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Veteran Storm Chaser Gets a Close Look at Raging Tornado; Heating Plant Helps Revive Cree Indian Village in Northern Quebec

Aired April 3, 2004 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Madrid outside of Madrid in the suburbs there searching for three terror suspects, who might be linked to last month's train bombing that killed 190 people. There are reports that an explosion was heard in the area, at least 15 people have already been charged in connection with the March 11 rail bombing. And now we're trying to find out if the source of that explosion was because of the three suspects who were threatening to explode a building of whether police conducted a controlled explosion.
FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials are raising concern about an alleged plot against commercial bus and train service this summer in the United States. They say improvised explosive devices might be concealed in luggage, duffel bags or backpacks. And they're urging companies to take protective measures including random passenger screenings.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell now says his testimony before the U.N. Security Council before the start of the war in Iraq was based on flawed sources, information provided, he says, by the CIA. He adds that it was also based on intelligence that was not solid. Powell's testimony was part of the Bush administration's effort to gain support of the war, claiming Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Welcome relief for firefighters battling an 8,700-acre blaze in northern Colorado. They hope that sleet and increased humidity will help them gain control of the flames. Flames that have already destroyed at least one home and forced some residents to leave. The wildfire is only about 30 percent contained so far.

What kind of weather can you expect for the rest of the day? An update now from CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Two pesky areas of low pressure affecting the southwest and the northeast. Just about everybody else today, though, can look forward to some pretty decent weather, and plenty of sunshine. Particularly across the plains states, and then into the southeast we'll see some sun. But I think the temperatures are going to be a little cooler than you'd like them to be. Especially for you spring breakers out there.

Occasional rain showers across the northeast. We will see snow showers pushing in back behind our front, a little bit into western Pa. and also down into West Virginia. The higher the elevation, a better chance of this being snow for you. Showers and thunderstorms continue to affect you across the southwest. More heavy rain and thunderstorms possible into Phoenix today. Some of those storms may be severe in this red area from southeastern parts of New Mexico into western Texas. And with high pressure building in from the north along with this upper level system that will bring in some pretty blustery conditions for you across from Montana, down into Wyoming and even into parts of Colorado.

Also a little windy across the Great Lakes today. Temperatures about status quo into the northeast with highs in the 50s, 60s and 70s across the south. Much cooler than you should be into the southwest. Phoenix only 66, 66 in Salt Lake City. Denver, lucky to break 50 this afternoon. And we'll see a high around 70 in San Francisco. Some pretty decent weather into northern California.

More storms in the same areas then for your Sunday into the southwest, into the northeast. But our low-pressure system starts to pull a little bit farther on up to the north. So maybe a little bit more of a break into the Mid-Atlantic States. High pressure into the southeast. So plenty of sunshine there and a new system across the inner mountain west bringing some rain and some mountain snow. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot Jacqui. Well I'm Frederick Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta. More news at the bottom of the hour. NEXT@CNN begins right now.

DANIEL SIEBERG, HOST, NEXT@CNN: Hi everybody. I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN we'll see how a veteran storm chaser got the closest ever look inside a raging tornado. And check out new technology that may give more warning when a twister is on the way.

Also, scientists see a growing danger to humans from diseases that started in animals. We'll find out why the threat is getting worse.

And a state-of-the-art heating plant helps revive a Cree Indian village in northern Quebec. All that, and more, on NEXT.

All right we've all seen video of destruction left in the path of a tornado. Have you ever seen a funnel cloud from mere inches away? Brace yourself, because you're about to get the chance. Thanks to an intrepid tornado chaser. Femi Oke has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEMI OKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tim Samaras is being chased by a tornado. He's just 80 seconds away from the vortex. All in the name of research. Usually he's the one doing the chasing. A passion that began many years ago.

TIM SAMARAS, TORNADO CHASER: When I was 67 years old, I watched the "Wizard of Oz," of all things, and was really fascinated by that big, black, mysterious tornado.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a twister. It's a twister!

SAMARAS: I love going out and chasing storms. I've been doing so for the last 15 to 20 years.

OKE: What started off as fun has turned into pioneering research. Very little is known about what actually happens inside a tornado. Tim Samaras and his storm chasing partners are determined to find out. Using specially designed probes that can collect weather information, monitor and even photograph the inside of a twister. But to get all the data you have to intersect a tornado.

SAMARAS: Getting in the past of the tornado when it's moving 20- plus miles an hour and closing in, when it's only a half a mile away is incredibly dangerous. Lots of things can go wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have time. Don't have time. We don't have time. Seriously.

OKE: In the tiny hamlet of Manchester, South Dakota, telephone poles have been torn out of the ground, and houses blown to pieces. The tornado chasers are in their element. But the real excitement is still to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing! it's amazing!

OKE: Amongst the debris the weather probes are intact. In his arms, Samaras is carrying the most up-to-date knowledge of how twisters are made. The camera probe was battered and broken. The tornado chewed it up and spat it out. But seconds before it died, it took a couple of shots. Years of hard work, and a little luck, resulted in a sight never witnessed before. The closest ever pictures taken of a tornado in action. But Samaras wants to get even closer. He's already working on a new camera probe.

SAMARAS: I'm going to put about seven video cameras on the inside of this probe, along with a couple of digital skill cameras, and it's my hope, and intent, to get that dropped into the path of a violent tornado, and hopefully we'll be able to see some imagery from the inside.

OKE: Only a veteran tornado chaser could smile in the face of such certain danger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Well for every storm chaser like Tim Samaras who wants to get close to tornadoes maybe a little crazy. There are millions of people who want to get away from them, or at least take shelter. A new kind of weather radar will give them more warning when a tornado is coming. Chad Myers has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The sound is unmistakable. The mere sight of a tornado enough to strike fear into even the bravest souls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to be kidding me!

MYERS: And the devastation is unavoidable. But this soccer ball shaped dome may one day lessen a tornado's threat to human life.

JEFF KIMPEL, DIRECTOR, NATL. SEVERE STORMS LAB: The average lead-time on tornado warnings right now is 12 or 13 minutes. We'd like to work to extend that out to 20 minutes and beyond, and we believe that this new technology will help us get there.

MYERS: Originally designed for the Navy's Aegis Class Destroyers, base-to-ray radar helps the military track missiles and aircraft. Now forecasters believe they can adapt the system to help them better evaluate dangerous storms.

MYERS (on camera): Standing here four stories high at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, Oklahoma, this is our current technology. We call it (UNINTELLIGIBLE). 1988 technology, large dome, but it takes a long time for this to spin around inside this dome. In fact six minutes. The new technology is that radar over there. What this machine takes six minutes to do, that one can do in one minute that will give us better tornado warnings in the future.

A trip up the new tower's steep stairwell reveals the radar's massive antenna, which uses microwaves to collect storm data. We think of microwaves like something we're going to cook a chicken with.

DOUG FORSYTH, CHIEF OF RADAR: Actually

MYERS: Same microwaves?

FORSYTH: Same thing. And it is approximately the same frequency as your microwave oven. Only a little bigger model.

MYERS: Developing this oversized microwave took $25 million and a lot of collaboration.

KIMPEL: We're partnering with a number of different groups. The navy, the FAA, the University of Oklahoma, the State of Oklahoma, all brought something to the table.

MYERS: Researchers believe phase to ray is at least 15 years away from being fully implemented. So is it worth the wait?

FORSYTH: We could get data quicker and more timely, and it would provide us a faster picture, and any time we can provide a faster picture to the folks making the decisions, we get warnings out faster, those warnings save lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIEBERG: Speaking of which, faster warnings might have saved lives 30 years ago this weekend when the biggest tornado outbreak ever recorded tore through the center of the U.S. Orelon Sidney takes a look back.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was one of the darkest days in weather history. One massive storm 30 years ago unleashed 24 hours of tornado terror. On April 3 and 4, 1974, tornado touchdowns were reported in 13 states from the U.S./Canada border south to Mississippi. The super outbreak as it became known is to this day the most dramatic tornado outbreak in history.

In the storms wake over 148 tornadoes, more than 300 people died with over 5,000 injured. The damage path extended over a combined 2500 square miles. Modern computer graphics can show us why the situation was so perfect for severe thunderstorms an intense area of low pressure moved across the upper Midwest with a cold front through the Mississippi Valley and then warm air brought in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.

Also now a strong dip in the jet stream provided upper level ventilation that's perfect for producing severe weather. The super outbreak also spawned a remarkable number of powerful twisters that produced f-5 damage on the Fujita tornado scale. These storms have winds over 261 miles an hour. These killers are rare, averaging only one per year across the U.S. but during the super outbreak there were six.

While we can't stop tornadoes from occurring, newer technology including a nationwide network of Doppler radars that did not exist in 1974, may help save lives should there ever be another super outbreak.

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, there's still a mystery surrounding the deaths of more than 100 dolphins off the Florida Panhandle recently.

And later in the show, who's to blame for rising gas prices?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: We've heard a lot recently about bird flu, mad cow and SARS. These are all animal borne diseases. But you may not know that over the past three decades more than 30 other emerging ailments have spread to humans from animals. More from Sharon Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARON COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): SARS, mad cow disease, Ebola, Hantavirus, and aids. They are aggressive, silent, and often deadly. And they're all transmitted through human contact with animals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at all of the pathogens we saw emerging in humans, 75 percent of them, that's three quarters, are caused by what we call zoo anautic diseases. Diseases that emerge from domestic and wild animals into humans. So it's a major risk for human health globally.

COLLINS: The phenomenon is not new. Of the more than 1,700 known human illnesses around half come from animals. But in recent years the problem has taken on pandemic proportions, and every part of the earth is at risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well there definitely seems to be a rise in the number of emerging diseases each year, and now we're seeing diseases every year we see a new virus emerging from different, strange wildlife species.

COLLINS: Wildlife that originated in hot spots worldwide, in regions like Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Almost all of the diseases that have made headlines in recent years can be traced back to animals from those regions. Scientists say there are many causes for the outbreaks. The pet trade of exotic species. Deforestation. And the bush meat trade tops the list. But the main problem?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well one of the common themes across all emerging diseases is that they're driven by the things we humans do to the environment; we allow these pathogens to move into our population.

COLLINS: Scientific evidence suggests that as people continue to move more deeply into previously uninhabited areas to live, hunt and farm, new diseases are sure to emerge from increased contact with exotic animals and insects. And in a globalized society, travel and trade make containing the diseases almost impossible.

DR. NINA MARANO: The scientific community is concerned. But we are certainly taking steps in terms of research, to be able to understand how these viruses mutate and adapt to new hosts. And that's very, very fundamental to be able to understand how we can control them, and how we can prevent them.

COLLINS: Prevent epidemics like HIV/AIDS that emerged from Central African chimpanzees and spread to humans through blood-to- blood contact from animals killed for bush meat. The avian flu as its name suggests, that came from birds. Lyme disease, monkey pox, Ebola, and the list goes on and on. Animal-borne diseases may be spreading across the world like wildfire. But although scientists warn that the problem is getting worse, they say there are things that people can do to protect themselves.

MARANO: We probably shouldn't keep wild animals as pets. Simple things like hand washing. Things like taking all of their antibiotics when they're supposed to. Those are very, very important personal responsibilities, so we all play our part.

COLLINS: Some good advice to survive a worldwide killer problem.

SIEBERG: A couple of weeks ago we told you how some dolphins were mysteriously dying off the Florida Panhandle. Well marine biologists now have a suspect in the die-off. Their suspicion only deepens the mystery. More from John Zarrella.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marine biologists say they are reasonably sure the die-off of bottlenose dolphins along the Florida Panhandle is about over. They are also confident they know what's been killing the mammals. The evidence is pointing increasingly toward the toxin produced by red tide algae.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 153.

ZARRELLA: Examinations of the dead dolphins are showing high levels of this naturally occurring toxin. It appears what these dolphins got, was a lethal case of food poisoning.

BLAIR HASE: We believe that they ingested from the fish, so the fish have this poisoning or this toxin in their system. They harbor it in their guts. The dolphins are ingesting the fish and then becoming toxic themselves, and dying.

ZARRELLA: Here's where the real mystery begins. Scientists have not been able to find evidence of an algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico that would have produced the toxin. So far, there is no evidence of a red tide algae bloom in the satellite images from the days and weeks before the dolphins started dying. And flyovers of the Gulf Coast area have come up empty, as well. But marine scientists say they are not ready to close the book on this case.

HASE: The dolphins are a barometer of ocean health. They tell us what's going on in the ocean. So if we can figure out what's killing the dolphins, we can figure out the status of what's going on in our oceans, as well.

ZARRELLA: Yet the inability to find the smoking gun means marine scientists may never know with absolute certainty, why the dolphins died.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: So what do you do when a usually placid captive tiger becomes aggressive and develops vision and balance problems? Well, you take it to have a CAT scan, of course. OK not really. But actually at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado, a 260-pound tiger Tatiana (ph) did have an MRI at a nearby facility that usually serves humans. The scan showed signs of brain atrophy, apparently a result of old age. You see Tatiana is 15 and captive tigers usually live 15 to 20 years.

ANNOUNCER: When we come back, now here's a piece of real estate for you. It's underground but there's no water seepage. Some of the rooms have 75-foot ceilings. And don't worry about nosy neighbors. We will tell you what it use to be and what it is going for when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Well, the Pentagon is spending about $700 million a year to develop a new breed of warplanes. They'll be cheaper to build than current fighters and bombers, but the big difference is they won't have pilots on board. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A perfect day for flying in the California desert. The experimental x- 45a drops a 250-pound bomb. Just one thing. There is no cockpit; there is no pilot on board. Ground station operators are miles away. This is the first time an unmanned warplane has dropped a weapon. This is the future of warfare. The Pentagon is testing unmanned warplanes, hoping to make them part of the U.S. arsenal. For the first night of the war in Iraq, it would have been the ultimate stealthy weapon. Flying towards Iraqi radars and missiles without risking a U.S. aircrew.

MICHAEL FRANCIS, DARPA: We can spot that threat before he spots us.

STARR: These unmanned aircraft will be able to fly at 40,000 feet. And at the speed of commercial airplanes. More capable than current drones. Fleets of unmanned airplanes will move across enemy air space. Some conducting surveillance through onboard cameras. Some dropping bombs. But questions of ethics. Even with a human operator able to see the target through onboard sensors, should what is essentially a flying computer be used to attack?

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: You could imagine an unmanned vehicle correctly finding a target. But then maybe a train passes by that target at just that minute with a lot of women and children on board.

STARR: The Pentagon says there are limitations.

FRANCIS: We still haven't replaced the human computer. The digital computer as good as it is can't do some things as good as we do very well.

STARR: The Pentagon says humans will always be involved in the decision to fire. But if a plane can be ordered to drop a weapon by someone a continent away, that will give the Pentagon a 21st century battlefield advantage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Well, the next space tourist started training this week for his flight to the International Space Station. His name is Gregory Olson. He's an optics researcher whose inventions made him a multimillionaire. He is going to need that money and we will tell you why in a second.

Olson's flight is scheduled for next year. Although there's a chance it could be moved up to October. Now he's paying $20 million for the trip to space adventures, which arranges tourist flights with the Russian Space Agency. Olson says he's not just taking the trip to gawk and ride along and take pictures, he actually plans to bring along infrared sensors to study earth's atmosphere and the stars.

If you've been longing to buy a piece of property that's steeped in history, this may be just the thing. But this isn't one of those George Washington slept here type houses. We're talking cold war history. Derek Sciba from our affiliate KXLY has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK SCIBA, KXLY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifty-seven acres of Eastern Washington Prairie. Calm, quiet, peaceful. But a closer look shows more to this farmland. Below the surface is something far from peace.

BARI HOTCHKISS, TITAN 1 COMPLEX OWNER: Watch your head.

SCIBA: A narrow stair if well leads into one of America's insurances against the Soviets.

HOTCHKISS: Now this was about as high of security as the government had.

SCIBA: A 1959 cold war missile silo. Enormous, sprawling, once home to scientists.

HOTCHKISS: Control building. Antenna silos to the left. Watch your footing; watch your head as we go.

SCIBA: Now home to gravity. But Bari Hotchkiss sees beyond the disrepair.

HOTCHKISS: It would make perfect wine cellars if somebody wanted to make a world-class winery.

SCIBA: He also imagines a museum or a youth camp. Something to take advantage of the space, and history.

HOTCHKISS: The new generations don't really have a clue about what life was like back then.

SCIBA: Tunnels stretch like tentacles into three rocket chambers. This cavernous room is one of them. It once housed a 100- foot tall titan 1 nuclear missile.

HOTCHKISS: You step over that. It's over 100 feet to the bottom.

SCIBA: Hotchkiss says if the missile ever fired this room would have been destroyed by the heat.

HOTCHKISS: If the rocket ever launched from here, it wouldn't really matter because that pretty much would have been the end of civilization, as we knew it.

SCIBA: The facility was built to attack and survive a nuclear blast. Equipment hung from springs on the ceiling and the entire room was surrounded by a rubber gasket so this room could withstand a mega ton shock from the outside. Powering the underground complex was four 1 million watt diesel generators in this room he calls the power dome. Whatever becomes of this relic of the cold war, Hotchkiss says it must be special.

HOTCHKISS: It's got to be some sort of very unique world-class operation. That can't be reproduced anywhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Perhaps no surprise in this day and age the underground facility is listed for sale on Ebay for $3.9 million.

ANNOUNCER: Coming up in our next half hour the number of places without high speed Internet connections is getting smaller and smaller. Also, one couple's crusade to show that wolves are really good guys. And why it's controversial. Stay tune we will be back right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. Well, if you've ever wanted to do a Google search on your e-mail, that day may be on the horizon. The popular search engine, Google, is taking on Microsoft and Yahoo! and offering a free web-based e-mail service called Gmail. Gmail will include 1,000 mega bytes of storage, that's one gigabyte. More than 100 times what some rival e-mail services offer. Google says that means you would never have to delete or file a message. Good for pack rats, like myself. You would use the Google search engine to find any e-mail you've ever sent or received. The service is now being tested by a limited number of users. No word yet on when it will be widely available.

Well, if you feel the need to be on a high-speed Internet connection 24/7, you just can't disconnect you might like this story. Soon you'll be able to continue the kind of web surfing experience you've come to expect even when you're flying at 40,000 feet. Keith Oppenheim got a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And, I'd like to be able to keep business going while I'm in the air, particularly on flights that are more than an hour.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Willkommen to the new age. The German airline, Lufthansa, is the first to buy into a new technology by Boeing called "Connection." Connection is faster than existing services that provide in-flight e-mail, with a wireless card, it links users to satellites to offer full Internet access in the sky.

TIM SELE, CONNECTION BY BOEING: Fundamentally what it does, it gives them control back over their time. You know, rather than just pass the time in the air, they'll be able to catch up on the air.

OPPENHEIM: Catch up on work or just surf the web for pleasure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Check out restaurants for this evening.

OPPENHEIM: The cost to passengers ranges from about 10 to $30, depending on length of the flight. The cost to airlines is hundreds of thousands of dollars per plane. But for some companies, getting online on long flights could become essential.

NORMAN ROSE, TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT: And, here you're allowing your employee to be more productive during the flight, and productivity seems to be the key for -- you know, driving our economy forward. I think this is a very important development from Boeing.

OPPENHEIM: Still, what people will pay for in the air isn't always easy to gauge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I take that time to rest, not work.

OPPENHEIM: But for some, Internet in the air sounds more like a benefit than a ball and chain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, if I can use the time when I'm in the air to be online, that increases my productivity quite a bit.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Some analysts believe the cost of installation may be too pricey for cash strapped airlines in the U.S. But if this idea takes off, the question becomes, will U.S. carriers that fly overseas become obligated to invest, just to keep up with the competition?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: And, wireless Internet is coming to another unlikely place, the baseball park. The San Francisco Giants, this week, announced that starting this year they'll provide Wi-Fi connectivity at their stadium, SBC Park. That's logical, since the park's new name is in honor of the telecom giant SBC Communications. Fans carry Wi-Fi laptops or handhelds will have Internet access from their seats, and they'll be able to get player stats, maps of the park, and highlights of past games in case they get tired of the action on the field. Might want to watch out for a foul ball, though.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, people in this village in remote northern Quebec are feeling warm and cozy about the future, and it's not just because of the new furnace. We'll explain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Hundreds of miles north of Montreal, where spring is still pretty much a rumor, is the ancestral home of a band of Cree Indians. They struggled over the years with the cold and with outsiders who pushed them off their land. But, now they're solving both problems with a combination of technology and tenacity. Monita Rajpal reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MONITA RAJPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Deep in the forests of northern Quebec, the way of the ancestors is still alive.

ANNA BOSUM, OUJE-BOUGOUMOU CREE NATION: I remember as a child, my mom used to take me in the bush and live off the land. And this is where I learned everything from her.

RAJPAL: Anna and David Bosum have lived in Ouje-Bougoumou all their lives. For them, this is the way it was and always will be.

A. BOSUM: We live this way, we grew up in a culture living like this. And we wanted to keep it and pass it on to our children.

RAJPAL: They belong to the Ouje-Bougoumou Cree, Quebec's nine Cree communities, and while the Bosum's hold on to what they say is the simplicity of life in the bush, their communities village, some 15 kilometers away is moving forward.

With a vision of togetherness and a lot of persistence, the Ouje- Bougoumou Cree have built a community like no other native community in Canada. There are modern buildings, a multi-million dollar sporting facility and, crucially, homes that are warm. It's a far cry from the old days.

The Ouje-Bougoumou Cree's history is sadly familiar to indigenous people. They laid claim to some 1,600 square kilometers in northern Quebec, but as miners and loggers discovered the region's rich resources, such as mineral deposits and timber, the Cree's were forced off their own land, and that meant enduring decades of relocation, homelessness, separation, and despair.

KENNY MIANSCUM, OUJE-BOUGOUMOU CREE NATION: In the past, living in seven different camps, there was no identity. There was no groupment -- you know, people living together.

RAJPAL: The band's chief, Sam Bosum, remembers those days and the eventual decision of all of his people to take a stand.

SAM BOSUM, OUJE-BOUGOUMOU CREE NATION: In our minds at that time it was sill our land, still our territory. We were not going to go away, far away and forget about this place.

RAJPAL: So in the late 1970's, under a different chief, they began their fight for recognition. The band demanded the compensation that was afforded other Cree and native communities under a government agreement signed just a few years earlier.

It took a decade, but they got their wish, though their rights were limited to only about a tenth of their original land.

(on camera): There are some 700 Ouje-Bougoumou Cree living here. Many have returned from various parts of Quebec to help maintain the community. What's bringing them back is not only their strong sense of community, but also the design of the village itself. It was built on three principles: that it should reflect the Cree culture, it would be economically sustainable and self-reliant, and that the people would live in harmony with the land.

PAUL WERTMAN, OUJE-BOUGOUMOU ADVISER: The community leadership understood that they had really one opportunity here to do it right, and they needed to look far, far into the future and look at their exercise from the point of view of several generations down the road.

DOUGLAS CARDINAL, ARCHITECT: They wanted the village to be a compilation (ph) of rooms, rooms that sheltered them and related to the earth and related to the sky, and they wanted it to reflect their traditional dwellings, which are almost like long houses or extended teepees.

RAJPAL (voice-over): And they built it in just four short years. But perhaps what has really helped the village forget ahead is its district heating system, a central furnace of sorts.

This state of the art biomass system utilizes sawdust collected from a nearby sawmill and converts it to heat energy for the entire village.

SYDNEY COONISHISH, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC WORKS DIR.: It's not like your heating with oil. You don't have those resources in the area, so you use whatever you have around you to survive. We all know that sawdust is wood and wood is good for burning, and as a result, we had some engineers build a system that is capable of heating the village.

RAJPAL: A heat transfer station in every home and building works like a conventional hot water tank, but without the tank. And there are other benefits to the system beside cost effectiveness.

COONISHISH: It's quite important, in terms of generating employment locally. We have our own people operating the plant and also our own people delivering the wood product for burning.

RAJPAL: Ouje-Bougoumou has become the first community in North America to use this biomass system. It's even been hailed by the United Nations as a village of the future.

With a growing sense of self-empowerment, the band uses the government funds it receives to reinvest in the community.

COONISHISH: We are able to take control of our needs, be able to provide the services that our people are requesting or needing right now.

RAJPAL: But perhaps what is a real source of pride for this community is seeing how far it has come, the dreams of its elders realized.

S. BOSUM: It was for their children. Those really weren't for themselves. They were always part of our children and our future children and their place to live.

COONISHISH: I'm overwhelmed. I mean, a lot of times, at the end of each day, I'm thankful because of the elders and what they did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, practically every cell phone user has a distinctive ring tone these days. We'll take you to the next frontier of individuality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. More now on a breaking story we're following for you: The search for three North African suspects in Leganes, Spain, just south of Madrid. These suspects being connected to the March 11 terrorist bombings of the railroads, there. Apparently this search now has evolved into a deadly confrontation. Our Al Goodman joins us now from Madrid via videophone with the latest -- Al.

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, there has been an explosion as the police closed in on those three North African suspects who holed up inside a four story building, and the result of that explosion, we're now being told, is at least one police officer is dead, at least six police officers injured. There may be two other people dead. That is unconfirmed, but we're hearing that one of the suspects -- one of the suspected terrorists may also have died in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) because there were reports just a few minutes ago that a -- one of them was being rushed to hospital in seriously grave condition -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And, Al, let's talk a little bit more about this reported explosion because there were conflicting reports earlier. The three suspects apparently have threatened to blow up the building and then witnesses say they heard an explosion and there was another report that perhaps this was a controlled explosion carried out by the police. Any idea which of those may be true now?

GOODMAN: We do not have details. But the latest line that is emerging, Fredricka, is that it appears that there was an explosion as the special police agents were moving in -- in the building apparently, onto the suspect, and that that explosion was so close to the suspects themselves, that some of them were also injured, as well as the police officers. We are imagining and seeing the police storming the apartment based on the latest sketchy information. But if we backtrack just a couple of hours at 9:00 p.m. local Spain time, there was a -- an explosion reported. The initial report was that that had been a controlled explosion, which means that the police would have moved everyone back, and that they would then have exploded a bomb because they couldn't figure out a way to safely deactivate it, and the best way to leave it harmless was to explode it, cause property damage, but not hurt anyone. Well, apparently that is not what has happened.

There also was a report that there was a shoot-out. But we're getting information on the dead and injured here that this does not appear to be a result of a shoot-out. Now, this is the most violent action we've seen in the very vigorous investigation that's been going on since the March 11 bombings of the commuter rail network, here in Madrid, that killed 190 people and injured 1,800. There have been a lot of suspects arrested, 15 of those have been charged already at the National Court, but no other arrest scenario has been like this one on Saturday night in this suburb of Leganes, which is a little south of Madrid -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: And Al, let's talk a little bit more about Leganes then, and why police were lured to that location and what this community is known for. It's primarily a residential community, right?

GOODMAN: There are a lot of bedroom communities, but also they have some industry on the southern rim of the city, Leganes is one of them. It is a sprawling community. We talked earlier this night at the hotels clear across town, which knew nothing about this police operation that was going on in northern Leganes near the police station. Now one witness told state radio, we heard this broadcast, that one of the buildings in this area was largely populated by Arab immigrants. But, that doesn't mean the whole neighborhood was, because thee are multistory apartment buildings, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that's our partner station reporter who was on the scene says he estimated about 40 apartments in this four story building where the suspects holed up, which apparently is where all the damage was from this explosion. Why they went there, they have been trying to leave no stone unturned in this investigation, and every person they capture, they interrogate thoroughly to see if they can get information on someone else, plus there's hard evidence like cell phones where they've got phone numbers, et cetera, et cetera. They're also getting help from the Moroccan authorities, from other European police agencies from the United States. They're putting all of this together.

Now there are arrest warrants out this week from the National Court, that the court handling this case, Fredricka, that has listed six people in all, five Moroccans and one Tunisian. We don't know, for instance, at this point, whether the people involved in the manhunt tonight were any of those prime suspects -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Al Goodman thanks very much for that report via video phone out of Madrid. However, this search, and now what appears to be a deadly confrontation taking place, just about ten miles south of Madrid in Leganes. And apparently an explosion has been reported in a building where these three suspects were holed up, and the result so far we're told by officials, that one police officer is dead, and six other officers were injured. It's unclear, right now, what the disposition of the three North African suspects were. These were suspects in the March 11 train bombings. This investigation is ongoing.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta, more news at the top of the hour.

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SIEBERG: For one couple in British Columbia, when the wolf's at the door, they don't mind. They're raising their own personal pack of wolves. Mark Stevenson of CTV News reports.

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MARK STEVENSON, CTV NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looks like nothing more than a walk with the dogs in a park. Only these are no dogs, they're wolves. And this is no park. It's the B.C. wilderness.

CASEY BLACK, RAISES WOLVES: So this is Wiley the wolf, born in captivity.

STEVENSON: Born in captivity and encouraged to run wild while never harming humans. It comes with years of discipline to show who's dominant. For Casey and Shelly Black, it's all part of a dream to raise their own personal pack of wolves near Golden B.C.

C. BLACK: And it's taken a lot of work and time to get them like that, but the reaction from most people is unbelievable.

SHELLY BLACK, RAISES WOLVES: Come on.

STEVENSON: And part of that dream is introducing wolves, like Wily, to the public. To attack myths that go back centuries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amazing. Just amazing. Wiley's very friendly. Give you a big lick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the wild, you don't get close to the wolves. You see them at a distance.

C. BLACK: People are afraid of wolves for no reason. They don't even understand the wolf. It's just the old misconceptions that we still believe.

STEVENSON: It's a noble goal, raising a pack of wolves to raise awareness, but it's a controversial idea that doesn't go over well with everyone.

CLIO SMEETON, COCHRANE ECOLOGICAL INSTITUTE: Wolves aren't dogs.

STEVENSON: Clio Smeeton is a wildlife expert. She says it took thousands of years to domesticate dogs. Domesticating wolves gives the public the wrong message.

SMEETON: So, they'll forget the larger picture, and focus only on the fact that you can pet a wolf and probably buy a wolf and probably keep it as a pet.

STEVENSON: But none of this bothers the Blacks. They say it on proves their point, that when it comes to people and wolves, people have a lot to learn.

C. BLACK: My wolves act more like people than some people I've met.

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SIEBERG: OK, well Casey and Shelly Black clearly love their wolves. And the people of Hamburg, Germany love their swans. You see, every year at this time the graceful water birds are ceremoniously escorted to their summer home. Alphonso van Marsh has more.

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ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Talk about the pampered life. These swans are actually a very special part of Hamburg's population. For 400 years it's actually been illegal to insult, hurt, or kill the birds. And city law has also granted them special treatment.

OLAF NIESS, SWAN REPRESENTATIVE (through translator): The animals were sent to their winter quarters last November. Now that we're in March their once again being released on the Alster River.

VAN MARSH: Their winter quarters are actually a pond inside the city. Olaf Niess is responsible for keeping it free of ice. Crowds came to the pond Monday to watch Olaf move the swans from the pond to their summer home.

NIESS (through translator): We have roughly 120 animals here. In three boats we'll carefully chase them from their winter quarters onto the open river. We will carefully and slowly accompany them to the Alster River.

VAN MARSH: As Hamburg's official swan rep, Olaf is in charge of feeding the swans, treating any injuries, and ensuring that they have a safe migration each spring and winter. Olaf took over the job from his father. He's the latest in a long line of city officials in that role dating back to 1818.

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SIEBERG: And there's a new chapter in the story of "Where's Chippy: The Wandering Sea Lion." Well, you may recall that Chippy turned up more than 60 miles from the ocean, back in February, and made himself at home on the back deck of a patrol car. Once he was healthy he was released into the ocean a month ago wearing a radio transmitter. Well, Chippy has taken off his transmitter. Smart Chippy. It was found last week lying on a dock at San Francisco's Pier 39. A popular sea lion hangout where he's been sunning himself. He's a free spirit. So much for keeping tabs on a critter who has his own ideas about where marine mammals belong.

Well, it's time for us to wander off. But here's what's coming up next week:

Keep hearing that Nano technology is supposed to change everything from medicine to manufacturing, now Nano, but now do they move those atoms around? We'll get very small and show you. That's coming up on NEXT.

Until then, check out our Web site, that's at cnn.com/next.

Thanks so much for joining us this week. For all of us, I'm Daniel Sieberg. We'll see you next time.

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