was shooting sparks.
(on-camera) The award for best impersonation of a fire warden goes to -- calling Chef Smith at Fox News.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was never fire here, but they go off and in just a minute some dude on the 50th floor will come on and he'll go hello, this is the fire warden, nothing bad has happened. There is a lady stuck in toilet in the 31st floor.
MOOS: The price for most zen reaction goes to Stevie Wonder.
STEVIE WONDER, SINGER: I'm trying to figure out a new melody.
(LAUGHTER)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MOOS: Alarm. (FIRE ALARM)
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
(on-camera) Go to break.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There may be a fire on this floor, next.
MOOS (voice-over): New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: He was excellent, wasn't he? Good for him.
Herman Cain fighting to stay in the presidential race and the voice of late night are really hoping he hangs around. Take a look.
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JIMMY FALLON, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON: Interesting fact. Listen to this. I read that the NYPD has stopped and frisked more than 500,000 people this year, which means if they frisked just 1,000 more, they'll tie Herman Cain.
(LAUGHTER)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, CONAN: You're keeping up with this Herman Cain's mistress thing? You know, everyone is talking about it as we keep getting more information. This is the latest, Herman Cain's mistress, she's a woman named Ginger White.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Yes. When I heard this I was startled because Ginger White is my nickname.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Still to come this morning, a CNN exclusive. We're taking you inside the Occupy Wall Street operation. Cameras have not been allowed in until now. And you'd be surprised where it is. It's 55 minutes after the hour.
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