American Morning
Board members share accounts of shooting at Florida school board meeting
(CNN) – Clay Duke, a 56-year-old resident of Panama City, Florida, opened fire at a school board meeting Tuesday afternoon. The dramatic incident was captured on tape and streamed live on the internet.
During the time for public comments, Duke approached the front of the room, painted a red “V” with a circle around it on a wall, wielded a small handgun and ordered the room cleared. Ginger Littleton, a board member, returned to the room and swung a purse at him. After a brief struggle with Duke, he let her leave the room. Duke then began a rambling discourse, eventually facing the School Superintendent, William Husfelt, who attempted to reason with him. Amazingly, no one on the school board was hurt. However, the gunman, Clay Duke, eventually turned the gun on himself and took his own life.
Ginger Littleton and William Husfelt shared their amazing stories with us on Wednesday’s American Morning.
Read more: Rambling gunman dead after opening fire at Florida school meeting
Helmet-wearing gunman robs Bellagio casino of $1.5 million in chips
(CNN) – Police say they're trying to find a helmet-wearing gunman who robbed one of Las Vegas' most recognizable casinos of $1.5 million in casino chips Tuesday morning - and may also have robbed a different casino last week.
With a helmet and visor hiding his face, the man rode to Bellagio casino on a motorcycle, walked inside and pulled a gun at a craps table where several people were gambling at about 3:50 a.m., said Lt. Clint Nichols of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Tom Fuentes, CNN contributor and former FBI Assistant Director, joined us on Wednesday’s American Morning to discuss the brazen robbery and the investigation going forward.
Where does U.S., WikiLeaks fit into founder Julian Assange's arrest?
London (CNN) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested Tuesday on a Swedish warrant, London's Metropolitan Police said. Assange was arrested at a London police station at 9:30 a.m. and will appear at the City of Westminster Magistrate's Court at 2 p.m., police said. Swedish authorities had issued the warrant for Assange so they can talk to him about sex-crime allegations unrelated to WikiLeaks' recent disclosure of secret U.S. documents. At court, Assange will be able to respond to the arrest warrant, and the court will then have roughly 21 days to decide whether to extradite him, said Mark Ellis, executive director of the International Bar Association.
This morning, Ellis joins John Roberts and Carol Costello on American Morning to talk about what the UK arrest means, and whether Assange may be one step closer to being extradited to the United States.
Read more: Assange making arrangements to meet police, lawyer says
Elizabeth Edwards stops cancer treatment, releases statement
(CNN) – Elizabeth Edwards is surrounded by family and friends in her North Carolina home after being informed by her doctors that further cancer treatment would be unproductive.
"Elizabeth has been advised by her doctors that further treatment of her cancer would be unproductive," the Edwards family said Monday in a statement. "She is resting at home with family and friends and has posted this message to friends on her Facebook page."
LIVE Blog: Chat with us during the show
Editor's Note: Welcome to American Morning's LIVE Blog where you can discuss the "most news in the morning" with us each week day. Join the live chat during the show by adding your comments below. It's your chance to share your thoughts on the day's headlines. You have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules: 1) Keep it brief 2) No writing in ALL CAPS 3) Use your real name (first name only is fine) 4) No links 5) Watch your language (that includes $#&*) 6) Stay relevant to the topic.
Administration criticized over oil spill estimates
(CNN) – The Obama administration vastly underestimated the tens of thousands of barrels of oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, despite contrary information from scientists using better methodologies, a report from a national panel investigating the response said Wednesday.
And, the report said, the White House Office of Management and Budget squelched higher worst-case estimates once government officials accepted them, preventing the public from hearing them.
The staff also sharply criticized later White House estimates that 75 percent of the oil had been scooped up, burned or naturally dispersed, saying an operational tool - known as the oil budget - used by responders failed to accurately account for biodegradation and was not peer-reviewed by scientists. FULL STORY
Afghanistan starts peace council
(CNN) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday launched a council to help negotiate with the Taliban and find a way for peace.
Karzai told the group, made up of about 68 Afghan clerics and elders, that it can help establish peace in Afghanistan.
The peace council meeting is one of several addressing the war in recent days.
Political figures from Pakistan and Afghanistan were also sitting down this week in Kabul for a dialogue aimed at ending the nine-year-old Afghan war, in what one Afghan official called a "new phase" in building bridges and making peace with the Taliban
But a Taliban spokesman told CNN that the group was not interested in peace talks. FULL STORY
Sound off: We want to hear from you this morning. Add your comments to the LIVE Blog below and we'll read some of them on the show.
LIVE Blog: Chat with us during the show
Editor's Note: Welcome to American Morning's LIVE Blog where you can discuss the "most news in the morning" with us each week day. Join the live chat during the show by adding your comments below. It's your chance to share your thoughts on the day's headlines. You have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules: 1) Keep it brief 2) No writing in ALL CAPS 3) Use your real name (first name only is fine) 4) No links 5) Watch your language (that includes $#&*) 6) Stay relevant to the topic.
Obama-Clinton ticket 'on the table,' Woodward says
(CNN) – Some called a Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton pairing the "Dream Ticket" in 2008. It didn't happen.
But what about 2012?
"It's on the table," veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward told CNN's John King in an interview Tuesday on John King, USA. "Some of Hillary Clinton's advisers see it as a real possibility in 2012."
The scenario – whereby Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would switch positions – has been bandied about by political observers for months, seen by some as a potentially savvy strategy to gin up excitement among what appears to be a depressed Democratic base.
But it's never been clear if the idea has been actually discussed in the White House, until now.
"President Obama needs some of the women, Latinos, retirees that she did so well with during the [2008] primaries and, so they switch jobs, not out of the question, and the other interesting question is, Hillary Clinton could run in her own right in 2016 and be younger than Ronald Reagan when he was elected president."
Clinton will be 69 years old and three months in January 2017. President Ronald Reagan was just shy of his 70th birthday in January, 1980. FULL STORY
20 oil tankers hauling fuel for NATO set ablaze; 1 dead
(CNN) - The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack Wednesday on NATO supply vehicles in Quetta, Pakistan, a spokesman for the militant group told CNN by phone.
Quetta police said 20 oil tankers parked near Quetta were set ablaze, and one person died in the attack.
Azam Tariq, the central spokesman for Pakistani Taliban, said a special squad designated to strike NATO supply efforts made the attack.
At least five other attacks have been carried out on vehicles carrying supplies for NATO forces in the past week, killing at least six people.
The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for two of earlier attacks. Tariq said this week that those attacks were carried out as revenge for drone strikes and NATO's attacks in Pakistan.
"U.S. and NATO forces are killing innocent Pakistanis, which is unacceptable, and we will teach them a lesson by such attacks," Tariq said. FULL STORY
Sound off: We want to hear from you this morning. Add your comments to the LIVE Blog below and we'll read some of them on the show.
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