American Morning
'Top Chef' pledges to use Gulf seafood
(CNN) – Seeing the images of the oil spill may make you wonder if seafood from the Gulf is safe to eat. Well, one of the most famous chefs in the world decided to check it out for himself. He watched how they're testing fish and oysters in the Gulf and he came away with this advice: Eat it. Chef Tom Colicchio of Craft Restaurants and head judge on Bravo's "Top Chef" joined us on Friday's American Morning to explain why he's cooking with and promoting Gulf seafood. Watch 
Oil spill cleanup gets political
(CNN) – The mother of all oil skimmers, a converted supertanker aptly named "A Whale," has moved into the Gulf. It offers promising results, able to skim 300,000 barrels in less than ten hours time. But there are nagging concerns that too much of the cleaning equipment is just sitting there doing nothing. Our Allan Chernoff reports on one Republican's accusations that the government is holding out on resources.
Seafood vital to Gulf's Vietnamese-Americans
(CNN) – After 70 days of the Gulf oil disaster, more and more small businesses are seeing their livelihoods dry up. It's been particularly hard on Vietnamese-Americans who settled along the Gulf Coast in the wake of the Vietnam War. Some still struggle to speak English, and for many, seafood is all they know. Our T.J. Holmes met with one family that was forced to close their business entirely.
Building Up America: Floridians race to save Gulf wildlife
(CNN) – Florida's wildlife is part of what makes the state unique. With a disaster looming offshore, the animals' delicate way of life hangs in the balance. Fortunately, an army of volunteers is ready to help them. Our Tom Foreman has their story for today's "Building Up America" report. Watch
Tropical weather could worsen Gulf Coast woes
In this satellite image, oil spreads northeast from the leaking Deepwater Horizon well seen from NASA's Terra satellite on June 19, 2010.
(CNN) – Downtrodden Gulf Coast residents may soon have something besides the oil spill to worry about. But it's not really a "new" threat - it's what they fret about every summer: tropical weather.
There is a 70 percent chance that a weather system in the western Caribbean will better organize and form at least a tropical depression in the next 48 hours, the National Hurricane Center said Friday morning.
The tropical disturbance's rains have become more concentrated, surface air pressure is dropping and upper-level winds are becoming more conducive to storm development, said the hurricane center. An Air Force "hurricane hunter" plane is scheduled to head into the system Friday afternoon to determine if it has evolved into a tropical cyclone, with closed circulation around a center of low pressure.
Some forecasting models show that by early next week the system could head into the Gulf of Mexico, where it could disrupt the oil cleanup operations. Adm. Thad Allen, who's heading the federal cleanup operation, said on CNN's "American Morning" he'll have to redeploy people and equipment to safer areas 120 hours (five days) in advance of gale-force winds (at least 32 mph). Watch
Read more: Tropical weather could exacerbate Gulf Coast woes
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