American Morning
Birthing Project provides mentors for at-risk mothers-to-be
(CNN) – When she was a public health administrator for the state of California, Kathryn Hall-Trujillo found that her greatest challenge was paying for babies who were born sick.
"The figure we were working with at that time was about $300,000 ... to stabilize a baby for the first 90 days," said Hall-Trujillo, who worked for the state from 1976-1991.
At the same time, she said, it cost just $2,000 to ensure pregnant mothers received all the care they needed for a healthy pregnancy and proper delivery.
The staggering disparity, along with troubling rates of infant mortality in America, compelled Hall-Trujillo, 62, to find a solution.
"It occurred to me that one of the things that we could do that would cost hardly anything was to make sure that moms who were at risk ... [were] really connected to care," she said. Read more
Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2010 CNN Heroes
Gut Check: How can Republicans attract more African-Americans?
By Ronni Berke and Carol Costello, CNN
(CNN) – Political blogger Sophia Nelson considers herself to be a long-time Republican moderate – at least until recently, when she says she’s become more libertarian and independent.
“The problem with the Republican Party now is that (it) is identified with the Tea Party, with the conservative movement,” Nelson, editor-in-chief of politicalintersection.com, explains. Nelson identifies more with Republicans like the late New York Congressman Jack Kemp and former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman.
“People like myself and others feel like well, there's really not a place for someone like me in that party because we're RINOS, Republicans in name only, right?”
She says some Republican leaders are sensitive to that and even more worried now in light of the Shirley Sherrod affair, as perhaps, they should be. A CNN poll shows 73 percent of African-Americans think some or all of Tea Party supporters - who generally lean Republican - are racially prejudiced. And only 26 percent of African-Americans think the Republican Party does a good job of reaching out to minorities.
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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/US/07/23/tropical.weather/t1main2.jpg caption="Tropical Storm Bonnie is expected to pass the southern tip of Florida on Friday afternoon before making landfall Sunday between New Orleans and southeastern Texas."]
Tropical Storm Bonnie could hit oil spill site over weekend
(CNN) – The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch for the northern Gulf of Mexico early Friday as Tropical Storm Bonnie began clearing the Bahamas and headed for South Florida.
The watch is in place from Destin, Florida, westward to Morgan City, Louisiana.
The storm is expected to pass the southern tip of Florida on Friday afternoon before making landfall Sunday morning near New Orleans.
At 5 a.m. ET Friday, Bonnie was packing winds of 40 mph and moving west-northwest at 18 miles an hour as it slipped past the northwestern Bahamas. It was about 200 miles east-southeast of Key West, Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.
It could pick up some strength as it moves over the long stretch of open water in the Gulf of Mexico, but the latest computer models do not show it becoming a hurricane, according to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.
If the storm continues on its path, it could slam into the area of the BP oil spill and possibly put more oil to shore. Read more
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.
Teen barters phone for a Porsche convertible
(CNN) – Thanks to the age-old art of bartering, a California teenager became the envy of all his friends when he pulled into school in a Porsche convertible.
Steven Ortiz, 17, dreamed of one day owning a luxury sports car - a dream that became reality after he posted a used cell phone on Craigslist.
"My friend gave me a free phone and said, 'Do what you want with it,'" Ortiz told CNN's "American Morning" Thursday. "So I put it on Craigslist on the barter section."
After some serious patience, research and a lot of talking, his cell phone trade landed him an iPod touch, which he managed to barter up for a dirt bike and then to a Macbook Pro laptop computer. Before long, he was the proud owner of an 1987 Toyota 4Runner.
Eventually, he landed a classic Ford Bronco SUV - the golden ticket that would soon get him into the driver seat of a luxury sports car. "I just went for it," he said. "I knew the Bronco was worth more at the end."
So what's his secret?
Sherrod offered new job, but says she is not so sure
(CNN) – A former Agriculture Department employee who was forced to resign from her job based on incomplete and misleading reports of a speech she gave has been offered a new job by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, but said Thursday she is "not so sure."
"I'm not so sure that going back to the department is the thing to do," Shirley Sherrod told CNN's "American Morning."
Sherrod said she was offered some type of civil rights position in the department's Office of Outreach, and that she was expecting to receive something official in an e-mail from the department. She said Thursday she had not had a chance to see that yet.
But "I would not want to be the one person at USDA that's responsible for issues of discrimination within the agency," she said. "You know, there's a lawsuit by black farmers, there's a lawsuit by Hispanic and Native American and women farmers ... There are changes that would need to happen in order to once and for all really deal with discrimination." Read more
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