xfdcb CBS-MORNING-NEWS-01

<Show: CBS MORNING NEWS>

<Date: December 22, 2009>

<Time: 04:30>

<Tran: 122201cb.400>

<Type: Show>

<Head: For December 22, 2009, CBS>

<Sect: News; International>

<Byline: Michelle Gielan, Wyatt Andrews>

<High: New government regulations on airlines. Child safety seat ratings released.>

<Spec: Children; Safety; Regulations; Government; Airlines>

MICHELLE GIELAN: Crackdown: The government hits airlines with new rules designed to cut down on air travel horror stories.RAY LAHOOD: People are fed up with the way they've been treated.

MICHELLE GIELAN: The Best Boosters: New safety ratings are out, that also find some booster seats don't do enough to protect the children who use them.

And Hidden Cost: The pork and the perks buried in the Senate's health care reform plan.

SENATOR HARRY REID: That's what this legislation is all about--it's the art of compromise.

MICHELLE GIELAN: This is the CBS MORNING NEWS for Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009.

Good morning and thanks for joining us. I'm Michelle Gielan.

It won't happen in time for Christmas but it could be a happier new year for airline passengers with new government rules in place, limiting how long people can sit on the tarmac. Airline officials predict it'll only make the problem worse but promise to follow the new rules. Jim Axelrod has more.

(Begin VT)

JIM AXELROD (CBS News National Correspondent): Over the weekend, nobody had it worse than the passengers of an Air Jamaica Flight out of Baltimore. The plane was set to depart at 7 AM Saturday and finally pushed back at 8:35. After getting stuck, freed, then stuck again, the plane returned to its gate at 3 PM to unload one hundred forty-eight passengers back to the terminal. That's eight hours.

MAN 1 (YouTube Video): All right, so it's two o'clock and we're still on the plane and we're supposed to leave at 10:30.

JIM AXELROD: The Air Jamaica Flight joins a long list of stuck on the tarmac horror stories like the JetBlue passengers stranded eleven hours on the tarmac at JFK in New York three years ago. In the first six months of this year, six hundred thirteen planes were delayed on tarmacs for more than three hours, but help is on the way.

RAY LAHOOD: This really is for the passengers. People are fed up with the way they've been treated.

JIM AXELROD: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced new rules for U.S. carriers. Once the door closes planes will have three hours to take off or must return to the gate so passengers can disembark. At two hours, the airlines must provide food and water and working bathrooms.

MAN 2: It's good to be informed and good to know that there's a time restriction on it and you'll be getting off.

JIM AXELROD: Failure to comply will cost the airlines plenty--fines up to twenty-seven thousand five hundred dollars per passenger. On a Boeing 737 with a hundred fifty passengers, that's more than four million dollars.

TOM PARSONS (CEO, BestFares.com): There is going to be some teeth in the-- in these new rules and they're going to make it very hard for the airline not to abide by them by hitting them with big, big million-dollar fines.

JIM AXELROD: Those new rules go into effect in four months. They're for domestic flights only. For international trips like that Air Jamaica flight it'd be up to the carrier to spell out in advance how long they'd sit on the tarmac before coming back to the gate.

Jim Axelrod, CBS News, New York.

(End VT)

MICHELLE GIELAN: On Capitol Hill today, another test for Senate Democrats on their health care reform bill. After Monday's sixty to forty vote to start the bill on its way, a second vote requiring sixty senators to say

yes is scheduled for this morning. Once again, all forty Republicans plan to vote no. Today's vote sets up one more vote tomorrow to shut off debate before a final vote on Christmas Eve.

This morning we have important new safety information on booster seats. They're designed for older children who are way too big for regular car seats. But too many booster seats are not safe enough according to new report. Whit Johnson is in Washington with details, Whit, good morning.

WHIT JOHNSON: Hi, Michelle, good morning. You know, more than a thousand children under the age of thirteen die in car crashes every year. This study on booster seats is just another tool parents can use to keep their family safe.

(Begin VT)

WHIT JOHNSON: It takes more than a click to make sure your child's booster seat keeps them safe.

ANNE MCCARTT (Senior Vice President for Research, IIHS): Boosters that do a good job positioning the seat belt will better protect a child in a crash.

WHIT JOHNSON: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested sixty models. Only nine made the Best Bets list. Among them: the Cosco Juvenile Pronto, the Combi Dakota Backless with clip, and the Recaro Vivo.

ANNE MCCARTT: It's doing a good job positioning the belt. You can see the lap belt is lying flat across the upper thighs. The shoulder belt is sitting snugly across the center of the shoulder.

WHIT JOHNSON: A good fit is key to a safe booster seat because seat belts are designed for adults. Kids need an extra boost to make sure they are in the right place.

Booster seats are for children who outgrow their car seats. Recent studies show kids four and eight years of age who ride in boosters are forty-five percent less likely to be injured in a crash.

ANNE MCCARTT: The boosters that we put on our not-recommended list, we believe won't provide a good fit for belts in almost any passenger vehicle.

WHIT JOHNSON: Those included eleven boosters like the Evenflo SightSeer. The booster Eddie Bauer Deluxe 3-in-1, also got a low rating because the lap belt was too high, resting on the stomach. The shoulder belt also didn't fit properly.

ANNE MCCARTT: Parents don't have to spend a lot of money to get a booster that does a good job.

WHIT JOHNSON: Several recommended models include affordable choices, ranging from twenty dollars to more than two hundred fifty. But if your child's booster seat didn't get high marks experts say that doesn't mean you have to throw it away. They insist any booster is better than none at all.

(End VT)

WHIT JOHNSON: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has a full list of the best and worst booster seats on their website. Visit iihs.org. Michelle.

MICHELLE GIELAN: A lot of great information. All right. Whit Johnson in Washington. Whit, thanks for that report.

Brazil Supreme Court is finally expected to decide today if a New Jersey man should get his nine-year-old son back. David Goldman has been fighting for five years since his i-- ex-wife took their son Sean to Brazil. She died last year, but her second husband's family insists that Sean does not want to live in the United States. Even if Goldman gets his wish the case could be appealed again.

In Israel, still no final word on a prisoner swap that would free an Israeli soldier in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Sergeant ga-- Gilad Shalit was captured more than three years ago along Israel's border with Gaza. Israel has blockaded that border ever since. This morning, Israel's government sent a formal response to Hamas which is demanding the prisoner swap.

On the CBS MoneyWatch, Asian shares rebounded this morning and Emily Smith is here in New York with that and more. Emily, good morning.

EMILY SMITH: Good morning, Michelle. A big day for most Asian markets. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained almost one percent; while Japan's Nikkei was up nearly two percent.

On Wall Street, Monday, a handful of corporate buyouts put investors in a buying mood. The Dow rallied eighty-five points; while the Nasdaq gained twenty-six.

Today, analysts will be watching for the November report on sales of previously-owned homes. The report from America's realtors is expected to show November saw the biggest percentage gain since 1983. Still, the foreclosure crisis is far from over. By the end of the last quarter more than three and a half percent of prime borrowers were at least two months behind on payments. That's more than double the rate a year ago.

Also today, OPEC ministers meet to discuss production targets. The oil market expects the cartel to keep output at current levels. Gas prices appear to have leveled off, now averaging two dollars and fifty-nine cents a gallon for regular, nationwide. That is down about a penny in the past week and about a dime from October.

Ford Motor Company plans to trim some fat off its budget by offering more buyouts, this one to all of its forty-one thousand U.S. hourly workers. Ford is the only of the Big Three U.S. automakers that didn't take government bailout money.

With just three days left for Christmas shopping, retailers are extending weekend hours and sales all the way to the eve of Christmas Eve. Twelve Macy's stores in the East and Midwest will stay open continuously until Thursday night. One tracking firm estimates the weekend storm on the East Coast cost traditional retailers about two billion dollars in sales, money they likely won't be able to recover. Michelle.

MICHELLE GIELAN: All right. Emily Smith in New York, Emily, thanks.

EMILY SMITH: Thanks.

MICHELLE GIELAN: Just ahead on the MORNING NEWS, a fall in crime rate despite the economy.

Plus, left to die. Why a pregnant woman's death is being blamed on EMTs who allegedly refused to help?

First, Katie Couric has a preview of tonight's CBS EVENING NEWS.

KATIE COURIC: He lost his job, but thanks to a critically-acclaimed movie and his songwriting ability, he's no longer financially up in the air. We'll have that story and more, tonight only on the CBS EVENING NEWS.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I brought some Christmas cookies for you guys.

(Children screaming and cheering)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Yes.

MICHELLE GIELAN: President Obama brought some holiday cheer to a boys and girls club in Washington, DC, yesterday. He handed out those yummy cookies and read from the book, The Polar Express. The President also posed for pictures with the children before returning to the White House.

When the economy is in trouble there's usually an increase in crime. That's been the case over the last fifty years. But this recession is different. The FBI reports that crime nationwide is way down. In the first half of this year, violent crime fell nearly four and a half percent, overall; murders were down ten percent; and motor vehicle thefts fell nearly nineteen percent.

A public hearing today will give the people of Sterling, Illinois, a chance to sound off on the government's plan to send Guantanamo Bay terror suspects to their town. The plan calls for the sale of the Thomson Correctional Center to the government. A state commission could vote to approve the sale as early as this evening.

American soldiers in northern Iraq who get pregnant now face court martial and possible jail time. A new policy ordered by General Anthony Cucolo also applies to those who impregnate a service member even if they are married to each other. And civilians working there could also face criminal prosecution.

Two New York City emergency medical technicians have been suspended without pay after the death of a pregnant woman. It's linked to an incident two weeks ago. The EMTs were on their break buying breakfast in a coffee shop when the cashier, who was sixth months pregnant, suddenly had a seizure. According to the family of Eutisha Rennix, the EMTs were asked to help, but refused and left the shop. Rennix and her baby later died. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is outraged.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (New York City): They were sitting there having coffee. How could they be burnt out? They're human beings. Somebody's dying down the street and say help them and they just sat there.

MICHELLE GIELAN: An official of the EMTs union insist that they did help by placing a 911 call.

The man who inspired the title character in the film Rain Man has died at the age of fifty-eight. Kim Peek died Saturday after a heart attack. He was a savant who had a photographic memory. He was the model for the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the Oscar-winning movie Rain Man. After the movie's release, Peek became a popular public speaker who traveled the world to demonstrate his skills.

Straight ahead, your Tuesday morning weather.

And in sports, the Giants keep their NFL playoff hopes alive on Monday Night Football.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

MICHELLE GIELAN: And time now for a check on the national forecast. The latest satellite picture shows that skies are cloudy from the Rockies to the Pacific. A new storm is gathering strength over the region. Skies are also gray from the Northern Plains to the Lower Midwest.

Now, later today, the Northeast will continue to feel those cold, gusty winds. It will remain gray and quite cool across Florida. Light snow will dust parts of the Midwest. A new storm is forming over the West. It will dump heavy snow over most western mountain ranges today, and it will have a huge impact on the Plains and Midwest on Christmas Eve.

In sports, the Giants seemed to return to their imposing early season formed by crushing the Redskins on Monday Night Football. New York quarterback Eli Manning threw for two hundred and sixty-eight yards and three touchdowns. The Giants' 45 to 12 win over Washington puts them one game behind Dallas and Green Bay in the battle for wildcard playoff spots.

In the NBA, Sacramento made the biggest comeback in thirteen years. The Kings rookie Tyreke Evans led the way as Sacramento rallied from thirty- five points down in the second half against Chicago. Evans finished with twenty-three points in the 102 to 98 victory over the Bulls.

In Phoenix Lebron James of the Caveliers handed the Suns their first loss at home this season. James had twenty-nine points in the 109 to 91 Cleveland win.

And in Orlando, J. J. Redick had twenty points for the Magic against Utah. Orlando won, for the fourth time in five games with a surge in the fourth quarter, beating the Jazz 104 to 99.

When we return, another look at this morning's top stories, and the hidden pork in the Senate health care reform bill--a look at who got what?

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

MICHELLE GIELAN: Here's another look at this morning's top stories.

Airlines will have to send planes full of passengers back to their gates after three hours on the tarmac under new government rule starting in April. If they don't the airlines face heavy fines.

And new insurance industry's safety test on booster car-seats give high marks to nine out of sixty models. Eleven others were rated not recommended.

An autopsy has been conducted on the body of actress Brittany Murphy. It's expected to take up to six weeks to determine an exact cause of death but officials say, it appears that thirty-two-year-old died of natural causes. There were no signs of trauma, and foul play is not suspected, though there is speculation that prescription drugs or an eating disorder may have played a role. Family members say she had complained of flu-like symptoms in the week before her death.

As we told you earlier, the Senate votes again this morning on health care reform with a sixty vote majority needed to keep the bill moving. As Wyatt Andrews reports, Democratic leaders needed to make a lot of promises to get those sixty votes, and those promises will cost a lot of money.

(Begin VT)

WYATT ANDREWS: For Senate Democrats the health care bill is all about the nation's well-being.

SENATOR MAX BAUCUS: It's the right thing to do for America.

WYATT ANDREWS: And all about righting a national wrong.

SENATOR TOM HARKIN: We are called upon to right a great injustice.

WYATT ANDREWS: But behind this claim they're doing this for the good of America, at least seven senators demanded deals worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to mostly benefit their home states--starting with Mary Landrieu. When reports surfaced she had been swayed with a one-hundred- million-dollar Medicaid deal just for Louisiana, she bragged it was actually three hundred million. The deal was so notorious, Republicans gave it a name.

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: We've got new words in our lexicon now, the Louisiana Purchase.

WYATT ANDREWS: But Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska got the most unusual Medicaid deal. In exchange for his vote federal taxpayers will now pay for most Medicaid expansion just in Nebraska and forever. McCain named this one, too.

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: The Cornhusker Kickback.

WYATT ANDREWS: And while Democrats have claimed their bill saves big money- -cutting the extra benefits from Medicare advantage--the fact is that won't happen in Florida, where Senator Bill Nelson got his eight hundred thousand seniors an exemption.

SENATOR HARRY REID: That's what this legislation is all about--it's the art of compromise.

WYATT ANDREWS: Republicans called it the art of corruption.

SENATOR TOM COBURN: And it's a shame that that's the only way we can come to a consensus in this country is to buy votes.

WYATT ANDREWS: But Republicans may forget that when they were in charge and pushing the Medicare drug benefit their majority leader Tom DeLay was formally admonished for trying to buy a last minute vote with favors and DeLay's defense was that he didn't know trading favors was against the rules.

Wyatt Andrews, CBS News, Washington.

(End VT)

MICHELLE GIELAN: And just days before Christmas, an amazing discovery; Archeologists in Israel say that for the first time they have uncovered the remains of a home in Nazareth, believed to date back to the time of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago. Among the findings--the remains of a wall, a hideout, and a cistern for collecting rain water. A spokesman says it's likely that Jesus and his childhood friends knew the home. Some are calling the discovery so close to Christmas, a gift to Nazareth.

This morning on THE EARLY SHOW, we'll talk with rocker Bruce Springsteen.

I'm Michelle Gielan and this is the CBS MORNING NEWS.

END

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