Transcripts For CNNW Early Start With John Berman And Christine Romans 20140523

Good morning. Welcome to early start. Im christine romans. Im john berman. Its friday, may 23rd, 4 00 a. M. In the east. Breaking overnight, word of another frightening near collision at one of the nations busiest airports. The faa is now investigating how two United Airlines jets came within a few hundred feet of each other. That is very close. After both took off from houstons bush intercontinental airport. This happened two weeks ago. An air Traffic Controller told one plane to turn right, directly into the path of the other. They were about 0. 9 miles apart and seconds away from colliding when the controller realized the error and told the planes to turn again, avoiding disaster. This is the fourth near collision weve learned about just this week. All right, embattled va secretary Eric Shinseki is fighting to keep his job, vowing to fix delays in care that may be costing veterans their lives. It would be an uphill battle for the beleaguered exgeneral because now some highprofile democrats are demanding he step down. Chief Congressional Correspondent dana bash. Reporter christina and john, va secretary Eric Shinseki was summoned to a closeddoor meeting on capitol hill yesterday afternoon, not to meet with a republican, but a frustrated democrat. And afterwards, shinseki told reporters that he has not offered the president his resignation. He said you guys know me better than that, but his remaining support is tenuous. Do you still think that he should be at the helm . I have not called for general shinseki to resign, although i have to admit, im getting a little bit closer. The reports that continue to come are appalling. These are men and women who served our country, and weve not just let them down, weve let them die reporter congress is stepping up its investigation of the va, but three va officials scheduled to attend a House Veterans Affairs Committee Meeting yesterday morning didnt show up. And later in the afternoon, the va general counsel scrapped a meeting with the committee chairman, jeff miller, after miller demanded it be open to the press. We waited all day long. We called nine times for them to tell us whether or not they were going to come, and he never came. Reporter all of this while the president s point person on va troubles, rob nabors, traveled to phoenix, the va office where problems first surfaced, to interview the interim director, even as congressional investigators warn the problems know about now may just be the tip of the iceberg. Christine and john . Thanks so much, dana bash. 5 contained, not what you want to hear when a wildfire is closing in on your home. That is the situation this morning near sedona in arizona. Over 7,000 acres have already burned and hundreds of homes and businesses are in harms way. Lets get the latest from ana cabre cabrera. Reporter john and christine, its the extremely dry conditions that have firefighters really concerned. Its these pine needles, these dry pine needles that are blanketing the forest floor, providing a kindling of sorts for this fire thats now burning thousands of acres. You can see that huge plume of smoke thats been blowing to the north. The winds have been a huge xfactor for firefighters as they work to try to contain this fire thats burning in very steep, rugged and treacherous terrain. So, firefighters have been relying a lot on the air support in some of those areas, dropping fire retardant to protect the homes that are on the northeast flank. Still, 300 homes that are threatened right now. There are hundreds of fire crews that have arrived from six different states to help in this fire battle. At least 20 hot shot crews that are also joining in this firefight. Right now its a race to keep this fire away from the homes as it continues to spread with Mother Nature not lending any reprieve so far. John, christine . Wow. All right. Another day of dangerous weather on tap for much of the country, severe thunderstorms and the threat of flash flooding facing millions of people, from wyoming to texas and all the way east to oklahoma. Lightning and the possibility of wildfires also expected to be a problem in many of those droughtstricken states. That is crazy look at that call your insurance adjuster. Indeed going to be a lot of dented cars there, a lot of insurance claims in central and eastern pennsylvania. Now, this is tennis ballsized hail, as opposed to golf ball or baseball. I think the writers put that in just for me. Tennis ballsized hail shattering car windshields, breaking windows in buildings all over the town of reading. Emergency management officials tell us theres a lot more damage. Luckily, no serious injuries. Virginia battered thursday by hail, high winds, driving rains, tornado warnings late in the day sending people scrambling to find shelter in richmond. A lot of damage throughout the state. Trees down, streets and highways flooded and more than 20,000 homes without power. Severe damage being reported in upstate new york. Thunderstorms packing ferocious winds and hail ripping through albany, schenectady and montgomery counties. Look at that. Many homes in the region just devastated with trees and power lines down just all over the place. It was devastation in kent county, delaware. Look at this home flattened by a possible tornado. Several structure collapses are being reported in the area. Roads closed, powers out in about 4,000 homes. The good news is, no serious injuries reported. Wow, just a lot going on overnight into the morning. Lets get a look at the forecast. Chad myers has that for us. John and christine, good morning. Had an ugly afternoon yesterday, although its better today in the northeast. We have High Pressure pushing some of that moisture away, pushing the humidity away, the heat away, and the potential for storms away, too. 90 in atlanta, 96 if you get all the way down south in south texas, down around brownsville. 88 in new orleans, 89 in tampa and 91 down in miami. For tomorrow, things look wet again across parts of the plains. This is your saturday afternoon in the heat of the day. Thats why the showers pop up here. There wont be as many showers in the morning. Then 72 for new york, 76 for d. C. And 86 in atlanta. For your memorial day weekend, not too bad. We go to 72, 76 and 82 for new york city. Now, believe it or not, chicagos actually going to be warmer, and even san antonio 87, 85, 86, and orlando pleasant there, a couple of showers in the afternoon, as always. D. C. , a few miles farther south than new york but significantly warmer, five degrees warmer every single day. St. Louis all the way to 88 for your monday and pretty decent beach weather down across parts of the southeast. Atlanta, youll see a shower or two on monday. Thats it. John, christine, back to you. Have a great day. All right, you know, and chad, we need it. We need it. It was such a brutal week in chicago. Up here, terrible, southeast, terrible. We deserve it. Were entitled. Im going to enjoy it. Oh, wait, im working on monday. President obama set to officially nominate two new members of the cabinet. Shaun donovan would take over as director of management and budget, replacing Sylvia Matthews burwell, on track to become the next secretary of health and human services. And julio castro would replace donovan at hud. The announcement is set for this afternoon at the white house. As the white house prepares to release a key memo justifying its killing of u. S. Citizens overseas, there is word this morning that some in the pentagon want permission to speak more publicly about the u. S. Drone program. The wall street journal says some top defense officials plan to present chuck hagel with a proposal that would let them publicly defend drone strikes. The administration in the past has kept most of the details secret for fear of giving too much information to potential targets. What if terrorists tried to take over a u. S. Nuclear missile sillo . Turns out, Armed Security forces of a wing in montana were put through a drill last summer simulating exactly that kind of attack. As pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr tells us, it didnt go well. Reporter john, christine, it was last summer at an air force nuclear base in montana when a security group, a small team of air force Security Experts failed an inspection. It was an exercise, training about what to do if terrorists took over a Nuclear Missile silo and tried to get to a Nuclear Weapon on the base. They failed that exercise. Now a report has emerged about exactly what happened. I want to read you a couple of examples of what they are talking about. The report says that the personnel failed to take all lawful actions necessary to immediately regain control of Nuclear Weapons. And as a result of that, the test found that the air force team may not have been able to prevent theft, damage, sabotage, destruction or even detonation of a Nuclear Weapon. Now, the team went through retraining and they did pass, but this comes at a time when the Nuclear Force has been plagued by some disciplinary problems, morale problems. Look, the majority of the personnel do perform their jobs very well, but they do have these problems. This is a very highpressure environment. The Nuclear Force has to be perfect. Thats what the air force says. Its not an environment where they can tolerate any mistakes. John, christine . Wow, thats something. Yeah. Thanks to barbara for that. No room for error, no room for any wiggle room when youre talking about Nuclear Weapons. Thats right. More layoffs at hewlettpackard, announcing plans to cut 11,000 to 16,000 jobs. Ouch thats in addition to the 34,000 layoffs already in the works. Hp says cuts would be across the board and save an additional 1 billion per year. The companys had difficulty as consumers shift away from pcs to mobile devices. Christine, i thought i read they were having a better time under new leadership. Ill tell you, one of the reasons you have a better time is because you restructure and cut a lot of jobs and you change your strategy, and thats all part of that, cutting jobs. Sometimes whats good for a company is not good for the employees. I guess its a matter of perspective. Absolutely. More perspective, mcdonalds ceo responding to two days of protests over low worker pay at the companys annual meeting in illinois. On wednesday, Police Arrested more than 100 people state police with riot gear in oak brook, illinois, as the protesters forced mcdonalds to close one of the headquarters building. The ceo says we respect the fact they want to challenge us relative to wages. We pay fair and competitive wages and provide Job Opportunities and training for those entering the workforce. You know, the average pay of somebody in the fastfood industry is about 9. 09 an hour, well below the 10. 10 the president wants, but what those workers want, they want 15 an hour. They want 15 an hour, and a lot of people think these are young workers, you know. You hear a lot that these are young workers, these are stepping stone jobs. The average age of the worker is 29, and a third of them, a third of them have some college. So, its not the fastfood worker job that we grew up with. Its a different kind of environment. Well hear more on mcdonalds coming up tomorrow on your money, 2 00 p. M. Eastern here on cnn. Time for an early start on your money. Stocks in europe lower this morning. S p futures, theyre flat just one day after the index flirted with another record high. Gm is the big money story again today. The ceo, mary barra, having private meetings on capitol hill with lawmakers. Heres what she has said publicly. Weve moved from a cost culture after the bankruptcy to a customer culture. Behind closed doors, shes been promising lawmakers constant communication, saying theyd receive a copy of gms internal investigation in early july. She says she will testify at future hearings. Barra became ceo just one month before the first massive recall was announced, and so far, you know, a lot of observers say she has done everything right. Shes appointed an internal investigation. She has put in a safety czar. Recalls may continue through the summer. According to barclays, gm hired 30 investigators to comb through data and find possible issues. That means maybe even more recalls. Right. Youre going to see even more. Another really interesting twist to that gm story, theyre rg trouble finding the parts. Very few vehicles have actually been fixed yet because they have a rush of people who are going to need parts. Some cases, they dont have the parts. You dont build your Business Plan around the idea of recalling tens of millions of vehicles. Absolutely. So, if you ever doubted that we live in a very connected world, take a look at this. That is the earth covered with dots to represent 50,000 images sent in as part of nasas global selfie campaign. People in 113 countries took part, posting images to social media of themselves and their pets, because thats important to nasa. Nasa says the goal of this was to get a better look at the people on planet earth, and apparently, their pets, and to mark last months earth day. Pets are people, too, berman. Pets are people, too. Send us pictures of your pets here at early start. We love seeing furry animals in the morning. He loves cats, i love dogs. I hate cats. No, i dont hate cats, thats going to cause no. I just dont know what cats do, but thats a whole other issue. Berman editorializing on the feline species. All right, before you go shopping for the memorial day cookout, listen up. New warnings about dangerous contamination in your food details next. All right, this morning, new worries over food that could make you sick. The cdc is investigating an outbreak of e. Coli linked to raw clover sprouts. Some ten people in idaho and Washington State are believed to have come down with e. Coli infections after eating these sprouts. Theyre linked to an idaho producer, evergreen fresh sprouts, and there are listeria contamination worries connected with walnuts sold by sherman produce in missouri and illinois, and some hummus and dip sold nationwide at trader joes and target stores. No illnesses have been reported from those products, but all have been recalled. Yeah, this memorial day picnics getting smaller and smaller. You know, burgers and hummus and sprouts. In some cases, these are things that you think are healthy, you know . Thats the thing about sprouts in general, you think its healthy, but when something is raw, theres a higher chance of thats why i eat only poptarts. All right, a bizarre twist in the case of a california woman found alive ten years after she was allegedly kidnapped and held captive by her mothers livein boyfriend. The victim was 15 years old when she says she was drugged and abducted, then systematically beaten, raped and kept locked in a garage to keep her from escaping. The suspect, 41yearold isidro garcia, allegedly forced her to marry him and fathered a child with her. Now his lawyers insist that garcia never hit the victim, never prevented her from leaving, and the claims of abuse are being made up those are his words because the couple is splitting up. Any couple thats going through divorce has problems. Every couple going through a divorce may say things, and oftentimes say things that simply arent true because they want to get the goat of the other spouse. It appears thats probably what happened in this case. This is a victim who was kidnapped at 15 years old and convinced that she had no one to turn to. She was told her family wasnt looking for her. She was told that he was her only ally. And so, over the course of many, many years, maybe her freedoms did increase, but she was still mentally his captive. Theres the rub. I mean, if she was taken at 15, theres no possible legal justification for what happened there. Its below the age of consent, so no matter what happened, laws were broken. The victim tells a los angeles tv station she feels blessed to be back in the arms of her family. Wow. All right, Dallas Mavericks owner mark cuban apologizing for some of what he said in an interview revealing his own prejudices in light of the Donald Sterling scandal. After cuban said if he sees a black kid in a hoodie late at night, hell cross to the other side of the street. He took to twitter to say he regretted using those words. In hindsight, i should have used different examples. I didnt consider the Trayvon Martin family and i apologize for that. He also said if he saw a white guy tatted up, hell cross the street. Yeah, and shaved head, hed cross the street. He was saying you cant pretend you dont have conceptions, misconceptions about people and hes struggled with that and tries to teach his children about that, but thats not what everyones talking about. Theyre talking about his bold examples. And it was in the context of a twominute example about we need to talk about race and do more to understand our prejudices. So, the context there very, very important, even if the words, that one sentence, may be very insensitive. Coming up for us, pope francis preparing for an historic trip to the holy land, already making waves with some of his plans. Were live after the break. Ago, wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad . So we gave people the power of the review. And now angies list is revolutionizing local service again. You can easily buy and Schedule Services from toprated providers. Conveniently stay up to date on progress. And effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. Visit angieslist. Com today. [ male announcer ] if you can clear a table [ sneezes ] without lifting a finger, you may be muddling through allergies. Try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. And zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. Zyrtec®. Muddle no more™. [ female announcer ] and now introducing childrens zyrtec® dissolve tabs for full 24 hour allergy relief. From a simple misstep, to tripping over a rug, to just losing their balance. And not being able to get up from a fall can have serious, lifetime consequences. Being prepared is important. Philips lifeline with autoalert is more than just a medical alert button. Its an advanced fall detection system designed to get you help quickly. If you fall and youre unable to push your button, the Fall Detection Technology within autoalert can trigger the button to automatically place a call for help. Our usbased staff will make sure you get the help you need right away. This is philips lifeline. We received a falldetected signal. Do you need help . Call now about philips lifeline with autoalert, the only button with philips advanced Fall Detection Technology. Well send you this free information kit about the importance of getting help quickly, should you happen to fall. When i fell, i couldnt press the button. I blacked out. And so having lifeline with autoalert really saved me. If they dont push the button, theyre not able to push the button, it takes over and gets them the help that they need. Multiple sensors inside autoalert can recognize the differences between your everyday movements and a fall. So if a fall does happen, and youre unable to push your button, autoalert can detect it and automatically place a call for help. Autoalert is comfortable yet discreet, so you can wear it at all times. And because its waterproof, you can even wear it in the shower or bathtub where many serious falls happen. Over seven Million People have benefitted from the lifeline service. No wonder its recommended by over 100,000 Healthcare Professionals nationwide. Now is the time to be prepared. Sooner or later, everyone falls. Make sure you have autoalert before it happens. If you or someone you love would like information about philips lifeline with autoalert, call now for your free information kit and ask about free activation when you order. This morning, pope francis is packing his bags, getting ready to head west toward the holy land. The leader of the worlds catholics is set to embark on a historic visit to jordan, israel and the palestinian territories. Hes already shocking some with his choices, bringing with him an imam and a rabbi. Ivan watson is live in bethlehem with more on this trip. Ivan, tell me about the preparations and also the controversy. Reporter well, i mean, theres a lot of excitement here. You can feel it. Im in bethlehem in manger square, just next to the church of, you know, where jesus christ is believed to have been born, and there are posters up of st. Francis already all over here. Weve seen italian security on the ground getting ready for this visit. Hes going to helicopter in from jordan to here. Later hell move on to tel aviv to meet with the israeli leadership, and then, of course, on to the holy city, jerusalem, performing mass here in bethlehem and in jerusalem. Again, a lot of excitement here. Hes traveling with a rabbi from his home country of argentina as well as a muslim cleric, clearly in a sign calling for peace and all of the faiths, the main faiths to come together here. There are a couple of messages hes bringing, trying to bring some hope to the longsimmering Israeli Palestinian conflict, john. Theres another dimension to tis. He is going to be meeting with the most senior cleric in the eastern orthodox church, the acumenical patriarch, bartholomew. You havent had a meeting between a Roman Catholic pope and one of these patriarchs in 60 years, so thats a big part of this. Ive met with the popes rabbi friend, rabbi abraham skoeka, and he tells me that this pope is a revolutionary, hes a friend of the jews, and hes also a man of peace. You mentioned some of the controversy. Of course, everybodys looking very closely at his itinerary. There is a conflict here. There is immense polarization in this region, so people want to make sure that he spends more time with different groups. For instance, ive seen some criticism that hes only scheduled to spend 25 minutes in a Palestinian Refugee camp. Some other criticism, that Israeli Security is likely to keep many of the christian faithful away as he moves through the old city of jerusalem and to mass at the church of the holy sepulcher. Of course, christians in jerusalem would like to get very close to the pope. This is a man believed to be of the people, highly charismatic, whos known to like to mingle with the faithful, but because of security reasons, that may be harder than perhaps he or some of the faithful would like. But all in all, its expected to be a very historic visit to israel and palestine. Well, its a beautiful location youre standing in right there, ivan. It promises to be an historic trip, if for no other reason, this pope is a very defendat ma the art of symbolism, so well be watching closely. Ivan watson, thank you very much. Close to disaster again. A close call, a near collision over a major airport. Hundreds of lives put in danger. The very latest next. Dog get four years get four years interestfree financing on the entire tempurpedic cloud collection, even a queen size sealy gel memory Foam Mattress for just 497. Mattress discounters Memorial Day Sale ends monday. Breaking overnight, danger in the skies over houston. Two planes come within a few hundred feet of disaster, nearly colliding minutes after takeoff. The thing is, this is the fourth time this week were hearing this, and many are asking, is americas air Traffic Control system just broken . Weve not just let them down, weve let them die more calls this morning for big changes at the va, as Congress Blasts the deadly delays at hospitals, hospitals meant to serve those who have served their country. Eric shinseki is promising to act, but can the va secretary even keep his job . Thousands of acres and growing. This morning, a huge fire in arizona is threatening hundreds of homes and forcing families to evacuate, this as natures fury slams us in the east. Tornadoes, heavy rain, even hail, big hail leaving a trail of destruction. Welcome back to early start, everyone. Great to see you today. Im john berman. Im christine romans. It is friday, and we are all thankful for that, and it is 32 minutes after the hour. Breaking overnight, this is happening again. For the fourth time this week, the fourth time this week, were learning of a frightening near collision involving passenger jets with hundreds of people on board. This time, it involves two United Airlines jets flying out of houstons bush intercontinental airport. Two weeks ago. Both had just taken off from an air Traffic Controller told one to turn right, directly into the path of the other plane. They were just a few hundred feet apart and seconds from colliding when the controller realized the error and told the planes to turn again, avoiding disaster. Listen. Stop your turn, stop your turn, united 601. The faa claims its taken steps to prevent this from happening again. Its not just republicans calling for the firing of Eric Shinseki, the embattled va secretary is promising to fix the deadly treatment delays that are costing veterans their lives, but now some highprofile democrats are saying the scandal should cost shinseki his job. Heres chief Congressional Correspondent dana bash. Reporter christine and john, va secretary Eric Shinseki was summoned to a closeddoor meeting on capitol hill yesterday afternoon, not to meet with a republican but a frustrated democrat. And afterwards, shinseki told reporters that he has not offered the president his resignation. He said you guys know me better than that. But his remaining support is tenuous. Do you still think that he should be at the helm . I have not called for general shinseki to resign, although i have to admit, im getting a little bit closer. The reports that continue to come are appalling. And these are men and women who served our country, and weve not just let them down, weve let them die reporter congress is stepping up its investigation of the va, but three va officials scheduled to attend a House Veterans Affairs Committee Meeting yesterday morning didnt show up, and later in the afternoon, the va general counsel scrapped a meeting with that committees chairman, jeff miller, after miller demanded it be open to the press. We waited all day long. We called nine times for them to tell us whether or not they were going to come, and he never came. Reporter all of this while the president s point person on va troubles, rob nabors, traveled to phoenix, the va office where problems first surfaced, to interview the interim director. Even as congressional investigators warn the problems we know about now may just be the tip of the iceberg. Christine and john . Thanks for that, dana. All right, whipping winds and bonedry terrain giving firefighters all they can handle near sedona, arizona. A wildfire burning over 7,000 acres, the flames only 5 contained, not what you want to hear. A tense situation unfolding this morning with hundreds of homes and businesses in harms way. Lets get more now from ana cabrera. Reporter john and christine, its the extremely dry conditions that have firefighters really concerned. Its these pine needles, these dry pine needles that are blanketing the forest floor, providing a kindling of sorts for this fire thats now burning thousands of acres. You can see that huge plume of smoke thats been blowing to the north. The winds have been a huge xfactor for firefighters as they work to try to contain this fire thats burning in very steep, rugged and treacherous terrain. So, firefighters have been relying a lot on the air support in some of those areas, dropping fire retardant to protect the homes that are on the northeast flank. Still, 300 homes that are threatened right now. There are hundreds of fire crews that have arrived from six different states to help in this fire battle. At least 20 hotshot crews that are also joining in this firefight. Right now its a race to keep this fire away from the homes as it continues to spread with Mother Nature not lending any reprieve so far. John, christine . Sedona is so beautiful. It is so beautiful. Its so beautiful. Its just thanks for that, ana. Tough to see it so little contained. We do hope everyone out there is being safe. 36 minutes after the hour. Another day of extremely dangerous weather on tap for millions of americans. Severe thunderstorms and the threat of flash flooding in the forecast from wyoming to texas. And look, you can even see it there in east oklahoma. Lightning and the potential for wildfires. Were also expecting a big problem with that in many of those droughtstricken areas. That is tennis ballsized hail. That sound is the sound of calling your insurance adjuster. Thats in central and eastern pennsylvania. It shattered car windshields, broke windows in buildings all over the town of reading. Emergency management officials tell us theres a lot of damage but no serious injuries. Look at those windows. I know. Look at those dents virginia hit hard by damaging wind, hail, driving rains. Tornado warnings late in the day sent people scrambling to find shelter in richmond. You can see a whole lot of destruction, a lot reported throughout the state with trees down, streets and highways flooded and more than 20,000 homes without power. A lot of Property Damage also being reported in upstate new york. Thunderstorms packing ferocious winds and hail, ripping through albany, schenectady and montgomery counties. Many homes in the region devastated. Trees and power lines down all over the place. This is a serious system here. Just look at the devastation in kent county, delaware. Oh, my the homes there flattened by a possible tornado. Several structure collapses reported in the area. Roads are closed. Power is out in over 4,000 homes. The good news is no serious injuries were reported. All right, chad myers this morning tracking the forecast and what you need to know for today. Chad . John and christine, good morning. Kind of an ugly afternoon yesterday, although its better today in the northeast. We have High Pressure pushing some of that moisture away, pushing the humidity away, the heat away and the potential for storms away, too. 90 in atlanta, 96 if you get all the way down to the south into south texas, down around brownsville. 88 in new orleans, 89 in tampa and 91 down in miami. For tomorrow, things look wet again across parts of the plains. This is your saturday afternoon in the heat of the day. Thats why the showers pop up here. There wont be as many showers in the morning. And then 72 for new york, 76 for d. C. And 86 in atlanta. For your memorial day weekend, not too bad. We go up to 72, 76 and 82 for new york city. Now, believe it or not, chicagos actually going to be warmer, and even san antonio 87, 85, 86, and orlando, pleasant there, a couple of showers in the afternoon, as always. D. C. , a few miles farther south than new york but significantly warmer. Five degrees warmer every single day. St. Louis all the way to 88 for your monday and pretty decent beach weather down across parts of the southeast. Atlanta, youll see a shower or two on monday, thats it. John, christine, back to you. Have a great day. That chad myers, a good man. Our thanks to chad. Big news from hp. Hewlettpackard says it will cut an additional 11,000 to 16,000 jobs after previously announcing plans for 34,000 layoffs. The once mighty computermaker has run into a rough patch as consumers increasingly shift from pcs to mobile devices. The announcement came during an Earnings Report where an executive says the move will save an additional 1 billion a year. Two days of protests against mcdonalds over worker pay not falling entirely on deaf ears. Thousands demonstrated outside of the Company Headquarters in illinois, demanding a wage increase. They want 15 an hour. The ceo, don thompson responded, telling shareholders we respect the fact they want to challenge us relative to wages. We pay fair and competitive wages and provide Job Opportunities and training for those entering the workforce. There are also complaints about the health of the food there. One woman stood up and said that Ronald Mcdonald is the new joe camel and why is the food so unhealthy for children . So it was on wages, it was on health, a lot of different things, a lot of different complaints at that meeting. More on mcdonalds coming up tomorrow on your money, 2 00 p. M. Eastern here on cnn. A look at an early start on your money this morning. Stocks lower across europe. Futures here, look, s p futures up one point. This is after a great day for u. S. Stocks yesterday. The dow rose 160. The s p almost made a new record high. Meantime, gm still the stock to watch. Shares are down 6 since the ignition switch recall was announced in february, but that doesnt really tell the whole story. Gm set aside 1. 7 billion to pay for the recall last quarter. That essentially wiped out its profit for the first part of the year. And that money is turning into a stimulus of sorts for dealers. Not only is gm paying them to make costly repairs, theyre getting all this new foot traffic, john, from people who are concerned about their cars. Those people can test one of the 35,000 loner cars gms sent to dealers to deal with the recall, then they can benefit from the recall. They have employee pricing deals for anybody so, get rid of your recalled car, get a new one, right . Morgan stanley says if gm can convert just 1 of the foot traffic in the stores, it will more than offset of the recall to gm this quarter. Thats an interesting equation. Think of the reputational hit to gm, all the concerns about the safety of this company. It means more people going to the dealer and more people potentially turning in their 2008 car for something new. Never thought of that. Thats why im not in business. I know. Theres always an angle, right . Did this woman go willingly and does that even matter . Startling, new developments and accusations in that california kidnapping. Wait until you hear what the suspected abductor is now claiming. Thats next. Hey, razor. Check this out. Listen up, thunder dragons, its time to get a hotel. We can save big on killer hotels with priceline express deals. Somewhere with a Fitness Center . Hey you know what man, these guys aint no dragons. Theyre cool. These deals are legit. Yeah, were cool. Shes cool. Were cool. Im cool. Hey, isnt that razors old lady . Not anymore. Priceline savings without the bidding. Peoi go to angies listt for all kinds of reasons. To gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. Angies list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. Youll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. Now that were expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angies list and look for pediatricians. The Service Providers that ive found on angies list actually have blown me away. Find out why more than two million members count on angies list. Angies list reviews you can trust. In the case of the california woman found ten years after being kidnapped and allegedly held by her mothers boyfriend. The victim was 15 years old when she says she was drugged, abduct aid and systematically beaten, raped and locked in a garage to keep her from escaping. The suspect, 41yearold isidro garcia, allegedly forced her to marry him, fathered a child with her miles per ho her. Now his lawyers insist garcia never hit the victim, never prevented her from leaving and the claims of abuse are being made up, the attorney says, because the couple is just going through a breakup. Ten years have gone by and she never, ever told one person that something was afoul, whether it be a neighbor, whether it be an employer, whether it be an employee, whether it be a family friend, whether it be a friend who was a cop. Why is it that she never said anything to indicate that he did something wrong . Ten years ago, this victim was 15 years old, and the Sexual Assault of a child is a Sexual Assault, whether or not they agreed to it. In this case, were not talking about consensual sexual contact. Were talking about Forcible Rape and were talking about repeated sexual abuse, Emotional Abuse and physical abuse. And so, it really doesnt change the circumstances of the criminal case, because this is a victim, no matter which way you spin it. The victim tells a los angeles tv station she feels happy and blessed to be back with her family. Still a lot to learn in that case. Yeah. Particularly what happened ten years ago and now a 15yearold just disappeared like that with a man who lived in the house. Dallas mavericks owner mark cuban may have gone too far in an interview addressing his own prejudices in the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal. Some people think he did, others not so sure. What he did is he remarked that if he sees a black kid in a hoodie late at night, hell cross to the other side of the street. He also said if he sees a white kid all tatted up, hell cross to the other side of the street. Mark cuban offered an apology on twitter, saying in hindsight, i should have used different examples. I didnt consider the Trayvon Martin family, and i apologize to them for that. This was in the context of a twominute discussion about the issue of prejudice and how he deals with it as an entrepreneur. And what hes talking about, or what he was talking about was the need to have a dialogue and discussion about it. And while he may have used clumsy words, he may have proven the point of what he wanted to say. And mark cuban is probably one of the most unfiltered executives. Yes. He says what he thinks and gets himself in trouble actually a lot. Doesnt mean that sentence was not insensitive. Coming soon to facebook, more privacy. More privacy. Under pressure, theyre changing their contentious setting for new users who will by default only share posts with family and friends. Existing users are encouraged to get a privacy checkup. We need to do this during the break. I need a privacy checkup. Thats the most exciting offer ive heard in a long time you can opt out of sharing posts publicly with the social networks 1. 2 billion users. The point is, im not very good with the privacy setings. Well just see about that during the break. This morning, the u. S. Is threatening to cut off aid after thailands military ousted the government. A dramatic coup just hours after meetings meant to solve a political crisis there. Were live in bangkok with the latest, next. Thailand now under the complete control of the militaries, a coup. Army officials taking at least 25 political leaders into custody while terminating most of the countrys constitution. Secretary of state john kerry denouncing this coup, saying theres no justification for it, and theyre threatening to suspend 10 million in aid to thailand. Lets get the latest now from Paula Hancocks live from bangkok, which is now in the control of the military. Reporter thats right, john. Im standing just outside the army club, and this is the site where that coup was carried out in front of our very eyes on thursday. So, now thailand is officially under another military coup detat. Here in the coming minutes, we are expecting to see some of the foreign diplomats from around the world arriving. They have been summoned to meet with general pryutu, who is now in charge. We spoke with the ambassador earlier on cnn and she said she would not be able to attend, but she is sending someone junior. Obviously, it is very politically sensitive for ambassadors around the world, including the u. S. Ambassador, to come and be summoned by a general who has just ripped up the constitution and staged a military coup. So, it will be very interesting to see who is here. Now, we know that the former prime minister, yingluck shinawatra, who was ousted from power just two weeks ago, now shes inside one of the army barracks. Shes basically been summoned. She reported to military officials. Shes been there for a few hours. We dont know what will be happening to her, whether or not she will be detained. About 100 other Political Parties as well, political leaders on both sides of the divisions here in thailand are also being summoned. Behind me, you can see some of the cars coming up now, some of the diplomats from around the world arriving to find out exactly what is going on. General pruite on thursday said he would guarantee the safety of foreigners and diplomats. It will be very interesting to hear whats going on in the meeting in the coming minutes. Interesting to see the speed and acquiescence of that society in the coming days. Paula hancocks in bangkok, thank you very much. Coming up, in the market for a new house . The u. S. Cities where youll get the most bang for your buck, right after the break. And coming to cnn, a new series from executive producers tom hanks and gary getsman. The sixties, the decade that changed the world, the vietnam war, civil rights, and oh so much more. They shaped our lives in ways that affect us still today. Set your dvr for the premier. This is awesome, folks. Next thursday 9 00 eastern and pacific right here on cnn. What is this place . Where are we . This is where we bring together reliably fast internet and the best in entertainment. We call it the x1 entertainment operating system. It looks like the future we must have encountered a temporal vortex. Further analytics are necessary. Beam us up. Thats my phone. Hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system. Only from xfinity. Tv and internet together like never before. Good morning. Lets get an early start on your money for the final day of the week, all right . It was almost records yesterday. The s p almost made it. And you can see futures are up a little bit this morning. The dow still slightly lower for the year. Its down about 0. 2 . So, wow, certainly not like last year, when you just had doubledigit gains going strong all year, but almost near records for the s p. The most Profitable Airlines in the world are once again american. After a decade of dealing with bankruptcies, mergers, high fuel prices, angry customers, delta is now the most Profitable Airline in the world, followed by american, united and southwest. Thats according to data compiled by bloomberg. Just five years ago, Singapore Airlines and lufthansa were top earners. U. S. Carriers recovered by limiting seating capacity, also by, yes, adding fees, and lots of fees. In 2013, the Airline Industry collected more than 6 billion in baggage and change fees, and that is helping lead u. S. Airlines back to profitability. All right, where can you afford to buy a house . If you make 30,000, you can afford a home in cleveland. Its also roughly what you need to buy in pittsburgh. Low Interest Rates have kept Homes Affordable through the center of the country, especially the rust belt. Elsewhere, youll need at least a 90,000 salary to buy a house in new york and more in san francisco. 137,000 to enter into the world of homeown ownership. Isnt that something . It is not cheap. No. All right, early start all right, early start continues right now. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com it has happened again. Two huge passenger jets barely miss, this time over houston after air Traffic Controllers send one right into the path of another. Why does this seem to keep happening . Hes promising to regain the trust of veterans, but this morning there are new calls for the va secretary to resign with even democrats, even democrats now furious at the delays that may have cost lives. How long can Eric Shinseki hold on . And how long before they fix the problems at the va . Shocking, new developments in a california kidnapping case. The suspects lawyer says the victim went along willingly and only went to police now because she wants a divorce. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to early start. Im john berman. Im christine romans. It is friday, may 23rd. It is 5 00 a. M. In the east. Breaking overnight, word of another frightening near collision at one of the nations busiest airports. The faa is now investigating how two United Airlines jets came within a few hundred feet of each other after both took off from houstons bush intercontinental airport. Now, this happened two weeks ago. An air Traffic Controller told one plane to turn right, directly into the path of the other plane. They were only seconds away from colliding when the controller realized the eor