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CNN Sunday Morning

Computer Problems Ground American Airlines; Tropical Depression Headed For North Carolina; Statue of Liberty Reopens

Aired August 01, 2004 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, it's Sunday, August 01. A busy news night, overnight. This is CNN SUNDAY MORNING, I'm Drew Griffin.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone, I'm Catherine Callaway and thanks for starting your day with us today.

Well the campaign caravan continues this morning; we're going to check in on the latest stops for the president and his opponent, John Kerry in just a few minutes. But first, here's what's happening in the news now.

GRIFFIN: Police searching for a missing Utah woman are expected to hold a news conference later today. Saturday, the family of Lori Hacking asked volunteers to stop searching for her. The family said new information made this search unnecessary.

Authorities say new intelligence suggest al-Qaeda is targeting sites in New York for a new attack. At risk are commercial and financial institutions. A Homeland Security Department source said Washington D.C. might also be target. There are no details on possible attack methods or times.

The Coast Guard says the Clipper Odyssey has been re-floated. This ship ran a ground Saturday, late Saturday on a reef in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Passengers and non-essential crewmembers were evacuated. No reports of injuries. There is concern about 5,000 gallons of fuel that leaked after the accident.

And none of the original documents former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger reviewed at the National Archives are missing. The Justice Department is investigating reports that Berger may have removed items from the National Archives. Berger's lawyer has said his client returned photo copies after he was questioned about missing items.

It is illegal to remove any classified material in any from form the archives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: And as we said, breaking news to tell you about this morning with some major flight delays and cancellations. And CNN's Rally Caparas is on the line with us, he keeps his eye on the skies for us here at CNN.

Rally, what can you tell us? What's happening?

RALLY CAPARAS, CNN AIR TRAFFIC SPECIALIST: Well, good morning Cathleen (sic) and Drew. It looks like American Airlines and American Eagle flights, the so mall commuter division of American Airlines, are having computer problems.

Their software programs are not allowing their pilots to file their flight plans and when this happens it does not transfer the data to the air traffic control facilities, the airplanes cannot be tracked safely, and therefore, they've grounded all flights for American and American Eagle, this morning.

They're supposed to be updating the system or getting us new information at about 9:30 a.m. Eastern time. But, until then, all American and American Eagle flights will continue to be grounded.

This has happened before in the past with other airlines, it usually takes an hour to two hours or so to get the systems back up and running correctly. However, it is a new program that they're using, so it's an indefinite timeframe as to what we can expect, but there will be an update at about 9:30 a.m. Eastern time.

I assure you there is some information that the FAA is putting out that is hard to interpret and therefore, some folks are thinking that all flights have been grounded across the country. It is only American Airlines and American eagle -- Cathleen (sic).

CALLAWAY: I know Rally, you're referring to the Web site which indeed can be confusing. But any idea how -- how many flights, how many passengers this effect this morning?

CAPARAS: Well Cathleen (sic), this it's really difficult to at this moment, I've -- this has brought to my attention over about the last hour. I've tried to interpret how many airplanes this is going to affect, but at this point it's nearly impossible to figure that out. I will have some more information for you later as things develop, but for now, it's just in the hundreds, for sure.

CALLAWAY: All right, Rally, thank you very much, I'm sure we'll be talking with you again this morning.

That's Rally Caparas.

In other news this morning, police in Utah could shed some new light on the case of a missing Utah woman today. They're expected to hold a news conference. In the meantime, relatives of Lori Hacking want volunteers to stop searching for her. They released a statement Saturday to the media, in part the statement reads:

"The families understand that Mark Hacking has provided information that makes it unnecessary for the volunteer search to continue. At this time the families ask that all efforts from volunteers cease and that anyone with information that might be helpful to contact the Salt Lake City Police Department." The families also said that they "remain supportive of the police investigation."

And relatives Hacking also said that "as in any situation of this nature, the help from the public has been invaluable, and the families are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love and support they've received."

GRIFFIN: Turning now to the threats of terror in New York City. New intelligence suggests that al-Qaeda is planning to attack businesses in the city, perhaps using car or truck bombs. Our Ali Velshi has been on this all morning from New York and joins us now with the latest -- Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Drew, good to see you again. As you know we've been trying to gather information from disparate sources about what's going on here. Law enforcement officials calling this threat credible, but once again, not specific enough about time and/or method to elevate the level of threat that New York has been under since September 11, 2001.

Let me tell you what we do know. The Joint Terrorism Task Force, a federal, and New York officials met this weekend after the FBI issued a threat advisory to law enforcement officials saying al-Qaeda might be planning to target corporate and financial institutions as well as institutional -- international organizations -- international institutions in New York.

Now, the biggest of those international organizations, the United Nations we have learned, taking this threat very seriously, visibly beefing up its security patrols around the perimeter on Manhattan's eastside. Security in New York, in general, has been beefed up ahead of the end this month's republican convention, here in New York.

Heavily armed police officers, members of the Hercules Force, the elite force, can be seen throughout the city. They are deployed all over. They are using -- they're, in fact, conducting large-scale drills at various points in Manhattan.

Now you are looking at Wall Street. The terror threat doesn't specifically cite Wall Street, but because it cites financial institutions and corporate headquarters, the assumption is that it may be around the financial district.

That, of course, is one of the most heavily guarded parts of the city, already. Sources we've spoken to say while this general threat, the idea of a general threat, is not new, what might be new about this is the suggestion of a suicide element. There are specific references, at least in the warnings, to building security around Manhattan about checking cars and people around buildings.

You'll recall the 1993 World Trade Center bombing involved a vehicle and since then there have been extra efforts taken on by building security to check vehicles visibly with dogs, with mirrors, things like that. Also, police are advising building management, lockup your roofs, your maintenance rooms, check your access to your heating and ventilation systems so that someone from outside can't gain access to it and perhaps spread some sort of contaminant through the building's ventilation system.

That's where we're at now. We continue to investigate all of these leads about potential threats in D.C., as well, and how specific the threat is in New York is -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: Ali, thanks for your report this morning. We want to talk more about this now with -- from New York's George Bauries, a former FBI agent. He's also part, right now, of the New Jersey Counter-Terrorism Force.

Good morning, thanks for joining us, sir.

We hear a lot about the warnings and now people are trying to wage whether or not this is just the usual kind of chatter we get or is this more specific? Can you tell us?

GEORGE BAURIES, CRITERION STRATEGIES, INC.: Drew, I've spoken to my sources and they indicated an increase of activity through the weekend period, however, it's basically focused on carrying out leads and doing proper investigation and they are focusing on the New York metro area and has been reported earlier on the financial and corporate sectors.

GRIFFIN: And what is the specific threat there, as they relate to the corporate centers?

BAURIES: It's not a specific threat. It's in terms of re- enforcing the policies and the safety procedures, being more cognizant of any visitors that you didn't expect, suspicious packages, and just making sure that security forces, both uniformed and private security forces, are being extremely consistent with their policies of checking and maintaining current protocols.

GRIFFIN: Mr. Bauries, do you know if the source of this threat is chatter from overseas or is it a source here in the United States? There's been some talk about people coming across the Mexican border.

BAURIES: Drew, I do not know the actual source, whether it's chatter or like you had referred to, individuals coming across the border, but rather that it's just increase investigative activity in the New York metropolitan area.

GRIFFIN: And as a member of the New Jersey Counter-Terrorism Force, are you concerned about what could be the potential of a car or truck bomb in this metropolitan area?

BAURIES: Drew, I am. However, I think we need to be careful to focus on -- you know, totality of security and that's not just focused on a truck or car bomb, but also potentially a suicide bomber and, again, going back to policies and procedures, such as I do with my consulting group, Criterion Strategies, and focusing on maintaining the corporate structure and that protocols are followed. So, I would not overemphasize truck or car bombs, but rather corporate institutions following policies and procedures that are in place at the current time.

GRIFFIN: George Bauries, former FBI agent now working with New Jersey's Counter-Terrorism Force. Thanks for joining us on this developing story.

BAURIES: Thank you, Drew.

CALLAWAY: President Bush back at the White House today after wrapping up a full day of campaigning on the road through three states: Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania., are considered swing states, or key states to his reelection. At a stop in Pittsburgh the president took this swipe at his opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's proposed more than $2 trillion of additional spending and we're just getting started in the campaign. But the problem is he hadn't told us how he's going to pay for it. Yeah, all we got to do is look at his record to determine how he's going to pay for it. He's voted time and time and time again for higher taxes. You know how he's going to pay -- you know how he's going to pay for his new programs? You're going to pay. But we're not going to let him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: And John Kerry spent another day in Ohio. He and his running mate John Edwards are attending church this morning in Springfield and they they'll attend a rally this afternoon in Bowling Breen.

And at a rally in Zanesville, Ohio last night, Kerry blasted President Bush for his handling of the Iraq war. Wolf Blitzer also had a chance to talk to Senator Kerry about the war stratify he would pursue if elected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would consider it unsuccessful policy if I hadn't brought significant numbers of troops back within the first term. And I will do that -- I'm going to not layout my whole plan here. I need to be able to negotiate as a president, but I am confident, through the travels of senate colleagues who've gone abroad, through discussions that John and others have had in NATO and elsewhere, there is a different way to approach this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: Kerry and Edwards will be guest this afternoon on CNN's "Late Edition" with Wolf Blitzer, that begins at Noon Eastern time.

GRIFFIN: You know, they say New York City is a jungle. Yesterday it really looked like one. Details on the tiger tale.

CALLAWAY: And, we will also get the latest from Iraq. More deadly suicide attacks in Mosul and Baghdad. We'll have details straight ahead.

ARCH KENNEDY, METEOROLOGIST: And we're watching two systems, so, one a tropical depression impacting the Carolinas and another giving severe weather to the Midwest. A look at all of this coming up. And we want to say good morning to Denver. This morning you are waking up to a lot of sunshine and temperature of 66 degrees. A look at that national forecast is coming up when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Security cameras everywhere these days, from street corners to school buses. Could commercial airline cockpits be next?

Also developing story this morning, American Airlines apparently had to cancel its flights because of computer glitch. This is Dallas Fort Worth airport we're going to have much more on American's trouble this morning as CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLAWAY: As we told you, there are some flight delays out there this morning. You might want to check on the Web site before you head out to the airport. American Eagle and American having some computer problems, this morning. Rally Caparas on the line with us, with the latest on that.

Rally, good morning.

CAPARAS: Good morning Catherine and that was the best piece of advice you could have shared with people this morning for sure. Go to the airline's Web site, folks. The phone lines are inundated with callers, you won't be getting through, I promise. The airlines have -- and that is American Airlines and American Eagle, the smaller commuter division of American Airlines, they have grounded all of their departures and it's been this way over the last couple of hours. Hundreds of flights and thousands of people are stranded at the moment.

Flights are not expected to be able to depart from their points of origin or their departure points until they clear up the computer problem. It's preventing the pilots from being able to file the flight plan, and when this happens air traffic controllers cannot get the information and the direction or routes of flight. And when this happens, they cannot track the flights, therefore safety is compromised and you can be promised and assured that no flights will depart until American and American Eagle's computer systems are back up and running properly.

CALLAWAY: All right, Rally. Thank you very much. We'll keep everyone up to date on that situation.

And here's some other stories making headlines across America this morning. In New York, Apollo's mission is over, thankfully. Things went wild yesterday when Apollo the circus tiger escaped from his cage and he roamed freely in Queens. Can you imagine? Panicking residents there, and actually it caused a multi-car accident. One newspaper even said that even the circus clowns were chasing down the 450 pound tiger. The tiger's trainers were finally able to lure him with a juicy chunk of raw meat.

And over 400 firefighters are battling a blaze in central Washington's Kittitas County. Police say that it and ten others set eventually were started by an illusive arsonist, there. They are offering a $10,000 reward for information. That fire has scorched some 600 acres so far prompting a state of emergency for the county.

The battle of the budget ends in California, after a nearly month-long standoff, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a $105 billion budget package yesterday. It raises no new taxes and it -- and protects core state services.


Aired August 1, 2004 - 09:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, it's Sunday, August 01. A busy news night, overnight. This is CNN SUNDAY MORNING, I'm Drew Griffin.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone, I'm Catherine Callaway and thanks for starting your day with us today.

Well the campaign caravan continues this morning; we're going to check in on the latest stops for the president and his opponent, John Kerry in just a few minutes. But first, here's what's happening in the news now.

GRIFFIN: Police searching for a missing Utah woman are expected to hold a news conference later today. Saturday, the family of Lori Hacking asked volunteers to stop searching for her. The family said new information made this search unnecessary.

Authorities say new intelligence suggest al-Qaeda is targeting sites in New York for a new attack. At risk are commercial and financial institutions. A Homeland Security Department source said Washington D.C. might also be target. There are no details on possible attack methods or times.

The Coast Guard says the Clipper Odyssey has been re-floated. This ship ran a ground Saturday, late Saturday on a reef in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Passengers and non-essential crewmembers were evacuated. No reports of injuries. There is concern about 5,000 gallons of fuel that leaked after the accident.

And none of the original documents former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger reviewed at the National Archives are missing. The Justice Department is investigating reports that Berger may have removed items from the National Archives. Berger's lawyer has said his client returned photo copies after he was questioned about missing items.

It is illegal to remove any classified material in any from form the archives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: And as we said, breaking news to tell you about this morning with some major flight delays and cancellations. And CNN's Rally Caparas is on the line with us, he keeps his eye on the skies for us here at CNN.

Rally, what can you tell us? What's happening?

RALLY CAPARAS, CNN AIR TRAFFIC SPECIALIST: Well, good morning Cathleen (sic) and Drew. It looks like American Airlines and American Eagle flights, the so mall commuter division of American Airlines, are having computer problems.

Their software programs are not allowing their pilots to file their flight plans and when this happens it does not transfer the data to the air traffic control facilities, the airplanes cannot be tracked safely, and therefore, they've grounded all flights for American and American Eagle, this morning.

They're supposed to be updating the system or getting us new information at about 9:30 a.m. Eastern time. But, until then, all American and American Eagle flights will continue to be grounded.

This has happened before in the past with other airlines, it usually takes an hour to two hours or so to get the systems back up and running correctly. However, it is a new program that they're using, so it's an indefinite timeframe as to what we can expect, but there will be an update at about 9:30 a.m. Eastern time.

I assure you there is some information that the FAA is putting out that is hard to interpret and therefore, some folks are thinking that all flights have been grounded across the country. It is only American Airlines and American eagle -- Cathleen (sic).

CALLAWAY: I know Rally, you're referring to the Web site which indeed can be confusing. But any idea how -- how many flights, how many passengers this effect this morning?

CAPARAS: Well Cathleen (sic), this it's really difficult to at this moment, I've -- this has brought to my attention over about the last hour. I've tried to interpret how many airplanes this is going to affect, but at this point it's nearly impossible to figure that out. I will have some more information for you later as things develop, but for now, it's just in the hundreds, for sure.

CALLAWAY: All right, Rally, thank you very much, I'm sure we'll be talking with you again this morning.

That's Rally Caparas.

In other news this morning, police in Utah could shed some new light on the case of a missing Utah woman today. They're expected to hold a news conference. In the meantime, relatives of Lori Hacking want volunteers to stop searching for her. They released a statement Saturday to the media, in part the statement reads:

"The families understand that Mark Hacking has provided information that makes it unnecessary for the volunteer search to continue. At this time the families ask that all efforts from volunteers cease and that anyone with information that might be helpful to contact the Salt Lake City Police Department." The families also said that they "remain supportive of the police investigation."

And relatives Hacking also said that "as in any situation of this nature, the help from the public has been invaluable, and the families are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love and support they've received."

GRIFFIN: Turning now to the threats of terror in New York City. New intelligence suggests that al-Qaeda is planning to attack businesses in the city, perhaps using car or truck bombs. Our Ali Velshi has been on this all morning from New York and joins us now with the latest -- Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Drew, good to see you again. As you know we've been trying to gather information from disparate sources about what's going on here. Law enforcement officials calling this threat credible, but once again, not specific enough about time and/or method to elevate the level of threat that New York has been under since September 11, 2001.

Let me tell you what we do know. The Joint Terrorism Task Force, a federal, and New York officials met this weekend after the FBI issued a threat advisory to law enforcement officials saying al-Qaeda might be planning to target corporate and financial institutions as well as institutional -- international organizations -- international institutions in New York.

Now, the biggest of those international organizations, the United Nations we have learned, taking this threat very seriously, visibly beefing up its security patrols around the perimeter on Manhattan's eastside. Security in New York, in general, has been beefed up ahead of the end this month's republican convention, here in New York.

Heavily armed police officers, members of the Hercules Force, the elite force, can be seen throughout the city. They are deployed all over. They are using -- they're, in fact, conducting large-scale drills at various points in Manhattan.

Now you are looking at Wall Street. The terror threat doesn't specifically cite Wall Street, but because it cites financial institutions and corporate headquarters, the assumption is that it may be around the financial district.

That, of course, is one of the most heavily guarded parts of the city, already. Sources we've spoken to say while this general threat, the idea of a general threat, is not new, what might be new about this is the suggestion of a suicide element. There are specific references, at least in the warnings, to building security around Manhattan about checking cars and people around buildings.

You'll recall the 1993 World Trade Center bombing involved a vehicle and since then there have been extra efforts taken on by building security to check vehicles visibly with dogs, with mirrors, things like that. Also, police are advising building management, lockup your roofs, your maintenance rooms, check your access to your heating and ventilation systems so that someone from outside can't gain access to it and perhaps spread some sort of contaminant through the building's ventilation system.

That's where we're at now. We continue to investigate all of these leads about potential threats in D.C., as well, and how specific the threat is in New York is -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: Ali, thanks for your report this morning. We want to talk more about this now with -- from New York's George Bauries, a former FBI agent. He's also part, right now, of the New Jersey Counter-Terrorism Force.

Good morning, thanks for joining us, sir.

We hear a lot about the warnings and now people are trying to wage whether or not this is just the usual kind of chatter we get or is this more specific? Can you tell us?

GEORGE BAURIES, CRITERION STRATEGIES, INC.: Drew, I've spoken to my sources and they indicated an increase of activity through the weekend period, however, it's basically focused on carrying out leads and doing proper investigation and they are focusing on the New York metro area and has been reported earlier on the financial and corporate sectors.

GRIFFIN: And what is the specific threat there, as they relate to the corporate centers?

BAURIES: It's not a specific threat. It's in terms of re- enforcing the policies and the safety procedures, being more cognizant of any visitors that you didn't expect, suspicious packages, and just making sure that security forces, both uniformed and private security forces, are being extremely consistent with their policies of checking and maintaining current protocols.

GRIFFIN: Mr. Bauries, do you know if the source of this threat is chatter from overseas or is it a source here in the United States? There's been some talk about people coming across the Mexican border.

BAURIES: Drew, I do not know the actual source, whether it's chatter or like you had referred to, individuals coming across the border, but rather that it's just increase investigative activity in the New York metropolitan area.

GRIFFIN: And as a member of the New Jersey Counter-Terrorism Force, are you concerned about what could be the potential of a car or truck bomb in this metropolitan area?

BAURIES: Drew, I am. However, I think we need to be careful to focus on -- you know, totality of security and that's not just focused on a truck or car bomb, but also potentially a suicide bomber and, again, going back to policies and procedures, such as I do with my consulting group, Criterion Strategies, and focusing on maintaining the corporate structure and that protocols are followed. So, I would not overemphasize truck or car bombs, but rather corporate institutions following policies and procedures that are in place at the current time.

GRIFFIN: George Bauries, former FBI agent now working with New Jersey's Counter-Terrorism Force. Thanks for joining us on this developing story.

BAURIES: Thank you, Drew.

CALLAWAY: President Bush back at the White House today after wrapping up a full day of campaigning on the road through three states: Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania., are considered swing states, or key states to his reelection. At a stop in Pittsburgh the president took this swipe at his opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's proposed more than $2 trillion of additional spending and we're just getting started in the campaign. But the problem is he hadn't told us how he's going to pay for it. Yeah, all we got to do is look at his record to determine how he's going to pay for it. He's voted time and time and time again for higher taxes. You know how he's going to pay -- you know how he's going to pay for his new programs? You're going to pay. But we're not going to let him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: And John Kerry spent another day in Ohio. He and his running mate John Edwards are attending church this morning in Springfield and they they'll attend a rally this afternoon in Bowling Breen.

And at a rally in Zanesville, Ohio last night, Kerry blasted President Bush for his handling of the Iraq war. Wolf Blitzer also had a chance to talk to Senator Kerry about the war stratify he would pursue if elected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would consider it unsuccessful policy if I hadn't brought significant numbers of troops back within the first term. And I will do that -- I'm going to not layout my whole plan here. I need to be able to negotiate as a president, but I am confident, through the travels of senate colleagues who've gone abroad, through discussions that John and others have had in NATO and elsewhere, there is a different way to approach this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: Kerry and Edwards will be guest this afternoon on CNN's "Late Edition" with Wolf Blitzer, that begins at Noon Eastern time.

GRIFFIN: You know, they say New York City is a jungle. Yesterday it really looked like one. Details on the tiger tale.

CALLAWAY: And, we will also get the latest from Iraq. More deadly suicide attacks in Mosul and Baghdad. We'll have details straight ahead.

ARCH KENNEDY, METEOROLOGIST: And we're watching two systems, so, one a tropical depression impacting the Carolinas and another giving severe weather to the Midwest. A look at all of this coming up. And we want to say good morning to Denver. This morning you are waking up to a lot of sunshine and temperature of 66 degrees. A look at that national forecast is coming up when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Security cameras everywhere these days, from street corners to school buses. Could commercial airline cockpits be next?

Also developing story this morning, American Airlines apparently had to cancel its flights because of computer glitch. This is Dallas Fort Worth airport we're going to have much more on American's trouble this morning as CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLAWAY: As we told you, there are some flight delays out there this morning. You might want to check on the Web site before you head out to the airport. American Eagle and American having some computer problems, this morning. Rally Caparas on the line with us, with the latest on that.

Rally, good morning.

CAPARAS: Good morning Catherine and that was the best piece of advice you could have shared with people this morning for sure. Go to the airline's Web site, folks. The phone lines are inundated with callers, you won't be getting through, I promise. The airlines have -- and that is American Airlines and American Eagle, the smaller commuter division of American Airlines, they have grounded all of their departures and it's been this way over the last couple of hours. Hundreds of flights and thousands of people are stranded at the moment.

Flights are not expected to be able to depart from their points of origin or their departure points until they clear up the computer problem. It's preventing the pilots from being able to file the flight plan, and when this happens air traffic controllers cannot get the information and the direction or routes of flight. And when this happens, they cannot track the flights, therefore safety is compromised and you can be promised and assured that no flights will depart until American and American Eagle's computer systems are back up and running properly.

CALLAWAY: All right, Rally. Thank you very much. We'll keep everyone up to date on that situation.

And here's some other stories making headlines across America this morning. In New York, Apollo's mission is over, thankfully. Things went wild yesterday when Apollo the circus tiger escaped from his cage and he roamed freely in Queens. Can you imagine? Panicking residents there, and actually it caused a multi-car accident. One newspaper even said that even the circus clowns were chasing down the 450 pound tiger. The tiger's trainers were finally able to lure him with a juicy chunk of raw meat.

And over 400 firefighters are battling a blaze in central Washington's Kittitas County. Police say that it and ten others set eventually were started by an illusive arsonist, there. They are offering a $10,000 reward for information. That fire has scorched some 600 acres so far prompting a state of emergency for the county.

The battle of the budget ends in California, after a nearly month-long standoff, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a $105 billion budget package yesterday. It raises no new taxes and it -- and protects core state services.