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Chicago Teachers On Strike Today; Congress Returns To Work Today; Obama's Post Convention Bounce; Officer Escorting Obama Killed; SEAL Talks About Bin Laden Raid; Searching For Arctic Oil; Serena Williams Wins U.S. Open; Rep. Jackson May Return To Work Today; Obama Outraised Romney In August; Federal Government To Sell $18B In AIG Stock; Apple's Big Announcement In Two Days, Ryan Vague on which Loopholes to Close; McCartney Adds Four Tour Stops
Aired September 10, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Next hour's of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM, on strike, 30,000 Chicago public school teachers and union workers are not in school today as contract talks breaks down. Now left in the middle are 400,000 kids.
Search for Alaskan oil, Shell begins a new drilling operation in the Arctic, the first in two decades. As you might imagine, it's not without controversy.
We're less than two months from casting our votes for president, but the fight rages on. So why won't the men who want to run the country outline their tax plan?
And the final major of the season wraps up today. Andy Murray riding a hot hand on the tennis court, but can the Olympic gold medalist beat Australian Open champ, Novak Djokovich? NEWSROOM starts now.
Good Monday morning to you. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Carol Costello.
This morning in Chicago, classrooms are silent and picket lines are loud. Public schoolteachers went on strike today shutting down the school system and shutting out nearly 400,000 students.
That's creating a logistical nightmare for many parents scrambling for child care. CNN's Casey Wian is live outside a Chicago elementary school. Tell us more about the strike and why teachers decided they had to do this?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the teachers have decided they needed to go on strike basically for a couple of reasons. One of the big issues they say are the working conditions and way the teachers are evaluated.
They're worried up to 6,000 teachers could lose their job over the next year or two if these evaluations are performed the way the school district wants to do them. Tying them to test scores and they're also worried about health care benefits.
They're very close on the issue of teacher pay, about a 16 percent raise over the next four years. But I tell you the people who are most upset about this right now are the parents of these students who are being affected by this strike, 400,000 students with no school to go to this morning.
I'm joined by Valicia Hill. She is the parent of five children in the Chicago public school district. What are your thoughts about the fact that the teachers are out on strike and your kids can't be in school this morning?
VALICIA HILL, PARENT: I feel it's not fair to the kids. It's not fair to these teachers. I feel like they could come on with an agreement with these teachers and pay them what they need. Our kids have to go to school.
They need their education. They need everything that's there. Textbooks, they need air-conditioning. They need to pay a budget. Come on, now. Our kids shouldn't have to suffer for that. Our kids need the education.
It's bad enough they don't get the education they need because under the conditions. We suffer through poverty and gang violence and everything. Our kids have to be out of school? That's the only safe haven they have right now.
For us parents that want to get a job and go to school, it's ridiculous. I think they need to come on. Our kids shouldn't have to suffer for them.
WIAN: You talk the about the gang violence and violence that's in some of these neighborhood. Are you concerned about it with the kids out of school?
HILL: I'm very concerned about it. This is ridiculous. They need to come on with a budget.
WIAN: Carol, there you go. That's just one example of the frustration that the parents are feeling. This school behind me is being used as a temporary child care center, but it's only four hours in the morning. Parents who have to work or struggling to find work have no other options, so they hope this gets wrapped up quickly -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Casey Wian reporting live from Chicago this morning.
Less than four hours from now summer officially ends on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers from both the House and the Senate are returning to work after a five-week recess and they're facing a lot of unfinished business. One item sure to pass, a short-term funding measure for federal agencies with only 57 days until the elections, neither party wants to be blamed for a government shutdown.
So here are some items, though, likely to be shelved, legislation to reform the struggling postal service and a bill providing new cyber security protections.
Just a few days after Democrats wrapped up their national convention, President Obama is enjoying a bit of a bounce. According to Gallup's daily tracking poll, President Obama now leads Governor Romney by five-percentage points.
That's the poll's widest margin since July. Just last Tuesday, the David DMC got under way. Mr. Obama had a razor thin edge of just one percentage point over Mr. Romney.
And sad news to tell you about from the campaign trail. An officer traveling with the Obama motorcade was struck and killed this weekend.
Officer Bernie Saint Laurent, a 20-year veteran of a Jupiter Police Department was securing a road ahead of President Obama's visit when a pickup truck crashed into his motorcycle.
He was rushed to a hospital on West Palm Beach where he later died. The spokesman for the President said his thoughts and prayers are with the officer's family. This is the fourth fatal accident involving motorcades since 2006.
The Navy SEAL who wrote that tell-all book spilling details of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden is speaking out in an interview with "60 Minutes" last night.
Matt Bissonnette who used the pen name Mark Owan gave a moment- by-moment description of the raid. He laid out in detail the tense seconds that played out as the SEAL team approach Bin Laden' bedroom and the moment it shot him. He even says that he did not recognize bin laden when he pulled the trigger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT PELLEY CBS NEWS ANCHOR: He's still moving?
MATT BISSONNETTE, AUTHOR/FORMER NAVY SEAL: A little bit, but you couldn't see his arms or hands. So he could have had a hand grenade or something underneath his chest.
PELLEY: So after Osama Bin Laden is wounded, he's still moving. You shot him twice?
BISSONNETTE: A handful of times.
PELLEY: A handful of times, and the SEAL in the stack behind you also shot Osama Bin Laden, and at that point his body was still?
BISSONNETTE: Yes.
PELLEY: Did you recognize him?
BISSONNETTE: No. You know, everybody thinks that you know it's him. No. To us at that time it could have been anybody. Maybe this is another brother. Maybe this is a bodyguard. It doesn't matter. The point is to just continue clearing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Senior Pentagon officials have told CNN that Bissonnette's account of the raid is not quite accurate.
It's hard to forget scenes like this, the deep water horizon drilling platform on fire in the gulf. This 2010 explosion as you know led to one of the worst eco-logical disaster in U.S. history.
Could it happen in the arctic, a new oil project in Alaska now under way with a whole lot of concern? Miguel Marquez joins us now to explain. Good morning.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there, Carol. It has been decades since there's been any oil exploration in the Arctic, and the stakes could not be higher for both sides.
Shell has spent $4.5 billion. They'll spend another 10 billion before a single drop of oil is brought up. But for the people that live up there, it is those images of the gulf and the deep water horizon disaster that haunt them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Shell calls the wells relatively simple, but will drill them as though the most complicated prospect in the country has ever done. Why, deep water horizon and the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
PETE SLAIBY, VICE PRESIDENT, SHELL ALASKA: We would have been tone-deaf if we thought that it would have been business as usual after the deep water horizon.
MARQUEZ: Could this happen again like Shell's Arctic wells, the disaster McKonda well was exploratory, but Shell unlike BP has no plans to bring up oil this summer. It will need a much bigger platform to do that.
Shell's wells will be capped and abandoned, the biggest difference, depth. Shell is drilling it less than 200 feet of water and up to 8,000 feet below the seabed.
Deep water horizon thrilled through 5,000 feet of water and then more than 13,000 feet below the sea floor. The pressure differences are enormous.
SLAIBY: The pressures are roughly about a third of what you'd see in typical deep water well. MARQUEZ: Like all wells Shell will use blowout preventers. Unlike BP's, Shell's light beneath the seabed so a rig can disconnect more safely in case of emergency.
SLAIBY: As a part of what happened in the post-deep water horizon where all these blowout preventers were actually brought back to what we call original equipment manufacturer standards.
MARQUEZ: In case of a blowout, Shell will have on hand a capping stack. That's what brought an end to the gulf disaster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go.
MARQUEZ: For drivers like Erinn Shmaeff who has a mountain of bills and a 3-year-old to raise, she thinks there should be room for exploration, but not at the risk of another deep water horizon.
ERINN SHMAEFF, PARENT: I would want to know, like, where it would be. I'd want to know how damaging it would be to the environment, if it would have an impact on the local wildlife.
MARQUEZ: Regulators insist of risk in the arctic is acceptable with no easy oil left to find. It is only hard choices from here on out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: It is incredibly frustrating for both sides, and scary for both sides is what they're going into. I talked to Steve Oomittuk who is the mayor of Point Hope, Alaska last night. He said that, look, we're holding our breath right now.
If Shell finds what it thinks is down there, keep in mind, this is an exploratory well in summer. If they find what they think is down there then it's going to bring a bunch of other companies up there over the next decades and the chances of a spill will only increase over time. That's what they fear more than anything -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Miguel Marquez reporting live for us this morning.
Let's talk a little sports now. Serena Williams is reclaiming her spot as queen of the court, the hard court that is. The Olymic gold medalist took home her fourth U.S. Open title.
Williams fought of two match points to beat Victoria Azarenka in three sets Sunday. It is Williams' 15th grand slam title. On the men's side, Andy Murray will try to keep his hot streak alive. The men's Olympic gold medalist takes on Novak Djokovic this afternoon.
Apple is expected to make a big-time announcement this Wednesday. Some say they will announce the new iPhone. Expect the unexpected. Even if that means some current iPhone features will become extinct.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: It is 13 minutes past the hour. Checking the top stories now, Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. could be back at work as soon as today. Jackson has not been seen on Capitol Hill since May.
He recently checked out of the Mayo Clinic where he was treated for bipolar depression. Jackson is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for ties to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich who as you know is now in prison.
President Obama is celebrating a major milestone today. The President's re-election effort raked in $114 million last month. It's the first time since April that President Obama has raised more in a month than his GOP opponent, Governor Mitt Romney.
New Yorkers are still cleaning up after a powerful cold front brought heavy rain and high winds and spawned at least two tornadoes in New York City. No one was hurt, but the storm smacked down trees and power lines and even overturned cars.
And the Treasury Department has announced it will sell most of its stake in AIG. The $18 billion offering will make the government a minority investor for the first time since it bailed out the insurer four years ago.
It comes as President Obama is being attacked on the campaign trail for using taxpayer money to aid companies during the financial crisis.
People are expecting to see Apple's new iPhone on Wednesday and the operating system. But before you upgrade the current iPhone or purchase a new one, Alison Kosik is here to tell us what new features to expect and what old ones you might lose so spill it.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK, I can't spill too much because Apple is keeping it a secret, sure, except for leaks. So here are some of the leaks. Analysts tell us there are three main things to look for in the new iPhone coming out actually being announced on Wednesday.
The biggest one is the 4G LTE Network. What this is, it's fast so it's similar to the broadband connection that you may have at home. Apple is also expected to get more aggressive in the prepaid market.
That's when you buy the phone at full price, but pay less on a pay as you go plan. There's also talk of a smaller charging dock as well, but, Carol, the big thing that this iPhone 5 is expected to not have is NFC. That's Near Field Communication.
And what that essentially is a chip that's in the phone that lets you do cool stuff like score all your credit card information to use the phone as a wallet. Now if you have the iPhone and it doesn't come out with this on Wednesday, you can always download this through an app to do similar things.
But you know, a lot of these features that I just mentioned, Carol, are offered on other phones. One analyst tells CNN Money, you know what? Apple doesn't need to be the first to offer the features. They need to be the best with what they do have. They can check CNN Money for the full story -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Awesome. Before you go, how much is the new iPhone expected to cost?
KOSIK: Again, Carol, Apple is not announcing this. But if you look at what it's done in the past, they typically do the same thing every time. They usually keep the top price on the new phone and lower the price on the old.
So if they keep with that, the new iPhone will most likely be 650 bucks outright, $200 if you have an AT&T or Verizon or Sprint contract. The current model, the iPhone 4s it's likely going to see a price cut, but you know this.
Apple always gives all these little details at its event. This event is happening on Wednesday -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I'm sure we'll be there. Alison Kosik there from the New York Stock Exchange today.
President Obama gets a boost not just in the polls. We'll have more on the pizza shop owner who couldn't control himself when the President stopped in for a slice.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of day. The question for you this morning, should Mitt Romney bend on Obamacare? A strange question, yes, since Mitt Romney has long vowed to kill the bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll tell you one thing. We have to have a president and I'm the one that will get rid of Obamacare. We're going to stop it on day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We're not quite so sure. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Romney seemed to waffle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform, of course. There are a number of things I like in health care reform I'll put in place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Romney said he wanted to keep provisions requiring insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowing children to stay longer on their parent's plan. The Romney campaign says their candidate has consistently endorsed this position.
Keep in mind, Romney is not embracing the individual mandate, the requirement we all buy insurance. The one that health experts say pays for all the expanded coverage. Yes, Romney says he will still repeal Obama care, but throughout the latest comments make you more likely to vote for him?
Talk back question for you, should Romney bend on Obama care? Facebook.com/carolcnn. Your comments later this hour.
Republican vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan has a lot to say about closing tax loopholes. But when it comes down to the nitty- gritty he doesn't have much to say at all. We'll find out if a lack of specifics could help the Romney campaign.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Right now in Chicago, striking teachers are shuts down the nation's third largest school system. Months of negotiations broke down last night.
Last hour, I talked with a veteran teacher manning the picket lines. You'll hear the motorists honking their horns in support. But first listen to her scoff at the claim by city officials that teachers turned their back on a deal that was close at hand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSEPHINE HAMILTON PERRY, TEACHER, CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS: If we were that close, we would not even have spent as many hours and months that we have spent talking about this contract.
COSTELLO: There are many people in America without jobs right now. They would say, are you crazy? You teachers should be grateful you have a job.
PERRY: Well, we are, that we are. We also want those people that are with jobs to know how hard we work every day, how hard we work for those students that will one day go into the work force. It's our responsibility to put the students in the work force and to prepare them to work.
COSTELLO: Some people might ask, though, how you're doing that when you're not in the classroom. You know, you're in charge of our nations children, and yet, you're on strike and the kids kind of have no place to go.
PERRY: Well, Chicago here, we are survivors. We would not say that that would be a major issue because we're the city with huge snowstorms and our parents survive. We are a city of rich resources. We're the city where we lend a helping hand. That will not be a major concern.
COSTELLO: So you're saying that parents will easily find child care? PERRY: I am sure that they will. As a matter of fact, I spoke lack of having something to do, but not because there's no one to take care of them.
COSTELLO: One of the sticking points is over teacher evaluations. Tell me why teachers don't like what the school board and mayor are proposing.
PERRY: Well, because the evaluation system can be very biased. It can be very biased to older teachers. It can be very biased to inexperienced teachers. It can also be very biased to those teachers that are in the middle of their career. Having said that, it's not the most effective tool that should govern one's career.
COSTELLO: But I think that the other side would say that the goal here is to get rid of bad teachers. What is the union proposing to get rid of bad teachers?
PERRY: To get -- I'm sorry. Clarify that for me. We have a little noise in the background.
COSTELLO: I know, a lot of beeps in support. The other side would say that these new evaluations will get rid of bad teachers. How does the union proposed to this? Go ahead.
PERRY: The whole evaluation system has a lot of flaws there. If they could come up with a tool that could effectively evaluate the tenured teacher, the new teachers, and the teachers in the middle of their career. We would be injunction to be satisfied with that. The lack of having that tool is a serious issue for us.
COSTELLO: How long are teachers prepared to strike?
PERRY: You know, I could not say that at this moment, but I'm going to say as long as it takes and whatever it takes. We have had enough, and we're tired of being tired.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Chicago police, by the way, are beefing up patrols to deal with nearly 400,000 kids now out of class indefinitely.
Just about 30 minutes past the hour, checking the top stories now. Congress returns to work today from a five-week summer recess. Despite their lengthy to-do-list, they're expected to focus only on the bare minimum like preventing a costly government shutdown when the budget year ends at the end of the month.
The FBI has arrested the mayor of Trenton, New Jersey. He faced a public corruption charge after a two-year investigation. The feds have scheduled a noon news conference to explain the case against him. Of course, we'll bring more details as they can.
What do the Jacksons, Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and now Mariah Carey have in common? We'll tell you coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Mitt Romney's number two insists Republicans have a plan to offset tax cuts for the wealthy. It sounds simple. They would close tax loopholes. The only problem they will not say which loopholes they would close.
Here's Paul Ryan on ABC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Based on our experience we think the best way to do this is to show the framework, show the outlines of these plans and then to work with Congress to do this. That's how you get things done. The other thing of course is --
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: Isn't that a secret plan?
RYAN: -- we don't want to -- no, no. No, no. What we don't want is a secret plan. What we don't want to do is cut some back room deal like Obamacare and then hatch it to the country.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And why not specify the loopholes now? Why not say right now?
RYAN: Because we want to do this -- we want to have this -- George, because we want to have this debate in the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So let's talk about this. Will Cain is a CNN contributor who leans right and ditto for L.Z. Granderson, except that he leans left. Welcome gentlemen.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning Carol.
COSTELLO: Ok so -- good morning. Thank you for being with us this morning.
So Will, why won't Paul Ryan just say which tax loopholes should be closed?
CAIN: Two reasons. Number one, because they've promised to have a tax plan where they can cut rates across the board 20 percent, and yet remain revenue neutral. That is lose no tax dollars coming into the government, which is a very, very hard thing to do.
So they talk about these loopholes. So in order to keep that at revenue neutral, you're going to have to cut back some very popular loopholes like mortgage interest rate deduction, exemption for health care provided -- employer provided health care insurance. These are not popular things to do, so best not to talk about them.
COSTELLO: Well -- well L.Z. don't you think voters are smart enough to figure that out?
GRANDERSON: I really --
(CROSSTALK)
CAIN: Well you think, are they?
COSTELLO: I hope so.
GRANDERSON: Well, I -- really hope -- like to think so, but if they were really that smart we probably wouldn't have these two on the ticket to begin with because the piece would have eliminated them in the first place. I mean, the truth of the matter is in '94 -- this is Mitt Romney in a nut shell to me.
In '94 when he talked about blank trust, he said it was a ruse. And now every time he gets caught with something with his blind trust, he doesn't talk about it being a ruse. He moves the rules, he changes the rules as it fits his needs. They bash President Obama for secret hiding you know the dealings behind Obamacare.
Ok fine. But don't tell me you have a plan. You're not going to give us the details but you're going to trust you to just doing in public when you get around to it. It's just a big shell game.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: And no I have --
(CROSSTALK)
CAIN: Ok hold, hold on, Carol.
COSTELLO: I have heard voters say that they are and Republican voters who say they really want to hear Romney's plan, and they want specifics. And they're upset because they're not getting specifics.
CAIN: And they should be. Look, I'm sitting here right now in front of you telling you it's a shame they won't provide specifics on this. This coming from a man at least in Paul Ryan who has been inordinately brave in talking about some of the problems we have regarding Medicare and presenting solutions when it's politically unpalatable.
So why now balk at doing something that's also politically unpalatable and talks about -- talks about the actual specifics of tax reform? But you know unless we got off into a productive conversation here. Unfortunately, L.Z. had to say you know it's a shame you guys are even on the ticket. That shows voters aren't intelligent enough.
Let me suggest to you this. If you think this is a partisan issue, ask yourself can President Obama really fulfill promises to attack deficit reduction while only concentrating taxes on the wealthy? Is that truthful?
Just be clear. This isn't a partisan thing this is a political thing. Politicians don't like to tell people the truth. That's why Democrats suggest there's no problems with Medicare and Medicaid and your health care entitlements and we can focus our taxes on the rich. That's not true, and Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney not giving you the specifics of their tax plan is also a problem.
COSTELLO: Ok so L.Z. --
(CROSSTALK)
GRANDERSON: Will is almost right.
COSTELLO: Will is right, because -- because --
GRANDERSON: He's -- he's almost right. He's almost right because he's right, politicians do not like to tell the truth because they want to get in office. The problem with this particular ticket is that it has a long history of blatantly lying and switching around their position on things to the point at which -- think about it.
Yesterday we thought Mitt Romney had one position with health care reform, and this morning as I'm drinking coffee it's something else. And then on the drive over I find a different statements. That's three different positions in less than 24 hours. That's the reason why this ticket is so difficult to pinpoint because the people on the ticket are difficult to pinpoint.
COSTELLO: Ok Will, so you -- if you look at the latest Gallup poll, it shows a five-point lead for Obama. So why the sudden jump? Is it just the DNC?
CAIN: Yes, it's just the DNC. It's because of the remarkable party that took place last week.
COSTELLO: But -- but from what I understand -- from what I understand this poll was taken before, during and after the convention. I don't quite understand it, but that's what Gallup says.
CAIN: You know I will tell you this. It's not I -- I'm not, I will spoke surely there that is just because of the DNC. My suspicion is it's largely because of the DNC. But my suspicion is it's also not because not we're missing some details on a tax reform plan. The American people are not sitting on pins and needles waiting for it. They should be but they're not.
If you ever see the polls that suggest the vast majority of Americans who can't name the vice presidents of the United States or more than one or two of the Supreme Court justices, you're telling me they're dying to know the tax details, the -- the loopholes and expenditure closures of a tax reform plan, I'm ready to be happily surprised.
COSTELLO: See -- see I don't think voters are that stupid. I hate when people say that, those people who vote and I know everybody says oh yes, voters are stupid. They don't know what they're voting for. But yes I do think people want to know the tax plan.
CAIN: Not stupid, disinterested.
GRANDERSON: They are not stupid, they are forgetful.
CAIN: Disinterested, disinterested.
GRANDERSON: They're not stupid, they're forgetful. They forget.
CAIN: You don't have to it answer to me, Carol. You've got to answer to the polls. You've got to answer to the polls, not me.
COSTELLO: Ok. Well, it was a great conversation as always. L.Z. Granderson, Will Cain. Thank you very much.
CAIN: Thanks.
GRANDERSON: Thank you.
COSTELLO: It was a good weekend for President Obama. He got quite the lift in Florida. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good job.
Come on, man. I got to give you one of these.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look at this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man, I'm so excited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The owner of that pizza shop near West Palm Beach was so excited the President stopped by for a slice of pizza, he just couldn't stop himself. He gave the President a giant bear hug and literally lifted the President right off his feet.
It takes us back to this picture from July when an Olympic wrestler picked up First Lady Michelle Obama. What is it with people wanting to pick up the Obamas? It's just kind of odd.
There is no stopping Serena Williams. She picks up her 15th grand slam title and by doing that makes history in women's tennis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's 42 minutes past the hour. Time to check our "Top Stories".
9/11 rescue workers exposed to toxic dust at Ground Zero might get some good news this week. On the eve of the 11th anniversary of the terror attack federal officials are expected to finally add dozens of types of cancer to the Zadroga Act. The Zadroga Act was set up to give funds to those rescue workers who got sick from dust and other toxins while working at Ground Zero. Mitt Romney is seeming to waffle on one of the strongest positions, President Obama's health care law. If elected Romney has vowed to over and over to quote, "Repeal Obama care on his first day in office", which is why it was kind of strange to hear this on NBC's "Meet the Press."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. Of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I'm going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.
Two is to assure that the market place allows for individuals to have policies that cover their -- their family up to whatever age they might like. I also want individuals to be able to buy insurance -- health insurance on their own as opposed to only being able to get it on a tax advantage basis through their company.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Romney campaign says that isn't new and Mitt Romney has consistently endorsed this position.
Americans are still feeling the effects of Hurricane Isaac with gas prices jumps nearly eight cents over the past two weeks according to the Lundberg Survey. The survey publishers say the rise was due mostly but not entirely to the storm. The average price is now $3.84 a gallon, that's just 13 cents lower than the peak this year back in April.
Things got a little batty for a local TV station in Omaha, Nebraska this weekend when a bat swooped into the Newsroom and unleashed an hour long reign of terror on anchors and producers. The chaos came to an end when a graphics producer swatted the bat with a cardboard box. If you're wondering the bat survived the attack. It's doing ok. It's free in the wild again and everybody's safe for that NEWSROOM.
Red flag warnings today for high wind and extremely dry conditions. That's not good news for northern Washington State where multiple wildfires are torching the area. A rare lightning storm hit the area on Saturday igniting nearly 65 separate fires. Largest fire is about 60 acres, residents being advised to avoid the area.
Sir Paul McCartney's "On the Run Tour" is coming to an end, but he's added four new tour dates in North America. Let's head to Los Angeles -- let's head to New York rather and A.J. Hammer. Hi, A.J.
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Hi, Carol. Yes well Paul McCartney is flying all over the place, so it's not unusual that I might be in one place or the other.
COSTELLO: You're everywhere. HAMMER: -- but I'm here in New York to tell you. As you can imagine, fans are pretty fired up about the added Paul McCartney dates. The tour has been a huge success all around the world. He's taking some time off right now. But this is the same show that drew an estimated quarter of a million fans to a free concert in Mexico city. And that is after drawing all of these paying customers almost 100,000 to the sell-out concerts at Yankee Stadium.
McCartney is now going to be showing up in St. Louis and in Houston. He's also added some Canadian dates -- Edmonton and Vancouver for those. The new shows happen in November, and they are rare McCartney appearances for these cities. He hasn't played Houston in seven years and St. Louis in over ten years. The last time he played in Vancouver he was in the Beatles; that was 48 years ago. And McCartney has never been back since.
It's also his very first concert in Edmonton, Carol. And I know, it's not just going to be a local crowd. We're talking about four dates, so people are going to be flying in from everywhere to everywhere to see Paul McCartney. You get your money's worth at a Paul McCartney show for sure.
COSTELLO: He's something.
Let's talk about Mariah Carey. She won a pretty prestigious award over the weekend. What was it?
HAMMER: Yes. Yes she did. We all know that Maria is an icon but BMI has now made it official. They gave the new "American Idol" judge their icon award over the weekend. Now she's in great company, some of the past winners include Stevie Wonder and Smoky Robinson. Mariah told us that this award was special to her because it recognized her song writing skills. Watch what she told us.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MARIAH CAREY, SINGER: This award is so amazing because as a person out there, as a celebrity, diva, whatever that is, is its own kind of thing. This is really about songwriting, and there have been times when people have told me throughout my career, like this song changed my life. This song helped me get through the death of a family member. This song -- you know, whatever it is that, you know. And then as the writer of that song, the words that helped them get through it or whatever it was, be it humility or whatever, you know, it's like there's no greater feeling than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Carol, this comes at a great time for Mariah Carey. She had to deal with her husband's very serious health issues and she also lost her friend Whitney Houston, of course, earlier this year so getting this icon award particularly for song-writing I know it means an awful lot to her.
COSTELLO: Yes. Good for her. A.J. Hammer, thank you.
HAMMER: You got it.
COSTELLO: Join A.J. Tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 11:00 Eastern on HLN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Sometimes I ache after a workout, particularly in my lower back. I know many of you suffer the same way. So I spent some time with a trainer Dolvett Quince from the hit show "The Biggest Loser" on getting rid of that pain.
It's today's "Daily Dose".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So I, like much of the population, I have lower back problems. But my lower back doesn't hurt until after I'm done exercising. And it sort of defeats the purpose for me.
DOLVETT QUINCE, FITNESS EXPERT: When you have back issues it's because of lack of support from the front. So some things to do would be to strengthen your core. In your case before you exercise. That way you have the support that you need to eliminate the back issues. I have a couple exercises. You want me to show you?
COSTELLO: Yes.
QUINCE: You want to walk out here to where the small of my back or in your case the issue in which you feel is sitting directly on the middle of the ball.
COSTELLO: So where my back hurts, I put it on the ball.
QUINCE: Exactly. In doing that, put your hands behind your head and just raise your shoulders up for me until you sit all the way up keeping my core tight the whole time. Do that about 15 times, lay down, and do some quick crunches.
Go. Give me three more like that. Three, two, one. Good. What I like about this exercise, it's not very high-impacting, however, it's forcing you to start slowly working those muscles.
COSTELLO: It sort of massages your back.
QUINCE: It does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: 2012 has been a very good year for Tennis Superstar, Serena Williams. She becomes the all-time money winner in women's tennis. Between Wimbledon, the Olympics and just yesterday at the U.S. Open. And Williams told "Good Morning America" this fourth U.S. Open title feels special.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SERENA WILLIAMS, U.S. OPEN CHAMP: It's awesome because I, you know, have had so many tribulations that I've gone through in the past. You know, a year or so. So it was really awesome for me to come on top and come full circle winning Wimbledon and winning the Olympic gold.
LARA SPENCER, HOST, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": It's been quite a summer, my friend.
WILLIAMS: It's been It's a great summer. It's such a thrill and it's so exciting. It still hasn't quite set in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Don Riddle joins me now from outside Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows. Serena Williams is just on fire.
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. That's a great way of putting it. She's just been unstoppable since the French open in may. She's only lost one match since then, and she's just talked about all those incredible titles that she's won in that time.
There's a few things to say about Serena Williams now. She's going to be 31 in just a few weeks time, but she is absolutely at the top of her game. And talk about longevity. It's 13 years since she won her first U.S. Open title here. Back then she was one of the youngest ever champions. Now she's one of the oldest, and she's won this title in three different the decades. That is seriously, seriously impressive.
The other things that marks her out as a great champion is how she recovers from adversity. Remember that pulmonary embolism she was suffering from about 18 months ago. At the time even she thought she was on her deathbed. She wasn't even thinking about playing tennis and being competitive again. She just wanted to recover. She did recover from that. Then in the French open earlier this year she crashed out in the first round. She said it was absolutely devastating.
But somehow when she's right at the bottom she finds a way to re- energize and re-motivate herself and go for it. She always seems to comes back bigger and better and stronger.
COSTELLO: Unbelievable. Let's take a look at the men's championship. Two of the hottest men's players right now, Wimbledon runner-up and Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray against the Australian open champion Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is just fantastic.
RIDDELL: Yes. And he's the champion here and he's been second to none on hard court season. It's really hard to see anybody finding a way past Novak Djokovic on the kind of form that he is right now. I mean the big question is can Andy Murray do it? This is going to be his fifth grand slam title. He's lost the previous four.
I think what happened to him this summer in at least taking a set off Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final and then beating him in the believe that he can now go on and do it. Now obviously his fans and tennis fans in Britain are certainly hoping he can do so. I think it's going to be a terrific match. I think it's going to be very, very close.
They've met four times this season. They've split those matches, two wins each, and they've known each other for such a long time. They've played each other isn't they were kids. They're good mates, too. I'm expecting it to be very, very entertaining.
COSTELLO: You're lucky to be there. Don riddle, thanks for joining us live. We asked you to talk back on one of the a big sfoer of the day. Should Mitt Romney bend on Obama care?
This from John. "Funny when he talks about keeping parts of the law, he calls it health care reform. When he talks about repealing it he calls it Obama care. His health care mandate as governor in Massachusetts was his crowning glory, but he never talks about it. Strange, huh?"
This from Andrecito, "I think he should. But I doubt it will make more people likely to vote for him. If anything it will be less likely. He proved to us many times he's a very inconsistent fickle man."
This from Marianne, "Both Romney and many other republicans have said they want to keep several of the positive features of health care."
And this from Victor. "Mitt would say and do just about anything to gain votes. He was for health care before he was against health care. Now he's for some of it. What a flip-flopper." Keep the conversation going. Facebook.com/carolCNN.
Thanks as always for your comments. I really appreciate it.
I'm Carol Costello, and thank you for joining me this morning. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much Carol Costello. Nice to see you.
Hi everybody. I'm Ashley Banfield, it is 11:00 on the East Coast and 8:00 a.m. on the West Coast. That means it's 10:00 a.m. in Chicago where we begin today.
Parents in that city of about 400,000 kids are right now trying to find a place to send those children because they can't send them to school. The nation's third largest school district is in chaos this morning. There's a teacher strike, and this is a tough one. Both sides tried very hard over the weekend to get a deal done, but by midnight last night nothing. No deal.
CNN's Casey Wian is in Chicago live right now. So Casey let's start with what parents are doing? Because I don't know if there were a lot of parents who didn't know and tried to drop kids off. Do they have a contingency plan for all these parents? Where are all these kids going to go?
