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CNN Live Event/Special

Oklahoma Pounded by Tornadoes Three Years After Storms Hit Same Route; Teacher's Aide Suspended From School For Wearing Cross Necklace

Aired May 09, 2003 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Cleaning up in Oklahoma City.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) search to make sure that everybody that lived in the neighborhood has been accounted for.

ANNOUNCER: Flooding in Tennessee. Tonight -- is there more bad weather on the way?

A teacher's aide suspended from school for wearing a cross necklace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a symbol to me of love and devotion and the dedication of my savior.

ANNOUNCER: Does the separation of church and state require the banning of spiritual symbols?

A civilian hearing seeks to ground sexual abuse at the Air Force Academy? Has a conspiracy of silence forever tarnished a venerable institution?

"LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES" with Anderson Cooper at CNN headquarters in Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. It is Friday, May the 9th. Thanks for joining us this evening.

We start with a still developing story out of Ohio. A gunman opened fire inside the lobby of the school of management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Now at least two people were wounded, and one of them remains inside the building at this hour.

You are looking at a live shot of the area. We are going to show you some tape very shortly from earlier today.

This incident began around 4:00 in the afternoon. Shortly after 4:00, shots were heard from somewhere inside the university building.

Now this is an independent, largely research university. Finals had already taken place. So the 1,500 or 1,600 or so students who attend the university are -- were no longer, largely, on the campus.

These are taped images you're seeing. Again, the latest information we have is that this thing is still going on. The shots began some time around 4:00.

One eyewitness, a security guard ,said that he had been told by police that it did not seem to be a student. Another witness that Wolf Blitzer was talking to live, who was inside the building at the time of the shooting -- even at the time he was talking to Wolf Blitzer -- was saying that it sounded like automatic weapons fire. He also described it like fireworks going off on the fourth of July.

Right now, we are joined by Wendy Gillette, a reporter with WOIO. Wendy, what can you tell us? What is the latest?

WENDY GILLETTE, REPORTER, WOIO-TV, CLEVELAND, OHIO: Well, Anderson, we are a couple of blocks down from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), where this is going on, and you've probably been telling viewers the latest information.

The latest information we have here -- two people shot, the gunman still inside. One victim was shot outside the building and taken to a local hospital. We haven't got any word on his condition. We do know it's a male.

The other gunshot victim is still inside the building, and university officials say they don't know how that person is doing right now.

University officials also telling us that about 50 to 60 people are still inside the building. We've heard from some of them. They've been calling our station, saying they're very scared, that they're shut off from the main section of the building in classrooms with about -- some -- eight people in one room, two people in another, and they're just trying to be quiet.

We heard about one person who is seven months pregnant and, obviously, this is a very serious situation for everyone still in the building, but they're trying to remain calm and talking to some family members. Police have asked family members on the outside not to call in so that the lines remain open.

Today is actually the last day for undergrads and grads here on the campus. Yesterday was the last day of finals, and grades were coming out today and tomorrow -- today and yesterday. We don't know, of course, if that has anything to do with this, but that's what's going on in the campus today.

Campus officials telling us about 10 percent of the total number of people in the building that would normally be there -- because this is the last day -- but there are still probably about five dozen people inside the building at this time.

COOPER: Wendy, have you received any information or are you hearing anything about the identity of the shooter? GILLETTE: No. Not at all. We asked university officials if they had any idea. They did not. We talked to one person who thought he saw the gunman going in the building, and he said that he was wearing a helmet and fatigues but we don't know at this point if he was confused -- if he was talking about a squad officer, but he told us that he saw this before the police arrived -- hat he believed the gunman was wearing a helmet and it looked like military fatigues.

COOPER: Now you are saying the gunmen -- are you getting that information from the police that it's believed to be a single gunman.

GILLETTE: Yes. The police chief here in Cleveland did something we've never seen before. He told us there are television sets in the building, and he gave us a phone number to broadcast for the gunman to call. If he is watching, they want to peacefully resolve the situation and that he should call this number if he wants to talk to police.

COOPER: At about what time did he -- did the police chief give you that number?

GILLETTE: That was about two -- probably about hours ago.

COOPER: Any sense of whether or not they've received contact.

GILLETTE: No. They've given us very limited information. It looks like actually, the chief is just about to speak. I'm going to move over there right now. It looks like the chief will give a press conference right now. So I'm going to try to see what he's going to say. He's definitely addressing the media right now. I'm going to try to find out for you.

COOPER: Wendy, why don't you listen in and we'll check back with you as soon as we can.

GILLETTE: Thank you.

COOPER: All right, Wendy Gillette, a reporter with WOIO.

The situation, as far as we know -- and you are looking there at live pictures from WOIO, of, basically, a standoff.

One gunman believed to be inside the building at Case Western Reserve University still. Two people -- and these are still very early reports -- at least two people were shot, including one who remained inside the building. That came according to a university spokeswoman, Marcy Hirsh (ph).

The building is completely sealed. You see SWAT team members are on the scene as are reporters. We saw a reporter fixing her hair -- they're getting ready to do a live shot.

This is what seems to be a standoff. The shooting began in intensity shortly after 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon today. Apparently, the last large amount of shooting was last heard around 5:00, 5:10 p.m. in the afternoon. We do not know if there's been extensive shooting in the last two hours or so, but Wendy Gillette pointing out that the police chief has gone to the media, given out a phone number with the idea being that the gunman, still inside the building, may be watching on TV -- encouraging that gunman to make a telephone call.

We do not know if that has happened. We'll keep you updated on events as warranted. We will take a short break and our coverage continues. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Now to a long-running controversy -- religion in public schools.

It is illegal for a teacher to lead prayers in class. We all know that. What if a school worker shows up in the classroom wearing a religious symbol?

Well, a Pennsylvania teacher's aide has been suspended after she refused to stop wearing a cross pendant. That's the pendant right there. It's about an inch in size.

A group that specializes in constitutional law, the American Center for Law and Justice, has filed suit on behalf of the teacher's aide. Jay Sekolow is chief counsel for that organization, and he joins us from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Also joining us -- the Reverend Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He is in Washington.

Jay, let me start off with you. Why is your client suing?

JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: Well, she's been suspended for one year without pay. In fact, the statute she's been charged under is actually a misdemeanor in the state of Pennsylvania.

Any religious symbol, under Pennsylvania state law, worn by a teacher constitutes a violation of a misdemeanor and in fact that would include a Jewish teacher that was Orthodox wearing a yarmulke. It would include...

COOPER: And you say that's unconstitutional?

SEKULOW: Oh, absolutely. And I think the fact of the matter is that when you look at this law now, it's the law based in 1895. It was affirmed, by the way in 1990, but the law has significantly changed since then and it may take the Supreme Court of the United States to decide this. But the idea you can be fired or suspended for wearing a cross -- this isn't a case of proselytizing. She wore a cross like thousands -- tens of thousands of teachers around the country every day.

COOPER: Reverend Lynn, why do you say this is OK?

REV. BARRY LYNN, AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEP. OF CHURCH & STATE: You know, frankly, all the state of Pennsylvania is trying to do is to make sure that public schools don't become religious battlegrounds, don't become places where government employees, like teachers and teachers aides use the position of authority to have an influence over impressionable schoolchildren on the one topic that they're supposed to be neutral about and that is religion.

And, in fact, if we allow any religious symbols to be worn in these schools then some one is undoubtedly going to come into a Pennsylvania school wearing a T-shirt that says, "God is a Myth," because they don't have a religious viewpoint and they'll want to communicate that to schoolchildren as well.

COOPER: Let me ask...

LYNN: I think it's up to parents to do that, not public school teachers or other government employees.

COOPER: All right. Let me ask Mr. Sekulow, would you then -- mr. Sekulow, would support a teacher who wants to come in with a pagan symbol on their T-shirt or, you know, a Satanic ring or any other form of religious expression?

SEKULOW: Look, I think the fact of matters of religious freedom is just that. It's religious freedom. The school can't dictate what the religious beliefs are.

COOPER: And you'd have no problem -- in fact, you would -- you would -- you would -- you and your organization...

SEKULOW: Oh, sure.

COOPER: ...would defend a teacher?

SEKULOW: Absolutely, and the fact of the matter is that one of the the issues that came up in the 1990 case was some one that is Islam -- follows Islam. A Muslim that was denied the right to wear their religious garb in the school and the Third Circuit said that was perfectly appropriate to deny them the right.

I think that's horrible. The idea to tell some one that is of the Muslim faith, tell an Orthodox Jew, tell a Christian you can't wear your cross, you can't wear your religious garb

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Let me just jump in here, Mr. Sekulow.

SEKULOW: Sure.

COOPER: Is that what the school said to your client? Or did, they in fact, just -- just put it underneath your shirt. You know, just don't display it publicly. Did they say remove it totally or just don't display it in public?

SEKULOW: Well, they don't want -- as long as nobody sees it, it's fine.

COOPER: OK. SEKULOW: But think about that for a moment. What do you do with the yarmulke. Mr. Lynn said the other day, my good friend Barry said, Well, the Orthodox Jewish man could simply wear a hat over his yarmulke. That's ridiculous.

COOPER: Reverend Lynn, your -- your take?

LYNN: There's nothing ridiculous about it and, in fact, tens of thousands of Christian teachers are able to accommodate their religious beliefs, have a symbol that's very sacred to them, as it is to you and to me, underneath a shirt, underneath a blouse.

What this woman is trying to do, unfortunately, is make a federal case under the idea that she wants to promote her religious beliefs.

SEKULOW: We've already made it a federal case. It's a federal case right now. It sure is.

LYNN: And in 1990, of course, I don't remember that you did come to the defense of the Muslim woman. This is all about bringing more Christian religion into public schools through public employees and I wish you and your friend Pat Robertson down there in Virginia Beach would get off this hobby horse...

(CROSSTALK)

LYNN: ...that religion flourishes in this country because government is neutral about it. We don't allow it.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Mr. Sekulow, let me just bring up something specifically that Reverend Lynn said. You know, I mean, it seems to -- many people would say, Well, it seems to make sense that schools -- that classrooms should not be a venue for proselytizing, should not be a venue for, you know, some teacher who has a very extreme religious belief -- not saying that teacher does. But some one who may have one...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: You're saying that's OK for them to talk about...

(CROSSTALK)

SEKULOW: The woman is wearing a one-inch cross.

COOPER: I'm not saying this is. I'm not saying this is.

SEKULOW: That's ridiculous. And the Jewish teacher that's wearing a yarmulke -- that's extreme? Or the Muslim teacher that wears Muslim garb. That's extreme? I just don't see that.

LYNN: You know, Jay, if you follow logic....

SEKULOW: I don't see it. LYNN: If you follow the logic, or lack of logic of what you're saying, then it doesn't really matter that this is a one-inch cross. You could have a two-foot cross.

(CROSSTALK)

LYNN: Would you deny a teacher the right to wear a shirt that said, "Jesus is the Only Way to Salvation"? See, you don't want courts getting into the business of drawing those lines.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: You both made your points very well. Appreciate you joining us. We're simply out of time. The Reverend Barry Lynn and Jay Sekulow.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Well, chainsaws are work in parts of the nation today, clearing away the aftermath of yet another round of tornadoes.

A 19-mile path is littered with debris through Moore, Oklahoma. At last count, yesterday's twister near Oklahoma City demolished 300 homes, damaged hundreds more. Just look at that. Unbelievable images. This one did not cause any deaths, however.

Another blow to the midsection. More tornadoes hit Kansas. At least seven ripped across the state last night. Heaviest damage is concentrated in Lawrence there. The storms ripped roofs off houses as well as apartment buildings.

Now, state of emergency. Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue declared disaster areas in two counties along the border with Alabama today. In the town of West point, dozens of people had to seek higher ground after the Chattahoochee River jumped its banks.

Well, the tornado that hit Oklahoma rekindled a lot of painful memories for a lot of folks. It traveled down a path similar to the one that struck just four years ago and that one killed 44 people. Now amazingly, as we said, no one died when this latest one slammed across the state.

Oklahoma's governor, Brad Henry, has been inspecting the damage and he joins us from Moore, Oklahoma.

Governor, thanks for being with us. How are the people in your state doing?

GOV. BRAD HENRY (D), OKLAHOMA: Well, thank you for having me on, Anderson.

Everybody's doing well. You know, as I traveled through the damaged areas today, the thing that really struck me was the fact that everybody was upbeat. Their houses were demolished, but they were upbeat. And I think we're all very, very thankful that even though we've had our share of destructive storms and this one was very destructive, everyone's very thankful that there were no fatalities.

COOPER: Well, you know, no one ever gets used to this kind of thing, but people in your state, as you said, have experienced this kind of thing before, back in '99. What were the lessons learned back in '99 that were applied to this and perhaps saved lives this time?

HENRY: Well, you know, one of the things that Oklahoma has set kind of set the standard for is our response to these kinds of disasters. And the '99 tornado was -- was, I think, the most destructive tornado, certainly in the United States. It even reached the new classification of F6. Substantial, substantial damage.

This storm was want as bad as the '99 tornado, but it traveled a very, very similar path. Since the '99 tornado, you know, we've always done things right, but we have learned from that experience and I think the main thing was we figured out where some of the glitches were in terms of coordinating local, county and state emergency management resources and the response to this particular tornado was just phenomenal.

We had command centers set up in the concentrated areas of destruction almost before the storms had blown out of town. Our response teams were out and had, within an hour of the touch down of the tornado, had swept through the entire path of destruction to assist anyone that needed help to get those to the hospital that needed hospital attention, and to remove rubble and clear some of the roadways.

So the response was tremendous. The people of Oklahoma have great strength and resolve. We are so thankful and prayerful that there were no fatalities. We will rebuild and we're -- you know, we've done it before. We'll do it again.

COOPER: Governor, have you communicated at all with President Bush. If so or if not even, do you anticipate he will declare certain areas of Oklahoma federal disaster areas?

HENRY: Well, we anticipate so. We have been in contact with the White House as well as FEMA officials as early as within an hour after the storm, frankly.

Today, this morning, I declared two central Oklahoma counties where the tornado touched down a disaster area. We have asked the president for an expedited declaration of disaster. We expect that that will come very quickly.

COOPER: Governor Brad Henry, appreciate you joining us. Good luck to you and our best wishes to the people affected by this tragedy. Thank you very much.

HENRY: Thank you very much and we all appreciate you.

COOPER: All right. Take care. Good luck to you.

A lot of other stories making headlines across America tonight. Let's take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Thank you. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Changing the rules. President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist want to make it easier to break a filibuster. Now, Frist has a plant to change the tactics Democrats are using to block the approval of the White House's judicial nominees.

But Democrats are defending their rights to oppose those nominations.

Quarter century to life. That is how much time James Kopp is expected to serve in prison for the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian. The Kopp admitted shooting Slepian in 1998 because he performed abortions. He has a month to appeal his sentence.

Sullied reputation. A hazing incident in which feces, paint and garbage was dropped on Illinois high school girls. you've seen the video. It's just really disturbing. Well, it is giving a black eye to one Chicago area school's spotless record. It turns out some parents may have supplied beer and trash. Now, this is just an early report -- may have supplied beer and trash. The entire incident, as you see, was caught on tape. Now officials are looking for answers. We're going to have more on this coming up

Still to come this evening, road trips to promote a road map for piece. President Bush went to a Southern university, but his real target audience was someplace else entirely.

Also, which presidential candidate knows the right camera to stare at? Smile real big and stay with us for the best political outtakes of the week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: A significant confession and a request leads our look at the world tonight. At the United Nations, the U.S. and Britain acknowledged for the first time that they are the occupying powers in Iraq. They are asking the U.N. Security Council to end all economic sanctions against Baghdad and to let the coalition use Iraq's oil money to rebuild the country. Now, that is going to take at least a year.

The spread of SARS in mainland China appears to be slowing down, but SARS cases are actually on the rise in Taiwan. Taipei is now on the WHO's list of cities where all but essential travel should be avoided.

Worldwide, there are now at least 7,000 cases of the deadly pneumonia in 25 countries.

And in a move designed to thwart international terrorists, Israel has announced further restrictions on foreign nationals getting into Gaza.

President Bush today offered all sides in the Middle East an incentive to make peace pay off. White House correspondent Dana Bash has the details -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, the president is sending his secretary of state to the region tonight to meet with both Israelis and Palestinians on the road map they hope will lead to peace, but the president said today that he thinks that security might help with some free trade.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): With the war in Iraq over and Israelis and Palestinians poised to start peace talks, the president used a commencement address to introduce a new element in his effort to revamp the Middle East.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I propose the establishment of a U.S.-Middle East free trade area within a decade, to bring the Middle East into an expanding circle of opportunity, to provide hope for the people who live in that region.

BASH: World trade in the Muslim Middle East has dropped 75 percent since 1980, while the population has exploded, growing 70 percent. The road to a liberated, secure region, said Mr. Bush, is economic progress that has so far eluded most of the Arab world.

BUSH: Across the globe, free markets and trade have helped defeat poverty and taught men and women the habits of liberty.

BASH: A senior administration official says the plan is to negotiate a series of bilateral agreements in the hopes that a broad regional initiative could take hold by 2013. Negotiations are already under way with Morocco, and administration officials point to the U.S.-Jordan free trade agreement signed nearly three years ago as a model of success. U.S. and Jordanian officials say the accord is already helping the country's economy. In 2002, exports to the U.S. totaled $412 million, up from 183 million in 2001, an 80 percent increase.

But some experts say Jordan is not typical. Other countries may be less willing to welcome governmental reform and fight terrorism in order to win economic investments; U.S. requirements for the initiative. And while the administration hopes the proposal will be seen as a sign of goodwill to a skeptical Arab world...

MARTIN INDYK, SABIN CENTER, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: From their perspective, at the moment, it could well look like another example of the United States trying to establish a Pax Americana, trying to establish its hegemonic influence over the whole region, this time using economic power.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And, Aaron, there's also an olive branch in this for the state of Israel, because senior administration officials admit that implicit in this initiative is a requirement that Arab states drop their boycott against the country -- Anderson.

COOPER: That's right, I'm often mistaken for Aaron Brown.

BASH: Sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Dana Bash, thanks very much, at the White House. Appreciate it.

BASH: Thank you.

COOPER: Well, we have got about three minutes now, and I'm going to be counting, to make that quick run to the fridge, but you want to come back. There's a lot ahead. Is there a new suspect in the Laci Peterson case? Mark Geragos made a surprising statement today. You're going to want to hear about that.

Also, are you tired of getting spam? Not the canned meat, which, God knows, we all love. Those annoying pop-up ads. Well, help apparently is on the way. And a little later on, see why some air travelers are taking off more than their seatbelts. You're watching LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: You're looking at a live picture from WKYC in -- actually, a taped picture taken a short time ago. This is outside, around Cleveland, Ohio, Case Western Reserve University, where a gunman is believed to still be inside the university's School of Management building.

At this point, at least two people have been shot, including one person who remains inside the building, last we had heard. Automatic weapons fire was heard beginning shortly after 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. The gunman, as I said, still believed to be inside, still believed to be armed. The area is surrounded and it is a very developing situation. We're going to have an update from a reporter on the scene very shortly.

We want to tell you about some new developments tonight, however, in the case against Scott Peterson. Now, today in court his attorney, Mark Geragos, claimed that Peterson didn't kill his wife and unborn son. He says, in fact, the that real killer is still out there, and for the first time raised the prospect of a woman who may know more about the case.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: We know that there are people out there, and specifically there's one particular young lady out there who we believe has some very important information. We're asking, and we will protect her anonymity, that she contact my office. We will do everything possible to keep you out of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Joining us now for more updates about this, Attorney Harvey Levin from Los Angeles.

Harvey, thanks for being with us.

HARVEY LEVIN, ATTORNEY: My pleasure.

COOPER: What do you make of that?

LEVIN: Well, you've got to understand, Mark may or may not have somebody really important here. If he's got anybody who's even relevant to the case, he can come out and say what he wants. Realize that Mark is trying to counter a lot of publicity that seems to point a guilty finger at Scott Peterson. So for Mark to come out and kind of obtusely say, you know, there's a woman we're interested in doesn't necessarily mean this woman points to a smoking gun. But what Mark is doing is trying to reshape public opinion. It doesn't surprise me.

What's interesting is whether he goes to police with this information.

COOPER: Yes, and no doubt they would be very interested to see whether or not he does, in fact, come to them.

A couple of things we want to talk about. The significance of a ruling by the judge to keep sealed the search warrant, some affidavits related to the search warrant, as well as the arrest warrant.

What's the significance?

LEVIN: Again, not surprising. I've covered a lot of high profile cases with our show, "Celebrity Justice," and I can tell you that judges now try to manage publicity outside the courtroom like they try to manage what happens inside. And if this search warrant were unsealed or the warrants, it would show the probable cause that the police had the arrest Scott Peterson and this would probably lead to just a torrent of publicity that I'm sure this judge doesn't want, especially given the fact that I think there's going to eventually be a change of venue motion.

COOPER: But they're talking about rehearing this issue on, I think, May 27th. Why rehear it later on?

LEVIN: Well, the judge isn't necessarily saying it's never going to be unsealed. I think for now the judge is saying I don't want to do it. I'm guessing that the judge will try and keep this secret for as long as he possibly can. Realize, Anderson, this is going to have a lot of information in it. It's going to tell us why the police believed Scott Peterson did it and that's going to be fodder for the press, again, something I don't think this judge wants, because of prejudicial pretrial publicity.

COOPER: Prosecutors are talking about possibly sending this casein front of a grand jury.

What's the significance of that?

LEVIN: The significance is if they get an indictment by a grand jury, they can avoid a preliminary hearing, which could take a lot of time and take lots of resources. Unclear whether this is going to happen or not. It's in the prosecution's court.

COOPER: But Geragos has, I think, come out and said if this thing does go before the grand jury, I want to go before the grand jury, as well.

LEVIN: Well, he said what he wants to do is present exculpatory evidence, evidence pointing away from Scott Peterson. You've got to understand that when you go to a grand jury it's a fairly low threshold in terms of giving prosecutors the green light to go to trial. So even though Geragos wants to do this, it's really what the prosecution can point to if they've got enough for the jury or the grand jury to smell that this warrants a trial.

COOPER: All right, Harvey Levin of "Celebrity Justice," appreciate your joining us.

LEVIN: My pleasure.

COOPER: Always nice to talk to you.

Well, a hearing officer has a week to issue a report on whether an upperclassman at the Air Force Academy should face court martial for alleged sex assault. The Academy has been rocked, of course, by charges that it shrugged off cases of sexual misconduct.

Rusty Dornin reports now from Colorado Springs on the Academy's efforts to change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ashley Snyder was shocked when she heard dozens of women reported being raped at the Air Force Academy. But it didn't stop her from getting on the bus to see things for herself.

ASHLEY SNYDER: Here we are.

DORNIN: One of 250 female appointees...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For four incredibly demanding years...

DORNIN: ... here for orientation and explanation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are we doing to ensure that the environment here is safe and that your sons and daughters are safe?

DORNIN: Straight to the heart of the matter, to assure parents and prospective students, male and female, that steps have been taken to keep the cadets safe, to put a stop to rapes and sexual assaults here. Hot lines, investigative teams, segregating females during basic training, to name a few.

Then...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you provide, buy or give an underage person alcohol, you are gone. That is a pretty clear policy.

DORNIN: For Snyder, a high school senior from Pickerington, Ohio, it made sense.

ASHLEY SNYDER: Definitely. Because like they said, everything that, every -- most of the assaults stem from alcohol.

DORNIN: Her parents were anxious for more than words.

MARY SNYDER, MOTHER: Just a strong attention to it that they, you know, are going to, you know, make some changes, do some, you know, put some attention to it and...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not just rhetoric.

DORNIN (on camera): Do you, did you hear just rhetoric, do you think?

MARY SNYDER: It's a change of policies.

DORNIN: Or do you think that really...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope not.

DORNIN (voice-over): But the message wasn't just for women. Appointee Tony Friedrichs says he heard it.

TONY FRIEDRICHS, ACADEMY APPOINTEE: I think they addressed all questions fairly and directly and I feel that they are making appropriate changes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yourself and one guest?

RACHEL VALENZUELA, ACADEMY APPOINTEE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

DORNIN: Changes are what appointee Rachel Valenzuela was looking for.

(on camera): Would you feel safe coming here?

VALENZUELA: Yes, I do. I feel, I think you, many people are probably safer here than in, at another civilian college.

DORNIN (voice-over): Some of the rape allegations were of male upperclassmen intimidating and pressuring younger female cadets into sex.

(on camera): People talk about the intimidate by an upper classmate as being part of the problem. ASHLEY SNYDER: Right.

DORNIN: How do you avoid that situation?

ASHLEY SNYDER: I have no idea.

DORNIN: Despite some uncertainty...

(on camera): Have you made up your mind your coming here?

ASHLEY SNYDER: I haven't signed any papers yet, but yes.

DORNIN: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you are appointees for the class of 2007.

DORNIN (voice-over): Just days later, Snyder did sign. She'll report to the Air Force's newly male-female segregated boot camp in June.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: A lot more still to come tonight.

Chances are you have received it. Chances are you don't like it. When LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES continues, find out what some people are doing to try to stop computer spam.

But first, a look at the closing numbers from Wall Street on this Friday evening.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Six percent false. Amazing. Now, if you use a computer, you know spam isn't just a lunch meat anymore. Spam, of course, is computerese for unsolicited e-mail and most folks are finding more and more of it on their computers every day.

Bruce Burkhardt has a report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lose weight, find love, regrow hair, add three inches to your credit report, or something like that. You know, it seems a quaint, outdated notion that you originally signed up for e-mail to get messages from people you know about things you actually care about.

Enter spam. Not the nutritional product, the junk e-mail clogging private mailboxes and big computer networks. Bad taste, more filling. And in the past few months, growing by leaps and bounds. (voice-over): In a federal court case in Buffalo, New York this week, the internet service provider Earthlink won a $16 million judgment against a spammer accused of sending more than three quarters of a billion unwanted e-mails in a single year via phony Earthlink addresses. AOL Time Warner, parent of CNN, estimates that 75 percent of its incoming e-mail traffic is spam these days. And the Federal Trade Commission says two thirds of spam e-mail contains demonstrably false claims.

Then there are the more personal e-mails. Lots of women, and a few men, would like to show me all of their pictures. And then there's this one, a spam e-mail about spam. A spam it yourself kit for $129. Spam, spam and more spam.

Many of the come-ons are the electronic age versions of snake oil pitches. But unlike junk mail that you get in your mailbox, electronic spam is virtually cost free to the sender.

Its defenders say it's constitutionally protected free speech. But for most recipients, it's time to put e-mail spam back in the can. Dream vacation? Oh, all right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Bruce Burkhardt.

While many people like to complain about spam, some folks say it's just another form of advertising, and a successful form, at that.

And we have two guests tonight, Laura Betterly, the president of Data Resource Consulting Incorporated. She is in Tampa, Florida. And Michael Jacobs, senior partner at Morris & Foerster, a firm that's been involved in anti-spam litigation. He's in San Francisco.

Michael, let me start off with you.

Now, your firm was getting an awful lot of spam. You actually decided to do something about it. But how big a problem was the spam to your firm?

MICHAEL JACOBS, SENIOR PARTNER, MORRISON & FOERSTER: It was an enormous problem. Our people were getting very upset. E-mail is a mission critical tool for us. We depend on it for being in touch with each other and being in touch with our clients. And when the spam comes in, it clogs up that communications.

COOPER: So what did you decide to do about it and how did you go about it? How did you figure out who to target?

JACOBS: Well, we tallied the spam that we were receiving and we found a particular spammer that happened to be close by. Being a law firm, we thought about legal action. And with a lot of our people saying do something, we decided to file a lawsuit.

COOPER: OK, Laura Betterly, does this make you quiver in your boots? LAURA BETTERLY, PRESIDENT, DATA RESOURCE CONSULTING: Well, I mean here's the thing. There are guys that are unsavory out there and sending out offers to people that they don't want, frankly. And there has to be a distinction made between these guys who are underground and who would never come out naturally to show their face and guys who actually don't get complaints and actually go ahead and market products that are needed and wanted and actually get good response.

COOPER: But, Laura, in all fairness, your company sends out some 60 million e-mail messages a month. You're telling me that of those 60 million, most people want those messages?

BITTERLY: Well, if you look at some of the offers that we have, I mean we have a computer product that's an actual wonderful PC for $299 that the company itself doesn't have an advertising budget of, let's say, a Dell or a Compaq. And the savings goes on to the consumer. It does create healthy competition in the marketplace.

COOPER: Well, but nevertheless you won't deny that tons of people, probably the great majority of people who receive your e- mails, don't really want them and are annoyed by them. Does that bother you?

BITTERLY: Well, I mean that's the supposition that they are annoyed by it. I mean we have legitimate unsubscribes. Of course, there are organizations out there who let you know if there are complaints. So anyone who doesn't want to get our marketing, we don't want to market to and anybody who's legitimate doesn't want to market to those who don't want to get marketed to.

But obviously there are people who do buy things off the Internet and they buy things off of e-mail or we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

COOPER: Well, that's true.

Michael, do you buy what Laura's selling, basically?

JACOBS: One of the things we learned in the course of this lawsuit is that no one will fess up to being a spammer. All the e- mail marketers refer to themselves as permission based marketers or having the consent of people to receive these e-mails. But, in fact, they're just operating off of lists that they're provided or that they acquired in the market. They've done no testing to see whether, in fact, people want to receive these e-mails.

It's turned into a bit of a scam.

COOPER: Laura, how do you respond to that?

BITTERLY: Well, I know -- I can't speak for other people and I've heard the, what has been said. But when we do acquire a name, we actually have the, where they opted in, the time, date, the I.P. address. We have their physical address and we actually send them an e-mail to let them know that we've added them and if they do not want to get anything, that they should opt out. COOPER: But do you understand why this angers people, I mean why it bothers people?

BITTERLY: Well, I think people are very angry at mortgage leads and, you know, herbal Viagra, etc. and so on. We don't deal with those kind of products. And especially the X-rated stuff. I think that's not a form for e-mail.

COOPER: Michael, what do you recommend people do? I mean you're from a big law firm. You're able to sue. You're able to, you know, seek settlement. For myself and everyone else out there who's getting spam, what can you do?

JACOBS: It's a real problem. One of the things we did after we filed the lawsuit, we received tremendous public approval, something along the lines of I never thought I'd love a law firm, but I love you guys. We packaged up what we received from the public and sent it to our senators and said really what we need is a legislative solution here. This cannot be something that's being addressed by filing lawsuits around the country. And I still think that's real, that is what, in fact, we need from Washington right now. We need some serious legislation aimed at dealing, in large part, with the public anger that you've accurately described.

COOPER: All right, Michael Foerster and Laura Betterly, I appreciate you joining us tonight. We're going to have to leave it there, but glad to get your perspectives.

Thanks very much.

JACOBS: My pleasure.

COOPER: We're going to take a short break and when we come back, we're going to have an update on this ongoing situation, this continuing developing story out of Ohio, a shooter in a school.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, for several hours now we have been following a developing story out of Ohio. A man armed, heavily armed, apparently inside a school in the Cleveland area, Case Western Reserve University.

We want to check in with Wendy Gillette, a reporter with WOIO for the latest. You're looking at a live shot of the school.

Wendy, are you there?

What can you tell us?

WENDY GILLETTE, WOIO CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson, we're just a couple of blocks down from the building. It's the Peter B. Lewis Building, which is the management school here at Case Western Reserve. That's where police are telling us that the gunman is still inside there. They tell us that they believe there are two victims, one person shot outside the building and taken to a hospital, another victim shot inside and still inside the building. Police have not been able to get to that victim at this point.

School officials telling us probably 50 to 60 people still inside the building. We've been getting calls from them to our station and friends and family saying that they've spoken to people, that they're huddled in classrooms trying to wait this out, very scared, of course, but trying to remain quirt and keeping the doors locked.

Now, just a couple of minutes ago, or actually about 20 minutes now, the police chief here in Cleveland talked to us, saying that he's very concerned about the shots that are going out live. Of course, we have been live for about three hours now and all the affiliates here in town are live.

The police are very concerned about some of the shots that were going out that were showing from choppers and from the down in different locations, showing tactical movement into the building. So they have asked us to back off and not show certain things because they are concerned that the gunman is watching television and is going to see what is going on and who's moving into the building.

COOPER: Understood, Wendy.

I should also point out, the Associated Press is quoting a hospital spokeswoman at Huron Hospital saying that it was a man who was shot outside the building, that he's being treated for a gunshot wound in the rear and was listed in good condition at this time. But as you mentioned, there may be at least one other person who has been shot still inside the building. Their condition, of course, unknown.

Wendy, last we heard, the shooter was believed to be on the first floor, the ground floor. Is that still the case?

GILLETTE: Yes, we don't really know that. We talked to one student who saw some blood drops on the floor on the first floor. He worked on the first floor and found his office locked, which is very unusual. It's usually always open. And then he saw people running down the hall saying, "Get out! Get out!" So he exited the building there.

But that's really all we know. Police, of course, being very tight-lipped about where he could be, where people are in the building. We've heard from lots of people who've told us specifically where they are in the building and we don't know how close they are to the gunman, if they are on the same floor or not.

COOPER: And this incident began some time shortly after 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. My understanding is that the shots continued for about 90 minutes. So that would make it around 5:30. Is that the last time shots were heard or are you still hearing shots?

GILLETTE: No, we're not hearing shots anymore. People who are nearby said they heard a couple shots initially, maybe three or four shots. Then police showed up, a SWAT team moved in and they heard a barrage of shots going on for some time -- boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, just in a row, and then silence.

And then a short time later we were actually on the phone with someone who had called our station who was inside the building who said, "I just heard a shot," and that was at about 5:30 or so. And that was the last that we've heard about any shots. We're too far away to hear, actually, any gunfire. But from the people who were there initially when it happened and then who were close, when the police moved in, that's what they're telling us they heard.

COOPER: The A.P. is also quoting a person described as someone who works in the cafeteria as saying that the man had a machine gun, a book bag, camouflage shirt, military green hat, white pants and a book bag. And we had also heard another report from someone described as a security guard on the campus who said that police had told him this was believed to be not a student.

Is that your understanding?

GILLETTE: Yes, that's what people are saying here, that he is not believed or did not look like a student. And that goes along with one person I was talking to who was in the back of the building when all this happened and saw someone breaking into the back of the building and that's very much the outfit that he described, wearing a helmet, camouflage kind of outfit with weapons, a machine gun and carrying some sort of bag.

He may have more weapons inside that bag.

COOPER: All right, this is a fast moving story. We continue to cover it.

Wendy Gillette, we'll check back with you in a little bit.

Wendy Gillette with WOIO in Ohio. At this point, one gunman still believed to be inside the building at Case Western Reserve University. At least one person still inside the building believed to be injured. One person at the hospital in stable condition.

We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We end this evening on some stories that for some reason didn't make the headlines exactly. Now, maybe all the spam in your e- mail has got you down. So this weekend you might want to check out a little tennis online. A Web site called, and I kid you not, tennisinthebuff.com, is offering nude tennis tournaments for your viewing pleasure. You pay a little more than $10 to ogle 20 naked players, who serve, volley and lob all completely in the buff. Top prize? Two thousand dollars. But I'm sure they're just doing it for the love of the sport. I'm not sure if they're allowed to wear tennis shoes, but I certainly hope the winner doesn't have to jump over the net.

And nudity is not just limited to the Web these days. You've no doubt heard of no frills airlines. But have you heard about the no clothing airlines?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Imagine you're on a plane, cruising at 30,000 feet, the seatbelt sign comes off and suddenly so does everyone's clothing. Now, a whole plane full of naked people may sound like a nightmare to you. But to some it's a dream that's actually come true. The world's first ever nude flight took off last week, Miami to Cancun, no clothes, no cameras.

It was organized by these two Houston travel agents.

DONNA DANIELS, NAKED-FLIGHT ORGANIZER: It hadn't been done before. We said what the heck, let's give it a try.

JIM BAILEY, NAKED-FLIGHT ORGANIZER: Where else can you go for a party and have 350 of your closest friends come along completely nude? That's what we're looking forward to.

COOPER: Apparently they weren't the only ones looking forward to it. Quite a crowd showed up willing to pay $499 round trip. They had to keep their clothes on in the airport, but once in the air.

This couple could barely wait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How fast can we do it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, how fast can we do it? We wanted to be on this first flight.

COOPER: Nudists insist it's not about sex, it's about liberty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really enjoy to be nude and really you have to feel freedom and you have to really do it. It's very nice.

COOPER: Indeed. Oh, in case you're wondering, the flight attendants and the pilots, they wore clothes. But some concessions were made.

DANIELS: The crew will be dressed, but we have asked them to control the temperature so we will not freeze to death. And no hot coffee will be served.

COOPER: Nudity, it seems, is breaking out all over these days. Nudist beaches, nudist resorts, even nudist photographers. Spencer Tunick's become famous getting people to disrobe. He did it again just last week in this London department store. So now that the first nudist flight has landed, we're told more are sure to come. One naked flight for man, one giant naked leap for mankind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Man, I hope those seats are Scotch-guarded, that's all I can say.

That about wraps it up for this first hour of LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES.

Coming up next, high school hazing. CNN has obtained graphic new videos showing the incident and our Whitney Casey is tracking the story from Northbrook, Illinois tonight. One of the big questions -- did parents actually contribute to all the ruckus?

LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES continues right after a break for the latest news updates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: On Sunday, a high school hazing ritual turned violent. Today, allegations of alcohol supplied by parents. Students and parents out of control? Who is in charge here?

Colin Powell heads to the Mideast to traffic cop the new road map for peace. Will Powell's meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers leave Yasser Arafat in the dust?

And medical researchers study the power of prayer in healing traumatic injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's how science moves forward, by having an open mind and not being closed to it.

ANNOUNCER: Conductors count on a higher power.

LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES with Anderson Cooper at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: From CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Anderson Cooper. Paula Zahn has the night off.

We've got a lot to cover in this hour. Whitney Casey is live from the Chicago area. There's some shocking new video of that hazing incident there involving high school girls. Kelly Wallace is live from Jerusalem with the latest on Secretary of State Colin Powell's trip to the Mideast. Dana Bash is live from Washington with the latest showdown between Congress and the president. A lot to cover.

First though, that shocking high school hazing video we were telling you about. New tape released today gives a much clearer picture of what happened Sunday in a Chicago suburb. And what it shows is a hazing ritual that turned incredibly ugly.

It started off innocent enough, say some. Senior girls dumping food on the juniors. But as the day wore on, some of the seniors upped the ante. One girl holds what appears to be a pig's intestine and throws it at the girls. Later one student takes a paint pellet gun, holds it just a few feet away from the girls, and shoots at least one of them in the back. You can hear screams in the background. And finally the ritual just breaks down into pure violence. Glenbrook North High's principal said the incident, which we should add, was not school sponsored, turned ugly because of alcohol. CNN's Whitney Casey joins us live from Illinois with more -- Whitney.

WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, that video keeps pouring in. And police say as long as it is pouring in, they have to look at all of it until they can come up with some of those criminal charges.

But this video that we've received today shows exactly the topical issue that these police are looking into now. This is the pre-game, as police say, parents-sponsored, possibly, party. And this is what they're looking into, whether the parents bought this alcohol for the children that you're seeing right now.

These are the seniors, they're in the yellow jerseys. There are some senior boys there according to some of the girls that may have watch this tape. They say that what those seniors are doing are called keg stands. And some of the girls that watched this tape also say there were four kegs there for those seniors.

This is the pre-game party before the juniors actually come. And what they told me today was that there was never any football that was ever played. Traditionally, there used to be football. Now people just come for the hazing. The juniors arrive moments later and that's when all of this hazing began. And this is what the police and principal and school authorities here are saying that fueled on this melee.

Now later on in the day -- just a week later from this event, police are still back at the site that you just saw, now cleaned up a little bit, looking over the site for more evidence. They also visited various liquor stores in the area today to check with the manager there. Because in this state, when you rent a keg, you have to sign a release and you have to also leave your I.D. So police are very sure if indeed a parent did rent one of these kegs from these local area liquor stores, that they will certainly find them.

Meanwhile, the principal here says that as kids head on into the weekend, Anderson, that they may not be able to participate in some of their extracurricular activities. Because however, he could not suspend them because he said it was not under his jurisdiction because the game was not held here at school and it was not school sanctioned, that he could take away some of their privileges. Those are including extracurricular activities like sports.

And these kids come back to school one Monday. They may be coming back to pretty sour news as police say they may come up with criminal some charges Monday -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Whitney Casey, thanks very much.

Want to talk more about this incident. We're joined by Kim Parks. Her daughter is a sophomore at Glenbrook North high school, though she was not at Sunday's incident. Ms. Parks, thanks very much for being with us. First of all, let's talk about this latest information that alleges a parent may have, and we very carefully say may have, provided this alcohol. Do you believe that's a possibility?

KIM PARKS, PARENT OF GNHS STUDENT: Unfortunately, yes, I do.

COOPER: Why do you say that?

PARKS: Well, the school is very proactive. Whenever there's a dance that's going to be held, if it's Turn About (ph), which is something that's more casual, homecoming, prom, they send a letter every single dance to the parents reiterating the rules. Do not supply your children alcohol. If they're taking a limo, make sure the limo is not supplied with alcohol. Don't rent them a hotel room. They basically...

COOPER: Have you seen this latest video? Want to show you this -- I don't know if you can see it. But this latest video that we've just gotten today of people basically with glasses of beer in their hand, their doing sort of handstands onto kegs, sipping the keg directly with their mouths.

How upset does this make you? I mean does this stuff surprise you? Does it surprise you, these images?

PARKS: Yes, I'm very shocked that -- I mean They were basically in a very open park. Reports state that residents driving by saw the kids. So it wasn't in an enclosed alcove...

COOPER: Who do you blame for this?

PARKS: ... that they were blatantly -- who do I blame?

COOPER: Yes.

PARKS: Well, number one, I blame the parents for not knowing where their kids are, what they're doing, who they're doing it with. And as much as the school wants to back out of responsibility, this function has been happening for 20 years. You don't turn your back on it.

COOPER: Do you think school -- did you know this thing went on? Had you heard about this in the past?

PARKS: Myself? I have not. My daughter's only a sophomore.

COOPER: What do you think should be done? School officials are basically saying at his point, look, we cannot -- this cannot affect people's -- their school presence because this was not sanctioned, this was outside of school, perhaps we can do something about their extracurricular activities, we can sanction some of those. Is that enough?

PARKS: No, it's not enough. But unfortunately, the way the policies and the rules are written currently, we have no choice. There are no ramifications that are going to resolve those girls to get them expelled.

I would like to present a proposition to the board of education on Monday, asking that we change the rules and the policies going forward, that any student that is caught -- physical violence against another human being, is expelled from school. Because I think that becomes a threat to all of the good students that remain at this school.

COOPER: All right, we're going to have to leave it there. Kim Parks, thanks very much for joining us. I appreciate it.

I want to take some time right now to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines this map this evening. Columbine, Colorado High School was on lockdown today after graffiti threats were found on the property. Extra police were on hand as well. A sheriff's spokeswoman says the threats were vague and short.

An escaped inmate is in critical condition tonight in Tennessee following a tense standoff with police. Officers say they shot her when she pointed a gun at her 3-year-old son.

And an online flower company says it will deliver free Mother's Day bouquets to 500 military moms nationwide this weekend. The company's president says he got the idea when he saw the trouble some Americans were taking to send packages overseas.

Well Secretary of State Colin Powell is leaving for the Middle East tonight. He's going to meet with Israeli as well as Palestinian leaders. As well as Arab leaders in Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Now his primary mission toss smooth out bumps in the so-called road map for establishing peace between Israelis and Palestinians. President Bush says it's a mission that America can achieve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: America will work without tiring to achieve two states -- Israel and Palestine living side by side in security and prosperity and in peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: But new obstacles have arisen in just the past days and Kelly Wallace is in Jerusalem tonight with those detail -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Anderson, the backdrop to the secretary's visit is that the violence continues. Palestinian attacks continue against Israel and Israel's military operations against radical Palestinian groups continue as well, complicating -- or likely to complicate the secretary's visit.

In fact, just two days ago, you had an Israeli aerial attack. Missiles fired on a car in Gaza City, killing a senior member of the radical Palestinian group Hamas. And Hamas and these other groups likely to be one of the major roadblocks ahead for this so-called Mideast roadmap because these groups are saying they will not disarm and they will not stop terror attacks against Israel. One big challenge for the new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, is to try and rein in these groups.

On the Israeli side, perhaps the biggest roadblock ahead will be settlements, settlements in the West Bank and settlements in the Gaza Strip. Jewish settlers have said they do not want to see these settlements dismantled or evacuated. They do not want to see a freeze in settlement activity. Prime Minister Sharon himself has been a big proponent of settlements in the past he -- though he has said that the Israelis must be prepared to make painful concessions.

But in summary, an Israeli columnist, who has been covering this region for 35 years says his assessment is the radical Palestinian groups do not want to stop terrorism now, and that the Sharon government does not want to stop settlement activity now either. So he does not see a lot of optimism for peace -- Anderson.

COOPER: Well, Kelly, President Bush says he's optimistic. But as you just said, that's not really shared on the ground. You talk to Israeli officials and they say, We can't have political movement until the Palestinians police themselves.

And you talk to the Palestinian officials and they say, We can't start improving, you know, our security forces until we get some political movement to work with on the Israelis.

So there's not a lot of optimism to go around in the region, is there?

WALLACE: Not at all, Anderson.

And also, the two sides don't even see eye to eye, as you were pointing out, when it comes to implementing the road map. The Palestinians, led by the new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, want to see this road map implemented immediately, without any changes made. And they want to see the Israelis and the Palestinians take simultaneous steps. They want to see the Israelis immediately take steps such as pulling out of Palestinian towns.

But as you just said, Prime Minister Sharon and other top Israelis say they can't do that until they see the Palestinians taking concrete steps on the ground to try and rein in these radical Palestinian groups. The Israelis also want to see more than a dozen changes made to the roadmap.

So Anderson, the secretary, one of his main challenges will be kind of trying to get the two sides to start seeing eye to eye a bit when it comes to implementation of this document.

COOPER: And that is certainly a major challenge. Kelly Wallace, thanks very much tonight.

Coming up after the break, a look at some of the day's other headlines in the order they happened.

At 9:00 a.m., an update on Private First Class Jessica Lynch and exactly what she will or won't remember about her ordeal. Plus, at 4:00 p.m., terror comes to a university. We're going to have a live report from the scene of a still-developing situation in Cleveland.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time for our timeline, a rundown of some of the day's top stories in the order they happened.

First up, overnight, Eastern time, that is when we learned of a horrific midair accident over Congo. The cargo ramp of a plane carrying members of the Congolese military blew open in mid-flight. At least seven people sucked out of the plane. There are also reports that as many as 140 others are still missing.

In the 9 a.m. hour, an update on the condition of rescued POW Private First Class Jessica Lynch. One of Lynch's doctors tells CNN she'll probably never remember how she was captured in Iraq. Pentagon sources had said authorities were hoping Lynch could remember some of her ordeal. They hoped the information would help in their investigation of the ambush on the 507th Maintenance Company.

But speaking to CNN's Bill Hemmer, Lynch's doctor says that seems unlikely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It's my understanding that Jessica Lynch does not remember much right after a rocket propelled grenade hit her vehicle. Tell us what her last memory is.

DR. GREG ARGYROS, LYNCH'S DOCTOR: Bill, the last memory she has is riding in that vehicle and the next thing she remembers is when she awoke in the Iraqi hospital.

HEMMER: How much longer after that, do you know? Was it days?

ARGYROS: It was from the time period that her convoy came under attack until she woke up in the hospital. I don't know exactly when during her time in the Iraqi hospital she does begin to recall events.

Private Lynch has been evaluated by a number of mental health professionals and her medical team, and those individuals have particular expertise in the evaluation of individuals who have suffered war injuries.

And it is their opinion that it is very unlikely that in the future, she will recall any of those events.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, in the 10 a.m. hour, the U.N. Security Council got its first look at a draft resolution that would lift sanctions against Iraq. The plan would also endorse U.S. and British control over the country for at least a year. Now some diplomats predict relatively smooth sailing for the resolution in the weeks ahead. But some countries are concerned about the amount of authority provided to the U.S. and Britain. Under the plan the two countries would have control over how Iraqi oil revenue is dispersed until a new government is up and running.

An hour later, the man found guilty of murdering a doctor who performed apportions learned his fate. James Kopp was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. In March, Kopp was convicted of the 1998 sniper style shooting of a Buffalo obstetrician, a man named Dr. Barnett Slepian. Kopp admitted he shot Slepian, but claimed he wasn't trying to kill him. Prosecutors argued his choice of a military assault rifle and six unused bullets at the crime scene proved otherwise. Kopp has 30 days to appeal the sentencing.

Let's focus on a develop story now, this one out of Ohio. At around 4:00 p.m., a gunman carrying a high powered rifle opened fire inside a building at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. At least two people were wounded. The gunman is still believed to be inside the facility, and the facility -- and many faculty members have actually locked themselves in their rooms. This situation is still going on.

I want to check in with Wendy Gillette. She is a reporter with WOIO in Cleveland, Ohio. Wendy, what can you tell us?

WENDY GILLETTE, WOIO CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, there has been quite a development, actually. We are now hearing from police that two are dead, and there are other wounded. And they are being taken to a local hospitals.

We -- one of our reporters was just outside the building in a -- kind of near the building and saw the -- a SWAT vehicle come up to the building. A person was loaded onto a stretcher and taken into the SWAT vehicle and then taken back here where I'm standing. And we couldn't tell from our vantage point how the person was. We don't know if that is the gunman or not.

COOPER: Wendy, where are you hearing that two people are dead? Has this come directly from the police?

GILLETTE: Yes, that's a police source here on the scene. It wasn't an official comment from the chief but it was a police source here on the scene.

COOPER: Have they been removed from the building?

GILLETTE: I have to presume that maybe the reporter that saw the bodies being taken out thought that the person did not look like they were alive. That could have been --

COOPER: Do we have any sense of how many wounded there are? Previously, reports said that at least two people have been wounded. We know one of them is at the hospital because we've heard of his condition. His condition was described as good. He was shot in the buttocks. The other person was previously said to be still inside the building, condition unknown. Do we know any more (UNINTELLIGIBLE) wounded?

GILLETTE: No. All we were told was several others wounded, and they will be taken to local hospitals.

It appears that the police chief is walking down the street. Things -- the situation has changed quite a bit. It's not as tense as it was before. Police officers walking around. It very well may be resolved at this point.

It looks like the chief is coming up here to make a statement. It very well may be a situation that's over. So I'm going to have to listen in and get back to you.

COOPER: All right, Wendy. We're going to try to stay with you. As soon as you get any information, jump back and interrupt me.

We are talking to Wendy Gillette, reporter with WOIO. She has been on the scene since this thing began. And it began shortly after 4 p.m eastern time in Ohio. Shots being fired. Police quickly responded to the scene. A number of SWAT teams started to cordon off the building and area.

Now school officials said the last exam had already taken place. This was the last day of school. So a lot of students who would have been in that building, on that campus, 1,600 students on that campus altogether, they were not on the scene. So that is something worthwhile to note -- some good news out of all of this.

A number of faculty members were still in the building at the time of the shooting -- and, in fact, spoke to Wolf Blitzer for more than an hour or so on the telephone while the gunman was still in the building.

It sounds like we may have a development, a movement on the case. We're waiting to hear back from Wendy Gillette. What she did tell us just moments ago -- the first time we heard this -- that two people have been killed. The police chief is speaking live. Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A large number of people inside the building now. Currently, we are rescuing the people that are in the building and doing a room by room, floor by floor, search. I'm confident that this should end quickly. And at that time, we'll have further information for everyone. And right now, let me go back to work and make sure that this rescue attempt is successful. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is someone in custody?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, as the chief goes back, this is what the chief has done. He likes to come out, he gives us a statement, and then he goes back to the scene.

COOPER: So you've just heard the local chief of police there saying that they are conducting a room by room search because there were still large numbers of faculty, perhaps even students, still inside that building at the time of the shooting. This is at Case Western Reserve University. We'll take a short break. We'll try to reconnect with Wendy Gillette, our reporter on the scene. We'll also have more from the day's headlines. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We are following this breaking story out of a Cleveland, Ohio, shooting at a university. We want to check in with Belinda Prince with our affiliate WJW. Belinda, what can you tell us?

BELINDA PRINCE, WJW CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this has been going on for the past four and a half hours -- ever since a gunman armed with a high-powered rifle, wearing a helmet and military style clothing, broke into the building.

He did not have a key card. Broke a window, broke in, shots fired. We understand there are 40 people, faculty and students on a Friday afternoon, in what was the crown jewel of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. It's the new business school, the Peter B. Lewis Building.

Shots were exchanged at several junctures with the gunman. We understand, just a few minutes ago, the Cleveland police chief told us that an operation is underway to rescue some of those people who have been trapped in their offices and classrooms. That's going on while they search for the gunman.

There were people inside who saw the gunman move from floor to floor. At one point, he was seen on the roof. More than 100 SWAT officers from the city, from the county sheriff's department and the FBI, involved in this operation.

And again, they are in the process now of trying to get some of those hostages out. It's a very modern architecture, this building, with no right angles inside. A very difficult operation for them.

We know five people have been shot. We don't know the extent of their injuries in all cases. Three of them had those injuries for the four and a half hours of this ordeal.

Some of the people have been trapped inside, have been using their cell phones to call loved ones, reporting they've been crouched underneath their desks, hiding, as some of them have seen the gunman walking through the hallways of this building.

COOPER: Belinda, the fact that -- I know the police chief didn't comment on this directly -- but the fact that the police are in the building, not only bringing out injured and/or fatally wounded people, but actually going room to room, searching for those who still remain in the building, would seem to indicate they at least have some sort of sense where this gunman might be.

PRINCE: Not necessarily at any given moment. But that's why they are proceeding with so many officers, trying to rescue those people that have been literally hiding under their desks, going room by room, trying to work their way to where that gunman, armed with a high powered rifle, might be. Because he has been moving his location quite frequently throughout and at times exchanging fire with them.

COOPER: Belinda Prince, appreciate you joining us, WJW. It is a fast-moving story. We'll check in with you in a little bit, Belinda Prince. Thanks very much.

Two FBI profilers visited the church in Maine where 16 worshipers were poisoned last month by arsenic-laced coffee. One of the victims, the church caretaker, died.

The FBI stopped at the farm of the church member who committed suicide and has been linked to the poisonings -- connected in some way, they say.

But police in the community are not convinced that Daniel Bondeson is behind the poisonings at all, and, in fact, suspicions still abound. Joining us is "New York Times" reporter Monica Davey. She is in New York -- not in Maine.

Monica, thanks very much. You've been covering this story. What is the latest as you know it on this investigation?

MONICA DAVIES, "NEW YORK TIMES": Well, right now, police are still talking to different church members and taking DNA samples and fingerprints -- following up to find out whether there may be some information they can get from the rest of the church members.

COOPER: The fact that they are still taking DNA from other church members, does this mean that -- basically, they will say Daniel Bondeson -- they haven't named him as the prime suspect, have they? They just say he's connected?

DAVEY: They say he's connect to the case. I guess the question they still have is whether, could there be somebody else who is also connected to the case?

COOPER: And is it publicly known whether or not there's any evidence of that? Is that just sort of one of the things they have to run down? Or are they actually acting on some information? Do we know?

DAVEY: What they say is that they really wouldn't be able to sleep well at night, the police say, unless they followed this up. I think that the one piece of evidence they have is a suicide note from Danny Bondeson, which, in some way, something in it indicated to there indeed might be a second person.

COOPER: Now, I understand that the man who died, Walter Morrill, his son says he does not believe that Bondeson is responsible for the death of his father. Is that a common belief throughout the community?

DAVEY: Well, what Mr. Morrill actually says is that he believes that Danny was a fine man who would never try to do anything to harm his father, the gentleman who died. And, really, throughout the community, the interesting thing is that people, to a one, say that Daniel Bondeson was too gentle, too sweet, too kind a person to have done something like this.

COOPER: Is this thing just consuming this community?

DAVEY: It really is. They've really had three blows. The first blow -- for a place that's so peaceful, they had one blow when the poisoning actually happened. Then the suicide followed quickly. And then the third thing still hanging out there for them is whether -- could there be another person involved?

COOPER: All right, Monica Davey with "The New York Times," thank you very much. Appreciate you update.

When we come back: President Bush calls the Senate confirmation process a disgrace and in need of change. Or is he simply miffed at Senate Democrats for refusing to rubber-stamp judicial appointments?

It is a historic battle -- coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Just want to bring you the latest we have on this breaking story we've been following for several hours now.

As far as we know, a gunman is still inside Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The last report however had from Wendy Gillette of WOIO was that two people had been killed, a number of others injured, wounded. One hospital spokesperson said that one person has been taken to the hospital, shot in the buttocks. They were described as in good condition. We do not know the status of the gunman. It is believed to be a lone gunman at this point.

We do know police have entered the building, are going room to room trying to get out anyone, any faculty members, any students who may still be inside that building. But, as far as we know, the gunman is still alive, still inside the building. We have no reports, frankly, either way about his status. But we'll continue to cover that and bring it to you as events warrant.

President Bush says the Senate confirmation process needs an overhaul. He's simply angry at filibustering Democrats for blocking the nominations of two judges to the federal appeals court. Now, Mr. Bush and Senate Republicans say the system is broken down. And they say it needs to be fixed.

Joining us now to explore the chances of that actually happening: White House correspondent Dana Bash -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it's another sign that the president is getting back in the game in terms of his domestic agenda. Today, in the Rose Garden, he had a very public display of his displeasure with Democrats for holding up his judicial nominees, a charge that he said that is hurting the whole process, the whole judicial branch of government. And it's a charge that Democrats were very quick to dispute. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The obstructionist tactics of a small group of senators are setting a pattern that threatens judicial independence. Meanwhile, vacancies on the bench and overcrowded court dockets are causing delays for citizens seeking justice. The judicial confirmation process is broken. And it must be fixed for the good of the country.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: I don't know of another administration that has enjoyed the success in confirmations of its judges as this administration has: 124-2. That's the score.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So the president is calling this a disgrace. But Democrats are saying that the two judges that they're not letting through, Priscilla Owen and Miguel Estrada -- both are circuit court nominees -- are not going through because they say they're out of the mainstream.

And this, of course, is making everybody in this town, Anderson, sort of waiting with bated breath for the next Supreme Court nominee that comes through. It certainly is going to be interesting.

COOPER: Now, Dana, didn't Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist actually propose changing the rules to deal with this?

BASH: He sure did. The senator today, actually, as part of this whole daylong message about judicial nominees, said that he thought what they should do is simply change the rules to make it harder to actually filibuster. He said filibustering judicial nominees is unprecedented, so he said that he wants to change the rules. But that requires 67 votes in the Senate.

And six times, Republicans weren't even able to get 60 votes to stop the filibuster. So it's unlikely to happen . And Democrats are saying that it was almost a stunt to try to shine the light on this issue today.

COOPER: Well, look, is this anything unusual? Political fights over judicial nominations, there doesn't seem to be anything new there.

BASH: It certainly isn't. Ever since Judge Bork was nominated during the Reagan administration for the Supreme Court, it's been ugly at various times, in terms of the back-and-forth between the White House and Capitol Hill. Democrats complained bitterly over the fact that some of President Clinton's nominees never even got hearings.

But because some of the disputes -- most of the disputes when it comes to nominations are over social issues, it gins up the bases on both sides of the aisle, both Republicans and Democrats. So it always becomes a very serious political issue.

COOPER: All right, Dana Bash at the White House, thanks very much.

A lot of people were praying for their lives in the nation's heartland yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of us were screaming about their babies, because they didn't know where their babies were, and wondering where their loved ones were. And we were praying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: No doubt. We're going to have some more about surviving the storms coming up.

Also, when we come back: A new study shows those prayers might have actually been answered.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In Pennsylvania, wearing a cross pendant in the classroom has gotten a teacher's aide into -- well, into some hot water, Brenda Nichol. That's her name. She's been suspended for a year without pay for refusing to stop wearing the pendant in question, or at least refusing to hide it underneath a T-shirt. Officials say the Christian symbol violated school policy, as well as an 1895 state law banning school employees from wearing religious garb.

A federal lawsuit has been filed on Nichol's behalf. The American Center For Law and Justice says the suspension violates her constitutional rights.

Religious news of a different note right now: the power of prayer. You've no doubt heard the story of Aron Ralston, the climber who cut off his right arm in order to avoid certain death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARON RALSTON, CLIMBER AMPUTEE: It was the combined energy of all concerned and all those concerns expressed by so many that helped me pull through.

The spiritual side of my life has always been a strong component of who I am. I may never fully understand the spiritual aspects of what I experienced, but I will try. The source of the power I felt was the thoughts and prayers of many people, most of whom I will never know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, expanding on that idea: Can prayer help heal surgery patients? That's the focus of a study under way at the University of Arizona. Doctors there will examine the effects of prayer on patients recovering from cardiac bypass surgery. I'm joined by one of the doctors involved, Dr. Allan Hamilton. He's the chairman of the university's Department of Surgery. And he's leading the study. He joins us from Tucson.

Doctor, thanks very much for being with us.

What makes this study different, unique, and probably extraordinarily controversial is that it's not the patients themselves praying for their own recovery. There have already been studies about that and the effects it has on their recovery process. This is people unknown to the patients praying for them.

DR. ALLAN HAMILTON, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: That's right.

This study involves prayer at a distance, what we sometimes refer to as intercessory prayer. And, in this case, from a scientific point of view, it allows us to enter the patients into the study and then have them randomly selected by a computer to receive prayer or not to receive prayer. And nobody who's doing the study and nobody who's working with the patients has any knowledge of whether or not that particular patient has been assigned to prayer.

COOPER: And the people doing the prayers have no knowledge of or interaction with the patients; is that correct?

HAMILTON: That's correct.

COOPER: How did you pick the organization who's doing these prayers? And who is it who's going to be doing these prayers?

HAMILTON: Well, we're blessed with a Johre Foundation (ph) headquarters here in Tucson. And so we had a very large collection of very well-practiced and well-accomplished prayers. And these individuals essentially had to come through the university.

And we had to ensure they were willing to work with us basically using a scientific method. So that meant they had to be willing to get the patient assigned to them by computer and then carry out their prayers, so that every patient was receiving prayerful intervention at the same amount, almost as if you were dosing prayer.

COOPER: Now, I know there's a control group. So some will not know if they're being prayed for or not. But the people who are in the study, they know they're in the study? The patients in this study know they are?

HAMILTON: Right. The patients are entered into the study and then, unbeknownst to the doctors or the patients, they get randomized to receive prayer or not to receive prayer.

COOPER: How scientific, though, is this, really? If you know you are part of a study and there's a likelihood that someone is praying for you, couldn't that, just that knowledge -- if part of this is sort of the someone who believes in prayer is going to help them, then they're going to feel better, if they feel they are in this study and there's a high likelihood or a likelihood at all that someone is praying for them, doesn't that sort of muddy the waters?

HAMILTON: Well, it's a good scientific question.

And that's why what you do is, you take all the patients and then randomize them. If that was in fact the case, you would assume that patients with deep spiritual beliefs or less deep spiritual beliefs would end up randomly assorted between both arms of the groups. And both arms of the groups are large enough that we can evaluate them for statistical differences. And so you're absolutely right. You have to do a good, sound, statistical study in order to get rid of that bias.

COOPER: OK, very briefly, NIH is paying for this. It's going to cost a couple hundred thousand dollars. When do you think it's going to be done? When is the study going to be over?

HAMILTON: The study should be over in two years. We're entering 120 patients into each arm of the study. And we're looking at finite end points like: Do they get infections? Do they get out of the ICU? Do they have arrhythmias, congestive heart failure? So these are very firm, sound, scientific end points that we're looking at.

COOPER: All right, Dr. Allan Hamilton, appreciate you joining us. Interesting study. We'll check back with you in two years, see how it goes. Thanks very much.

HAMILTON: Thank you.

COOPER: When we come back: Everyone who's anyone is talking about it, at least in some cities. It's the latest buzz on everything from those little teens taking over Hollywood to the clampdown of all the hottest clubs in New York.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We're going to take a little break from the day's serious news, because we want to check up on some of the not-exactly- news stories making the rounds.

And no one knows those stories better than these folks: Marc Malkin, who writes "New York" magazine's "Intelligencer" column. He joins us from New York. In D.C.: Lloyd Grove, who writes "The Washington Post"'s "Reliable Source" column; and in L.A., where buzz is an industry all to itself, Zorianna Kit, senior film reporter for "The Hollywood Reporter."

All of you, thanks for being with us.

Lloyd, I want to start off with you. Let's talk about Washington a bit. Not a great town for buzz, but it's buzz of a very different sort. What's the big story there? I suppose Bill Bennett?

LLOYD GROVE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Bill Bennett, the virtue czar, has been exhorting us all to be healthy, honest, hard-working, and wise. It turns out he has a big vice. He's a gambler. He loses millions of dollars, as much as $500,000 in a single recent weekend. And people are having fun with this. Those of us who have been lectured by Mr. Bennett are feeling a warm feeling of satisfaction. And he's now a sitting duck for groups like the National Coalition Against Gambling, that have offered him the executive directorship of their group after he gets professional help.

COOPER: But does this really hurt him, though, in Washington? He says: Look, I make a lot of money. I make something like $50,000 making a speech. This is not my kids' college tuition money. What's wrong with it?

GROVE: Well, I'm sure his bank account is fine. He's lost about $8 million to $10 million. But it's not really great for the old image.

COOPER: All right, let's talk about -- let's go to L.A.

Zorianna, I don't think gambling -- I don't think they even blink an eye about that sort of stuff. What are people talking about there?

ZORIANNA KIT, "HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": Well, right now, the big news is the summer blockbuster features. I know that that doesn't compare to what's happening in Bill Bennett's world.

But over here in Hollywood, with last week's release of "X-Men 2," it really signaled the start of summer. Oscar season is over. The serious movies are done with for another year. And now it's all about those big action features that are coming up, from "The Matrix" to "Bad Boys 2" to "T-3" to "Charlie's Angels 2" to "The Hulk," all that good, fun popcorn stuff.

COOPER: There's also a lot of talk about young people in that insipid term tweenies, or tweens, which I want to go into a little bit more. Zorianna, I want to come back to you briefly in a moment.

Marc, let's go to you. In New York, what's the buzz?

MARC MALKIN, "NEW YORK": The buzz here is all about smoking. You're not allowed to smoke in New York anymore.

KIT: Big deal. We've had that here for several years now. Come on.

MALKIN: But that's Los Angeles.

COOPER: Yes, in L.A. -- you go into a club in L.A., and you can leave, you come home, you don't smell like smoke. So why are New Yorkers complaining, Marc?

MALKIN: Well, in L.A., it's beautiful out every day. You could go outside and smoke. In New York in the middle of the winter, no one wants to go outside in the rain, in the snow, and smoke. And most of the bars and clubs are in residential neighborhoods here. So you're going to have neighbors throwing eggs, pales of water on people who are smoking outside their window.

COOPER: Lloyd, is this heading to Washington now, a smoking ban?

GROVE: I don't think so. And this is all the creation of Mayor Mike Bloomberg. But at the recent Bloomberg after-party at the White House correspondents dinner, people were smoking up a storm. They had all kinds of smoking areas in the party tent. So this is not a Washington thing, I'm glad to say.

COOPER: Well, also, in Washington, you have all those smoky back rooms where all the deals are made, right? So, if they did away with the smoke, what would you have?

GROVE: The smoky back rooms are a thing of the past. I think people are chewing nicotine gum.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

KIT: I don't think this is tragic. It's really not that bad. We thought it was doom and gloom here in L.A. when they instituted that rule. But, honestly, you come to appreciate it in the long run.

MALKIN: Yes, but in New York, you're going to have people who are smoking on your stoop. I walk down my street, now there are three bars. And it's a problem getting past these people who are smoking. It's annoying. I don't care about smoking. I don't smoke.

GROVE: I quit 10 years ago.

COOPER: Good for you.

GROVE: Bloomberg was a smoker.

COOPER: Well, some of the biggest stars right now aren't even of smoking age. I'm talking about these tweens. Is that the term, tweens?

KIT: Yes, tweens. That's sort of...

COOPER: OK, please describe to us -- because it's only in the last year or so that I've even heard this term. And I sense the Olsen twins are all behind it.

(LAUGHTER)

KIT: The Olsen twins are definitely part of this tween term. So are stars like Amanda Bynes, Hilary Duff, Frankie Muniz, names which probably don't mean a lot to you, but ask your kids. They will be very familiar with these kids, because most of these young actors got their starts on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon channel or the WB. And they already had a pre-existing fan base on these shows. And then it's just a natural crossover for them to take their fan base with them into feature films.

COOPER: Now, but are these tweens, like, stars today and robbing convenience stores tomorrow? Is that what we have to look forward to from these folks?

KIT: No, not at all. These kids are poised. They're smart. They know what they want. And they're getting big bucks for it. Frankie Muniz is getting paid $4 million for the sequel to "Cody Banks." He, of course, starred in the first one with Hilary Duff. And Hilary is on screen right now doing "Lizzie McGuire." And she's getting paid $2 million for her next feature, "The Cinderella Story."

COOPER: All right, but, now, none of these are movies are going to show up at a film festival any time soon. And I think there's a film festival going on right now in New York, the Tribeca Film Festival, Marc. What's the big buzz behind that?

MALKIN: The Tribeca Film Festival, it's only the second year and it's huge, $10 million into downtown New York. It feels like the festival has been here forever. This is huge, huge names, Renee Zellweger, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino.

COOPER: And what's the idea behind the film festival? Is it just to create buzz in order to get press for your movie, for some movie that might not get recognized elsewhere?

MALKIN: No, it originally started with Robert De Niro and his partner, Jane Rosenthal, that they wanted to rebuild Lower Manhattan. And now it's just turned into a huge marketing tool, obviously, for these movies. "Down With Love," Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor's movie, opened the festival. That's humongous.

So, yes, it's a marketing tool, but it's great revenue for New York.

COOPER: As soon as the Olsen twins' next film shows up at a film festival, I will attend a film festival.

Lloyd, is anyone in Washington concerned, by the way, about the Olsen twins? Their company, which is like a billion-dollar company, is called Dualstar, which, to me, sounds a little bit like Death Star. I think there may be some sort of plot to take over the world here. Has Homeland Security been informed?

GROVE: Not yet. But you have just done so, and we thank you for that.

(LAUGHTER)

GROVE: Big in Washington is Teresa Heinz, or Teresa, as she calls herself, the wife of John Kerry, who's wonderfully unfiltered and says things like, she takes botox treatments, she has a prenup agreement, because, after all, Anderson, everybody has a prenup.

KIT: It sounds like she'll do well in Hollywood over here. Send her our way.

COOPER: It sounds like she'll get a lot of Hollywood money.

We're going to have to end it there. We're simply out of time. Lloyd Grove, Marc Malkin, and Zorianna Kit, appreciate you joining us. It was fun. Thanks very much.

KIT: Thank you.

MALKIN: Thanks a lot.

COOPER: And thanks, everyone, for being with us tonight.

Be sure to stay with CNN. "LARRY KING LIVE" is right next, after a quick check of the headlines.

Good night.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Same Route; Teacher's Aide Suspended From School For Wearing Cross Necklace>


Aired May 9, 2003 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Cleaning up in Oklahoma City.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) search to make sure that everybody that lived in the neighborhood has been accounted for.

ANNOUNCER: Flooding in Tennessee. Tonight -- is there more bad weather on the way?

A teacher's aide suspended from school for wearing a cross necklace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a symbol to me of love and devotion and the dedication of my savior.

ANNOUNCER: Does the separation of church and state require the banning of spiritual symbols?

A civilian hearing seeks to ground sexual abuse at the Air Force Academy? Has a conspiracy of silence forever tarnished a venerable institution?

"LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES" with Anderson Cooper at CNN headquarters in Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. It is Friday, May the 9th. Thanks for joining us this evening.

We start with a still developing story out of Ohio. A gunman opened fire inside the lobby of the school of management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Now at least two people were wounded, and one of them remains inside the building at this hour.

You are looking at a live shot of the area. We are going to show you some tape very shortly from earlier today.

This incident began around 4:00 in the afternoon. Shortly after 4:00, shots were heard from somewhere inside the university building.

Now this is an independent, largely research university. Finals had already taken place. So the 1,500 or 1,600 or so students who attend the university are -- were no longer, largely, on the campus.

These are taped images you're seeing. Again, the latest information we have is that this thing is still going on. The shots began some time around 4:00.

One eyewitness, a security guard ,said that he had been told by police that it did not seem to be a student. Another witness that Wolf Blitzer was talking to live, who was inside the building at the time of the shooting -- even at the time he was talking to Wolf Blitzer -- was saying that it sounded like automatic weapons fire. He also described it like fireworks going off on the fourth of July.

Right now, we are joined by Wendy Gillette, a reporter with WOIO. Wendy, what can you tell us? What is the latest?

WENDY GILLETTE, REPORTER, WOIO-TV, CLEVELAND, OHIO: Well, Anderson, we are a couple of blocks down from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), where this is going on, and you've probably been telling viewers the latest information.

The latest information we have here -- two people shot, the gunman still inside. One victim was shot outside the building and taken to a local hospital. We haven't got any word on his condition. We do know it's a male.

The other gunshot victim is still inside the building, and university officials say they don't know how that person is doing right now.

University officials also telling us that about 50 to 60 people are still inside the building. We've heard from some of them. They've been calling our station, saying they're very scared, that they're shut off from the main section of the building in classrooms with about -- some -- eight people in one room, two people in another, and they're just trying to be quiet.

We heard about one person who is seven months pregnant and, obviously, this is a very serious situation for everyone still in the building, but they're trying to remain calm and talking to some family members. Police have asked family members on the outside not to call in so that the lines remain open.

Today is actually the last day for undergrads and grads here on the campus. Yesterday was the last day of finals, and grades were coming out today and tomorrow -- today and yesterday. We don't know, of course, if that has anything to do with this, but that's what's going on in the campus today.

Campus officials telling us about 10 percent of the total number of people in the building that would normally be there -- because this is the last day -- but there are still probably about five dozen people inside the building at this time.

COOPER: Wendy, have you received any information or are you hearing anything about the identity of the shooter? GILLETTE: No. Not at all. We asked university officials if they had any idea. They did not. We talked to one person who thought he saw the gunman going in the building, and he said that he was wearing a helmet and fatigues but we don't know at this point if he was confused -- if he was talking about a squad officer, but he told us that he saw this before the police arrived -- hat he believed the gunman was wearing a helmet and it looked like military fatigues.

COOPER: Now you are saying the gunmen -- are you getting that information from the police that it's believed to be a single gunman.

GILLETTE: Yes. The police chief here in Cleveland did something we've never seen before. He told us there are television sets in the building, and he gave us a phone number to broadcast for the gunman to call. If he is watching, they want to peacefully resolve the situation and that he should call this number if he wants to talk to police.

COOPER: At about what time did he -- did the police chief give you that number?

GILLETTE: That was about two -- probably about hours ago.

COOPER: Any sense of whether or not they've received contact.

GILLETTE: No. They've given us very limited information. It looks like actually, the chief is just about to speak. I'm going to move over there right now. It looks like the chief will give a press conference right now. So I'm going to try to see what he's going to say. He's definitely addressing the media right now. I'm going to try to find out for you.

COOPER: Wendy, why don't you listen in and we'll check back with you as soon as we can.

GILLETTE: Thank you.

COOPER: All right, Wendy Gillette, a reporter with WOIO.

The situation, as far as we know -- and you are looking there at live pictures from WOIO, of, basically, a standoff.

One gunman believed to be inside the building at Case Western Reserve University still. Two people -- and these are still very early reports -- at least two people were shot, including one who remained inside the building. That came according to a university spokeswoman, Marcy Hirsh (ph).

The building is completely sealed. You see SWAT team members are on the scene as are reporters. We saw a reporter fixing her hair -- they're getting ready to do a live shot.

This is what seems to be a standoff. The shooting began in intensity shortly after 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon today. Apparently, the last large amount of shooting was last heard around 5:00, 5:10 p.m. in the afternoon. We do not know if there's been extensive shooting in the last two hours or so, but Wendy Gillette pointing out that the police chief has gone to the media, given out a phone number with the idea being that the gunman, still inside the building, may be watching on TV -- encouraging that gunman to make a telephone call.

We do not know if that has happened. We'll keep you updated on events as warranted. We will take a short break and our coverage continues. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Now to a long-running controversy -- religion in public schools.

It is illegal for a teacher to lead prayers in class. We all know that. What if a school worker shows up in the classroom wearing a religious symbol?

Well, a Pennsylvania teacher's aide has been suspended after she refused to stop wearing a cross pendant. That's the pendant right there. It's about an inch in size.

A group that specializes in constitutional law, the American Center for Law and Justice, has filed suit on behalf of the teacher's aide. Jay Sekolow is chief counsel for that organization, and he joins us from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Also joining us -- the Reverend Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He is in Washington.

Jay, let me start off with you. Why is your client suing?

JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: Well, she's been suspended for one year without pay. In fact, the statute she's been charged under is actually a misdemeanor in the state of Pennsylvania.

Any religious symbol, under Pennsylvania state law, worn by a teacher constitutes a violation of a misdemeanor and in fact that would include a Jewish teacher that was Orthodox wearing a yarmulke. It would include...

COOPER: And you say that's unconstitutional?

SEKULOW: Oh, absolutely. And I think the fact of the matter is that when you look at this law now, it's the law based in 1895. It was affirmed, by the way in 1990, but the law has significantly changed since then and it may take the Supreme Court of the United States to decide this. But the idea you can be fired or suspended for wearing a cross -- this isn't a case of proselytizing. She wore a cross like thousands -- tens of thousands of teachers around the country every day.

COOPER: Reverend Lynn, why do you say this is OK?

REV. BARRY LYNN, AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEP. OF CHURCH & STATE: You know, frankly, all the state of Pennsylvania is trying to do is to make sure that public schools don't become religious battlegrounds, don't become places where government employees, like teachers and teachers aides use the position of authority to have an influence over impressionable schoolchildren on the one topic that they're supposed to be neutral about and that is religion.

And, in fact, if we allow any religious symbols to be worn in these schools then some one is undoubtedly going to come into a Pennsylvania school wearing a T-shirt that says, "God is a Myth," because they don't have a religious viewpoint and they'll want to communicate that to schoolchildren as well.

COOPER: Let me ask...

LYNN: I think it's up to parents to do that, not public school teachers or other government employees.

COOPER: All right. Let me ask Mr. Sekulow, would you then -- mr. Sekulow, would support a teacher who wants to come in with a pagan symbol on their T-shirt or, you know, a Satanic ring or any other form of religious expression?

SEKULOW: Look, I think the fact of matters of religious freedom is just that. It's religious freedom. The school can't dictate what the religious beliefs are.

COOPER: And you'd have no problem -- in fact, you would -- you would -- you would -- you and your organization...

SEKULOW: Oh, sure.

COOPER: ...would defend a teacher?

SEKULOW: Absolutely, and the fact of the matter is that one of the the issues that came up in the 1990 case was some one that is Islam -- follows Islam. A Muslim that was denied the right to wear their religious garb in the school and the Third Circuit said that was perfectly appropriate to deny them the right.

I think that's horrible. The idea to tell some one that is of the Muslim faith, tell an Orthodox Jew, tell a Christian you can't wear your cross, you can't wear your religious garb

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Let me just jump in here, Mr. Sekulow.

SEKULOW: Sure.

COOPER: Is that what the school said to your client? Or did, they in fact, just -- just put it underneath your shirt. You know, just don't display it publicly. Did they say remove it totally or just don't display it in public?

SEKULOW: Well, they don't want -- as long as nobody sees it, it's fine.

COOPER: OK. SEKULOW: But think about that for a moment. What do you do with the yarmulke. Mr. Lynn said the other day, my good friend Barry said, Well, the Orthodox Jewish man could simply wear a hat over his yarmulke. That's ridiculous.

COOPER: Reverend Lynn, your -- your take?

LYNN: There's nothing ridiculous about it and, in fact, tens of thousands of Christian teachers are able to accommodate their religious beliefs, have a symbol that's very sacred to them, as it is to you and to me, underneath a shirt, underneath a blouse.

What this woman is trying to do, unfortunately, is make a federal case under the idea that she wants to promote her religious beliefs.

SEKULOW: We've already made it a federal case. It's a federal case right now. It sure is.

LYNN: And in 1990, of course, I don't remember that you did come to the defense of the Muslim woman. This is all about bringing more Christian religion into public schools through public employees and I wish you and your friend Pat Robertson down there in Virginia Beach would get off this hobby horse...

(CROSSTALK)

LYNN: ...that religion flourishes in this country because government is neutral about it. We don't allow it.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Mr. Sekulow, let me just bring up something specifically that Reverend Lynn said. You know, I mean, it seems to -- many people would say, Well, it seems to make sense that schools -- that classrooms should not be a venue for proselytizing, should not be a venue for, you know, some teacher who has a very extreme religious belief -- not saying that teacher does. But some one who may have one...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: You're saying that's OK for them to talk about...

(CROSSTALK)

SEKULOW: The woman is wearing a one-inch cross.

COOPER: I'm not saying this is. I'm not saying this is.

SEKULOW: That's ridiculous. And the Jewish teacher that's wearing a yarmulke -- that's extreme? Or the Muslim teacher that wears Muslim garb. That's extreme? I just don't see that.

LYNN: You know, Jay, if you follow logic....

SEKULOW: I don't see it. LYNN: If you follow the logic, or lack of logic of what you're saying, then it doesn't really matter that this is a one-inch cross. You could have a two-foot cross.

(CROSSTALK)

LYNN: Would you deny a teacher the right to wear a shirt that said, "Jesus is the Only Way to Salvation"? See, you don't want courts getting into the business of drawing those lines.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: You both made your points very well. Appreciate you joining us. We're simply out of time. The Reverend Barry Lynn and Jay Sekulow.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Well, chainsaws are work in parts of the nation today, clearing away the aftermath of yet another round of tornadoes.

A 19-mile path is littered with debris through Moore, Oklahoma. At last count, yesterday's twister near Oklahoma City demolished 300 homes, damaged hundreds more. Just look at that. Unbelievable images. This one did not cause any deaths, however.

Another blow to the midsection. More tornadoes hit Kansas. At least seven ripped across the state last night. Heaviest damage is concentrated in Lawrence there. The storms ripped roofs off houses as well as apartment buildings.

Now, state of emergency. Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue declared disaster areas in two counties along the border with Alabama today. In the town of West point, dozens of people had to seek higher ground after the Chattahoochee River jumped its banks.

Well, the tornado that hit Oklahoma rekindled a lot of painful memories for a lot of folks. It traveled down a path similar to the one that struck just four years ago and that one killed 44 people. Now amazingly, as we said, no one died when this latest one slammed across the state.

Oklahoma's governor, Brad Henry, has been inspecting the damage and he joins us from Moore, Oklahoma.

Governor, thanks for being with us. How are the people in your state doing?

GOV. BRAD HENRY (D), OKLAHOMA: Well, thank you for having me on, Anderson.

Everybody's doing well. You know, as I traveled through the damaged areas today, the thing that really struck me was the fact that everybody was upbeat. Their houses were demolished, but they were upbeat. And I think we're all very, very thankful that even though we've had our share of destructive storms and this one was very destructive, everyone's very thankful that there were no fatalities.

COOPER: Well, you know, no one ever gets used to this kind of thing, but people in your state, as you said, have experienced this kind of thing before, back in '99. What were the lessons learned back in '99 that were applied to this and perhaps saved lives this time?

HENRY: Well, you know, one of the things that Oklahoma has set kind of set the standard for is our response to these kinds of disasters. And the '99 tornado was -- was, I think, the most destructive tornado, certainly in the United States. It even reached the new classification of F6. Substantial, substantial damage.

This storm was want as bad as the '99 tornado, but it traveled a very, very similar path. Since the '99 tornado, you know, we've always done things right, but we have learned from that experience and I think the main thing was we figured out where some of the glitches were in terms of coordinating local, county and state emergency management resources and the response to this particular tornado was just phenomenal.

We had command centers set up in the concentrated areas of destruction almost before the storms had blown out of town. Our response teams were out and had, within an hour of the touch down of the tornado, had swept through the entire path of destruction to assist anyone that needed help to get those to the hospital that needed hospital attention, and to remove rubble and clear some of the roadways.

So the response was tremendous. The people of Oklahoma have great strength and resolve. We are so thankful and prayerful that there were no fatalities. We will rebuild and we're -- you know, we've done it before. We'll do it again.

COOPER: Governor, have you communicated at all with President Bush. If so or if not even, do you anticipate he will declare certain areas of Oklahoma federal disaster areas?

HENRY: Well, we anticipate so. We have been in contact with the White House as well as FEMA officials as early as within an hour after the storm, frankly.

Today, this morning, I declared two central Oklahoma counties where the tornado touched down a disaster area. We have asked the president for an expedited declaration of disaster. We expect that that will come very quickly.

COOPER: Governor Brad Henry, appreciate you joining us. Good luck to you and our best wishes to the people affected by this tragedy. Thank you very much.

HENRY: Thank you very much and we all appreciate you.

COOPER: All right. Take care. Good luck to you.

A lot of other stories making headlines across America tonight. Let's take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Thank you. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Changing the rules. President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist want to make it easier to break a filibuster. Now, Frist has a plant to change the tactics Democrats are using to block the approval of the White House's judicial nominees.

But Democrats are defending their rights to oppose those nominations.

Quarter century to life. That is how much time James Kopp is expected to serve in prison for the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian. The Kopp admitted shooting Slepian in 1998 because he performed abortions. He has a month to appeal his sentence.

Sullied reputation. A hazing incident in which feces, paint and garbage was dropped on Illinois high school girls. you've seen the video. It's just really disturbing. Well, it is giving a black eye to one Chicago area school's spotless record. It turns out some parents may have supplied beer and trash. Now, this is just an early report -- may have supplied beer and trash. The entire incident, as you see, was caught on tape. Now officials are looking for answers. We're going to have more on this coming up

Still to come this evening, road trips to promote a road map for piece. President Bush went to a Southern university, but his real target audience was someplace else entirely.

Also, which presidential candidate knows the right camera to stare at? Smile real big and stay with us for the best political outtakes of the week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: A significant confession and a request leads our look at the world tonight. At the United Nations, the U.S. and Britain acknowledged for the first time that they are the occupying powers in Iraq. They are asking the U.N. Security Council to end all economic sanctions against Baghdad and to let the coalition use Iraq's oil money to rebuild the country. Now, that is going to take at least a year.

The spread of SARS in mainland China appears to be slowing down, but SARS cases are actually on the rise in Taiwan. Taipei is now on the WHO's list of cities where all but essential travel should be avoided.

Worldwide, there are now at least 7,000 cases of the deadly pneumonia in 25 countries.

And in a move designed to thwart international terrorists, Israel has announced further restrictions on foreign nationals getting into Gaza.

President Bush today offered all sides in the Middle East an incentive to make peace pay off. White House correspondent Dana Bash has the details -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, the president is sending his secretary of state to the region tonight to meet with both Israelis and Palestinians on the road map they hope will lead to peace, but the president said today that he thinks that security might help with some free trade.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): With the war in Iraq over and Israelis and Palestinians poised to start peace talks, the president used a commencement address to introduce a new element in his effort to revamp the Middle East.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I propose the establishment of a U.S.-Middle East free trade area within a decade, to bring the Middle East into an expanding circle of opportunity, to provide hope for the people who live in that region.

BASH: World trade in the Muslim Middle East has dropped 75 percent since 1980, while the population has exploded, growing 70 percent. The road to a liberated, secure region, said Mr. Bush, is economic progress that has so far eluded most of the Arab world.

BUSH: Across the globe, free markets and trade have helped defeat poverty and taught men and women the habits of liberty.

BASH: A senior administration official says the plan is to negotiate a series of bilateral agreements in the hopes that a broad regional initiative could take hold by 2013. Negotiations are already under way with Morocco, and administration officials point to the U.S.-Jordan free trade agreement signed nearly three years ago as a model of success. U.S. and Jordanian officials say the accord is already helping the country's economy. In 2002, exports to the U.S. totaled $412 million, up from 183 million in 2001, an 80 percent increase.

But some experts say Jordan is not typical. Other countries may be less willing to welcome governmental reform and fight terrorism in order to win economic investments; U.S. requirements for the initiative. And while the administration hopes the proposal will be seen as a sign of goodwill to a skeptical Arab world...

MARTIN INDYK, SABIN CENTER, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: From their perspective, at the moment, it could well look like another example of the United States trying to establish a Pax Americana, trying to establish its hegemonic influence over the whole region, this time using economic power.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And, Aaron, there's also an olive branch in this for the state of Israel, because senior administration officials admit that implicit in this initiative is a requirement that Arab states drop their boycott against the country -- Anderson.

COOPER: That's right, I'm often mistaken for Aaron Brown.

BASH: Sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Dana Bash, thanks very much, at the White House. Appreciate it.

BASH: Thank you.

COOPER: Well, we have got about three minutes now, and I'm going to be counting, to make that quick run to the fridge, but you want to come back. There's a lot ahead. Is there a new suspect in the Laci Peterson case? Mark Geragos made a surprising statement today. You're going to want to hear about that.

Also, are you tired of getting spam? Not the canned meat, which, God knows, we all love. Those annoying pop-up ads. Well, help apparently is on the way. And a little later on, see why some air travelers are taking off more than their seatbelts. You're watching LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: You're looking at a live picture from WKYC in -- actually, a taped picture taken a short time ago. This is outside, around Cleveland, Ohio, Case Western Reserve University, where a gunman is believed to still be inside the university's School of Management building.

At this point, at least two people have been shot, including one person who remains inside the building, last we had heard. Automatic weapons fire was heard beginning shortly after 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. The gunman, as I said, still believed to be inside, still believed to be armed. The area is surrounded and it is a very developing situation. We're going to have an update from a reporter on the scene very shortly.

We want to tell you about some new developments tonight, however, in the case against Scott Peterson. Now, today in court his attorney, Mark Geragos, claimed that Peterson didn't kill his wife and unborn son. He says, in fact, the that real killer is still out there, and for the first time raised the prospect of a woman who may know more about the case.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: We know that there are people out there, and specifically there's one particular young lady out there who we believe has some very important information. We're asking, and we will protect her anonymity, that she contact my office. We will do everything possible to keep you out of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Joining us now for more updates about this, Attorney Harvey Levin from Los Angeles.

Harvey, thanks for being with us.

HARVEY LEVIN, ATTORNEY: My pleasure.

COOPER: What do you make of that?

LEVIN: Well, you've got to understand, Mark may or may not have somebody really important here. If he's got anybody who's even relevant to the case, he can come out and say what he wants. Realize that Mark is trying to counter a lot of publicity that seems to point a guilty finger at Scott Peterson. So for Mark to come out and kind of obtusely say, you know, there's a woman we're interested in doesn't necessarily mean this woman points to a smoking gun. But what Mark is doing is trying to reshape public opinion. It doesn't surprise me.

What's interesting is whether he goes to police with this information.

COOPER: Yes, and no doubt they would be very interested to see whether or not he does, in fact, come to them.

A couple of things we want to talk about. The significance of a ruling by the judge to keep sealed the search warrant, some affidavits related to the search warrant, as well as the arrest warrant.

What's the significance?

LEVIN: Again, not surprising. I've covered a lot of high profile cases with our show, "Celebrity Justice," and I can tell you that judges now try to manage publicity outside the courtroom like they try to manage what happens inside. And if this search warrant were unsealed or the warrants, it would show the probable cause that the police had the arrest Scott Peterson and this would probably lead to just a torrent of publicity that I'm sure this judge doesn't want, especially given the fact that I think there's going to eventually be a change of venue motion.

COOPER: But they're talking about rehearing this issue on, I think, May 27th. Why rehear it later on?

LEVIN: Well, the judge isn't necessarily saying it's never going to be unsealed. I think for now the judge is saying I don't want to do it. I'm guessing that the judge will try and keep this secret for as long as he possibly can. Realize, Anderson, this is going to have a lot of information in it. It's going to tell us why the police believed Scott Peterson did it and that's going to be fodder for the press, again, something I don't think this judge wants, because of prejudicial pretrial publicity.

COOPER: Prosecutors are talking about possibly sending this casein front of a grand jury.

What's the significance of that?

LEVIN: The significance is if they get an indictment by a grand jury, they can avoid a preliminary hearing, which could take a lot of time and take lots of resources. Unclear whether this is going to happen or not. It's in the prosecution's court.

COOPER: But Geragos has, I think, come out and said if this thing does go before the grand jury, I want to go before the grand jury, as well.

LEVIN: Well, he said what he wants to do is present exculpatory evidence, evidence pointing away from Scott Peterson. You've got to understand that when you go to a grand jury it's a fairly low threshold in terms of giving prosecutors the green light to go to trial. So even though Geragos wants to do this, it's really what the prosecution can point to if they've got enough for the jury or the grand jury to smell that this warrants a trial.

COOPER: All right, Harvey Levin of "Celebrity Justice," appreciate your joining us.

LEVIN: My pleasure.

COOPER: Always nice to talk to you.

Well, a hearing officer has a week to issue a report on whether an upperclassman at the Air Force Academy should face court martial for alleged sex assault. The Academy has been rocked, of course, by charges that it shrugged off cases of sexual misconduct.

Rusty Dornin reports now from Colorado Springs on the Academy's efforts to change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ashley Snyder was shocked when she heard dozens of women reported being raped at the Air Force Academy. But it didn't stop her from getting on the bus to see things for herself.

ASHLEY SNYDER: Here we are.

DORNIN: One of 250 female appointees...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For four incredibly demanding years...

DORNIN: ... here for orientation and explanation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are we doing to ensure that the environment here is safe and that your sons and daughters are safe?

DORNIN: Straight to the heart of the matter, to assure parents and prospective students, male and female, that steps have been taken to keep the cadets safe, to put a stop to rapes and sexual assaults here. Hot lines, investigative teams, segregating females during basic training, to name a few.

Then...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you provide, buy or give an underage person alcohol, you are gone. That is a pretty clear policy.

DORNIN: For Snyder, a high school senior from Pickerington, Ohio, it made sense.

ASHLEY SNYDER: Definitely. Because like they said, everything that, every -- most of the assaults stem from alcohol.

DORNIN: Her parents were anxious for more than words.

MARY SNYDER, MOTHER: Just a strong attention to it that they, you know, are going to, you know, make some changes, do some, you know, put some attention to it and...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not just rhetoric.

DORNIN (on camera): Do you, did you hear just rhetoric, do you think?

MARY SNYDER: It's a change of policies.

DORNIN: Or do you think that really...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope not.

DORNIN (voice-over): But the message wasn't just for women. Appointee Tony Friedrichs says he heard it.

TONY FRIEDRICHS, ACADEMY APPOINTEE: I think they addressed all questions fairly and directly and I feel that they are making appropriate changes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yourself and one guest?

RACHEL VALENZUELA, ACADEMY APPOINTEE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

DORNIN: Changes are what appointee Rachel Valenzuela was looking for.

(on camera): Would you feel safe coming here?

VALENZUELA: Yes, I do. I feel, I think you, many people are probably safer here than in, at another civilian college.

DORNIN (voice-over): Some of the rape allegations were of male upperclassmen intimidating and pressuring younger female cadets into sex.

(on camera): People talk about the intimidate by an upper classmate as being part of the problem. ASHLEY SNYDER: Right.

DORNIN: How do you avoid that situation?

ASHLEY SNYDER: I have no idea.

DORNIN: Despite some uncertainty...

(on camera): Have you made up your mind your coming here?

ASHLEY SNYDER: I haven't signed any papers yet, but yes.

DORNIN: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you are appointees for the class of 2007.

DORNIN (voice-over): Just days later, Snyder did sign. She'll report to the Air Force's newly male-female segregated boot camp in June.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: A lot more still to come tonight.

Chances are you have received it. Chances are you don't like it. When LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES continues, find out what some people are doing to try to stop computer spam.

But first, a look at the closing numbers from Wall Street on this Friday evening.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Six percent false. Amazing. Now, if you use a computer, you know spam isn't just a lunch meat anymore. Spam, of course, is computerese for unsolicited e-mail and most folks are finding more and more of it on their computers every day.

Bruce Burkhardt has a report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lose weight, find love, regrow hair, add three inches to your credit report, or something like that. You know, it seems a quaint, outdated notion that you originally signed up for e-mail to get messages from people you know about things you actually care about.

Enter spam. Not the nutritional product, the junk e-mail clogging private mailboxes and big computer networks. Bad taste, more filling. And in the past few months, growing by leaps and bounds. (voice-over): In a federal court case in Buffalo, New York this week, the internet service provider Earthlink won a $16 million judgment against a spammer accused of sending more than three quarters of a billion unwanted e-mails in a single year via phony Earthlink addresses. AOL Time Warner, parent of CNN, estimates that 75 percent of its incoming e-mail traffic is spam these days. And the Federal Trade Commission says two thirds of spam e-mail contains demonstrably false claims.

Then there are the more personal e-mails. Lots of women, and a few men, would like to show me all of their pictures. And then there's this one, a spam e-mail about spam. A spam it yourself kit for $129. Spam, spam and more spam.

Many of the come-ons are the electronic age versions of snake oil pitches. But unlike junk mail that you get in your mailbox, electronic spam is virtually cost free to the sender.

Its defenders say it's constitutionally protected free speech. But for most recipients, it's time to put e-mail spam back in the can. Dream vacation? Oh, all right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Bruce Burkhardt.

While many people like to complain about spam, some folks say it's just another form of advertising, and a successful form, at that.

And we have two guests tonight, Laura Betterly, the president of Data Resource Consulting Incorporated. She is in Tampa, Florida. And Michael Jacobs, senior partner at Morris & Foerster, a firm that's been involved in anti-spam litigation. He's in San Francisco.

Michael, let me start off with you.

Now, your firm was getting an awful lot of spam. You actually decided to do something about it. But how big a problem was the spam to your firm?

MICHAEL JACOBS, SENIOR PARTNER, MORRISON & FOERSTER: It was an enormous problem. Our people were getting very upset. E-mail is a mission critical tool for us. We depend on it for being in touch with each other and being in touch with our clients. And when the spam comes in, it clogs up that communications.

COOPER: So what did you decide to do about it and how did you go about it? How did you figure out who to target?

JACOBS: Well, we tallied the spam that we were receiving and we found a particular spammer that happened to be close by. Being a law firm, we thought about legal action. And with a lot of our people saying do something, we decided to file a lawsuit.

COOPER: OK, Laura Betterly, does this make you quiver in your boots? LAURA BETTERLY, PRESIDENT, DATA RESOURCE CONSULTING: Well, I mean here's the thing. There are guys that are unsavory out there and sending out offers to people that they don't want, frankly. And there has to be a distinction made between these guys who are underground and who would never come out naturally to show their face and guys who actually don't get complaints and actually go ahead and market products that are needed and wanted and actually get good response.

COOPER: But, Laura, in all fairness, your company sends out some 60 million e-mail messages a month. You're telling me that of those 60 million, most people want those messages?

BITTERLY: Well, if you look at some of the offers that we have, I mean we have a computer product that's an actual wonderful PC for $299 that the company itself doesn't have an advertising budget of, let's say, a Dell or a Compaq. And the savings goes on to the consumer. It does create healthy competition in the marketplace.

COOPER: Well, but nevertheless you won't deny that tons of people, probably the great majority of people who receive your e- mails, don't really want them and are annoyed by them. Does that bother you?

BITTERLY: Well, I mean that's the supposition that they are annoyed by it. I mean we have legitimate unsubscribes. Of course, there are organizations out there who let you know if there are complaints. So anyone who doesn't want to get our marketing, we don't want to market to and anybody who's legitimate doesn't want to market to those who don't want to get marketed to.

But obviously there are people who do buy things off the Internet and they buy things off of e-mail or we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

COOPER: Well, that's true.

Michael, do you buy what Laura's selling, basically?

JACOBS: One of the things we learned in the course of this lawsuit is that no one will fess up to being a spammer. All the e- mail marketers refer to themselves as permission based marketers or having the consent of people to receive these e-mails. But, in fact, they're just operating off of lists that they're provided or that they acquired in the market. They've done no testing to see whether, in fact, people want to receive these e-mails.

It's turned into a bit of a scam.

COOPER: Laura, how do you respond to that?

BITTERLY: Well, I know -- I can't speak for other people and I've heard the, what has been said. But when we do acquire a name, we actually have the, where they opted in, the time, date, the I.P. address. We have their physical address and we actually send them an e-mail to let them know that we've added them and if they do not want to get anything, that they should opt out. COOPER: But do you understand why this angers people, I mean why it bothers people?

BITTERLY: Well, I think people are very angry at mortgage leads and, you know, herbal Viagra, etc. and so on. We don't deal with those kind of products. And especially the X-rated stuff. I think that's not a form for e-mail.

COOPER: Michael, what do you recommend people do? I mean you're from a big law firm. You're able to sue. You're able to, you know, seek settlement. For myself and everyone else out there who's getting spam, what can you do?

JACOBS: It's a real problem. One of the things we did after we filed the lawsuit, we received tremendous public approval, something along the lines of I never thought I'd love a law firm, but I love you guys. We packaged up what we received from the public and sent it to our senators and said really what we need is a legislative solution here. This cannot be something that's being addressed by filing lawsuits around the country. And I still think that's real, that is what, in fact, we need from Washington right now. We need some serious legislation aimed at dealing, in large part, with the public anger that you've accurately described.

COOPER: All right, Michael Foerster and Laura Betterly, I appreciate you joining us tonight. We're going to have to leave it there, but glad to get your perspectives.

Thanks very much.

JACOBS: My pleasure.

COOPER: We're going to take a short break and when we come back, we're going to have an update on this ongoing situation, this continuing developing story out of Ohio, a shooter in a school.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, for several hours now we have been following a developing story out of Ohio. A man armed, heavily armed, apparently inside a school in the Cleveland area, Case Western Reserve University.

We want to check in with Wendy Gillette, a reporter with WOIO for the latest. You're looking at a live shot of the school.

Wendy, are you there?

What can you tell us?

WENDY GILLETTE, WOIO CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson, we're just a couple of blocks down from the building. It's the Peter B. Lewis Building, which is the management school here at Case Western Reserve. That's where police are telling us that the gunman is still inside there. They tell us that they believe there are two victims, one person shot outside the building and taken to a hospital, another victim shot inside and still inside the building. Police have not been able to get to that victim at this point.

School officials telling us probably 50 to 60 people still inside the building. We've been getting calls from them to our station and friends and family saying that they've spoken to people, that they're huddled in classrooms trying to wait this out, very scared, of course, but trying to remain quirt and keeping the doors locked.

Now, just a couple of minutes ago, or actually about 20 minutes now, the police chief here in Cleveland talked to us, saying that he's very concerned about the shots that are going out live. Of course, we have been live for about three hours now and all the affiliates here in town are live.

The police are very concerned about some of the shots that were going out that were showing from choppers and from the down in different locations, showing tactical movement into the building. So they have asked us to back off and not show certain things because they are concerned that the gunman is watching television and is going to see what is going on and who's moving into the building.

COOPER: Understood, Wendy.

I should also point out, the Associated Press is quoting a hospital spokeswoman at Huron Hospital saying that it was a man who was shot outside the building, that he's being treated for a gunshot wound in the rear and was listed in good condition at this time. But as you mentioned, there may be at least one other person who has been shot still inside the building. Their condition, of course, unknown.

Wendy, last we heard, the shooter was believed to be on the first floor, the ground floor. Is that still the case?

GILLETTE: Yes, we don't really know that. We talked to one student who saw some blood drops on the floor on the first floor. He worked on the first floor and found his office locked, which is very unusual. It's usually always open. And then he saw people running down the hall saying, "Get out! Get out!" So he exited the building there.

But that's really all we know. Police, of course, being very tight-lipped about where he could be, where people are in the building. We've heard from lots of people who've told us specifically where they are in the building and we don't know how close they are to the gunman, if they are on the same floor or not.

COOPER: And this incident began some time shortly after 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. My understanding is that the shots continued for about 90 minutes. So that would make it around 5:30. Is that the last time shots were heard or are you still hearing shots?

GILLETTE: No, we're not hearing shots anymore. People who are nearby said they heard a couple shots initially, maybe three or four shots. Then police showed up, a SWAT team moved in and they heard a barrage of shots going on for some time -- boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, just in a row, and then silence.

And then a short time later we were actually on the phone with someone who had called our station who was inside the building who said, "I just heard a shot," and that was at about 5:30 or so. And that was the last that we've heard about any shots. We're too far away to hear, actually, any gunfire. But from the people who were there initially when it happened and then who were close, when the police moved in, that's what they're telling us they heard.

COOPER: The A.P. is also quoting a person described as someone who works in the cafeteria as saying that the man had a machine gun, a book bag, camouflage shirt, military green hat, white pants and a book bag. And we had also heard another report from someone described as a security guard on the campus who said that police had told him this was believed to be not a student.

Is that your understanding?

GILLETTE: Yes, that's what people are saying here, that he is not believed or did not look like a student. And that goes along with one person I was talking to who was in the back of the building when all this happened and saw someone breaking into the back of the building and that's very much the outfit that he described, wearing a helmet, camouflage kind of outfit with weapons, a machine gun and carrying some sort of bag.

He may have more weapons inside that bag.

COOPER: All right, this is a fast moving story. We continue to cover it.

Wendy Gillette, we'll check back with you in a little bit.

Wendy Gillette with WOIO in Ohio. At this point, one gunman still believed to be inside the building at Case Western Reserve University. At least one person still inside the building believed to be injured. One person at the hospital in stable condition.

We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We end this evening on some stories that for some reason didn't make the headlines exactly. Now, maybe all the spam in your e- mail has got you down. So this weekend you might want to check out a little tennis online. A Web site called, and I kid you not, tennisinthebuff.com, is offering nude tennis tournaments for your viewing pleasure. You pay a little more than $10 to ogle 20 naked players, who serve, volley and lob all completely in the buff. Top prize? Two thousand dollars. But I'm sure they're just doing it for the love of the sport. I'm not sure if they're allowed to wear tennis shoes, but I certainly hope the winner doesn't have to jump over the net.

And nudity is not just limited to the Web these days. You've no doubt heard of no frills airlines. But have you heard about the no clothing airlines?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Imagine you're on a plane, cruising at 30,000 feet, the seatbelt sign comes off and suddenly so does everyone's clothing. Now, a whole plane full of naked people may sound like a nightmare to you. But to some it's a dream that's actually come true. The world's first ever nude flight took off last week, Miami to Cancun, no clothes, no cameras.

It was organized by these two Houston travel agents.

DONNA DANIELS, NAKED-FLIGHT ORGANIZER: It hadn't been done before. We said what the heck, let's give it a try.

JIM BAILEY, NAKED-FLIGHT ORGANIZER: Where else can you go for a party and have 350 of your closest friends come along completely nude? That's what we're looking forward to.

COOPER: Apparently they weren't the only ones looking forward to it. Quite a crowd showed up willing to pay $499 round trip. They had to keep their clothes on in the airport, but once in the air.

This couple could barely wait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How fast can we do it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, how fast can we do it? We wanted to be on this first flight.

COOPER: Nudists insist it's not about sex, it's about liberty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really enjoy to be nude and really you have to feel freedom and you have to really do it. It's very nice.

COOPER: Indeed. Oh, in case you're wondering, the flight attendants and the pilots, they wore clothes. But some concessions were made.

DANIELS: The crew will be dressed, but we have asked them to control the temperature so we will not freeze to death. And no hot coffee will be served.

COOPER: Nudity, it seems, is breaking out all over these days. Nudist beaches, nudist resorts, even nudist photographers. Spencer Tunick's become famous getting people to disrobe. He did it again just last week in this London department store. So now that the first nudist flight has landed, we're told more are sure to come. One naked flight for man, one giant naked leap for mankind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Man, I hope those seats are Scotch-guarded, that's all I can say.

That about wraps it up for this first hour of LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES.

Coming up next, high school hazing. CNN has obtained graphic new videos showing the incident and our Whitney Casey is tracking the story from Northbrook, Illinois tonight. One of the big questions -- did parents actually contribute to all the ruckus?

LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES continues right after a break for the latest news updates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: On Sunday, a high school hazing ritual turned violent. Today, allegations of alcohol supplied by parents. Students and parents out of control? Who is in charge here?

Colin Powell heads to the Mideast to traffic cop the new road map for peace. Will Powell's meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers leave Yasser Arafat in the dust?

And medical researchers study the power of prayer in healing traumatic injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's how science moves forward, by having an open mind and not being closed to it.

ANNOUNCER: Conductors count on a higher power.

LIVE FROM THE HEADLINES with Anderson Cooper at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: From CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Anderson Cooper. Paula Zahn has the night off.

We've got a lot to cover in this hour. Whitney Casey is live from the Chicago area. There's some shocking new video of that hazing incident there involving high school girls. Kelly Wallace is live from Jerusalem with the latest on Secretary of State Colin Powell's trip to the Mideast. Dana Bash is live from Washington with the latest showdown between Congress and the president. A lot to cover.

First though, that shocking high school hazing video we were telling you about. New tape released today gives a much clearer picture of what happened Sunday in a Chicago suburb. And what it shows is a hazing ritual that turned incredibly ugly.

It started off innocent enough, say some. Senior girls dumping food on the juniors. But as the day wore on, some of the seniors upped the ante. One girl holds what appears to be a pig's intestine and throws it at the girls. Later one student takes a paint pellet gun, holds it just a few feet away from the girls, and shoots at least one of them in the back. You can hear screams in the background. And finally the ritual just breaks down into pure violence. Glenbrook North High's principal said the incident, which we should add, was not school sponsored, turned ugly because of alcohol. CNN's Whitney Casey joins us live from Illinois with more -- Whitney.

WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, that video keeps pouring in. And police say as long as it is pouring in, they have to look at all of it until they can come up with some of those criminal charges.

But this video that we've received today shows exactly the topical issue that these police are looking into now. This is the pre-game, as police say, parents-sponsored, possibly, party. And this is what they're looking into, whether the parents bought this alcohol for the children that you're seeing right now.

These are the seniors, they're in the yellow jerseys. There are some senior boys there according to some of the girls that may have watch this tape. They say that what those seniors are doing are called keg stands. And some of the girls that watched this tape also say there were four kegs there for those seniors.

This is the pre-game party before the juniors actually come. And what they told me today was that there was never any football that was ever played. Traditionally, there used to be football. Now people just come for the hazing. The juniors arrive moments later and that's when all of this hazing began. And this is what the police and principal and school authorities here are saying that fueled on this melee.

Now later on in the day -- just a week later from this event, police are still back at the site that you just saw, now cleaned up a little bit, looking over the site for more evidence. They also visited various liquor stores in the area today to check with the manager there. Because in this state, when you rent a keg, you have to sign a release and you have to also leave your I.D. So police are very sure if indeed a parent did rent one of these kegs from these local area liquor stores, that they will certainly find them.

Meanwhile, the principal here says that as kids head on into the weekend, Anderson, that they may not be able to participate in some of their extracurricular activities. Because however, he could not suspend them because he said it was not under his jurisdiction because the game was not held here at school and it was not school sanctioned, that he could take away some of their privileges. Those are including extracurricular activities like sports.

And these kids come back to school one Monday. They may be coming back to pretty sour news as police say they may come up with criminal some charges Monday -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Whitney Casey, thanks very much.

Want to talk more about this incident. We're joined by Kim Parks. Her daughter is a sophomore at Glenbrook North high school, though she was not at Sunday's incident. Ms. Parks, thanks very much for being with us. First of all, let's talk about this latest information that alleges a parent may have, and we very carefully say may have, provided this alcohol. Do you believe that's a possibility?

KIM PARKS, PARENT OF GNHS STUDENT: Unfortunately, yes, I do.

COOPER: Why do you say that?

PARKS: Well, the school is very proactive. Whenever there's a dance that's going to be held, if it's Turn About (ph), which is something that's more casual, homecoming, prom, they send a letter every single dance to the parents reiterating the rules. Do not supply your children alcohol. If they're taking a limo, make sure the limo is not supplied with alcohol. Don't rent them a hotel room. They basically...

COOPER: Have you seen this latest video? Want to show you this -- I don't know if you can see it. But this latest video that we've just gotten today of people basically with glasses of beer in their hand, their doing sort of handstands onto kegs, sipping the keg directly with their mouths.

How upset does this make you? I mean does this stuff surprise you? Does it surprise you, these images?

PARKS: Yes, I'm very shocked that -- I mean They were basically in a very open park. Reports state that residents driving by saw the kids. So it wasn't in an enclosed alcove...

COOPER: Who do you blame for this?

PARKS: ... that they were blatantly -- who do I blame?

COOPER: Yes.

PARKS: Well, number one, I blame the parents for not knowing where their kids are, what they're doing, who they're doing it with. And as much as the school wants to back out of responsibility, this function has been happening for 20 years. You don't turn your back on it.

COOPER: Do you think school -- did you know this thing went on? Had you heard about this in the past?

PARKS: Myself? I have not. My daughter's only a sophomore.

COOPER: What do you think should be done? School officials are basically saying at his point, look, we cannot -- this cannot affect people's -- their school presence because this was not sanctioned, this was outside of school, perhaps we can do something about their extracurricular activities, we can sanction some of those. Is that enough?

PARKS: No, it's not enough. But unfortunately, the way the policies and the rules are written currently, we have no choice. There are no ramifications that are going to resolve those girls to get them expelled.

I would like to present a proposition to the board of education on Monday, asking that we change the rules and the policies going forward, that any student that is caught -- physical violence against another human being, is expelled from school. Because I think that becomes a threat to all of the good students that remain at this school.

COOPER: All right, we're going to have to leave it there. Kim Parks, thanks very much for joining us. I appreciate it.

I want to take some time right now to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines this map this evening. Columbine, Colorado High School was on lockdown today after graffiti threats were found on the property. Extra police were on hand as well. A sheriff's spokeswoman says the threats were vague and short.

An escaped inmate is in critical condition tonight in Tennessee following a tense standoff with police. Officers say they shot her when she pointed a gun at her 3-year-old son.

And an online flower company says it will deliver free Mother's Day bouquets to 500 military moms nationwide this weekend. The company's president says he got the idea when he saw the trouble some Americans were taking to send packages overseas.

Well Secretary of State Colin Powell is leaving for the Middle East tonight. He's going to meet with Israeli as well as Palestinian leaders. As well as Arab leaders in Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Now his primary mission toss smooth out bumps in the so-called road map for establishing peace between Israelis and Palestinians. President Bush says it's a mission that America can achieve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: America will work without tiring to achieve two states -- Israel and Palestine living side by side in security and prosperity and in peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: But new obstacles have arisen in just the past days and Kelly Wallace is in Jerusalem tonight with those detail -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Anderson, the backdrop to the secretary's visit is that the violence continues. Palestinian attacks continue against Israel and Israel's military operations against radical Palestinian groups continue as well, complicating -- or likely to complicate the secretary's visit.

In fact, just two days ago, you had an Israeli aerial attack. Missiles fired on a car in Gaza City, killing a senior member of the radical Palestinian group Hamas. And Hamas and these other groups likely to be one of the major roadblocks ahead for this so-called Mideast roadmap because these groups are saying they will not disarm and they will not stop terror attacks against Israel. One big challenge for the new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, is to try and rein in these groups.

On the Israeli side, perhaps the biggest roadblock ahead will be settlements, settlements in the West Bank and settlements in the Gaza Strip. Jewish settlers have said they do not want to see these settlements dismantled or evacuated. They do not want to see a freeze in settlement activity. Prime Minister Sharon himself has been a big proponent of settlements in the past he -- though he has said that the Israelis must be prepared to make painful concessions.

But in summary, an Israeli columnist, who has been covering this region for 35 years says his assessment is the radical Palestinian groups do not want to stop terrorism now, and that the Sharon government does not want to stop settlement activity now either. So he does not see a lot of optimism for peace -- Anderson.

COOPER: Well, Kelly, President Bush says he's optimistic. But as you just said, that's not really shared on the ground. You talk to Israeli officials and they say, We can't have political movement until the Palestinians police themselves.

And you talk to the Palestinian officials and they say, We can't start improving, you know, our security forces until we get some political movement to work with on the Israelis.

So there's not a lot of optimism to go around in the region, is there?

WALLACE: Not at all, Anderson.

And also, the two sides don't even see eye to eye, as you were pointing out, when it comes to implementing the road map. The Palestinians, led by the new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, want to see this road map implemented immediately, without any changes made. And they want to see the Israelis and the Palestinians take simultaneous steps. They want to see the Israelis immediately take steps such as pulling out of Palestinian towns.

But as you just said, Prime Minister Sharon and other top Israelis say they can't do that until they see the Palestinians taking concrete steps on the ground to try and rein in these radical Palestinian groups. The Israelis also want to see more than a dozen changes made to the roadmap.

So Anderson, the secretary, one of his main challenges will be kind of trying to get the two sides to start seeing eye to eye a bit when it comes to implementation of this document.

COOPER: And that is certainly a major challenge. Kelly Wallace, thanks very much tonight.

Coming up after the break, a look at some of the day's other headlines in the order they happened.

At 9:00 a.m., an update on Private First Class Jessica Lynch and exactly what she will or won't remember about her ordeal. Plus, at 4:00 p.m., terror comes to a university. We're going to have a live report from the scene of a still-developing situation in Cleveland.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time for our timeline, a rundown of some of the day's top stories in the order they happened.

First up, overnight, Eastern time, that is when we learned of a horrific midair accident over Congo. The cargo ramp of a plane carrying members of the Congolese military blew open in mid-flight. At least seven people sucked out of the plane. There are also reports that as many as 140 others are still missing.

In the 9 a.m. hour, an update on the condition of rescued POW Private First Class Jessica Lynch. One of Lynch's doctors tells CNN she'll probably never remember how she was captured in Iraq. Pentagon sources had said authorities were hoping Lynch could remember some of her ordeal. They hoped the information would help in their investigation of the ambush on the 507th Maintenance Company.

But speaking to CNN's Bill Hemmer, Lynch's doctor says that seems unlikely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It's my understanding that Jessica Lynch does not remember much right after a rocket propelled grenade hit her vehicle. Tell us what her last memory is.

DR. GREG ARGYROS, LYNCH'S DOCTOR: Bill, the last memory she has is riding in that vehicle and the next thing she remembers is when she awoke in the Iraqi hospital.

HEMMER: How much longer after that, do you know? Was it days?

ARGYROS: It was from the time period that her convoy came under attack until she woke up in the hospital. I don't know exactly when during her time in the Iraqi hospital she does begin to recall events.

Private Lynch has been evaluated by a number of mental health professionals and her medical team, and those individuals have particular expertise in the evaluation of individuals who have suffered war injuries.

And it is their opinion that it is very unlikely that in the future, she will recall any of those events.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, in the 10 a.m. hour, the U.N. Security Council got its first look at a draft resolution that would lift sanctions against Iraq. The plan would also endorse U.S. and British control over the country for at least a year. Now some diplomats predict relatively smooth sailing for the resolution in the weeks ahead. But some countries are concerned about the amount of authority provided to the U.S. and Britain. Under the plan the two countries would have control over how Iraqi oil revenue is dispersed until a new government is up and running.

An hour later, the man found guilty of murdering a doctor who performed apportions learned his fate. James Kopp was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. In March, Kopp was convicted of the 1998 sniper style shooting of a Buffalo obstetrician, a man named Dr. Barnett Slepian. Kopp admitted he shot Slepian, but claimed he wasn't trying to kill him. Prosecutors argued his choice of a military assault rifle and six unused bullets at the crime scene proved otherwise. Kopp has 30 days to appeal the sentencing.

Let's focus on a develop story now, this one out of Ohio. At around 4:00 p.m., a gunman carrying a high powered rifle opened fire inside a building at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. At least two people were wounded. The gunman is still believed to be inside the facility, and the facility -- and many faculty members have actually locked themselves in their rooms. This situation is still going on.

I want to check in with Wendy Gillette. She is a reporter with WOIO in Cleveland, Ohio. Wendy, what can you tell us?

WENDY GILLETTE, WOIO CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, there has been quite a development, actually. We are now hearing from police that two are dead, and there are other wounded. And they are being taken to a local hospitals.

We -- one of our reporters was just outside the building in a -- kind of near the building and saw the -- a SWAT vehicle come up to the building. A person was loaded onto a stretcher and taken into the SWAT vehicle and then taken back here where I'm standing. And we couldn't tell from our vantage point how the person was. We don't know if that is the gunman or not.

COOPER: Wendy, where are you hearing that two people are dead? Has this come directly from the police?

GILLETTE: Yes, that's a police source here on the scene. It wasn't an official comment from the chief but it was a police source here on the scene.

COOPER: Have they been removed from the building?

GILLETTE: I have to presume that maybe the reporter that saw the bodies being taken out thought that the person did not look like they were alive. That could have been --

COOPER: Do we have any sense of how many wounded there are? Previously, reports said that at least two people have been wounded. We know one of them is at the hospital because we've heard of his condition. His condition was described as good. He was shot in the buttocks. The other person was previously said to be still inside the building, condition unknown. Do we know any more (UNINTELLIGIBLE) wounded?

GILLETTE: No. All we were told was several others wounded, and they will be taken to local hospitals.

It appears that the police chief is walking down the street. Things -- the situation has changed quite a bit. It's not as tense as it was before. Police officers walking around. It very well may be resolved at this point.

It looks like the chief is coming up here to make a statement. It very well may be a situation that's over. So I'm going to have to listen in and get back to you.

COOPER: All right, Wendy. We're going to try to stay with you. As soon as you get any information, jump back and interrupt me.

We are talking to Wendy Gillette, reporter with WOIO. She has been on the scene since this thing began. And it began shortly after 4 p.m eastern time in Ohio. Shots being fired. Police quickly responded to the scene. A number of SWAT teams started to cordon off the building and area.

Now school officials said the last exam had already taken place. This was the last day of school. So a lot of students who would have been in that building, on that campus, 1,600 students on that campus altogether, they were not on the scene. So that is something worthwhile to note -- some good news out of all of this.

A number of faculty members were still in the building at the time of the shooting -- and, in fact, spoke to Wolf Blitzer for more than an hour or so on the telephone while the gunman was still in the building.

It sounds like we may have a development, a movement on the case. We're waiting to hear back from Wendy Gillette. What she did tell us just moments ago -- the first time we heard this -- that two people have been killed. The police chief is speaking live. Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A large number of people inside the building now. Currently, we are rescuing the people that are in the building and doing a room by room, floor by floor, search. I'm confident that this should end quickly. And at that time, we'll have further information for everyone. And right now, let me go back to work and make sure that this rescue attempt is successful. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is someone in custody?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, as the chief goes back, this is what the chief has done. He likes to come out, he gives us a statement, and then he goes back to the scene.

COOPER: So you've just heard the local chief of police there saying that they are conducting a room by room search because there were still large numbers of faculty, perhaps even students, still inside that building at the time of the shooting. This is at Case Western Reserve University. We'll take a short break. We'll try to reconnect with Wendy Gillette, our reporter on the scene. We'll also have more from the day's headlines. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We are following this breaking story out of a Cleveland, Ohio, shooting at a university. We want to check in with Belinda Prince with our affiliate WJW. Belinda, what can you tell us?

BELINDA PRINCE, WJW CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this has been going on for the past four and a half hours -- ever since a gunman armed with a high-powered rifle, wearing a helmet and military style clothing, broke into the building.

He did not have a key card. Broke a window, broke in, shots fired. We understand there are 40 people, faculty and students on a Friday afternoon, in what was the crown jewel of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. It's the new business school, the Peter B. Lewis Building.

Shots were exchanged at several junctures with the gunman. We understand, just a few minutes ago, the Cleveland police chief told us that an operation is underway to rescue some of those people who have been trapped in their offices and classrooms. That's going on while they search for the gunman.

There were people inside who saw the gunman move from floor to floor. At one point, he was seen on the roof. More than 100 SWAT officers from the city, from the county sheriff's department and the FBI, involved in this operation.

And again, they are in the process now of trying to get some of those hostages out. It's a very modern architecture, this building, with no right angles inside. A very difficult operation for them.

We know five people have been shot. We don't know the extent of their injuries in all cases. Three of them had those injuries for the four and a half hours of this ordeal.

Some of the people have been trapped inside, have been using their cell phones to call loved ones, reporting they've been crouched underneath their desks, hiding, as some of them have seen the gunman walking through the hallways of this building.

COOPER: Belinda, the fact that -- I know the police chief didn't comment on this directly -- but the fact that the police are in the building, not only bringing out injured and/or fatally wounded people, but actually going room to room, searching for those who still remain in the building, would seem to indicate they at least have some sort of sense where this gunman might be.

PRINCE: Not necessarily at any given moment. But that's why they are proceeding with so many officers, trying to rescue those people that have been literally hiding under their desks, going room by room, trying to work their way to where that gunman, armed with a high powered rifle, might be. Because he has been moving his location quite frequently throughout and at times exchanging fire with them.

COOPER: Belinda Prince, appreciate you joining us, WJW. It is a fast-moving story. We'll check in with you in a little bit, Belinda Prince. Thanks very much.

Two FBI profilers visited the church in Maine where 16 worshipers were poisoned last month by arsenic-laced coffee. One of the victims, the church caretaker, died.

The FBI stopped at the farm of the church member who committed suicide and has been linked to the poisonings -- connected in some way, they say.

But police in the community are not convinced that Daniel Bondeson is behind the poisonings at all, and, in fact, suspicions still abound. Joining us is "New York Times" reporter Monica Davey. She is in New York -- not in Maine.

Monica, thanks very much. You've been covering this story. What is the latest as you know it on this investigation?

MONICA DAVIES, "NEW YORK TIMES": Well, right now, police are still talking to different church members and taking DNA samples and fingerprints -- following up to find out whether there may be some information they can get from the rest of the church members.

COOPER: The fact that they are still taking DNA from other church members, does this mean that -- basically, they will say Daniel Bondeson -- they haven't named him as the prime suspect, have they? They just say he's connected?

DAVEY: They say he's connect to the case. I guess the question they still have is whether, could there be somebody else who is also connected to the case?

COOPER: And is it publicly known whether or not there's any evidence of that? Is that just sort of one of the things they have to run down? Or are they actually acting on some information? Do we know?

DAVEY: What they say is that they really wouldn't be able to sleep well at night, the police say, unless they followed this up. I think that the one piece of evidence they have is a suicide note from Danny Bondeson, which, in some way, something in it indicated to there indeed might be a second person.

COOPER: Now, I understand that the man who died, Walter Morrill, his son says he does not believe that Bondeson is responsible for the death of his father. Is that a common belief throughout the community?

DAVEY: Well, what Mr. Morrill actually says is that he believes that Danny was a fine man who would never try to do anything to harm his father, the gentleman who died. And, really, throughout the community, the interesting thing is that people, to a one, say that Daniel Bondeson was too gentle, too sweet, too kind a person to have done something like this.

COOPER: Is this thing just consuming this community?

DAVEY: It really is. They've really had three blows. The first blow -- for a place that's so peaceful, they had one blow when the poisoning actually happened. Then the suicide followed quickly. And then the third thing still hanging out there for them is whether -- could there be another person involved?

COOPER: All right, Monica Davey with "The New York Times," thank you very much. Appreciate you update.

When we come back: President Bush calls the Senate confirmation process a disgrace and in need of change. Or is he simply miffed at Senate Democrats for refusing to rubber-stamp judicial appointments?

It is a historic battle -- coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Just want to bring you the latest we have on this breaking story we've been following for several hours now.

As far as we know, a gunman is still inside Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The last report however had from Wendy Gillette of WOIO was that two people had been killed, a number of others injured, wounded. One hospital spokesperson said that one person has been taken to the hospital, shot in the buttocks. They were described as in good condition. We do not know the status of the gunman. It is believed to be a lone gunman at this point.

We do know police have entered the building, are going room to room trying to get out anyone, any faculty members, any students who may still be inside that building. But, as far as we know, the gunman is still alive, still inside the building. We have no reports, frankly, either way about his status. But we'll continue to cover that and bring it to you as events warrant.

President Bush says the Senate confirmation process needs an overhaul. He's simply angry at filibustering Democrats for blocking the nominations of two judges to the federal appeals court. Now, Mr. Bush and Senate Republicans say the system is broken down. And they say it needs to be fixed.

Joining us now to explore the chances of that actually happening: White House correspondent Dana Bash -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it's another sign that the president is getting back in the game in terms of his domestic agenda. Today, in the Rose Garden, he had a very public display of his displeasure with Democrats for holding up his judicial nominees, a charge that he said that is hurting the whole process, the whole judicial branch of government. And it's a charge that Democrats were very quick to dispute. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The obstructionist tactics of a small group of senators are setting a pattern that threatens judicial independence. Meanwhile, vacancies on the bench and overcrowded court dockets are causing delays for citizens seeking justice. The judicial confirmation process is broken. And it must be fixed for the good of the country.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: I don't know of another administration that has enjoyed the success in confirmations of its judges as this administration has: 124-2. That's the score.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So the president is calling this a disgrace. But Democrats are saying that the two judges that they're not letting through, Priscilla Owen and Miguel Estrada -- both are circuit court nominees -- are not going through because they say they're out of the mainstream.

And this, of course, is making everybody in this town, Anderson, sort of waiting with bated breath for the next Supreme Court nominee that comes through. It certainly is going to be interesting.

COOPER: Now, Dana, didn't Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist actually propose changing the rules to deal with this?

BASH: He sure did. The senator today, actually, as part of this whole daylong message about judicial nominees, said that he thought what they should do is simply change the rules to make it harder to actually filibuster. He said filibustering judicial nominees is unprecedented, so he said that he wants to change the rules. But that requires 67 votes in the Senate.

And six times, Republicans weren't even able to get 60 votes to stop the filibuster. So it's unlikely to happen . And Democrats are saying that it was almost a stunt to try to shine the light on this issue today.

COOPER: Well, look, is this anything unusual? Political fights over judicial nominations, there doesn't seem to be anything new there.

BASH: It certainly isn't. Ever since Judge Bork was nominated during the Reagan administration for the Supreme Court, it's been ugly at various times, in terms of the back-and-forth between the White House and Capitol Hill. Democrats complained bitterly over the fact that some of President Clinton's nominees never even got hearings.

But because some of the disputes -- most of the disputes when it comes to nominations are over social issues, it gins up the bases on both sides of the aisle, both Republicans and Democrats. So it always becomes a very serious political issue.

COOPER: All right, Dana Bash at the White House, thanks very much.

A lot of people were praying for their lives in the nation's heartland yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of us were screaming about their babies, because they didn't know where their babies were, and wondering where their loved ones were. And we were praying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: No doubt. We're going to have some more about surviving the storms coming up.

Also, when we come back: A new study shows those prayers might have actually been answered.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In Pennsylvania, wearing a cross pendant in the classroom has gotten a teacher's aide into -- well, into some hot water, Brenda Nichol. That's her name. She's been suspended for a year without pay for refusing to stop wearing the pendant in question, or at least refusing to hide it underneath a T-shirt. Officials say the Christian symbol violated school policy, as well as an 1895 state law banning school employees from wearing religious garb.

A federal lawsuit has been filed on Nichol's behalf. The American Center For Law and Justice says the suspension violates her constitutional rights.

Religious news of a different note right now: the power of prayer. You've no doubt heard the story of Aron Ralston, the climber who cut off his right arm in order to avoid certain death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARON RALSTON, CLIMBER AMPUTEE: It was the combined energy of all concerned and all those concerns expressed by so many that helped me pull through.

The spiritual side of my life has always been a strong component of who I am. I may never fully understand the spiritual aspects of what I experienced, but I will try. The source of the power I felt was the thoughts and prayers of many people, most of whom I will never know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, expanding on that idea: Can prayer help heal surgery patients? That's the focus of a study under way at the University of Arizona. Doctors there will examine the effects of prayer on patients recovering from cardiac bypass surgery. I'm joined by one of the doctors involved, Dr. Allan Hamilton. He's the chairman of the university's Department of Surgery. And he's leading the study. He joins us from Tucson.

Doctor, thanks very much for being with us.

What makes this study different, unique, and probably extraordinarily controversial is that it's not the patients themselves praying for their own recovery. There have already been studies about that and the effects it has on their recovery process. This is people unknown to the patients praying for them.

DR. ALLAN HAMILTON, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: That's right.

This study involves prayer at a distance, what we sometimes refer to as intercessory prayer. And, in this case, from a scientific point of view, it allows us to enter the patients into the study and then have them randomly selected by a computer to receive prayer or not to receive prayer. And nobody who's doing the study and nobody who's working with the patients has any knowledge of whether or not that particular patient has been assigned to prayer.

COOPER: And the people doing the prayers have no knowledge of or interaction with the patients; is that correct?

HAMILTON: That's correct.

COOPER: How did you pick the organization who's doing these prayers? And who is it who's going to be doing these prayers?

HAMILTON: Well, we're blessed with a Johre Foundation (ph) headquarters here in Tucson. And so we had a very large collection of very well-practiced and well-accomplished prayers. And these individuals essentially had to come through the university.

And we had to ensure they were willing to work with us basically using a scientific method. So that meant they had to be willing to get the patient assigned to them by computer and then carry out their prayers, so that every patient was receiving prayerful intervention at the same amount, almost as if you were dosing prayer.

COOPER: Now, I know there's a control group. So some will not know if they're being prayed for or not. But the people who are in the study, they know they're in the study? The patients in this study know they are?

HAMILTON: Right. The patients are entered into the study and then, unbeknownst to the doctors or the patients, they get randomized to receive prayer or not to receive prayer.

COOPER: How scientific, though, is this, really? If you know you are part of a study and there's a likelihood that someone is praying for you, couldn't that, just that knowledge -- if part of this is sort of the someone who believes in prayer is going to help them, then they're going to feel better, if they feel they are in this study and there's a high likelihood or a likelihood at all that someone is praying for them, doesn't that sort of muddy the waters?

HAMILTON: Well, it's a good scientific question.

And that's why what you do is, you take all the patients and then randomize them. If that was in fact the case, you would assume that patients with deep spiritual beliefs or less deep spiritual beliefs would end up randomly assorted between both arms of the groups. And both arms of the groups are large enough that we can evaluate them for statistical differences. And so you're absolutely right. You have to do a good, sound, statistical study in order to get rid of that bias.

COOPER: OK, very briefly, NIH is paying for this. It's going to cost a couple hundred thousand dollars. When do you think it's going to be done? When is the study going to be over?

HAMILTON: The study should be over in two years. We're entering 120 patients into each arm of the study. And we're looking at finite end points like: Do they get infections? Do they get out of the ICU? Do they have arrhythmias, congestive heart failure? So these are very firm, sound, scientific end points that we're looking at.

COOPER: All right, Dr. Allan Hamilton, appreciate you joining us. Interesting study. We'll check back with you in two years, see how it goes. Thanks very much.

HAMILTON: Thank you.

COOPER: When we come back: Everyone who's anyone is talking about it, at least in some cities. It's the latest buzz on everything from those little teens taking over Hollywood to the clampdown of all the hottest clubs in New York.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We're going to take a little break from the day's serious news, because we want to check up on some of the not-exactly- news stories making the rounds.

And no one knows those stories better than these folks: Marc Malkin, who writes "New York" magazine's "Intelligencer" column. He joins us from New York. In D.C.: Lloyd Grove, who writes "The Washington Post"'s "Reliable Source" column; and in L.A., where buzz is an industry all to itself, Zorianna Kit, senior film reporter for "The Hollywood Reporter."

All of you, thanks for being with us.

Lloyd, I want to start off with you. Let's talk about Washington a bit. Not a great town for buzz, but it's buzz of a very different sort. What's the big story there? I suppose Bill Bennett?

LLOYD GROVE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Bill Bennett, the virtue czar, has been exhorting us all to be healthy, honest, hard-working, and wise. It turns out he has a big vice. He's a gambler. He loses millions of dollars, as much as $500,000 in a single recent weekend. And people are having fun with this. Those of us who have been lectured by Mr. Bennett are feeling a warm feeling of satisfaction. And he's now a sitting duck for groups like the National Coalition Against Gambling, that have offered him the executive directorship of their group after he gets professional help.

COOPER: But does this really hurt him, though, in Washington? He says: Look, I make a lot of money. I make something like $50,000 making a speech. This is not my kids' college tuition money. What's wrong with it?

GROVE: Well, I'm sure his bank account is fine. He's lost about $8 million to $10 million. But it's not really great for the old image.

COOPER: All right, let's talk about -- let's go to L.A.

Zorianna, I don't think gambling -- I don't think they even blink an eye about that sort of stuff. What are people talking about there?

ZORIANNA KIT, "HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": Well, right now, the big news is the summer blockbuster features. I know that that doesn't compare to what's happening in Bill Bennett's world.

But over here in Hollywood, with last week's release of "X-Men 2," it really signaled the start of summer. Oscar season is over. The serious movies are done with for another year. And now it's all about those big action features that are coming up, from "The Matrix" to "Bad Boys 2" to "T-3" to "Charlie's Angels 2" to "The Hulk," all that good, fun popcorn stuff.

COOPER: There's also a lot of talk about young people in that insipid term tweenies, or tweens, which I want to go into a little bit more. Zorianna, I want to come back to you briefly in a moment.

Marc, let's go to you. In New York, what's the buzz?

MARC MALKIN, "NEW YORK": The buzz here is all about smoking. You're not allowed to smoke in New York anymore.

KIT: Big deal. We've had that here for several years now. Come on.

MALKIN: But that's Los Angeles.

COOPER: Yes, in L.A. -- you go into a club in L.A., and you can leave, you come home, you don't smell like smoke. So why are New Yorkers complaining, Marc?

MALKIN: Well, in L.A., it's beautiful out every day. You could go outside and smoke. In New York in the middle of the winter, no one wants to go outside in the rain, in the snow, and smoke. And most of the bars and clubs are in residential neighborhoods here. So you're going to have neighbors throwing eggs, pales of water on people who are smoking outside their window.

COOPER: Lloyd, is this heading to Washington now, a smoking ban?

GROVE: I don't think so. And this is all the creation of Mayor Mike Bloomberg. But at the recent Bloomberg after-party at the White House correspondents dinner, people were smoking up a storm. They had all kinds of smoking areas in the party tent. So this is not a Washington thing, I'm glad to say.

COOPER: Well, also, in Washington, you have all those smoky back rooms where all the deals are made, right? So, if they did away with the smoke, what would you have?

GROVE: The smoky back rooms are a thing of the past. I think people are chewing nicotine gum.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

KIT: I don't think this is tragic. It's really not that bad. We thought it was doom and gloom here in L.A. when they instituted that rule. But, honestly, you come to appreciate it in the long run.

MALKIN: Yes, but in New York, you're going to have people who are smoking on your stoop. I walk down my street, now there are three bars. And it's a problem getting past these people who are smoking. It's annoying. I don't care about smoking. I don't smoke.

GROVE: I quit 10 years ago.

COOPER: Good for you.

GROVE: Bloomberg was a smoker.

COOPER: Well, some of the biggest stars right now aren't even of smoking age. I'm talking about these tweens. Is that the term, tweens?

KIT: Yes, tweens. That's sort of...

COOPER: OK, please describe to us -- because it's only in the last year or so that I've even heard this term. And I sense the Olsen twins are all behind it.

(LAUGHTER)

KIT: The Olsen twins are definitely part of this tween term. So are stars like Amanda Bynes, Hilary Duff, Frankie Muniz, names which probably don't mean a lot to you, but ask your kids. They will be very familiar with these kids, because most of these young actors got their starts on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon channel or the WB. And they already had a pre-existing fan base on these shows. And then it's just a natural crossover for them to take their fan base with them into feature films.

COOPER: Now, but are these tweens, like, stars today and robbing convenience stores tomorrow? Is that what we have to look forward to from these folks?

KIT: No, not at all. These kids are poised. They're smart. They know what they want. And they're getting big bucks for it. Frankie Muniz is getting paid $4 million for the sequel to "Cody Banks." He, of course, starred in the first one with Hilary Duff. And Hilary is on screen right now doing "Lizzie McGuire." And she's getting paid $2 million for her next feature, "The Cinderella Story."

COOPER: All right, but, now, none of these are movies are going to show up at a film festival any time soon. And I think there's a film festival going on right now in New York, the Tribeca Film Festival, Marc. What's the big buzz behind that?

MALKIN: The Tribeca Film Festival, it's only the second year and it's huge, $10 million into downtown New York. It feels like the festival has been here forever. This is huge, huge names, Renee Zellweger, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino.

COOPER: And what's the idea behind the film festival? Is it just to create buzz in order to get press for your movie, for some movie that might not get recognized elsewhere?

MALKIN: No, it originally started with Robert De Niro and his partner, Jane Rosenthal, that they wanted to rebuild Lower Manhattan. And now it's just turned into a huge marketing tool, obviously, for these movies. "Down With Love," Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor's movie, opened the festival. That's humongous.

So, yes, it's a marketing tool, but it's great revenue for New York.

COOPER: As soon as the Olsen twins' next film shows up at a film festival, I will attend a film festival.

Lloyd, is anyone in Washington concerned, by the way, about the Olsen twins? Their company, which is like a billion-dollar company, is called Dualstar, which, to me, sounds a little bit like Death Star. I think there may be some sort of plot to take over the world here. Has Homeland Security been informed?

GROVE: Not yet. But you have just done so, and we thank you for that.

(LAUGHTER)

GROVE: Big in Washington is Teresa Heinz, or Teresa, as she calls herself, the wife of John Kerry, who's wonderfully unfiltered and says things like, she takes botox treatments, she has a prenup agreement, because, after all, Anderson, everybody has a prenup.

KIT: It sounds like she'll do well in Hollywood over here. Send her our way.

COOPER: It sounds like she'll get a lot of Hollywood money.

We're going to have to end it there. We're simply out of time. Lloyd Grove, Marc Malkin, and Zorianna Kit, appreciate you joining us. It was fun. Thanks very much.

KIT: Thank you.

MALKIN: Thanks a lot.

COOPER: And thanks, everyone, for being with us tonight.

Be sure to stay with CNN. "LARRY KING LIVE" is right next, after a quick check of the headlines.

Good night.

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Same Route; Teacher's Aide Suspended From School For Wearing Cross Necklace>