American Morning
Building Up America: Lumber yard rebuilds after fire
Today in our "Building Up America" series, we meet a woman who literally had to rebuild her business from the ashes. And she had to do it at one of the toughest times her industry has ever seen. Our Tom Foreman has the story for us.
New hope for Haiti quake victim
We've been following the story of a very brave 12-year-old girl who survived the earthquake in Haiti. Her name is Kimberly, and she suffered a massive brain injury. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta was called in to perform her life-saving operation aboard the USS Carl Vinson.
After a full month of rehab, Kimberly has since been reunited with her father. They were homeless. She had no medicine and she just learned her mother and sister died in the quake. But now, a bit of good news.
Full coverage: Haiti earthquake
Woman relives her runaway ride
Today, Toyota's CEO, who has come all the way from Tokyo, will answer questions on Capitol Hill. There have been accusations that the company has been arrogant and way too late with its response to reports of "runaway cars."
Yesterday, his chief of sales in the U.S. sat down and listened to a woman re-live her runaway ride in a Lexus. Her name is Rhonda Smith and she and her husband Eddie joined us on Wednesday's American Morning.
CNNMoney: Toyota chief to testify
Billboard campaign sparks race debate
A controversial billboard campaign has sparked a debate over abortion and race. The billboards feature a picture of a black infant with the message: "Black children are an endangered species."
Some 80 billboards are now up in the Atlanta area. The groups behind them say abortion clinics target black women and are, in effect, threatening the African-American population.
Catherine Davis is the director of minority outreach at Georgia Right to Life, which co-sponsored the billboards. She and Dr. Artis Cash, founder of Shreveport's chapter of the National Action Network, joined us on Wednesday's American Morning.
Broken Government: Can we gamble our way out of recession?
Editor's Note: All this week in our special series "Broken Government," CNN is taking a hard look at our nation's government; the frustrating problems and the potential solutions. Today, our Carol Costello looks at states trying to gamble their way out of the recession. And tomorrow on American Morning, President Obama says he wants to double U.S. exports in the next five years. So what's the plan and how can America even compete with cheap foreign labor?
By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello, CNN
Our cameras were rolling at The Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh as a contestant spun the “Wheel of Luck.” On this particular day the “Wheel” lived up to its name, coming to a rest on $5,000. A small crowd erupted in cheers and applause at the elderly man’s good fortune.
The owners of Pennsylvania’s newest casino are hoping that promotions like the “Wheel of Luck,” along with more than 3,000 slot, virtual roulette and Black Jack games, will entice big crowds and big bucks.
Someone else is hoping that the casino is a big winner: the state of Pennsylvania. Why?
Pennsylvania gets a cut – a very big cut – from every dollar spent in every one of the nine up-and-running casinos licensed by the state legislature. 34% of gaming revenues go directly to the state. Additional amounts go to municipalities, firefighters, and the horse racing industry.
Pennsylvania is not alone. In fact, there is a virtual stampede by states to authorize legalized gambling. 39 states either have or soon will have gaming available to one and all over the age of 21. And if you throw in lotteries, that leaves just two states without some form of legalized gambling: Hawaii and Utah.
Why are so many states betting on gambling? One word: recession.
We Listen – Your comments 2/23/2010
Editor's Note: Tuesday’s American Morning segment of the “Broken Government” series garnered attention on two topics: independent voters shut out of primary elections and solutions for an economic recovery. Voters affiliated with the two-party system were furious with independents who believed they had the “right’ to vote in those primaries, noting that they “choose NOT” to be members of a specific party. Independent-identified voters challenged the argument, calling the shut-out “unconstitutional.”
- Michael: Your story on independent voters not being allowed to vote in party primaries was completely ridiculous. These are PARTY primaries. Non-party members should not be able to vote. Independent voters are not being denied rights.
- Anthony: I am registered as an independent. The story you just ran on AMfix has put the lid on my case I am changing my party affiliation to Democrat, just so I can vote. That’s an easy fix (no pun intended), to being locked out of voting.
- Karen: Went to vote in primary this morning. Couldn't vote independent. Had to vote either Dem or Rep so voted Dem. Election for Cty Treas is big on this vote. The Dem vote ballot didn't have Treas candidates on it. So I didn't get to vote for new Treasurer. This is not constitutional. At the voting place, they said primary election is paid for by Democrats & Republican parties. They are controlling the votes. This has got to change to let everyone have their say with their vote.
Many continued to offer solutions to the economic crisis, including giving funds directly to small business owners instead of using banks as the vehicle to distribute loans.
- Doreen: Small Banks getting money for small business is not the answer. The problem is the big Banks have ruined everyone's credit. Any small business, or private citizen who had excellent credit before this mess should not be penalized. If the banking community was forced to make loans to people or business that had excellent credit for years before this mess this country would be back in business. I am speaking from experience. My husband always had excellent credit, has a small business in the Flooring industry and is now facing receivership and personal bankruptcy. He borrowed money to keep his business going not for pleasure. To survive this crisis. We deal with a lot of contractors that have gone under and have buried us. It is not fair to judge a person for bad credit due to the banking crisis. If bankers would go back two years and look at people's credit they would be clamoring to extend credit to my husband and his business. These are the same banks that want bonuses. They were able to pay back the government on tarpapers f/c homes and forcing small business out. President Obama need to consider this idea. STOP giving money to banks to loan and give it to small business owners that have been stuck in this crisis.
- Skip: You do not know that governments don't create jobs? How silly for you to keep supporting this lie.
- Anthony R. Your morning show was about fixing the economy. You should start in 2000 when the economy was good then work forward. The outsourcing jobs boom is what did it. The housing / banking bust finished the economy off. The fix? Give cash to homeowners to refinance their homes to a 30 year fixed loan. Second, start working to get the good paying jobs back. Re-open the factories by getting NEW business people to open steal plants then guarantee them the same NO Bid contracts Halliburton got. There's your fix. This creates jobs, and tax revenue. Lastly, get rid of the tax cuts for the rich. We need to balance the economy.
- Simon: Simplify the tax system, currently it inhibits employment and confuses millions. Combine a national sales tax and a very simple tax on business/company profits. Organize and reduce government spending and then set the tax rates to create a surplus so the national debt can be paid down.
What do you think? Continue the conversation below.
About this Show
Welcome to the American Morning blog where you can get daily news updates from American Morning's reporters and producers. Join us for "the most news in the morning," weekdays from 6-9 a.m. ET, only on CNN.
On Twitter
