American Morning
High-end repo men snag planes, yachts
By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello, CNN
(CNN) – Count the rich among the victims of the Great Recession. Just ask Ken Cage, who repossesses very expensive toys that the rich can no longer afford. Business, HIS business, is booming.
“We sold 12 boats and airplanes in a day,” he told us. His biggest repo? A nearly new $14 million Gulfstream jet taken from a real estate developer who fell behind in his payments. Cage often sells the repossessions himself, taking a small cut of each sale and giving the rest back to the banks.
Cage’s Orlando-based International Recovery & Remarketing Group (IRG) grabbed around 1,000 big-ticket items last year. Cage’s partner is Randy Craft, a former professional wrestler who provides the “muscle” in case a repo goes wrong. We caught up with them as they were going through the final run-through for their next target, a $700,000 Cessna Citation jet.
With most repos, says Cage, the challenge is where to go looking. Many owners move and hide their planes as soon as the bank says they are repossessing. Cage, who is part Sherlock Holmes and part James Bond, has contacts at most airports throughout Florida.
Sign-wearing man goes from pinkslip to paycheck
(CNN) – For more than a year, Paul Nawrocki, a laid-off toy executive, was desperate to get hired. He walked the streets of Manhattan wearing a sandwich board and handing out resumes.
It finally paid off and not a moment too soon. A week after his unemployment benefits ran out, Paul found a job. Our Richard Roth met up with him again to hear his inspirational story.
BP taking public relations beating
(CNN) – There's a growing cry today both online and along the Gulf Coast to boycott BP. Yesterday, the anti-war group Code Pink heckled the oil executives right before the hearings, holding up signs reading "BP kills" and "BP = bad people." More protests are planned for today.
In South Florida, demonstrators carried "mobile oil slicks" in the form of large black plastic tarps that were placed along sensitive areas of Miami Beach. This environmental nightmare is now a full-blown public relations disaster for the British oil giant. Our Joe Johns has the report.
Read more: 'Top hat' lowered to Gulf oil leak site
Oil execs in Capitol Hill hot seat
(CNN) – BP is lowering a second, smaller containment dome known as a "top hat" into the Gulf of Mexico. A larger version failed last week. Every day the company fails, more and more oil damages the fishing industry, threatens wildlife, ruins beaches and kills tourism.
Executives from three oil companies will be back in Washington today. There is plenty of blame to go around, but will anyone stand up to accept it? Our Brianna Keilar has the report.
Read more: Execs face more questions over spill
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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/05/12/viking.dome.oil.gi.art.jpg caption="The Viking Poseidon lowers the top hat device into the Gulf of Mexico at the site of the oil spill late Monday night."]
BP deploys second box to control massive oil leak
(CNN) – BP is lowering a second oil containment box in an effort to stop a weeks-long oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil company said.
A larger containment vessel was unsuccessful in stopping the flow of oil from the gusher about 5,000 feet underwater. The spill is sending 210,000 gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico each day.
Called "top hat," the 5-foot-tall, 4-foot-diameter structure weighs less than two tons. The structure is being deployed by the drill ship Enterprise.
BP built the smaller dome after a much larger, four-story containment vessel designed to cap the larger of two leaks in the well developed glitches Saturday. Ice-like hydrate crystals formed when gas combined with water and blocked the top of the dome, making it buoyant. Read more
Would you consider boycotting BP?
There's a growing cry today both online and along the Gulf Coast to boycott BP. More protests are planned for today. Yesterday, the anti-war group Code Pink heckled the oil executives right before the hearings, holding up signs reading "BP kills" and "BP = bad people."
In South Florida, demonstrators carried "mobile oil slicks" in the form of large black plastic tarps that were placed along sensitive areas of Miami Beach. This environmental nightmare is now a full-blown public relations disaster for the British oil giant.
Sound off: Would you consider participating in a boycott of BP? 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.
Calif. spinal injury clinic draws controversy
(CNN) – For people with severe spinal cord injuries, the ultimate dream is walking again. For many, that's just not possible. Spinal cord patients were given a very famous and public advocate with the late actor Christopher Reeve.
Reeve frequently pushed for more studies involving stem cells, but a controversial clinic in California is taking a much simpler approach. The results seem to be medical miracles. Our Alina Cho has this AM original report.
Related link: Help A Fwend
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