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CNN Live Sunday
Large SUV Sales Down Since March; Storms Continue To Ravage Midwest; Fabarge Eggs Return to Russia
Aired May 23, 2004 - 23:00 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a quick look at the headlines at this hour. One of the top U.S. commanders in Iraq is denying a published report that he knew of prisoner abuses. The report in today's "Washington Post" alleges that a midlevel officer would testify that Lieutenant General Richardo Sanchez knew of abuses at Abu Ghraib. The captain reportedly would exchange his testimony for immunity from prosecution.
Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi exiled leader, who was a White House favorite until recently, has blamed CIA director George Tenet for allegations that have apparently have wrecked his relationship with the Bush administration. Chalabi is denying U.S. allegations that he gave intelligence secrets to the government of Iran.
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon will ask his government to approve a new plan toward Israeli withdrawl from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. The prime minister's last plan was voted down decisively by his Likud Party 3 weeks ago.
Saudi Arabia has agreed to boost it's oil production by 28 percent next month. That word comes from U.S. secretary of energy Spencer Abraham after a meeting with the Saudi Oil Minister. Rising gasoline prices are becoming an increasingly important campaign issue for the Bush reelection presidency.
Well, gas prices have risen an average of a penny a day over the last 2 weeks. The Lundberg Survey shows the average price at the pump rose more than 14 cents over as many days, to $2.07. So, how are Americans reacting to months of spiraling gas prices? CNN's Miguel Marquez is with us now from Los Angeles, where the gas is way above the national average.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It always seems to be that way out here, Fredricka. And they're reacting to that by buying gas at places like Cosco, where the cheap stuff, or the not so cheap stuff anymore, is at $2.26 a gallon and the expensive stuff, the high octane, is about $2.44 here. But we're seeing signs all over Los Angeles with the high octane stuff around $2.70. So, it's much more expensive all over California.
The other thing that people are doing to react to the high gas prices is changing the cars they drive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: This Toyota dealership sells more alternative fuel vehicles than any other in the country. The reason, pretty obvious.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I drive a Jeep Cherokee and I spent about $80 a week in gas.
MARQUEZ: Californians, used to higher gas prices than the rest of the U.S. are beginning to balk at prices making a run at $3.00 a gallon. Nowhere has the effect been more immediate than the car lot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our large SUV's have -- the percentage of vehicles sold is declining.
MARQUEZ: And that trend may be playing out nationwide. Auto Data, a company that tracks vehicle sales says in April consumers bought fewer large SUVs like the Ford Explorers, Chevy Suburban, and Hummer H2. While it's still not clear if high gas prices are driving SUV sales down, pricing petroleum is driving interest in hybrids up. How many of these could you sell if you could?
CHRIS ABRAHMS,TOYOTA SALES MANAGER: We could use another 2 or 300 right now. Today.
MARQUEZ: Marketing firm J.D. Power estimates the next few years, up to 20 models of hybrid will be on U.S. roads. In yearly sales will hit half million vehicles. That's ten time what's they are now. Some consumers considering buying a hybrid say it's not just that gas prices are high, it's that they expect them to stay high.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not going to go down below $2. Probably only go up. And, yes, $3, $4. It seems likely.
MARQUEZ: And that seems to be the sentiment of a lot of people I talked to over the last couple days is that this time around the gas prices may not come back down but they expect them to stay high sort of permanently. What's going to happen in the future with those OPEC production going up, Trilbe (ph) Lundberg says that things we're going to get is the summer months coming up, will Americans tend to travel more, they are going to reformulate gas as well for the summer months. Coming up June 1st they have to do that. The economy's picking up. All of those things may negate anything that OPEC can do to increase production -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Miquel Marquez, thanks very much.
Well you might think the record high gas prices would be cooling America's love affair with sport utility vehicles across the country. Let's find out rather Csaba Csebe editor in chief of "Car and Driver" magazine. And he's in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
All right. We just saw in that report, Cseba, that in the L.A. area and we know also D.C. area dealers are reporting that there is a lowering interest in the large SUVs. Are we seeing that across the country? People are more interested in the smaller, what is being called the crossover vehicles?
CSABA CSEBE, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "CAR AND DRIVER" MAGAZINE: Well, there's definitely more interest in crossovers and mid-size SUVs. But the bottom really hasn't fallen out of the big ones. Sure some of them, the Ford Expedition, is down a little bit, Suburban and Tahoe are down a little bit. But the Dodge Durango is actually up. And there are some brand new large SUVs such as the Nissan Armada, the Infinity QX56 that didn't even exist on the market last year and they're selling pretty well. So consumers have not really abandoned these big vehicles in totality.
WHITFIELD: Not yet. Do you see that maybe over the next few months if the gas polices seem steady over $2 and out in the West Coast, near $3 that perhaps they may drop off, the interest of larger SUVs?
CSEBE: Well the steadiness of the high gas prices is the key. Because we've seen spikes in the gas prices in the late spring, early summer the last several years and consumers are conditioned to those spikes. But this one seems to have a little bit more longevity and I think that will get people's attention, particularly if it doesn't just stay at $2 but actually gets up to the $2.50 and higher level. I think above $2.50 it starts getting people's attention over a long period of time.
WHITFIELD: And Ford is saying already that people are taking notice. In particular they are reporting that people are lining for the new hybrid SUV or the smaller SUV that is going to be out on the market. They're going to make something like 20,000 a year. But already there's an e-mail interest of more than 30,000. Do you believe that, as whole consumers are a bit more conscientious of trying to be greener?
CSEBE: I don't think they're trying to be mere green. I think they are trying to look at their pocketbooks. And the Ford Escape hybrid is going to be the first SUV type vehicle with the hybrid powertrain on the market. That makes a lot of sense, because it's one thing to put a hybrid-powertrain in a small car that already gets good mileage. When you stick it in a bigger machine like an SUV you really save a lot of gas and you save a lot of money, particularly at these prices. So I think hybrid SUVs a very strong future in the next year.
WHITFIELD: Wow, how are you seeing that consumer interests and their apprehensions, perhaps even kind of dictating like never before what these car dealers are designing in the near future?
CSEBE: Well part of the problem in the car industry is that there is no near future. It takes three, four years to design a product. And at this point, you know, everyone already knows what they're going to be building in 2005 and 2006. And maybe they can adjust the mix a little bit, but I think if you're a smart car manufacturer you realize the handwriting on the wall, you better have some high-fuel economy powertrains, whether they're hybrids or potentially diesels, but there's going to be more and more demand for them in the coming years.
WHITFIELD: You think a lot of these makers though, perhaps, are having to go back to the drawing board and maybe redefine some of the designs that they have coming out in the next couple years because they're seeing that the gas issue is certainly something that's driving consumer interests?
CSEBE: I think they're certainly looking at that. The difficulty of being a manufacturer is you've got to plan your products three and four years out, while customers can change their minds overnight. So if you're a smart manufacturer, I think you cover all the bases and make sure you have that spectrum of product and hopefully you have flexible enough manufacturing plants that if consumer tastes shift quickly you can shift your production to match.
WHITFIELD: Csaba Csebe thanks very much of "Car and Driver" magazine. Always good talking to you.
CSEBE: My pleasure.
WHITFIELD: Back now to the top story on severe weather. Tornado ravaged Nebraska is in a state of emergency. Governor Mike Johanns made the declaration today just before touring Hallam where a twister damaged or destroyed every home in that town.
The governor is now on the telephone with us joining us from Hallam. You're not on the phone, you're there right there, we get a chance to see you. Good, that worked out. All right, well you toured Hallam, is that the hardest hit area? What did you see?
GOV. MIKE JOHANNS, NEBRASKA: Yes, that's ground zero. Hellam, Nebraska, was hit very, very hard. It's a community of about 300 people. And my observation was that literally every house, every business was devastated. I'll be surprised if there are really any buildings that are usable. It was literally the tornado parked down right on that community.
WHITFIELD: Tell me a little bit more about that community. Is that a fairly densely populated community? Are the properties built fairly tight? Is that why the devastation was so widespread?
JOHANNS: Right, it's a small Nebraska town. It's a rural community. It would be kind of a small community for that rural area. So houses are fairly close to each other. But a fairly typical Nebraska community that just ran into a very, very devastating storm cell.
WHITFIELD: What about the warnings? What kind of notice did most residents have about this string of tornadoes that might be coming through the area?
JOHANNS: Well, the weather was picking up and warnings were out. Every circumstance is different, however. There are probably some homes there that did not have basements. Many did, and that can impact a person's safety. So, to me it's remarkable that we haven't had far more death and personal injury. When you look at that town, there just was not a lot left.
WHITFIELD: Where have many of the displaced residents gone?
JOHANNS: Last night we brought them to a high school in Lincoln. We put them up for the evening. And now they -- they're finding home with friends, with family. But last evening we actually evacuated the community. We had live wires down. We had gas leaks. It was just a very, very dangerous situation. Little by little today now they're starting to get back and try to salvage what they can.
WHITFIELD: You've got a chance to see Hallam first hand. Any estimation on the dollar figure damage?
JOHANNS: Well, I'm very confident in telling you we'll meet the federal guidelines for both individual programs; grant loan programs for state municipal type programs, also. There's a lot of damage. We haven't done any preliminary assessment, but we're now about 120 homes totally devastated or so damaged that they're not habitable through that area. So it was pretty devastating.
WHITFIELD: After, you know, tornanic activity like this causing widespread damage, it is hard to look ahead but often times a community has already made a decision at the initial assessment when they want to start rebuilding. What are residents saying?
JOHANNS: I had talked to one resident who had grown up there and he expressed to me that he hoped he could stay. He loved the community. I hope they can, too. I would just say it appears to me, however, that if someone wants to stay, they're going to be rebuilding their home from the ground up. I didn't see anything in Hallam that looked habitable. That community was just devastated. Trees everywhere. They're down. The houses are off their foundation, or totally gone. Just a remarkable, unbelievable devastation.
WHITFIELD: Is this an area that has dealt with twisters before, perhaps not of this magnitude but twisters, nonetheless?
JOHANNS: Yes, we have twisters through Nebraska. Out here on the plains, that's what we deal with. An oceanside community may look for hurricanes, twisters and blizzards and that kind of thing. We can face those in the spring and last night was especially active. We had sighted 18 in southern Nebraska alone, 18 twisters by 8:00 last night. It just didn't let up. We had a storm pattern that kept coming through and dumping large amounts of rain and twisters. It was just a bad situation.
WHITFIELD: Governor Mike Johanns. Thanks very much for joining us. Best of luck to all of those trying to rebuild and restore their lives after all of this.
JOHANNS: Thank you very much.
WHITFIELD: Elsewhere across America, in St. Paul, Minnesota, an aerial acrobat is dead from a fall during her performance in a Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey Circus show. Hundreds watched in horror yesterday as Dessi Espana worked with out a net, dropping about 35 feet hitting her head on concrete.
Firefighters near Corona, New Mexico report progress in containing a 4,000-acre wildfire in the Carson National Forrest. Investigators say the blaze started when someone failed to put a fire all of the way out. Word from Washington, new security rules are now in effect for passenger rail service. Commuter, transit and inner city systems are removing trashcans, assigning security coordinators and using canine bomb sniffers, among other measures.
Well it's not just guys smoking cigars around the kitchen table any more. Poker has hit the big time. We'll have the low down on the World Series of poker straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Top stories right now. Gas prices surged 14 cents over the last two weeks to a national average of $2.07 for a gallon of self-serve regular.
More severe weather expected in the Midwest today. Dozens of tornadoes have raked the heartland already this weekend.
And a ceiling collapse at Charles De Gaulle Airport outside Paris killed at least five.
Well so much for the big dice games. Never mind the blackjack tables. Right now the hottest action in Vegas is happening at the Binons (ph) Horseshoe that is where thousand of card players from around the world are trying to parlay ten grand into 3.5 million. ESPN's Norman Chad is covering this year's World Series of Poker and he joins us.
All right Norman, good to see you. Explain this. Competitors have to pay $10,000 in order to perhaps have a shot at winning $3.5 million? How does it work?
NORMAN CHAD, ESPN POKER COMMENTATOR: Yes, anybody can enter. Most all the professionals show up for it every year. It's the biggest thing in poker. You or I can pay $10,000, sit down with professionals. And actually we're so overwhelmed with entrances, it was 2,500 entrants, so the first prize actually will total $5 million dollars to somebody later this week.
WHITFIELD: Wow, well that I can see is the draw. But really overall, what is the big draw? Why are so many people, amateurs and pros, lining up to play in this World Series?
CHAD: Well, we've had a couple things happen in the last couple years. People play at home on the Internet, in the comfort of their bedrooms, day and night, so they learn to play poker on the Internet. For the first time ever in the last couple years we had a lot of poker on television where you can see what the players had in their hands and people found the poker players to be interesting. They found it interesting to have so much money at stake. And then they had found out after Chris Moneymaker, an unknown amateur accountant won the first prize last year that virtually anybody has a chance to win the first prize.
WHITFIELD: And it's remarkable isn't it that there's a huge following for the televised poker games. Who would have thought that except for the 50 million poker players out in the U.S. who love the game, who would have thought this would have been so popular on television?
CHAD: Yes, I never would have guessed, I guess maybe people are tired of watching people eat worms on reality shows. This is actually a reality show itself except it really is reality. Poker players with or without the cameras are as you see them on these poker shows and they are fascinating characters and people like to watch these different people again pushing chips back and forth across the table.
WHITFIELD: And I guess people love the notion that you don't have to be a pro but you can compete with a pro, especially if you happen to have an extra $10,000 handy to enter this World Series.
CHAD: Yes, you can't do this in other sporting endeavors or games, we wouldn't be able to play tennis against Pete Sampras or golf against Tiger Woods but you can sit down against Johnny Chan and on a given day you can beat him. Most of the time he's going to beat you, but you can beat the best poker players in the world once in a while.
WHITFIELD: You talk about how the lure has been on television and how maybe that in part is why you have so many people signing up to play. What kind of viewer ship are we talking about on the television tube?
CHAD: It's stunning. ESPN, when we put on the World Series last year, no matter when we put it on and repeated it, whether it was 3:00 in the afternoon or 3:00 in the morning, ratings always went up. People seemed to take to it. Again, I think the element that you can do what they're doing on TV is what draws a lot of people at the Horseshoe the other day people were lining up. I had never seen such lines. I thought they were giving away free turkeys or lap dances. They were in every direction.
WHITFIELD: Hey well it is Vegas. It could happen.
CHAD: It usually does happen here. Here they were lining up to pay $10,000 to sit down to try to win $5 million.
WHITFIELD: So in a couple days it's all over, right?
CHAD: It is a seven-day tournament. It just began yesterday and will be all over on Friday.
WHITFIELD: Wow! And so how is it that the winners will be announced? It's not just the person who wins or the group that wins that gets this now $5 million but there are other winnings as well, aren't there?
CHAD: Yes, well we have 2,500 players. The top 200 players will end up winning money and then at the final table, which is the final nine players alive, if you finish fifth place you will earn $1 million. Fourth place more than a $1 million. All of the way up to the $5 million for the winner. So it's the biggest actually cash prize you can get in American sports if you want to call it a sport. WHITFIELD: Well, a lot of people are calling it a sport aren't they? Well kind of paint a picture for me. Who are some of these characters you know that have entered the race or I should say the competition?
CHAD: Yes, besides, you know just hundreds of amateurs coming in, the best poker players in the world, the old day it was the old, you know, Texas road gambler who had the cowboy hat on and would go into the saloon and the smoky back room and take your money. Those guys are still around but now we have let of younger players who have been playing only on the Internet, who are in their early 20s.
You have a lot of smart guys like Howard Letterer, Chris Jesus Ferguson who are very good at math, very good at reading people. They are very intelligent guys, they have academic backgrounds and they're able to mix it up with those old Texas road gamblers and they're among the best players in the world.
WHITFIELD: You know what and I understand some of these poker players have become celebrities of sort because they are on television and they are all of these fans who are watching over and over and over again.
CHAD: If you come to Las Vegas, particularly if you come during this time, the atmosphere, these guys are like rock stars in the poker world. You know, they can't even go five feet without being stopped for an autograph. And they have become celebrities because of the television coverage that we've had for the first time in the last year or two.
WHITFIELD: And I understand one couple, Duke and Jennifer Harmon, apparently they say their lives have really changed because people recognize them and they're kind of treated with that kind of rock star favor.
CHAD: Actually, you hardly ever have women playing poker traditionally. In the last few years we do have women. Jennifer Harmon and Annie Duke are two of the best players in the world and they happen to be women and they have won major tournaments. Annie Duke won an earlier World Series tournament here a couple weeks ago so she has a chance to become the first woman to win, as does any woman enter have to be the first woman to win this $10,000 event.
WHITFIELD: Wow, everybody will be rooting for her. Norman Chad of ESPN thanks very much. Don't try to lose too much money out there while in Vegas. Because I know it's tempting.
CHAD: I stay away from trouble.
WHITFIELD: Yes, sure you do. All right. Take care.
CHAD: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, after nearly 75 years, a set of Russian treasures makes it way home finely. We will have an up close look at some truly fabulous works of art. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JACQUI JERAS, METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, severe thunderstorms continue to move across central parts of Missouri and also into northern Indiana, producing large hail and damaging winds at this time. There are tornado watches in effect across the area. However, at this time, there is no rotation. We do have one brand new severe thunderstorm watch just issued by the Storm Prediction Center. And it does include southern parts of New York and northern parts of Pennsylvania. Northern New Jersey and it does include New York City.
Now, there are some severe thunderstorms just one county away from Newark and these are likely to produce damaging winds and also hail about the size of nickels, we think, as it pushes through the area and continues to push on through the east. And could be affecting New York City. That watch will be in effect until 10:00 local time.
We also have some pop-up showers and thunderstorms across parts of the south east, into the Carolinas, just to show you the sharp contrast, Fredricka, between the temperatures here with our frontal boundary, Boston, 53, New York City 84. You know something's going to be popping' there in the northeast.
WHITFIELD: Wow that is a big extreme. All right, thanks a lot Jacqui.
Our next story has the beginnings with an Easter present from a loving husband to his wife. The husband was a Russian czar, his wife; the president was the first of the jeweled Faberge egg. Over the years many were removed from Russia, but now thanks to a Russia billionaire, nine of them have come home. CNN's Jill Dougherty has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): Easter eggs fit for a Czar, crafted by imperial jeweler Karl Faberge, gifts from two Russian emperors to the women they loved. Now, back in Russia after almost 75 years, under tight security, nine Faberge eggs arrived at the Kremlin from New York where they used to be part of the collection of American Capitalist Malcolm Forbes. Now, they belong to one of modern Russia's biggest capitalists, billionaire Viktor Vekelsberg.
VIKTOR VEKELSBERG, VICE PRESIDENT TNK APPLEGATE: OIL COMPANY, (via translator): I think I really didn't comprehended right up to the last minute that I'm the owner of this collection. I guess that will come in time.
DOUGHERTY: The eggs, along with 100 other Faberge items were to be auctioned off at Southabes (ph) but Vekelsberg stunned the art world by purchasing the entire collection for an estimated $100 million. Only 50 eggs were ever made. The Kremlin Armory has ten, but the Vekelsberg collection includes some of the most famous pieces.
(on camera): This is the very first imperial Faberge Easter egg, a gift from Czar Alexander III to his wife Maria Feodorovna. She loved it so much it became an annual tradition for the Czars and the eggs became more and more elaborate.
The carnation egg alone is worth $24 million. The new owner says he wants to bring back to Russia art that was sold abroad. And Russian tax authorities are making it easier by ending a 30 percent import duty.
MIKHAIL SHVIDKOI, FMR RUSSIAN CULTURE MINISTER: Just at the beginning of the first century this kind of -- this is very important.
DOUGHERTY: The Faberge eggs will be on display across the country. A chance for today's Russians to admire the artistic achievement of their Czars heritage. Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: "Next @ CNN" is coming up at the top of the hour, at 6:00 Eastern you'll meet the man who shot that amazing funnel cloud video from Nebraska. And at 7:00 Eastern, "People in the News" profiles Mike Myers and American idols. And I will be back with a check of the top stories after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 23, 2004 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a quick look at the headlines at this hour. One of the top U.S. commanders in Iraq is denying a published report that he knew of prisoner abuses. The report in today's "Washington Post" alleges that a midlevel officer would testify that Lieutenant General Richardo Sanchez knew of abuses at Abu Ghraib. The captain reportedly would exchange his testimony for immunity from prosecution.
Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi exiled leader, who was a White House favorite until recently, has blamed CIA director George Tenet for allegations that have apparently have wrecked his relationship with the Bush administration. Chalabi is denying U.S. allegations that he gave intelligence secrets to the government of Iran.
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon will ask his government to approve a new plan toward Israeli withdrawl from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. The prime minister's last plan was voted down decisively by his Likud Party 3 weeks ago.
Saudi Arabia has agreed to boost it's oil production by 28 percent next month. That word comes from U.S. secretary of energy Spencer Abraham after a meeting with the Saudi Oil Minister. Rising gasoline prices are becoming an increasingly important campaign issue for the Bush reelection presidency.
Well, gas prices have risen an average of a penny a day over the last 2 weeks. The Lundberg Survey shows the average price at the pump rose more than 14 cents over as many days, to $2.07. So, how are Americans reacting to months of spiraling gas prices? CNN's Miguel Marquez is with us now from Los Angeles, where the gas is way above the national average.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It always seems to be that way out here, Fredricka. And they're reacting to that by buying gas at places like Cosco, where the cheap stuff, or the not so cheap stuff anymore, is at $2.26 a gallon and the expensive stuff, the high octane, is about $2.44 here. But we're seeing signs all over Los Angeles with the high octane stuff around $2.70. So, it's much more expensive all over California.
The other thing that people are doing to react to the high gas prices is changing the cars they drive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: This Toyota dealership sells more alternative fuel vehicles than any other in the country. The reason, pretty obvious.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I drive a Jeep Cherokee and I spent about $80 a week in gas.
MARQUEZ: Californians, used to higher gas prices than the rest of the U.S. are beginning to balk at prices making a run at $3.00 a gallon. Nowhere has the effect been more immediate than the car lot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our large SUV's have -- the percentage of vehicles sold is declining.
MARQUEZ: And that trend may be playing out nationwide. Auto Data, a company that tracks vehicle sales says in April consumers bought fewer large SUVs like the Ford Explorers, Chevy Suburban, and Hummer H2. While it's still not clear if high gas prices are driving SUV sales down, pricing petroleum is driving interest in hybrids up. How many of these could you sell if you could?
CHRIS ABRAHMS,TOYOTA SALES MANAGER: We could use another 2 or 300 right now. Today.
MARQUEZ: Marketing firm J.D. Power estimates the next few years, up to 20 models of hybrid will be on U.S. roads. In yearly sales will hit half million vehicles. That's ten time what's they are now. Some consumers considering buying a hybrid say it's not just that gas prices are high, it's that they expect them to stay high.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not going to go down below $2. Probably only go up. And, yes, $3, $4. It seems likely.
MARQUEZ: And that seems to be the sentiment of a lot of people I talked to over the last couple days is that this time around the gas prices may not come back down but they expect them to stay high sort of permanently. What's going to happen in the future with those OPEC production going up, Trilbe (ph) Lundberg says that things we're going to get is the summer months coming up, will Americans tend to travel more, they are going to reformulate gas as well for the summer months. Coming up June 1st they have to do that. The economy's picking up. All of those things may negate anything that OPEC can do to increase production -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Miquel Marquez, thanks very much.
Well you might think the record high gas prices would be cooling America's love affair with sport utility vehicles across the country. Let's find out rather Csaba Csebe editor in chief of "Car and Driver" magazine. And he's in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
All right. We just saw in that report, Cseba, that in the L.A. area and we know also D.C. area dealers are reporting that there is a lowering interest in the large SUVs. Are we seeing that across the country? People are more interested in the smaller, what is being called the crossover vehicles?
CSABA CSEBE, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "CAR AND DRIVER" MAGAZINE: Well, there's definitely more interest in crossovers and mid-size SUVs. But the bottom really hasn't fallen out of the big ones. Sure some of them, the Ford Expedition, is down a little bit, Suburban and Tahoe are down a little bit. But the Dodge Durango is actually up. And there are some brand new large SUVs such as the Nissan Armada, the Infinity QX56 that didn't even exist on the market last year and they're selling pretty well. So consumers have not really abandoned these big vehicles in totality.
WHITFIELD: Not yet. Do you see that maybe over the next few months if the gas polices seem steady over $2 and out in the West Coast, near $3 that perhaps they may drop off, the interest of larger SUVs?
CSEBE: Well the steadiness of the high gas prices is the key. Because we've seen spikes in the gas prices in the late spring, early summer the last several years and consumers are conditioned to those spikes. But this one seems to have a little bit more longevity and I think that will get people's attention, particularly if it doesn't just stay at $2 but actually gets up to the $2.50 and higher level. I think above $2.50 it starts getting people's attention over a long period of time.
WHITFIELD: And Ford is saying already that people are taking notice. In particular they are reporting that people are lining for the new hybrid SUV or the smaller SUV that is going to be out on the market. They're going to make something like 20,000 a year. But already there's an e-mail interest of more than 30,000. Do you believe that, as whole consumers are a bit more conscientious of trying to be greener?
CSEBE: I don't think they're trying to be mere green. I think they are trying to look at their pocketbooks. And the Ford Escape hybrid is going to be the first SUV type vehicle with the hybrid powertrain on the market. That makes a lot of sense, because it's one thing to put a hybrid-powertrain in a small car that already gets good mileage. When you stick it in a bigger machine like an SUV you really save a lot of gas and you save a lot of money, particularly at these prices. So I think hybrid SUVs a very strong future in the next year.
WHITFIELD: Wow, how are you seeing that consumer interests and their apprehensions, perhaps even kind of dictating like never before what these car dealers are designing in the near future?
CSEBE: Well part of the problem in the car industry is that there is no near future. It takes three, four years to design a product. And at this point, you know, everyone already knows what they're going to be building in 2005 and 2006. And maybe they can adjust the mix a little bit, but I think if you're a smart car manufacturer you realize the handwriting on the wall, you better have some high-fuel economy powertrains, whether they're hybrids or potentially diesels, but there's going to be more and more demand for them in the coming years.
WHITFIELD: You think a lot of these makers though, perhaps, are having to go back to the drawing board and maybe redefine some of the designs that they have coming out in the next couple years because they're seeing that the gas issue is certainly something that's driving consumer interests?
CSEBE: I think they're certainly looking at that. The difficulty of being a manufacturer is you've got to plan your products three and four years out, while customers can change their minds overnight. So if you're a smart manufacturer, I think you cover all the bases and make sure you have that spectrum of product and hopefully you have flexible enough manufacturing plants that if consumer tastes shift quickly you can shift your production to match.
WHITFIELD: Csaba Csebe thanks very much of "Car and Driver" magazine. Always good talking to you.
CSEBE: My pleasure.
WHITFIELD: Back now to the top story on severe weather. Tornado ravaged Nebraska is in a state of emergency. Governor Mike Johanns made the declaration today just before touring Hallam where a twister damaged or destroyed every home in that town.
The governor is now on the telephone with us joining us from Hallam. You're not on the phone, you're there right there, we get a chance to see you. Good, that worked out. All right, well you toured Hallam, is that the hardest hit area? What did you see?
GOV. MIKE JOHANNS, NEBRASKA: Yes, that's ground zero. Hellam, Nebraska, was hit very, very hard. It's a community of about 300 people. And my observation was that literally every house, every business was devastated. I'll be surprised if there are really any buildings that are usable. It was literally the tornado parked down right on that community.
WHITFIELD: Tell me a little bit more about that community. Is that a fairly densely populated community? Are the properties built fairly tight? Is that why the devastation was so widespread?
JOHANNS: Right, it's a small Nebraska town. It's a rural community. It would be kind of a small community for that rural area. So houses are fairly close to each other. But a fairly typical Nebraska community that just ran into a very, very devastating storm cell.
WHITFIELD: What about the warnings? What kind of notice did most residents have about this string of tornadoes that might be coming through the area?
JOHANNS: Well, the weather was picking up and warnings were out. Every circumstance is different, however. There are probably some homes there that did not have basements. Many did, and that can impact a person's safety. So, to me it's remarkable that we haven't had far more death and personal injury. When you look at that town, there just was not a lot left.
WHITFIELD: Where have many of the displaced residents gone?
JOHANNS: Last night we brought them to a high school in Lincoln. We put them up for the evening. And now they -- they're finding home with friends, with family. But last evening we actually evacuated the community. We had live wires down. We had gas leaks. It was just a very, very dangerous situation. Little by little today now they're starting to get back and try to salvage what they can.
WHITFIELD: You've got a chance to see Hallam first hand. Any estimation on the dollar figure damage?
JOHANNS: Well, I'm very confident in telling you we'll meet the federal guidelines for both individual programs; grant loan programs for state municipal type programs, also. There's a lot of damage. We haven't done any preliminary assessment, but we're now about 120 homes totally devastated or so damaged that they're not habitable through that area. So it was pretty devastating.
WHITFIELD: After, you know, tornanic activity like this causing widespread damage, it is hard to look ahead but often times a community has already made a decision at the initial assessment when they want to start rebuilding. What are residents saying?
JOHANNS: I had talked to one resident who had grown up there and he expressed to me that he hoped he could stay. He loved the community. I hope they can, too. I would just say it appears to me, however, that if someone wants to stay, they're going to be rebuilding their home from the ground up. I didn't see anything in Hallam that looked habitable. That community was just devastated. Trees everywhere. They're down. The houses are off their foundation, or totally gone. Just a remarkable, unbelievable devastation.
WHITFIELD: Is this an area that has dealt with twisters before, perhaps not of this magnitude but twisters, nonetheless?
JOHANNS: Yes, we have twisters through Nebraska. Out here on the plains, that's what we deal with. An oceanside community may look for hurricanes, twisters and blizzards and that kind of thing. We can face those in the spring and last night was especially active. We had sighted 18 in southern Nebraska alone, 18 twisters by 8:00 last night. It just didn't let up. We had a storm pattern that kept coming through and dumping large amounts of rain and twisters. It was just a bad situation.
WHITFIELD: Governor Mike Johanns. Thanks very much for joining us. Best of luck to all of those trying to rebuild and restore their lives after all of this.
JOHANNS: Thank you very much.
WHITFIELD: Elsewhere across America, in St. Paul, Minnesota, an aerial acrobat is dead from a fall during her performance in a Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey Circus show. Hundreds watched in horror yesterday as Dessi Espana worked with out a net, dropping about 35 feet hitting her head on concrete.
Firefighters near Corona, New Mexico report progress in containing a 4,000-acre wildfire in the Carson National Forrest. Investigators say the blaze started when someone failed to put a fire all of the way out. Word from Washington, new security rules are now in effect for passenger rail service. Commuter, transit and inner city systems are removing trashcans, assigning security coordinators and using canine bomb sniffers, among other measures.
Well it's not just guys smoking cigars around the kitchen table any more. Poker has hit the big time. We'll have the low down on the World Series of poker straight ahead.
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WHITFIELD: Top stories right now. Gas prices surged 14 cents over the last two weeks to a national average of $2.07 for a gallon of self-serve regular.
More severe weather expected in the Midwest today. Dozens of tornadoes have raked the heartland already this weekend.
And a ceiling collapse at Charles De Gaulle Airport outside Paris killed at least five.
Well so much for the big dice games. Never mind the blackjack tables. Right now the hottest action in Vegas is happening at the Binons (ph) Horseshoe that is where thousand of card players from around the world are trying to parlay ten grand into 3.5 million. ESPN's Norman Chad is covering this year's World Series of Poker and he joins us.
All right Norman, good to see you. Explain this. Competitors have to pay $10,000 in order to perhaps have a shot at winning $3.5 million? How does it work?
NORMAN CHAD, ESPN POKER COMMENTATOR: Yes, anybody can enter. Most all the professionals show up for it every year. It's the biggest thing in poker. You or I can pay $10,000, sit down with professionals. And actually we're so overwhelmed with entrances, it was 2,500 entrants, so the first prize actually will total $5 million dollars to somebody later this week.
WHITFIELD: Wow, well that I can see is the draw. But really overall, what is the big draw? Why are so many people, amateurs and pros, lining up to play in this World Series?
CHAD: Well, we've had a couple things happen in the last couple years. People play at home on the Internet, in the comfort of their bedrooms, day and night, so they learn to play poker on the Internet. For the first time ever in the last couple years we had a lot of poker on television where you can see what the players had in their hands and people found the poker players to be interesting. They found it interesting to have so much money at stake. And then they had found out after Chris Moneymaker, an unknown amateur accountant won the first prize last year that virtually anybody has a chance to win the first prize.
WHITFIELD: And it's remarkable isn't it that there's a huge following for the televised poker games. Who would have thought that except for the 50 million poker players out in the U.S. who love the game, who would have thought this would have been so popular on television?
CHAD: Yes, I never would have guessed, I guess maybe people are tired of watching people eat worms on reality shows. This is actually a reality show itself except it really is reality. Poker players with or without the cameras are as you see them on these poker shows and they are fascinating characters and people like to watch these different people again pushing chips back and forth across the table.
WHITFIELD: And I guess people love the notion that you don't have to be a pro but you can compete with a pro, especially if you happen to have an extra $10,000 handy to enter this World Series.
CHAD: Yes, you can't do this in other sporting endeavors or games, we wouldn't be able to play tennis against Pete Sampras or golf against Tiger Woods but you can sit down against Johnny Chan and on a given day you can beat him. Most of the time he's going to beat you, but you can beat the best poker players in the world once in a while.
WHITFIELD: You talk about how the lure has been on television and how maybe that in part is why you have so many people signing up to play. What kind of viewer ship are we talking about on the television tube?
CHAD: It's stunning. ESPN, when we put on the World Series last year, no matter when we put it on and repeated it, whether it was 3:00 in the afternoon or 3:00 in the morning, ratings always went up. People seemed to take to it. Again, I think the element that you can do what they're doing on TV is what draws a lot of people at the Horseshoe the other day people were lining up. I had never seen such lines. I thought they were giving away free turkeys or lap dances. They were in every direction.
WHITFIELD: Hey well it is Vegas. It could happen.
CHAD: It usually does happen here. Here they were lining up to pay $10,000 to sit down to try to win $5 million.
WHITFIELD: So in a couple days it's all over, right?
CHAD: It is a seven-day tournament. It just began yesterday and will be all over on Friday.
WHITFIELD: Wow! And so how is it that the winners will be announced? It's not just the person who wins or the group that wins that gets this now $5 million but there are other winnings as well, aren't there?
CHAD: Yes, well we have 2,500 players. The top 200 players will end up winning money and then at the final table, which is the final nine players alive, if you finish fifth place you will earn $1 million. Fourth place more than a $1 million. All of the way up to the $5 million for the winner. So it's the biggest actually cash prize you can get in American sports if you want to call it a sport. WHITFIELD: Well, a lot of people are calling it a sport aren't they? Well kind of paint a picture for me. Who are some of these characters you know that have entered the race or I should say the competition?
CHAD: Yes, besides, you know just hundreds of amateurs coming in, the best poker players in the world, the old day it was the old, you know, Texas road gambler who had the cowboy hat on and would go into the saloon and the smoky back room and take your money. Those guys are still around but now we have let of younger players who have been playing only on the Internet, who are in their early 20s.
You have a lot of smart guys like Howard Letterer, Chris Jesus Ferguson who are very good at math, very good at reading people. They are very intelligent guys, they have academic backgrounds and they're able to mix it up with those old Texas road gamblers and they're among the best players in the world.
WHITFIELD: You know what and I understand some of these poker players have become celebrities of sort because they are on television and they are all of these fans who are watching over and over and over again.
CHAD: If you come to Las Vegas, particularly if you come during this time, the atmosphere, these guys are like rock stars in the poker world. You know, they can't even go five feet without being stopped for an autograph. And they have become celebrities because of the television coverage that we've had for the first time in the last year or two.
WHITFIELD: And I understand one couple, Duke and Jennifer Harmon, apparently they say their lives have really changed because people recognize them and they're kind of treated with that kind of rock star favor.
CHAD: Actually, you hardly ever have women playing poker traditionally. In the last few years we do have women. Jennifer Harmon and Annie Duke are two of the best players in the world and they happen to be women and they have won major tournaments. Annie Duke won an earlier World Series tournament here a couple weeks ago so she has a chance to become the first woman to win, as does any woman enter have to be the first woman to win this $10,000 event.
WHITFIELD: Wow, everybody will be rooting for her. Norman Chad of ESPN thanks very much. Don't try to lose too much money out there while in Vegas. Because I know it's tempting.
CHAD: I stay away from trouble.
WHITFIELD: Yes, sure you do. All right. Take care.
CHAD: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, after nearly 75 years, a set of Russian treasures makes it way home finely. We will have an up close look at some truly fabulous works of art. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JACQUI JERAS, METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, severe thunderstorms continue to move across central parts of Missouri and also into northern Indiana, producing large hail and damaging winds at this time. There are tornado watches in effect across the area. However, at this time, there is no rotation. We do have one brand new severe thunderstorm watch just issued by the Storm Prediction Center. And it does include southern parts of New York and northern parts of Pennsylvania. Northern New Jersey and it does include New York City.
Now, there are some severe thunderstorms just one county away from Newark and these are likely to produce damaging winds and also hail about the size of nickels, we think, as it pushes through the area and continues to push on through the east. And could be affecting New York City. That watch will be in effect until 10:00 local time.
We also have some pop-up showers and thunderstorms across parts of the south east, into the Carolinas, just to show you the sharp contrast, Fredricka, between the temperatures here with our frontal boundary, Boston, 53, New York City 84. You know something's going to be popping' there in the northeast.
WHITFIELD: Wow that is a big extreme. All right, thanks a lot Jacqui.
Our next story has the beginnings with an Easter present from a loving husband to his wife. The husband was a Russian czar, his wife; the president was the first of the jeweled Faberge egg. Over the years many were removed from Russia, but now thanks to a Russia billionaire, nine of them have come home. CNN's Jill Dougherty has the story.
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JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): Easter eggs fit for a Czar, crafted by imperial jeweler Karl Faberge, gifts from two Russian emperors to the women they loved. Now, back in Russia after almost 75 years, under tight security, nine Faberge eggs arrived at the Kremlin from New York where they used to be part of the collection of American Capitalist Malcolm Forbes. Now, they belong to one of modern Russia's biggest capitalists, billionaire Viktor Vekelsberg.
VIKTOR VEKELSBERG, VICE PRESIDENT TNK APPLEGATE: OIL COMPANY, (via translator): I think I really didn't comprehended right up to the last minute that I'm the owner of this collection. I guess that will come in time.
DOUGHERTY: The eggs, along with 100 other Faberge items were to be auctioned off at Southabes (ph) but Vekelsberg stunned the art world by purchasing the entire collection for an estimated $100 million. Only 50 eggs were ever made. The Kremlin Armory has ten, but the Vekelsberg collection includes some of the most famous pieces.
(on camera): This is the very first imperial Faberge Easter egg, a gift from Czar Alexander III to his wife Maria Feodorovna. She loved it so much it became an annual tradition for the Czars and the eggs became more and more elaborate.
The carnation egg alone is worth $24 million. The new owner says he wants to bring back to Russia art that was sold abroad. And Russian tax authorities are making it easier by ending a 30 percent import duty.
MIKHAIL SHVIDKOI, FMR RUSSIAN CULTURE MINISTER: Just at the beginning of the first century this kind of -- this is very important.
DOUGHERTY: The Faberge eggs will be on display across the country. A chance for today's Russians to admire the artistic achievement of their Czars heritage. Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: "Next @ CNN" is coming up at the top of the hour, at 6:00 Eastern you'll meet the man who shot that amazing funnel cloud video from Nebraska. And at 7:00 Eastern, "People in the News" profiles Mike Myers and American idols. And I will be back with a check of the top stories after this break.
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