American Morning
What’s on Tap – Wednesday October 28th, 2009
Here are the big stories on the agenda today:
- Breaking news this morning in two very important countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The United States has a lot riding on each one of these nations and is making that clear, especially in Pakistan, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on the ground this morning. She flew in overnight on an un-announced trip. Her arrival comes at a time when anti-American sentiment is growing fast. A brand new attack overnight there killed dozens. A car bomb tore threw a packed market in Peshawar, killing least 90 people, many of them women.
- One month ago, an earthquake-triggered tsunami swept across American Samoa. The wall of water killed 34 people. One is still missing. Now a CNN investigation is uncovering evidence this natural disaster was in many ways a man-made tragedy. Why millions that we paid for an early warning system were never used for that purpose.
- “Sex for World Series tickets.” Police say a Phillies fan took her passion to a whole new level in an ad on Craigslist that read: "Diehard Phillies fan… gorgeous tall buxom blonde-in desperate need of two world series tickets… price negotiable. I’m the creative type!” Police say they then made contact with the woman and she offered to perform various sex acts in exchange for the tickets. That Phillies fan is now charged with prostitution. Game one tonight!
Is the battle of the sexes over?
The battle of the sexes is over. That's what a new report from California First Lady Maria Shriver declares.
The study says half the American workforce is now comprised of women, and almost 40 percent of women identified themselves as the "breadwinner" in their families.
It'll be the hot topic at the Women's Conference, hosted by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver, which takes place today.
Hotel owner under fire for telling Hispanics to change names
Imagine having your boss tell you that you need to change your name to something more American sounding. That's just what one man asked some of the employees to do at his New Mexico inn, and it has many in the area outraged.
Larry Whitten, owner of the Whitten Inn, and his attorney Alan Maestas, spoke to Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Tuesday. Below is an edited transcript of that interview.
Kiran Chetry: Larry, let me just ask you, first of all, about the controversy that's going on. Explain when you took over this hotel, renamed it the Whitten inn – you've taken over failing hotels in other places. You moved there to Taos with your wife and some of the moves that you made at this hotel are generating a lot of controversy. How do you see it? What's been going on?
Whitten: Well, my operation is taking over distressed hotels and correcting as many problems as quickly as possible to reduce the outflow of cash. It's a simple procedure, a proven procedure of retraining everyone to be a professional hotelman, and up to this point it's been very successful.
Chetry: Well, in this case, you told your employees that you wanted them to change their names. Is that true? MAR-TEEN, you wanted him to be Martin instead?
Alan Maestas: That's actually not accurate. What he said was that he wanted people on the switchboard to use a name that people calling from all over the world would understand. He didn't ask them to change their names. He simply wanted the name at the switchboard something that was understandable.
Chetry: So how is that not changing their name?
How can pilots forget to land?
According to the NTSB, the two Northwest pilots who overshot their landing by 150 miles were using their laptops and lost track of time. You may be wondering – how could that happen?
In this AM original we're taking you inside the cockpit with the help of a flight simulator to see just what pilots deal with in-flight.
Read more: Report: Stray jet's pilots were on laptops
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