American Morning
Healthcare nightmare
President Obama says he's confident he'll get a plan in place that will drive down the crushing cost of health care for Americans who have it while helping the millions who don't.
CNN’s Jim Acosta has the story of a Texas woman who says her insurance company tried to sentence her to death.
Nixon tapes revealed
Former President Richard Nixon's library has just released a collection of memos and tapes including more conversations on Watergate and a revealing 1973 conversation about President Nixon's views on abortion just after the Supreme Court ruled on Roe V. Wade.
CNN's Elaine Quijano has the report.
American detained in Iran
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/24/intv.michelle.may.cnn.art.jpg caption="Michelle May speaks to CNN's Kiran Chetry about being detained by the Basij in Tehran."]
Michelle May is an American and Irish national who was detained in Tehran this past Saturday during the election aftermath. She shared her experience with CNN’s "American Morning" live from Dubai Wednesday.
Kiran Chetry: So you had quite an interesting and at times terrifying experience in Tehran. This was your third trip to Iran. Tell us what happened when you went and what happened.
Michelle May: Kiran, I went because I had been there two times before and I feel very connected to the country and the people there. I have a lot of friends. So when I was watching the election, the run-up to the election and the election results, I just felt a real need to be there with my friends and I just wanted to be a part of what could possibly be history. So I made arrangements at the last minute.
Chetry: You had an Irish passport and you arrived days before those protests started. Explain what happened when you said you were riding in a cab. Your taxi was stopped, you were pulled from that taxi and you were questioned.
May: Yes. I was in a net cafe prior to that and this young man befriended me. I was trying to download CNN to find out – this is the day after the Ayatollah gave his prayer on Friday – I was trying to read about it on CNN and he was trying to help me. So he helped me hail a taxi to meet a friend for lunch. About half-an-hour into that ride the next thing I know, there are two motorbikes on either side of my taxi. He's on the back of one of them and three Basij guys are on the other and they pulled me over and I knew what was happening.
Of course I was terrified and I immediately started screaming saying "No, no, no." He got into the taxi, the one who spoke English, and he told me I need to get out and go with them and so I stood up to get out of the taxi, but then I thought I’ll make a scene on the street, maybe they'll leave me alone. However, that didn't work. I think because everyone's just terrified of the Basij right now. So they took me by either arm and they put me into a car that had pulled up. Then I was with them for a little bit over an hour.
Torching cars for cash
It’s happening in Florida, California, New Jersey and Texas. More and more burned cars are turning up in tow yards these days. These are cars reported stolen from their owners, but law enforcement says it’s the owners themselves who are committing the crimes.
“Ordinary people are hiring others to torch their vehicles,” says Paula Dow, Essex County prosecutor in New Jersey.
Why? And who's doing it? Prosecutors in Newark, New Jersey have some answers.
“They're all types. But it really is Jane and John Q. Citizen that is doing it,” according to Michael Morris, asst. prosecutor in Newark.
Among the perpetrators, a convicted elementary school principal, and a businessman and a Dallas chiropractor who both plead guilty to attempted insurance fraud.
Driven, investigators say, by economic desperation to commit 'owner give ups'. That's when an owner reports their vehicle stolen, but actually stages the theft and torches the car to collect the insurance money.
John Walsh leads teens in discussion of sexting and cyberbullying
Press Release: What Every Parent Needs to Know: Cox and Harris Interactive to Present Findings from National Teen Online and Wireless Safety Survey on Sexting and Cyberbullying
ATLANTA, June 22 /PRNewswire/ - For the fourth consecutive year, teens from across the country will gather in Washington, D.C. for the Cox National Teen Summit on Internet and Wireless Safety held in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children(R) (NCMEC).
As a part of Cox's Take Charge! program developed to keep kids safer online, America's Most Wanted host and children's advocate John Walsh will guide teen participants from Cox Communications' markets across the country in a discussion of Internet and wireless safety, with a focus on ways parents, guardians and teen mentors can help children be safer online, at home and on the go. Discussion topics include sexting, cyberbullying and parental controls.
Results of a new survey conducted by Cox in conjunction with NCMEC about the behavior of young people online and a recap of the summit will be presented during a virtual media conference on BlogTalkRadio. John Walsh, Harris Interactive and select teens will be available to answer questions. On June 25, the teens will deliver the news directly to Capitol Hill in meetings with members of Congress.
Ambassador visits jailed U.S. journalists in North Korea
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/24/euna.laura.getty.art.jpg caption="A file picture taken on June 4, 2009 shows a South Korean conservative activist holding pictures of US journalists Euna Lee (L) and Laura Ling (R) during a rally in Seoul."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Swedish ambassador met with two imprisoned American journalists in Pyongyang on Tuesday, a state department spokesman said, their first visit with him since a North Korean court handed down their 12-year sentence.
The spokesman said he could not provide details of the conversation between the Swedish ambassador and Current TV journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
The journalists were apprehended in March near North Korea's border with China and accused of illegally crossing the border and plotting a smear campaign against North Korea. After a closed trial, Lee and Ling were sentenced to 12 years in prison earlier this month.
Also on Tuesday, a statement obtained by CNN from the families of Ling and Lee expressed gratitude that North Korean officials permitted the Swedish ambassador's visit.
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