American Morning
Florida prepares as oil closes in
(CNN) – Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has seen the enemy from the air, and it's closing in. Crist flew over the Gulf oil spill yesterday and spotted a light sheen of crude less than four miles from Pensacola's shore. It seems inevitable now, Florida is about to come face-to-face with this environmental menace. He joined us on Friday's American Morning to talk about how his state is preparing for the worst.
BP COO: 'Lots of things will change'
(CNN) – It's day 46 of the oil disaster in the Gulf. Late last night, BP got the containment cap in place on the broken well. So has this fix finally worked? And what comes next in BP's plan? Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for BP, joined us on Friday's American Morning.
Read more: BP waits to see if containment cap works
CNN Heroes: Pairing neighbors with the elderly
By Leslie Askew, CNN
(CNN) – "Before my mother's ... experience, I never even looked at seniors on the street," said Irene Zola. "They were pretty much invisible to me."
In 2008, Zola's mother, Faye, was admitted into a nursing home after suffering a stroke.
"I knew from that very first night I would have to spend a lot of time there," she said. "I didn't want to leave my mother in a place where people were ignoring her."
Four months later, Zola's mother passed away.
"I was outraged that our culture doesn't have a place for very old people except in nursing homes," she said. "I decided that I wanted to do something about that."
A New York native and 30-year resident of Morningside Heights - a neighborhood on Manhattan's upper west side - Zola researched the senior population and how their needs were being met and found a solution in her own backyard.
"[A] friend said, 'What about having some people in our neighborhood taking care of the elders who live here?' "
Borrowing on that idea, Zola started Morningside Village in 2009, an initiative that pairs the elderly in her neighborhood with local volunteers who assist them with their day-to-day needs.
Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2010 CNN Heroes
AT&T apologizes for legal threat
(CNN) – A guy complains to AT&T and gets a legal threat in response. How's that for customer service? What is causing the latest disconnect with its customers? Our Christine Romans has the report.
Who will get slimed in oil spill politics?
(CNN) – The growing oil spill in the Gulf has raised the political stakes for President Obama and others looking to make a splash in the mid-terms elections. Our Jim Acosta reports on that part of the story for us.
Gut Check: Are sand berms a smart defense?
By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello, CNN
(CNN) – Fans of the Star Trek television series and movies will no doubt recall the recurring struggle between the emotional Captain Kirk and the logical Spock. Crises as big as the universe itself in the end were somehow averted as emotion and science put their very different heads together.
As for our very own earthly crisis, the giant oil spill in the Gulf, right now science is flummoxed. The best scientists and engineers can’t figure out how to stem the flow or prevent the oil from reaching shore.
Is it time for a little emotion?
"All you need to do is look at this brown pelican, our state bird,” an emotional Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal pronounced Thursday just feet from the oil drenched bird and in full view of a gaggle of reporters.
The governor is usually pretty low-key, but not these days. Here’s a sample:
"I don't want to see a drop of oil on Louisiana's coast!"
“We’re frustrated!”
“Cut us a check!”
“This is their oil! Their damage! They caused this!”
And he’s not alone. It’s not often a U.S. congressman cries on the floor of the House. But that’s precisely what Rep. Charlie Melancon did the other day when describing the environmental disaster affecting his state.
There is a sense of doom here and, some say politicians in their eagerness to do something are calling for solutions that may not work, like giant, six foot high walls of sand – "sand berms." It’s a concept the politicians say has been in their Area Contingency Plan with the Corp of Engineers.
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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.
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