Senator Sex Scandal: Larry Craig in Men's Room Sting; Overweight America
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back. Thanks very much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It is Tuesday, the 28th of August. I'm John Roberts.</s>HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Kiran Chetry is off today.</s>ROBERTS: Questions around the future of Idaho Senator Larry Craig this morning now that his arrest and guilty plea are out in the open. The newspaper "Roll Call" on Capitol Hill got a hold of the police report from Craig's arrest in June in the men's room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Two months later, Craig pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and paid a $500 fine, but now he says he regrets the plea, saying that he made it without a lawyer being present. Earlier, we asked the "Roll Call" reporter who broke the story about Senator Craig's statement.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This incident occurs on June 8th and he has almost -- I'm sorry, June 11th, and he has almost two months until August 8th to think about this incident when he actually went and pled guilty. He says he should have had a lawyer with him, but if you go back to the police report, he went back to the airport, the Minnesota airport where this all happened, 11 days after this incident occurred on the 22nd, and there is a specific report from the police officers that say he came back looking for a contact information to "give a contact" to his lawyer.</s>ROBERTS: So how is this scandal playing on Capitol Hill this morning? Our congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin is there right now. Now everybody back there on Capitol Hill, but certainly the halls have got to be buzzing about this today, Jessica.</s>JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is all of the talk up here, John, as you might expect this morning. People looking for details and information about exactly what happened. As you say, Larry Craig saying this was a mistake, he should not have pled guilty to disorderly conduct. He says he wanted to handle the matter quickly and expeditiously. Now, we do know he paid more than a $500 fine and even got a 10-day sentence which has been stayed. Now, all of it stems from this incident which, according to "Roll Call" newspaper, happened at a bathroom stall at the Minneapolis airport. According to the arresting officer and a police report, he was investigating complaints of sexual activity in that bathroom. And according to "Roll Call," the officer says that he was in a stall adjacent to Senator Craig's stall, Senator Craig made some tapping gestures with his foot, and then rammed his hand under the bottom of the stall. Now, the officers claims these are in certain circles well-known signs of a desire to engage in lewd conduct. Now, Senator Craig's office a has released a statement saying, "At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct." Since this story broke yesterday, Craig has since resigned from a position on the Mitt Romney for President campaign. We understand that he is now vacationing in Idaho with his wife and children -- John.</s>ROBERTS: There has been a lot of whispers about Senator Craig over not just the years, but the decades up there on Capitol Hill, Jessica. What has been said and what has his reaction been?</s>YELLIN: You're right, John. Going back into the '80s, there was a page -- investigations of senators being involved with pages up here. There were denials issued from Senator Craig's office at that time of any involvement in that. And more recently, other charges last year denied revolving around reports on the Internet. But Senator Craig has denied all allegations over the years. And again, saying this time it's just a big misunderstanding.</s>ROBERTS: Yet to be seen, though, the political impact of this. Jessica Yellin for us on Capitol Hill. Jessica, thanks -- Heidi.</s>COLLINS: It's not over yet for people in the Midwest. More rain, more evacuations. And tragically, more deaths in the wake of extreme weather. Strong storms once again soaked parts of Wisconsin last night. One man was killed by lightning. Choppers are saving people from fires just raging in southern Greece. At least 63 people have been killed as forest fires burn across half of the country. Crews say close to a dozen people in one region of Greece may have no way out. And take a look at a total lunar eclipse this morning. This is a time lapse video now of what happened. Before sunrise, it was visible across North and South America and parts of Asia and the Pacific.</s>ROBERTS: Other headlines new this morning. Concerns in Washington, D.C., after fires and smoke closed down metro stations for the second straight day. It's possible that electrical surges are to blame, but inspectors are also looking into the possibility that someone is intentionally targeting the tracks. President Bush is on the road to boost support for the Iraq War. During a fund-raiser in Washington State, President Bush said America must stay on the offense overseas and keep the enemy from coming here.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We face an enemy that is ideologically bent, determined to achieve their objectives and murder the innocent. They are not religious people. They may have hijacked religion, but they're not religious. I don't believe you murder innocent people to achieve political objectives and be a religious person. I just don't believe that. As a matter of fact, I believe that's the definition of evil, and I think the United States must do everything we can to prevent them from harming us and others again.</s>ROBERTS: Today is expected to be a day of protests across the country during events sponsored by antiwar groups like MoveOn.org.</s>COLLINS: We won't be hearing from Michael Vick this morning. Vick was scheduled to appear on a radio show and maybe even take some calls, but he backed out at the last minute. Last night, protesters for and against Vick had their chance to speak out, facing off outside the Atlanta Falcons' pre-season home opener. The Falcons are going after the $22 million in bonuses paid to Vick. The team hasn't decided though if they will cut him. And there is no shortage of opinions about what should happen next.</s>STEPHEN A. SMITH, COLUMNIST, ESPN: He broke the law. He knew that he was braking the law. He lied to the Atlanta Falcons. He lied to his teammates. He lied to the commissioner, Roger Goodell. He lied to everybody. He openly admitted that. My heart goes out to his family, there's no question about that, but when you do all of those things, you do the crime, you've got to do the time.</s>COLLINS: Vick could get up to five years in prison when he is sentenced in December. And the Falcons won last night. Some video there for you, with Joey Harrington as quarterback, beating Cincinnati 24-19.</s>ROBERTS: Time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning. Breaking news about the South Korean hostages being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan. One of the international stories that CNN's Monita Rajpal is covering for us from London today. Good morning, Monita.</s>MONITA RAJPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Yes, word from Afghanistan, as well as South Korea, that 19 South Korean hostages who have been held in Afghanistan for more than five weeks now will be released. Now, details of the terms of the agreement between Seoul and the Taliban are still a little bit murky right now, but what we do know is that one of the agreements that Seoul has agreed to would be to stop its citizens from conducting Christian missionary activity in Afghanistan. Another term of the agreement -- again, this is yet to be confirmed, it's not confirmed yet -- is that South Korea agreed to pull its troops out of Afghanistan. Once again, that part of the agreement is not yet confirmed, but that is what some wire sources are saying right now. Now, these 19 South Korean hostages were captured from a main road just south of Kabul back on July 19th. Two male hostages were killed after a couple of series of deadlines came and went without an agreement. The Taliban had been asking for the release of Taliban prisoners from Afghan jail. But the Korean group negotiating the terms of the agreement for the hostages released were not -- said that they were not able to fulfill that demand. Again, the word from Afghanistan and South Korea, that these 19 hostages, most of whom are women, will be free under terms of an agreement, one of which would be to stop its citizens from conducting Christian missionary activity in Afghanistan. It may take some time. That's according to the South Korean presidential office, is that it may take some time before the actual release, so no word yet on when that may happen -- John.</s>ROBERTS: Monita Rajpal for us in London this morning with an update on that. Monita, thanks very much. Of course, in Idaho for the last few weeks the story has been the intense wildfires there. Rob Marciano tracking the continuing firefight near Sun Valley, Idaho, this morning. It looks like the firefighters behind you are getting ready to chow down and hit the fire lines, Rob.</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You better believe it, John. The sun is not up yet, but the dayside crews are. They are lining up to get some chow as they start the fight again this afternoon and this morning. They are working around the clock here. Got over 800 firefighters, you have another 800 support crew on the ground. You can imagine the system in place to keep everybody up and running both physically and mentally as they continue to fight this blaze. They're getting some help from unlikely source. Snow guns here at Sun Valley Ski Resort typically used to make snow in the wintertime being used in the summertime to battle back this blaze which is surrounding this resort and getting very close to the resort town of Ketchum. They are getting some air support, although most fixed-wing aircraft have been grounded. The helicopters, all 12 of them, have been up and working during the daytime, as well, getting help on the ground, as well, from these guys. Weather has been somewhat helpful, but winds today will be westerly. That's a bad direction. It blows it towards town. But the winds should be light, relatively speaking. Getting a handle on this is critical over the next couple of days, because this weekend it looks like we're going to have a big wind event which will fan those flames all over again. So, they're working hard, they're getting some food, they're getting the fuel they need to fight this blaze this afternoon. John, back to you.</s>ROBERTS: And is it still really hot and dry there, Rob?</s>MARCIANO: Very -- very warm, very dry. Not record-breaking heat, but certainly extreme drought. Low levels of humidity. We'll get humidity levels well below 20 percent today. So that's not helping the situation. Maybe a chance of thunderstorms the next couple of days, but you'll really -- you've got -- you only get lucky if you get some rain out of those thunderstorms right over your spot. So they can't really count on the weather helping. Winds pretty light. That's the best they can do.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Rob Marciano for us, just outside of Sun Valley, Idaho. Rob, thanks very much -- Heidi.</s>COLLINS: A new report on obesity in America has some dire news for us this morning. It says that as a nation, we are getting fatter. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, breaks it down state by state. Sanjay, quickly -- I mean, obesity rates up in 31 states. Not one state showing a decline. Tell us who is the best and who is the worst.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, this is what you call an epidemic. And I think this is something we've talked about quite a bit on CNN, looking at both the obesity and the childhood obesity crisis. Well, there's a new report out from Trust for America's Health. It's a not-for-profit organization. It's looked at the last three years of data, trying to answer the very question you asked, who's the best, who's the worst? Here are some of the numbers of some of the worst states and best states. Looking at obesity -- and this is among adults across the map -- Mississippi is the worst. Almost a third there qualify for obesity. Not just overweight, but obesity, and that means a body mass index of at least 30 or higher. They were the first state to get that high. Folks from Colorado, your home state, Heidi, actually had the lowest obesity rates, coming in around 18 percent. Wanted to look at children, as well, looking at overweight rates among children across the map. Utah actually has the lowest, about nine percent. The District of Columbia, about 23 percent. Look, we know that obesity is linked to just about every chronic disease out there. Mississippi, which we just mentioned, also is number one for heart disease in adults, and it's number two for diabetes in adults as well. We talk about epidemics. And I just put a little bit of perspective for you. You have about 19 states that have about a quarter of their citizens that are now obese. So, 25 percent of the citizens in 19 states are obese. In the early '90s, you had no state that had obesity rates that high, so the numbers are definitely getting worse -- Heidi.</s>COLLINS: "Fit Nation". Sanjay, "Fit Nation".</s>GUPTA: We're trying to do our part, Heidi. We really are.</s>COLLINS: Hey, quickly, obviously we reported here yesterday about Dunkin' Donuts and taking the trans fats out of their doughnuts. They're still doughnuts, right? I mean, this isn't going to make much of an impact?</s>GUPTA: Yes, I don't think anyone is ready to call these health foods by any stretch of the imagination. They are still made of fat, sugar and flour. But, you know, talking about trans fats and eliminating them is an important step, though, not to undermine that at all. Trans fats, these sort of partially hydrogenated fats, they increase your bad cholesterol and they increase your risk of heart disease. So, actually, trying to substitute that with healthier fat of some sort will make a difference but, obviously, doughnuts themselves still have a lot of -- they still contribute quite a bit to the obesity epidemic that we were just talking about.</s>COLLINS: And still no gluten-free doughnut either. Still looking for that. All right.</s>GUPTA: We've got to get that for you, absolutely.</s>COLLINS: Sanjay, nice to see you. Thank you very much.</s>GUPTA: Thank you.</s>COLLINS: To find out where your own state ranks on these obesity charts, you can go to cnn.com/americanmorning. That's also where you can e-mail Sanjay. He'll answer your questions here on AMERICAN MORNING on Thursday.</s>ROBERTS: A government security request ignored by one big newspaper. Why editors at "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer" refused to print pictures of suspicious men spotted on local ferries. And life after the Justice Department. What is next for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales? And will Congress stop chasing him about those fired U.S. attorneys once he leaves his post? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.