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CNN Live At Daybreak
How Some People in Florida Panhandle Getting Ready to Face Ivan; Pair of Car Bombs Goes Off Outside Baghdad Police Station
Aired January 14, 2004 - 05:00 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A lumbering super heavyweight named Ivan slams western Cuba, while along the U.S. Gulf Coast thousands prepare to hit the road.
It's Tuesday, September 14.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, chaos on the streets of Baghdad this morning. Iraqi officials say a bomb attack outside of a police station has killed more than two dozen people. Dozens more are injured. Officials say it appears two car bombs went off. We'll have a live report from Baghdad in a few minutes.
On Capitol Hill, the man President Bush wants to be the new CIA chief heads to the hot seat in a few hours. A Senate panel holds a hearing on Congressman Peter Goss's nomination.
Let's head to the forecast center now and check in with Chad -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, Carol.
Yes, how are you this morning?
COSTELLO: I'm fine.
MYERS: Here is the Ivan storm we've been talking about, hitting the western tip of Cuba right here. Obviously a very potentially dangerous storm for not only Cuba, but even for Cancun. I'll push my button here and I'll show you exactly where the radar is now out of Cancun. Although the weather not really all that much in Cancun, the winds not gusting that strong.
We can zoom into this storm and you can see the eye itself now has moved into the Gulf of Mexico, into a very warm Gulf of Mexico.
And now we have about 44 hours from right now before it makes landfall. And that landfall, according to the Hurricane Center, very close to Mobile Bay. It could be left or right by 150 miles still. But Mobile Bay, you are in the eye of this storm, so to speak. It is now still a category five, 160 miles per hour, gusting to almost 200 at times.
Now, here's the problem. We do lose some intensity, but not very much, even at landfall, which will be a little after midnight tomorrow night. It's still 140 miles per hour gusting still, Carol, to possibly 165.
Hurricane watches are in effect all the way from St. Mark's, Florida, all the way back over to Morgan City, Louisiana. And that does include New Orleans itself. And then as we push it ahead, it starts to lose intensity over the land here. And by the time that it actually gets into parts of northern Alabama, down to about 60 miles per hour, gusts to about 70.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: You heard Chad talking about western Cuba getting hit. This is what it looked like. Our Lucia Newman in Cuba tells us many roads in the tobacco rich Pinar del Rio region have been washed out.
Before slamming Cuba, Ivan swept across parts of Jamaica. This is just some of the damage there. Ivan already has killed more than 60 people in the Caribbean, 37 of those deaths in Grenada.
And as Chad said, residents of the Florida Panhandle could be next to face this storm. Mandatory evacuations for parts of the panhandle begin today.
Also being evacuated are workers on 69 offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. But onshore, people are gearing up for what could be the worst storm to ever hit the area.
CNN's Susan Candiotti has more on how some people in the panhandle are getting ready to face Ivan.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unless early-morning advisories change the outlook, more than a quarter of Bay County, Florida's 150,000 residents are ordered out of flood-prone areas and mobile homes by lunchtime Tuesday. Governor Jeb Bush warned the entire Gulf Coast to be on guard, no matter where Ivan strikes.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: There's no reason to want to try to live through a storm of that magnitude. It just -- it makes no sense at all. Now, we don't live in a police state. But people ought to take it very, very seriously.
CANDIOTTI: At the emergency operations center, operators are answering nervous callers wondering where to go and what to do if Ivan centers in. Homes and businesses are boarding up. That includes hotels, the cash cow of the local economy. There are investments to protect. It also helps to have history as a teacher.
In October 1995, Opal pounded Florida's Panhandle. Though the Category 3 hurricane targeted Navarre about 80 miles away, Panama City suffered half the destruction. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is anxiety about, are we going to have landfall?
CANDIOTTI: Worry by both newcomers and natives. There's been massive construction on the beach over the years, though under stricter building codes, thanks to Opal, as yet untested.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back in '95, you had a lot of what we would call slab-on grade construction on coastline. Today, you have more structures that are built on pilings, common with what you see like in the Outer Banks area.
CANDIOTTI: Hotels are taking last-minute steps to protect property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Picking up all the chairs from around the pool and sticking them in the indoor pool so we don't have flying debris, in case this sucker hits us.
CANDIOTTI: Some longtime residents are watching Ivan a little longer before getting out of harm's way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never been through a four. I'm saying I would. But in all hindsight, if it gets that powerful, I probably just will leave and take our chances. It's not worth losing a life over, you know, a house.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Disaster planners don't want anyone here or anywhere else along the Gulf Coast to take any chances, given Ivan's deadly aim.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Panama City Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And we'll have more on Ivan a little later.
Plus, there is much more just a mouse click away at our Web site. Follow the path of Ivan, see where it ranks among the worst storms of all time. So logon and learn at cnn.com.
A favorite target of Iraqi insurgents has been police stations and it has happened again. Less than three hours ago, a pair of car bombs went off outside a Baghdad police station. At least 25 Iraqis are dead, many more wounded.
Diana Muriel live in Baghdad to tell us more.
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the authorities are still collecting information on the numbers of dead and wounded here in -- as a consequence of that incident this morning in Haifa Street. The latest we have from the Ministry of Health is that 25 people have been killed and 88 have been injured in that massive car bomb that occurred mid-morning in Haifa Street. Earlier, they had told us that 27 people have been killed. Some confusion there on the numbers. Some confusion, too, as to whether or not it was one car bomb or two car bombs that exploded outside a district police headquarters at the northern end of Haifa Street, the street which has seen many incidents with attacks by insurgent gangs against U.S. forces patrolling there.
No U.S. forces involved in this particular incident, just a line of would be police recruits waiting outside the police station to enroll as police officers. Eyewitnesses say that they were the majority of those killed and injured in this blast.
It's also a busy shopping district, with bars and cafes and shops and market stores. Many of the passersby, many of those shopping there also killed and injured by this. Our cameraman who is at the scene saying that it is one, a scene of carnage there, that there are body parts lying around and a very bloody scene, indeed -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know, Diana, that you talked to a source inside the police station.
What did he tell you?
MURIEL: Well, we've sent a camera team down there. We also spoke to a police officer that was there immediately after the blast. And he was crying on the phone and saying, "Half my friends are dead, half my friends are dead."
We've just had an update that, in fact, there are 35 people who have been killed as a result of this. Caroline (ph) is saying that the carnage extends about 30 meters across the street and about 200 meters along the street. A lot of these building fronts have been blown out. There are pools of blood on the ground, a scene of absolute devastation. He says that there are body parts hanging from buildings and all over the ground. It is an absolute grotesque sight.
And certainly when we called the hospitals immediately after the incident to try and get an update from them, they were just too busy to speak to us, a note of panic, in fact, in the voice of one of the hospital authorities that we spoke to, saying that they had to get on and treat the wounded.
And we've seen some pictures coming in from those hospitals, a very grizzly aftermath to this attack. We're still working the numbers, still trying to find out just exactly how many people may have been involved in this incident. But it's one of the most serious that has occurred here in Baghdad in recent days -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And a last question for you. We've always heard there were just a couple of thousand insurgents at work in Iraq.
How many are there? There seems to be an endless supply.
MURIEL: Well, that certainly seems to be the case. There are a variety of groups, Carol, who are operating here. It's not just one over arching body that is responsible for the variety of attacks that we've seen in Baghdad and around the country over the last few weeks and months.
Certainly there are foreign fighters operating here. There are local insurgents, criminal gangs. There are groups who are associated with the Mahdi Army, with the Mahdi militia, loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, who's had his base in Sadr City, to the northeast of Baghdad.
The area that was hit, this incident took place in the northwest of Baghdad. And, in fact, that police station had come under mortar fire earlier in the morning. No one had been hurt or killed in those mortar attacks.
But it's possible -- we don't know this at this stage -- that it was -- those mortars were fired from Sadr City.
So a variety of gangs operating, a variety of insurgent groups operating here in Iraq -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Diana Muriel reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
Thank you.
Now the latest from the campaign trail. Seniors in the Midwest get a visit from John Kerry today. Kerry talks at a senior care facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And then he heads to a town hall meeting at a senior center in Toledo, Ohio. Kerry will spend the night in Detroit.
President Bush heading west. After a rally outside Denver, Colorado, he'll talk to National Guard members in Las Vegas. According to his aides, the president plans to say he's proud of his own stint in the Texas Air National Guard. But he won't mention the controversy over his Vietnam era service.
And the president isn't talking about it, but a pro-Kerry group is. And it's putting up some money, too. Texans For Truth plans to announce a reward this morning. It will go to anyone who can give proof that George Bush actually fulfilled his military duties during Vietnam. No word yet on how much that reward is.
And speaking of controversy, there's plenty of it brewing over Kitty Kelley's unauthorized biography of the Bush family. The book comes out today.
CNN's Jason Carroll takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an explosive charge in a tell-all book. But did author Kitty Kelley accurately reflect what Sharon Bush told her? Sharon Bush, the ex-wife of the president's brother Neil, says no.
According to the book, Sharon Bush told Kelley, George W. used cocaine with one of his brothers at Camp David when their father was president. But on NBC's "Today" show, Sharon Bush she says, "I never saw the use of cocaine, and I am sticking by it. I have to set the record straight." She went on to say, "I couldn't imagine that if someone did see that, they would reveal that to Kitty Kelley."
In the past, when asked about drug abuse, George W. Bush simply admitted to having made youthful mistakes.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Over 20 years ago, I did some things that, when I was young, I made mistakes. And I've learned from the mistakes. And that's all I intend to talk about it.
CARROLL: Sharon Bush's attorney says allegations about drug abuse in George W.'s later adult years should not be linked to his client.
DAVID BERG, ATTORNEY FOR SHARON BUSH: The guy is, you know, he's a reformed drinker. He is, he obviously did cocaine in his past, because of his answers to questions about it. But this is not something that can be attributed to Sharon.
CARROLL: Kelley stands by the accuracy of the allegations. The author also says Neal Bush threatened his ex-wife for cooperating with the book, saying she would end up in a dark alley.
President Bush's campaign spokesman said Monday, "The president categorically and adamantly denies the charges in the book. Kitty Kelley has made a career out of lies. This is more of the same."
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And that bring us to our e-mail Question of the Morning. Do books and films about the presidential candidates influence your vote? They're certainly not in short supply, are they? Drop us a line at daybreak@cnn.com, daybreak@cnn.com.
New developments to tell you about in the Scott Peterson double murder trial. That's just ahead. Inside the courtroom, the focus is on blood and tracking evidence, while outside the courtroom the families are feuding. Details for you five minutes from now.
Plus, holy cow! Batman scales Buckingham Palace to make a point. We'll have more on the royal embarrassment 25 minutes from now.
Also ahead, do the drugs that are supposed to help depressed teenagers actually trigger suicidal tendencies? We'll examine the risks for you in 32 minutes.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "OPRAH," COURTESY CBS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open your boxes. Open your boxes. One, two, three!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Did you see "Oprah?" Oprah Winfrey knows how to drive an audience wild. We'll show you how she got her new season off to a roaring start. That's in 36 minutes.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: In our "Market Watch," U.S. stocks will open higher today.
The Dow closed up just over 1 1/2 points Monday.
The Nasdaq ended up 16 points.
The S&P 500 closed up nearly 2 points.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei closes up 42 points.
But Britain's FTSE is down 6.
France's CAC is down 11.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 5:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle wounds two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. The Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade is claiming responsibility for that attack. The group says it was meant to avenge Israel's killing of three militants in an air strike on Monday.
No school today for children in Beslan, Russia. Classes were supposed to resume for the first time since more than 330 children were massacred. And adults, too, I should add. But security concerns led officials to call off classes just 15 minutes before they were scheduled to start.
In money news, Sony has agreed to buy MGM in a deal worth nearly $5 billion. The jewel of the deal may be MGM's 4,000 film library that could now be made available on DVD.
In culture, the Man In Black auction opens today at Sotheby's in New York. Hundreds of pieces of memorabilia are available from the estate of the late Johnny Cash. Included are several black suits and coats.
In sports, "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL," the Green Bay Packers shut down the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers. Running back Ahman Green led the way with three touchdowns in the 24-14 victory. Yes, Brett Favre's still got it -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes, Ahman Green is from Nebraska, too, Carol, by the way. They got beat by Southern Mississippi this weekend.
COSTELLO: Oh. MYERS: I know. It was a little embarrassing.
Anyway, hey, look at this thing. This is now, obviously, a very dangerous, and always has been a dangerous hurricane. Still at winds of 160 miles per hour, Carol, as the storm continues to track its way through, actually, out of Cancun from the Mexican Weather Service, we can actually see the eye to the north and east of Cancun this morning and to the northwest of Cuba right through the Yucatan Channel yesterday.
It is forecast to make landfall very close to Mobile Bay about midnight tomorrow night, about 44, 45 hours from now. Now it still could go left or right. That's that tone, that's that uncertainty that we have and that we always have that uncertainty because there's no weather balloons out there in the Gulf of Mexico. We don't actually know the exact wind, nor can we, because we don't have people out there sending off weather balloons everywhere like we do over here over land.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
In California, a family feud has been smoldering around Scott Peterson's murder trial and court officials are trying to keep it from getting worse.
More now from CNN's Ted Rowlands in Redwood City.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scott Peterson's parents had sheriff deputies to escort them into the courthouse, preventing any potential interaction with members of Laci Peterson's family. Last week, Lee Peterson exchanged words during this interaction with Brent Rocha, Laci Peterson's brother, and in a separate incident the day before with her stepfather, Ron Grantski.
According to a source close to the courts, the judge in this case, Alfred Delucchi, ordered the families to stop communicating near the courthouse and to sit near the back of the courtroom. The judge later changed his mind about the seating arrangements and allowed the families back to the front row.
Legal observers say something had to be done.
MICHAEL CARDOZA, LEGAL ANALYST: The only way to curb that and to be sure that doesn't happen is to drop the hammer right now on both families.
ROWLANDS: In court, jurors were giving a lesson in global positioning satellite technology. Investigators say they used GPS receivers secretly placed in Scott Peterson's vehicles to track his movements. Police started tracking Peterson two days after Laci Peterson was reported missing. Prosecutors hope to convince the jury that some of Peterson's movements were suspicious, including numerous trips to the Berkeley marina.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: In news across America this morning, now watch these pictures out of Green Bay, Wisconsin. What you see is a baby, it's a baby being dropped out of the car. The driver of the car had slowed down briefly during a high speed police chase. You can see them picking up the baby. The baby was absolutely fine, unharmed. The driver later died after crashing into an empty police car.
Two more booby trapped letters to tell you about this morning. The governors of Virginia and West Virginia are the latest targets of letters that are rigged to catch fire when they're opened. At least 16 other state capitals received similar letters last week. No one has been injured in any of the incidents. All of the letters carried a postmark from a maximum security prison in Nevada.
The Red Cross has set up an evacuation center for people affected by a growing brush fire near San Diego. Fifteen hundred acres have already been charred, but firefighters hope to have the blaze contained by tomorrow. The fire has been burning on both sides of the U.S. border with Mexico.
We'll tell you what's hot on our Web site straight ahead.
Also, seeing is believing. Up next, why a high flying granny takes the ultimate plunge.
And don't forget our e-mail Question of the Day. Do all the books and all the documentaries, all the films about presidential candidates influence your vote or are they just interfering with, well, with what you really want to think, I guess. I didn't put that very well, but you know what I mean. We want to hear from you. The address, daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
You're watching DAYBREAK for a Tuesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time to check out our Web clicks this morning, because, of course, we're always interested in what you're interested in on cnn.com.
So, the number one clicked on story on the Web this morning -- and the headline certainly gets you -- "Lost"...
MYERS: "Lost and Found."
COSTELLO: "Lost Nuclear Bomb Possibly Found."
MYERS: Off Savannah, Georgia, Tybee Island, there was a wreck between the plane carrying the bomb and a fighter. The fighter landed. The guy ejected. The fighter didn't land. The plane did land. But before actually getting rid of the bomb, they just, they dropped it in the ocean.
COSTELLO: Well, he couldn't land with the bomb on board.
MYERS: Exactly. They were afraid.
COSTELLO: This happened back in 1958, by the way.
MYERS: 1958, right.
COSTELLO: So he dropped the bomb into the ocean. They've been searching for it for quite some time now and they finally found it. But...
MYERS: The Air Force insists the bomb was being used for practice and did not contain the plutonium trigger needed for a nuclear explosion.
COSTELLO: Well, needless to say, they're not going to move it because it'll cost like...
MYERS: They're not going to touch it.
COSTELLO: ... $5 million and who knows what'll happen if they move it?
MYERS: Exactly.
COSTELLO: The second most clicked on story. Did you watch "Oprah" last night or yesterday afternoon? She gave 276 people in the audience a new car.
MYERS: They got a car? Look, there's always something under the seat, right? You get like, oh, you get a free night's stay at the blah, blah, blah hotel here in Chicago. Nope. Cheese.
COSTELLO: It was a car. That's just incredible. Pontiac actually donated the cars. They spent $7 million to do that because, of course, what great advertising. It's their new model.
MYERS: They, actually, Oprah was asking for people to send in if they had bad stories about their car. Some cars actually had gone through gun fights. Some cars had 400,000 miles on them. And so now they all have brand new cars.
COSTELLO: She's something, that Oprah, isn't she?
MYERS: She's pretty awesome.
COSTELLO: And our third most clicked on story -- this surprised me, actually, because I thought maybe interest was dying out in the Scott Peterson case, but no. Testimony yesterday about the GPS system.
MYERS: Yes, Scott Peterson's car can apparently go 30,000 miles per hour.
COSTELLO: There was a little glitch in the system there.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: But the judge allowed it to be admitted as evidence, so they'll just have to hash it out in court.
We'll be back with much more on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired January 14, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A lumbering super heavyweight named Ivan slams western Cuba, while along the U.S. Gulf Coast thousands prepare to hit the road.
It's Tuesday, September 14.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, chaos on the streets of Baghdad this morning. Iraqi officials say a bomb attack outside of a police station has killed more than two dozen people. Dozens more are injured. Officials say it appears two car bombs went off. We'll have a live report from Baghdad in a few minutes.
On Capitol Hill, the man President Bush wants to be the new CIA chief heads to the hot seat in a few hours. A Senate panel holds a hearing on Congressman Peter Goss's nomination.
Let's head to the forecast center now and check in with Chad -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, Carol.
Yes, how are you this morning?
COSTELLO: I'm fine.
MYERS: Here is the Ivan storm we've been talking about, hitting the western tip of Cuba right here. Obviously a very potentially dangerous storm for not only Cuba, but even for Cancun. I'll push my button here and I'll show you exactly where the radar is now out of Cancun. Although the weather not really all that much in Cancun, the winds not gusting that strong.
We can zoom into this storm and you can see the eye itself now has moved into the Gulf of Mexico, into a very warm Gulf of Mexico.
And now we have about 44 hours from right now before it makes landfall. And that landfall, according to the Hurricane Center, very close to Mobile Bay. It could be left or right by 150 miles still. But Mobile Bay, you are in the eye of this storm, so to speak. It is now still a category five, 160 miles per hour, gusting to almost 200 at times.
Now, here's the problem. We do lose some intensity, but not very much, even at landfall, which will be a little after midnight tomorrow night. It's still 140 miles per hour gusting still, Carol, to possibly 165.
Hurricane watches are in effect all the way from St. Mark's, Florida, all the way back over to Morgan City, Louisiana. And that does include New Orleans itself. And then as we push it ahead, it starts to lose intensity over the land here. And by the time that it actually gets into parts of northern Alabama, down to about 60 miles per hour, gusts to about 70.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: You heard Chad talking about western Cuba getting hit. This is what it looked like. Our Lucia Newman in Cuba tells us many roads in the tobacco rich Pinar del Rio region have been washed out.
Before slamming Cuba, Ivan swept across parts of Jamaica. This is just some of the damage there. Ivan already has killed more than 60 people in the Caribbean, 37 of those deaths in Grenada.
And as Chad said, residents of the Florida Panhandle could be next to face this storm. Mandatory evacuations for parts of the panhandle begin today.
Also being evacuated are workers on 69 offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. But onshore, people are gearing up for what could be the worst storm to ever hit the area.
CNN's Susan Candiotti has more on how some people in the panhandle are getting ready to face Ivan.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unless early-morning advisories change the outlook, more than a quarter of Bay County, Florida's 150,000 residents are ordered out of flood-prone areas and mobile homes by lunchtime Tuesday. Governor Jeb Bush warned the entire Gulf Coast to be on guard, no matter where Ivan strikes.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: There's no reason to want to try to live through a storm of that magnitude. It just -- it makes no sense at all. Now, we don't live in a police state. But people ought to take it very, very seriously.
CANDIOTTI: At the emergency operations center, operators are answering nervous callers wondering where to go and what to do if Ivan centers in. Homes and businesses are boarding up. That includes hotels, the cash cow of the local economy. There are investments to protect. It also helps to have history as a teacher.
In October 1995, Opal pounded Florida's Panhandle. Though the Category 3 hurricane targeted Navarre about 80 miles away, Panama City suffered half the destruction. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is anxiety about, are we going to have landfall?
CANDIOTTI: Worry by both newcomers and natives. There's been massive construction on the beach over the years, though under stricter building codes, thanks to Opal, as yet untested.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back in '95, you had a lot of what we would call slab-on grade construction on coastline. Today, you have more structures that are built on pilings, common with what you see like in the Outer Banks area.
CANDIOTTI: Hotels are taking last-minute steps to protect property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Picking up all the chairs from around the pool and sticking them in the indoor pool so we don't have flying debris, in case this sucker hits us.
CANDIOTTI: Some longtime residents are watching Ivan a little longer before getting out of harm's way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never been through a four. I'm saying I would. But in all hindsight, if it gets that powerful, I probably just will leave and take our chances. It's not worth losing a life over, you know, a house.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Disaster planners don't want anyone here or anywhere else along the Gulf Coast to take any chances, given Ivan's deadly aim.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Panama City Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And we'll have more on Ivan a little later.
Plus, there is much more just a mouse click away at our Web site. Follow the path of Ivan, see where it ranks among the worst storms of all time. So logon and learn at cnn.com.
A favorite target of Iraqi insurgents has been police stations and it has happened again. Less than three hours ago, a pair of car bombs went off outside a Baghdad police station. At least 25 Iraqis are dead, many more wounded.
Diana Muriel live in Baghdad to tell us more.
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the authorities are still collecting information on the numbers of dead and wounded here in -- as a consequence of that incident this morning in Haifa Street. The latest we have from the Ministry of Health is that 25 people have been killed and 88 have been injured in that massive car bomb that occurred mid-morning in Haifa Street. Earlier, they had told us that 27 people have been killed. Some confusion there on the numbers. Some confusion, too, as to whether or not it was one car bomb or two car bombs that exploded outside a district police headquarters at the northern end of Haifa Street, the street which has seen many incidents with attacks by insurgent gangs against U.S. forces patrolling there.
No U.S. forces involved in this particular incident, just a line of would be police recruits waiting outside the police station to enroll as police officers. Eyewitnesses say that they were the majority of those killed and injured in this blast.
It's also a busy shopping district, with bars and cafes and shops and market stores. Many of the passersby, many of those shopping there also killed and injured by this. Our cameraman who is at the scene saying that it is one, a scene of carnage there, that there are body parts lying around and a very bloody scene, indeed -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know, Diana, that you talked to a source inside the police station.
What did he tell you?
MURIEL: Well, we've sent a camera team down there. We also spoke to a police officer that was there immediately after the blast. And he was crying on the phone and saying, "Half my friends are dead, half my friends are dead."
We've just had an update that, in fact, there are 35 people who have been killed as a result of this. Caroline (ph) is saying that the carnage extends about 30 meters across the street and about 200 meters along the street. A lot of these building fronts have been blown out. There are pools of blood on the ground, a scene of absolute devastation. He says that there are body parts hanging from buildings and all over the ground. It is an absolute grotesque sight.
And certainly when we called the hospitals immediately after the incident to try and get an update from them, they were just too busy to speak to us, a note of panic, in fact, in the voice of one of the hospital authorities that we spoke to, saying that they had to get on and treat the wounded.
And we've seen some pictures coming in from those hospitals, a very grizzly aftermath to this attack. We're still working the numbers, still trying to find out just exactly how many people may have been involved in this incident. But it's one of the most serious that has occurred here in Baghdad in recent days -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And a last question for you. We've always heard there were just a couple of thousand insurgents at work in Iraq.
How many are there? There seems to be an endless supply.
MURIEL: Well, that certainly seems to be the case. There are a variety of groups, Carol, who are operating here. It's not just one over arching body that is responsible for the variety of attacks that we've seen in Baghdad and around the country over the last few weeks and months.
Certainly there are foreign fighters operating here. There are local insurgents, criminal gangs. There are groups who are associated with the Mahdi Army, with the Mahdi militia, loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, who's had his base in Sadr City, to the northeast of Baghdad.
The area that was hit, this incident took place in the northwest of Baghdad. And, in fact, that police station had come under mortar fire earlier in the morning. No one had been hurt or killed in those mortar attacks.
But it's possible -- we don't know this at this stage -- that it was -- those mortars were fired from Sadr City.
So a variety of gangs operating, a variety of insurgent groups operating here in Iraq -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Diana Muriel reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
Thank you.
Now the latest from the campaign trail. Seniors in the Midwest get a visit from John Kerry today. Kerry talks at a senior care facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And then he heads to a town hall meeting at a senior center in Toledo, Ohio. Kerry will spend the night in Detroit.
President Bush heading west. After a rally outside Denver, Colorado, he'll talk to National Guard members in Las Vegas. According to his aides, the president plans to say he's proud of his own stint in the Texas Air National Guard. But he won't mention the controversy over his Vietnam era service.
And the president isn't talking about it, but a pro-Kerry group is. And it's putting up some money, too. Texans For Truth plans to announce a reward this morning. It will go to anyone who can give proof that George Bush actually fulfilled his military duties during Vietnam. No word yet on how much that reward is.
And speaking of controversy, there's plenty of it brewing over Kitty Kelley's unauthorized biography of the Bush family. The book comes out today.
CNN's Jason Carroll takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an explosive charge in a tell-all book. But did author Kitty Kelley accurately reflect what Sharon Bush told her? Sharon Bush, the ex-wife of the president's brother Neil, says no.
According to the book, Sharon Bush told Kelley, George W. used cocaine with one of his brothers at Camp David when their father was president. But on NBC's "Today" show, Sharon Bush she says, "I never saw the use of cocaine, and I am sticking by it. I have to set the record straight." She went on to say, "I couldn't imagine that if someone did see that, they would reveal that to Kitty Kelley."
In the past, when asked about drug abuse, George W. Bush simply admitted to having made youthful mistakes.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Over 20 years ago, I did some things that, when I was young, I made mistakes. And I've learned from the mistakes. And that's all I intend to talk about it.
CARROLL: Sharon Bush's attorney says allegations about drug abuse in George W.'s later adult years should not be linked to his client.
DAVID BERG, ATTORNEY FOR SHARON BUSH: The guy is, you know, he's a reformed drinker. He is, he obviously did cocaine in his past, because of his answers to questions about it. But this is not something that can be attributed to Sharon.
CARROLL: Kelley stands by the accuracy of the allegations. The author also says Neal Bush threatened his ex-wife for cooperating with the book, saying she would end up in a dark alley.
President Bush's campaign spokesman said Monday, "The president categorically and adamantly denies the charges in the book. Kitty Kelley has made a career out of lies. This is more of the same."
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And that bring us to our e-mail Question of the Morning. Do books and films about the presidential candidates influence your vote? They're certainly not in short supply, are they? Drop us a line at daybreak@cnn.com, daybreak@cnn.com.
New developments to tell you about in the Scott Peterson double murder trial. That's just ahead. Inside the courtroom, the focus is on blood and tracking evidence, while outside the courtroom the families are feuding. Details for you five minutes from now.
Plus, holy cow! Batman scales Buckingham Palace to make a point. We'll have more on the royal embarrassment 25 minutes from now.
Also ahead, do the drugs that are supposed to help depressed teenagers actually trigger suicidal tendencies? We'll examine the risks for you in 32 minutes.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "OPRAH," COURTESY CBS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open your boxes. Open your boxes. One, two, three!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Did you see "Oprah?" Oprah Winfrey knows how to drive an audience wild. We'll show you how she got her new season off to a roaring start. That's in 36 minutes.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.
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COSTELLO: In our "Market Watch," U.S. stocks will open higher today.
The Dow closed up just over 1 1/2 points Monday.
The Nasdaq ended up 16 points.
The S&P 500 closed up nearly 2 points.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei closes up 42 points.
But Britain's FTSE is down 6.
France's CAC is down 11.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 5:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle wounds two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. The Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade is claiming responsibility for that attack. The group says it was meant to avenge Israel's killing of three militants in an air strike on Monday.
No school today for children in Beslan, Russia. Classes were supposed to resume for the first time since more than 330 children were massacred. And adults, too, I should add. But security concerns led officials to call off classes just 15 minutes before they were scheduled to start.
In money news, Sony has agreed to buy MGM in a deal worth nearly $5 billion. The jewel of the deal may be MGM's 4,000 film library that could now be made available on DVD.
In culture, the Man In Black auction opens today at Sotheby's in New York. Hundreds of pieces of memorabilia are available from the estate of the late Johnny Cash. Included are several black suits and coats.
In sports, "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL," the Green Bay Packers shut down the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers. Running back Ahman Green led the way with three touchdowns in the 24-14 victory. Yes, Brett Favre's still got it -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes, Ahman Green is from Nebraska, too, Carol, by the way. They got beat by Southern Mississippi this weekend.
COSTELLO: Oh. MYERS: I know. It was a little embarrassing.
Anyway, hey, look at this thing. This is now, obviously, a very dangerous, and always has been a dangerous hurricane. Still at winds of 160 miles per hour, Carol, as the storm continues to track its way through, actually, out of Cancun from the Mexican Weather Service, we can actually see the eye to the north and east of Cancun this morning and to the northwest of Cuba right through the Yucatan Channel yesterday.
It is forecast to make landfall very close to Mobile Bay about midnight tomorrow night, about 44, 45 hours from now. Now it still could go left or right. That's that tone, that's that uncertainty that we have and that we always have that uncertainty because there's no weather balloons out there in the Gulf of Mexico. We don't actually know the exact wind, nor can we, because we don't have people out there sending off weather balloons everywhere like we do over here over land.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
In California, a family feud has been smoldering around Scott Peterson's murder trial and court officials are trying to keep it from getting worse.
More now from CNN's Ted Rowlands in Redwood City.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scott Peterson's parents had sheriff deputies to escort them into the courthouse, preventing any potential interaction with members of Laci Peterson's family. Last week, Lee Peterson exchanged words during this interaction with Brent Rocha, Laci Peterson's brother, and in a separate incident the day before with her stepfather, Ron Grantski.
According to a source close to the courts, the judge in this case, Alfred Delucchi, ordered the families to stop communicating near the courthouse and to sit near the back of the courtroom. The judge later changed his mind about the seating arrangements and allowed the families back to the front row.
Legal observers say something had to be done.
MICHAEL CARDOZA, LEGAL ANALYST: The only way to curb that and to be sure that doesn't happen is to drop the hammer right now on both families.
ROWLANDS: In court, jurors were giving a lesson in global positioning satellite technology. Investigators say they used GPS receivers secretly placed in Scott Peterson's vehicles to track his movements. Police started tracking Peterson two days after Laci Peterson was reported missing. Prosecutors hope to convince the jury that some of Peterson's movements were suspicious, including numerous trips to the Berkeley marina.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: In news across America this morning, now watch these pictures out of Green Bay, Wisconsin. What you see is a baby, it's a baby being dropped out of the car. The driver of the car had slowed down briefly during a high speed police chase. You can see them picking up the baby. The baby was absolutely fine, unharmed. The driver later died after crashing into an empty police car.
Two more booby trapped letters to tell you about this morning. The governors of Virginia and West Virginia are the latest targets of letters that are rigged to catch fire when they're opened. At least 16 other state capitals received similar letters last week. No one has been injured in any of the incidents. All of the letters carried a postmark from a maximum security prison in Nevada.
The Red Cross has set up an evacuation center for people affected by a growing brush fire near San Diego. Fifteen hundred acres have already been charred, but firefighters hope to have the blaze contained by tomorrow. The fire has been burning on both sides of the U.S. border with Mexico.
We'll tell you what's hot on our Web site straight ahead.
Also, seeing is believing. Up next, why a high flying granny takes the ultimate plunge.
And don't forget our e-mail Question of the Day. Do all the books and all the documentaries, all the films about presidential candidates influence your vote or are they just interfering with, well, with what you really want to think, I guess. I didn't put that very well, but you know what I mean. We want to hear from you. The address, daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
You're watching DAYBREAK for a Tuesday.
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COSTELLO: Time to check out our Web clicks this morning, because, of course, we're always interested in what you're interested in on cnn.com.
So, the number one clicked on story on the Web this morning -- and the headline certainly gets you -- "Lost"...
MYERS: "Lost and Found."
COSTELLO: "Lost Nuclear Bomb Possibly Found."
MYERS: Off Savannah, Georgia, Tybee Island, there was a wreck between the plane carrying the bomb and a fighter. The fighter landed. The guy ejected. The fighter didn't land. The plane did land. But before actually getting rid of the bomb, they just, they dropped it in the ocean.
COSTELLO: Well, he couldn't land with the bomb on board.
MYERS: Exactly. They were afraid.
COSTELLO: This happened back in 1958, by the way.
MYERS: 1958, right.
COSTELLO: So he dropped the bomb into the ocean. They've been searching for it for quite some time now and they finally found it. But...
MYERS: The Air Force insists the bomb was being used for practice and did not contain the plutonium trigger needed for a nuclear explosion.
COSTELLO: Well, needless to say, they're not going to move it because it'll cost like...
MYERS: They're not going to touch it.
COSTELLO: ... $5 million and who knows what'll happen if they move it?
MYERS: Exactly.
COSTELLO: The second most clicked on story. Did you watch "Oprah" last night or yesterday afternoon? She gave 276 people in the audience a new car.
MYERS: They got a car? Look, there's always something under the seat, right? You get like, oh, you get a free night's stay at the blah, blah, blah hotel here in Chicago. Nope. Cheese.
COSTELLO: It was a car. That's just incredible. Pontiac actually donated the cars. They spent $7 million to do that because, of course, what great advertising. It's their new model.
MYERS: They, actually, Oprah was asking for people to send in if they had bad stories about their car. Some cars actually had gone through gun fights. Some cars had 400,000 miles on them. And so now they all have brand new cars.
COSTELLO: She's something, that Oprah, isn't she?
MYERS: She's pretty awesome.
COSTELLO: And our third most clicked on story -- this surprised me, actually, because I thought maybe interest was dying out in the Scott Peterson case, but no. Testimony yesterday about the GPS system.
MYERS: Yes, Scott Peterson's car can apparently go 30,000 miles per hour.
COSTELLO: There was a little glitch in the system there.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: But the judge allowed it to be admitted as evidence, so they'll just have to hash it out in court.
We'll be back with much more on DAYBREAK.
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