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Wyoming, Federal Government Battle Over Protecting Livestock From Wolves; New Screening System Could Help Spot Explosives In Cargo Holds

Aired October 23, 2004 - 15:00   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.


FREDRIKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, NEXT@CNN: Senator Kerry told a crowd in Colorado that Bush is going around the country trying to scare people. At least 14 people were killed in three separate acts of violence in Iraq today. Twelve of the victims were Iraqis killed in a pair of suicide car bombings. The third attack was a drive-by shooting that killed a pair of Turkish truck drivers.
Coming up at 4:00 Eastern, we'll have a live report from Carl Penhaul in Baghdad. He'll have the latest on the day's violence in Iraq.

American astronaut Michael Fink is about to return to Earth following a six-month stay aboard the international space station. He and two Russian cosmonauts will begin their ride home in a Russian capsule later on today. Fink looks forward to meeting the baby daughter his wife gave birth to while he was aboard the space station.

And now it is time to see how the weather is shaping up around the country. Here's meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It will be a stormy day today across the nation's midsection from Michigan extending all the way down into Mississippi. A slight risk of severe thunderstorms producing damaging winds, large hail and even an isolated tornado can't be ruled out. We'll be wet for everybody from Minneapolis extending through St. Louis, Indianapolis today down to New Orleans. High pressure dominating your weather here across the East, but there is quite a bit of surface moisture. And that is why a lot of you had a very foggy start this morning. However, those clouds will be on the increase throughout the day for today and the rain should be arriving by tomorrow afternoon. So at least it should be nice and dry for the game tonight in Boston.

Across the West, a cold front draping its way through parts of the inner mountain west. You will see snowfall levels down to about 3500 feet into the cascades. A little bit of snow expected into the Sierra Nevada's and the mountains across Idaho and into Montana. High pressure sandwiched in between those two systems making for a nice day for you in Denver and also a good day in Goodland, Kansas. Temperature wise will be cool across much of the West, 55 degrees in Salt Lake City. Nice day in Phoenix with 79 with a cool 50 in Boston, 70 degrees this afternoon in Atlanta. Fred, back to you.

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

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, Wyoming and the feds battle over how to protect live stock with out wiping out wolves.

Also a new screening system could spot explosives in cargo headed for commercial airliners. So why isn't it installed everywhere? And some archaeological treasures of Rome that tourists never see. All that and more on NEXT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice over): More Americans will vote electronically on November 2nd than ever before. Is the technology up to the task though? Well, Republicans and Democrats both have their legal teams on high alert in case of ballot problems. So what's really changed since the debacle of the Florida vote and recount of 2000?

Before hanging chads had such an effect on the last presidential election, most Americans never gave the act of voting much thought. Crank a lever, punch a hole, come on how hard can it be, right? Well in a lot of places, things hadn't changed in decades. These days high tech voting machines come with everything from touch screens to a spinning scroll wheel. You need to insert a smart card in some or punch a number into others. The aim is to make it all simple, secure and accurate.

MICHAEL ALVAREZ, CALIF. INSTITUTE OF TECH: Unfortunately I think my guess is that we'll find there will be a number of places throughout the country that will experience substantial problems with the electoral process on November 2nd.

SIEBERG: Researchers from Caltech (ph) and MIT have been analyzing the fall out of 2000. And those we spoke to say the big problems this time around are just as likely to happen because of human error such as improperly trained poll workers as it is with computer malfunction. Of course, the scariest scenario involves a hack attack. Unlikely, the experts say, but not impossible.

DAVID DILL, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: I'm not an anti computer person. SIEBERG: Despite or perhaps because of its computer background, Stanford professor David Dill is an outspoken critic of electronic voting. He worries about things like a company insider who could program the machines to malfunction or skew the results.

DILL: The worst thing that could happen I think with electronic voting is a hack that goes into the software before it's distributed to thousands of machines around the country and then a very small number of people, possibly only one, could have made that change that affects thousands and thousands of votes.

SIEBERG (on camera): Thomas Edison actually invented an electronic voting machine way back in 1869. His idea never caught on. As these maps illustrate since that time, more and more counties have invested in some type of voting machine whether it's high tech or low tech right up to today. This is what the country will look like on November 2 and the purple color represents any county that has invested in an electronic voting machine. In fact about one-third of the country will use them. One day the entire country could be purple. So experts say we better get it right.

SIEBERG (voice over): After 2000 in Georgia and Nevada every precinct has gone electric. Counties in another 26 states are also using electronic voting and almost one-third of the voters in the country will use some form of high-tech machine. Many analyst say the pressure to not be Florida has caused a rush into new unproven technology. Critics say, whoa, slow down.

DILL: Because the touch screen machines seem to be the newest, shiniest machines, I think that they were very attractive to people.

SIEBERG: MIT's Ted Selker says voting problems aren't new. With computers, new things could go wrong. And he says some poll workers simply don't get enough training on the high-tech devices. To make his point Selker showed us some photos he took while observing Nevada's statewide election in September. For example no one told this well meaning gentleman that he didn't need a number 2 pencil go jab the touch screen. Selker also showed us a rather low-tech solution to handling a paper jam this woman had scissors to cut people's ballots and then paste them together.

TED SELKER, MIT: One out of 20 printers that I saw jammed at some time during the day. We have to be careful about how we treat the ballots as we are going from the voting machines to the tallies.

SIEBERG: The makers of the machines say no matter what new concerns there are, electronic voting is still much better than anything else.

MICHELLE SHAFER: I think the electronic voting industry has gotten a bum rap because people are not comparing electronic voting technology with lever machines with punch cards with known inferior voting methods. They are comparing them with things that need utmost security like missiles and weapons devices.

SIEBERG: And then there's the issue of paper. Nevada has a statewide paper trail. The only one to do so. But most electronic voting machines are paperless. Without paper Dill says, many voters will not be sure that their vote was recorded accurately.

DILL: With a paper based system you can see the ballots being marked and you can see them going into a ballot box. If you have good laws, you can go watch them count the ballots. And with electronic voting, all of that stuff is hidden inside the machines.

SIEBERG: Computers crash. Programs fail. No technology is perfect. But with so much on the line, people need assurances that their votes will be counted, not those of some ghost of the machine.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SIEBERG: Well as the poster child for ballot problems, Florida was in the spotlight this week when its polls opened for early voting. John Zarrella reports on how things went on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the first day of early voting in Florida supervisors of elections heard the two words that make them cringe. Technical glitch.

BRENDA SNIPES: I do see that the first day of early voting we did have some technical things that need to be worked out. And I think that's just almost the nature of the beast but we're on top of it.

ZARRELLA: In a state much maligned for its seemingly recent inability to run a problem-free election. The issues election officials state wide dealt with were more spotty than chronic. While voting machines worked, support equipment didn't always. In Broward County, voters stood in line for more than one hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's easier to get a flu shot than to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very frustrated, I've been here since quarter after eight this morning.

ZARRELLA: Computers at several of the 14 polling stations open in Broward County were not talking to computers at the supervisor's office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem here is that there is a problem with the connection with the main frame computer.

ZARRELLA: Across the state, there were a variety of issues. Some technical, but not all. In Orange County, which includes Orlando, computers went down for 10 minutes. Reason unknown. In Palm Beach County, a state legislator said she was not given a complete absentee ballot. In Duval County the supervisor of elections resigned, citing health reasons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Well as the week went on some officials said the glitches were being worked out, but the long lines continue. Now there's at least one American who won't have to stand in line to vote in this election. Astronaut Leroy Chow who arrived at the International Space Station last weekend for a six-month stay. He gets to vote from space. He's using a secure e-mail connection to cast his ballot and remember there are no exit polls in space.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we come back, the Florida Everglades are home to some invader species that might even scare the gators. We'll tell you how they got there.

And later in the show, what was that bulge on President Bush's back during the first debate? We'll tell you some of the theories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Some sad news from Thailand this week for animal lovers. At least 30 tigers at a private zoo died of bird flu in less than a week. Officials decided to euthanasia another 40 that were sick with the disease. More than 400 tigers were at the tiger zoo. They were all fed raw chicken which could be the source of the bird flu. The bird flu has killed more than thirty people in Asia this year. And forced the culling of millions of birds.

And hundreds of giant squid have been washing up dead in southwest Washington State. It's not clear what's hilling these humble jumble flying squid. Wildlife officials do say the creatures normally die after they spawn so this may be part of a normal cycle. They say stormy weather may have washed them ashore.

And you've no doubt heard the stories about alligators living in the sewers of New York after they were dumped as unwanted pets. But down in Florida where alligators are suppose to live, officials are worried about another kind of abandoned pet that is turning up in gator territory. John Zarrella returns with that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice over): Everglades National Park biologist Skip Snow and wildfire technician Laurie Overhofer (ph) have a problem, snakes. Not just any snake, one particular kind. The Burmese python.

SKIP SNOW, PARK BIOLOGIST: Wild born. Didn't buy it at a pet shop.

ZARRELLA: To the biologist, this python, they call him Bob born in the glades is a bad sign. Like Bob found on the side of a park road, pythons are turning up by the dozens and may be gaining a dangerous foothold.

SNOW: In the last 10 months, to this date, we've removed or found dead 36 Burmese pythons, that is more than three a month so far and the year is not out.

ZARRELLA: National park biologist are convinced the pythons now turning up in the glades were one-time pets. When they got too big, the owners let them loose in the park. Snow and Overhover (ph) have no idea how many are out there, but they do know they are not all cute little babies like Bob. Last February a photographer Mike Merciay (ph) captured these images of a giant python perhaps 12 feet long tangling with a Florida alligator.

Biologists think the gator probably won but there's no proof. The carcass was never found. The park service has found other large pythons, too. One measuring more than 12.5 feet. Another more than 10 feet. And the growth occurs in no time at all.

ZARRELLA (on camera) Park biologists say that with in the first two years of its life, the Burmese python can grow to nine feet long, and that, they say is when people who keep them as pets decide they are much too difficult to handle. Miami-Dade County's venom response unit routinely gets calls about snakes that were one-time pets, now on the loose. These are some of the reptiles they've captured.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a call that came in Friday came in through our fire alarm dispatch center from PD, which is the police department. Reference a loose snake in the yard. We got a call that said an individual had this snake in their yard it was chasing their cat around the back yard trying to eat them.

ZARRELLA: Though pythons are not poisonous, the scientists fear they'll be a serious threat to native birds and small mammals if they have established themselves here. It happened on the island of Guam where brown tree snakes were accidentally introduced.

LORI OVERHOFER, WILDLIFE TECHNICIAN: When you walk into the forests in Guam, it's silence. You won't hear any birds. You can even hear the flies in the trees because there's no native wildlife. The snake has pretty much just designated everything.

ZARRELLA: The Everglade's biologist don't believe the pythons can cause that level of destruction here. Besides the American alligator, there are no other animals in the glades to keep the pythons in check.

SNOW: Once they get bigger, once they exceed the size of the native snakes, seven, eight, nine feet and get out of that range our predators are comfortable with, if you will, it's unlikely they have much of a natural predator here.

ZARRELLA: In hopes of eradicating the snakes, road patrols have been increased, traps have been set and a dog is being trained to sniff for pythons. This is one nuisance snake in the river of grass the park could do without.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up what kind of car does the discriminating car thief drive? We'll tell you what's most likely to be stolen and why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: It's come up in every presidential debate and the 9/11 commission called it a "major vulnerability." The fact that most cargo that goes on passenger planes is not screen for explosives. Kathleen Koch reports on what is and isn't being done to keep bombs out of cargo holds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Machines just screen luggage and instead checking boxes of cargo for bombs. CNN got a first look at this test under way at three airports. Safety officials call it promising and insist cargo screening is as an all- time high.

MARK HATFIELD, TSA SPOKESMAN: We added 100 new cargo inspectors last year and we just got funding to get another 100 of them so that human element goes into the mix. We're increasing the number of dog teams and canine detection units.

KOCH: Carrying cargo brings in 10 percent of passenger airline revenue. But since Congress in 1990 first suggested all cargo be checked for explosives, airlines and shippers worried about delays have balked.

JIM MAY, AIR TRANSPORT ASSOC: It would have the potential of destroying that industry. Again, the goal that we're trying to achieve here is the maximum amount of screening possible given the technology that's available.

KOCH: In January, the government required airlines to begin randomly inspecting cargo. Federal and airline officials admit most air cargo still goes unchecked. For families who lost loved ones aboard Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 it's a troubling fact.

PAUL HUDSON, FATHER OF PAN AM 103 VICTIM: I would call on the airlines to voluntarily either ban cargo entirely or to screen whatever they are taking. The amount of revenue they would lose is very small compared to the consequences should we be attacked as the Russian airliners were last month.

KOCH: Though it's not believed bombs in cargo were responsible in those cases, the U.S. in September began requiring all cargo on nonstop flights from Moscow to the U.S. be screened for explosives. It's a precaution Israel already takes for all of its air cargo.

REP. EDWARD MARKEY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: It is possible to screen every piece of cargo which goes on to passenger planes in the United States. It's not a question of technology. It's a question of will.

KOCH: Boston's Logan airport has tested a system an x-ray system for screening large amounts of air cargo and the government is about to announce $24 million in grants to six companies developing other screening technology.

KOCH (on camera): Still, experts say it would take up to five years to get even proven technology in place to screen the cargo on the U.S.'s 33,000 flights a day. So for now, Congress is ordering random cargo screening tripled and closer scrutiny of those who send shipments on passenger aircraft.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SEIBERG: All right from airports to seaports. The nation's ports are another concern for security officials. This week the port of Corpus Christi Texas got a sophisticated new security system. Dave Johnson from our affiliate KIII has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the site where the baseball stadium is being constructed.

DAVE JOHNSON, KIII (voice over): It's called a graphical system interface.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can manipulate and maneuver around anything in this area in three dimension.

JOHNSON: The old port security system was a bank of TV monitors that human eyes had to watch. The new system by a company called Vistascape is comprised of a virtual satellite view. At a series of more than 30 cameras on the ground. The view will cover a 23-mile stretch from Harbor Island to the ship channel. The triangles you see here represent the camera's line of sight and can be changed on a moment's notice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a video camera pick up this car moving along here. If I want to see it on a live view I just click on it and the camera pops up.

JOHNSON: Each individual camera can go up, down, left, right, in or out. Look here as thermal imaging on the virtual camera shows a series of human bodies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can get really close.

JOHNSON: One click and a camera zooms in to show it's a military personnel and their cargo.

LUTHER KIM, CHIEF OF PORT SECURITY: It will set off an alarm any time there's any movement out here that we know to be unauthorized and we set policies to determine what's authorized and who should be where and who shouldn't be where.

JOHNSON: Those policies are marked with blue and purple lines and can be changed at a moment's notice. Watch here as a boat approaches the harbor bridge designated as no man's land for unauthorized traffic.

KIM: Unlike the old system you don't have to be here looking at individual camera monitors. When a policy is violated, an alarm comes up. A camera comes up and shows us what is actually going on. You get a 30-second replay of what happened immediately prior to the alarm so that we know what's going on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: The first Vistascape system was bought by the U.S. Navy to use in San Diego. Other customers include several other seaports and a couple of airports. Stay with transportation and moving on to cars now. Insurance industry came out this week with its annual list of which automobiles make car thieves eyes light up. Julie Vallese has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): $10,000 bucks, that's what some of the after market tire and rim packages on the Cadillac Escalade will cost vehicle owners. No wonder more and more car thieves are making off with the glitzy truck. KIM HAZELBAKER, HIGHWAY LOSS DATA INSTITUTE: The Cadillac Escalade EXT is the most popular amongst thieves this year.

VALLESE: The Escalade SUV model was number one last year on the Highway Loss Data Institute list of stolen vehicles. This year it's number three.

HAZELBAKER: They are pop icon vehicles for whatever reason that might be. After all, Tony Soprano does drive an Escalade.

VALLESE: In statement General Motors said, while we regret any vehicles being stolen, this is clear evidence that the Cadillac Escalade is in high demand. Number two on the list Nissan's 2002 and 2003 Maxima. Often all thieves want are the lights that cost about $1,500.

HAZELBAKER: For a thief to take a headlight from the 2002, 2003 models and retrofit it into a 2001 model vehicle for instance and all of a sudden his car looks like the brand new ones.

VALLESE: But a design change in the current model may cut down on theft that because the new headlight design won't fit in older models. As for the vehicles least likely to be stolen, the Buick Lesaber, Buick Park Avenue, Ford Taurus, Buick Rendezvous (ph), and Saturn station wagon.

HAZELBAKER: There are vehicles that may in fact spend most of their nights in a suburban garage under lock and key.

VALLESE: Overall the Highway Loss Data Institute says fewer vehicles are being stolen, but the ones that are, are more expensive with more expensive parts. So overall, theft losses remain the same.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up in our next half hour meet a man who rescues reptiles in trouble and often gets bitten for his trouble.

And if you are bored by today's telephones, how would you like to communicate by hologram? Those stories and a lot more are coming up after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. All right, it's time for an update on the Maryland bear hunt which is set to begin next week. Now this Monday, a judge rejected a lawsuit by animal protection groups trying to block the hunt. He said the plaintiff did not prove that they would be irreparably harmed if the hunt went forward. And, we got e-mail this week from some of you, some claiming that we were biased in favor of the anti-hunting groups.

Well, we need to point out that our original report, which aired two weeks ago, gave plenty of air time to a couple living in western Maryland who were worried about their children's safety. And the state official who argued the bears needed to be controlled by a hunt. We got lots of e-mails after the report aired, all of them opposing the hunt. So, that's what we used in the show last week. Now the other side has weighed in, so let's give them equal time.

Paul in Urbana, Illinois writes, "The bears live in the panhandle counties, not downtown Baltimore or Annapolis. Yet, it is the people of large urban areas that think god has appointed them to decide how rural people must be forced to live!"

Jennifer in Grantville, Maryland writes: "I find it very interesting of the three e-mails you aired, none of the respondents were from western Maryland, the actual region in which the bear hunt will take place." She goes on to say, "The majority of residents can no longer allow their children to play in the backyard or enjoy walking through the forest for fear that they would be mauled by the bears," and she concludes, "Many of us who live here share the nonresidents' concern and are equally sad that some of the bears must be killed. However, we should be entitled to our safety and the bears are entitled to ecological balance."

So, the debate goes on. And we work to cover all sides of every issue that we report on and we try to do the same when we read viewer e-mails on the air. So, let's hear from you. You can send us an e- mail anytime at NEXT@CNN.com.

All right, well, out West it's wolves that have some ranchers worried. And the debate over how to control them has federal officials and their Wyoming counterparts snarling at each other. Gary Strieker has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cattle ranching is big business in the American West. And if there's a threat to the cattle business in Wyoming, say from packs of wild wolves coming from Yellowstone National Park, the state government takes action to deal with it.

PATRICK CRANK, ATTORNEY GENERAL WYOMING: There are just parts of Wyoming where it's not appropriate to have a wolf population.

STREIKER: Under Wyoming's plan, wolves in most parts of the state could be legally killed on site, like other animals describes as predators.

CRANK: For instance, jack rabbits, skunks, and stray cats.

STREIKER: But, federal authorities say wolves deserve better than that.

EDWARD BANGS, U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICES: Wyoming's plan is unacceptable.

STREIKER: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has invested lots of time and money to bring wild wolves back to the northern Rocky Mountains. Many decades after ranchers wiped them out across the West. BANGS: The only reason they'll disappear again is if people are allowed to kill too many. so there has to be government regulation of people killing wolves.

STREIKER: wolves in this region are still listed as protected wildlife under federal law. But, there are now more than 700 wolf wolfs in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it's time to remove that protection. But only after all three states adopt acceptable wolf management plans. Montana and Idaho have done that, but not Wyoming where state authorities claim their plan was rejected because the feds are intimidated by environmental groups.

CRANK: The Wyoming Wolf Management Plan is legal and should have been approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

STREIKER: Wyoming has filed a lawsuit to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to approve its plan for dealing with wolves. But for now, wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains remain under federal protection.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: All right. Well, elsewhere, there were wildebeests roaming the streets of Fort Wayne, Indiana this week. Five of the animals escaped from the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo on Tuesday while zookeepers were trying to herd them into the winter quarters. The wildebeests hightailed it through a residential area and were recaptured after a chase, but two of them broke their legs and had to be euthanized.

Elsewhere, the Louisiana SPCA was called in Monday to rescue about 70 rabbits from a home near New Orleans. Officials said the homeowner bought two rabbits last year, and guess what? They did what rabbits do, and soon this house was swarming with bunnies, chewing the furniture and burrowing into mattresses. What a mess. Well, the owner finally called for help, the SPCA said the rabbits were all healthy, well fed and clean, even though the house wasn't. The agency is looking for new homes for the bunnies.

Well, rescuing fuzzy bunnies is one thing, but what if you've got a rattlesnake that needs rescuing? Well, if you are in Sonoma County, California, you call Al Wolf. Curtis Kim from our affiliate KFTY has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CURTIS KIM, KFTY REPORTER: Welcome to the sabastical (PH) home of Al Wolf. Not much different from any other house, other than his pets.

Welcome to Sonoma County Reptile Rescue.

AL WOLF, SONOMA COUNTY REPTILE RESCUE: Very few of our snakes have names. This one does. And what I'll do here is bring him out and, like I say, Western Diamond Back Rattle Snakes can get pretty darn large. This one we call "Rambo."

KIM: Al Wolf has been a lover of reptiles since childhood.

WOLF: We have boa constrictors here, Dumerils boas, we have pythons, we have anacondas in here, we have a lot more rattlesnakes on the bottom.

KIM: And it's not just snakes. How about tortoises and buffalo. Yes, buffalo -- four of them.

WOLF: I've had them since 1990, so I've had them 14 years. And, you know, they occasionally give you a baby.

KIM: Injuries? You bet! He's been bit at least 11 times by poisonous snakes and the like. His closest encounter came when he was looking for a rattler.

WOLF: I was wearing sunglasses and I had them on my forehead and I just put them down on my face and I was pulling backwards, and the snake was right above the rock, struck and hit right in the glasses. I mean, did the adrenalin flow? I don't even remember touching the bottom of the rock pile. I mean, I just sprung down and -- you know, the first thing that -- "Man, am I lucky." I took off the sunglasses and looked at the venom on them and I said, "Am I a lucky guy."

KIM: Wolf helps local humane societies retrieve unwanted snakes and other reptiles. You might say he even jumps at the chance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Just ahead: Why the idea of turning corn into plastic just got wildly popular.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice-over): Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love is now showing the love to wireless internet users. The city is building a free wireless internet zone covering the entire metropolitan area. Using Wi-Fi wireless networking technology, Philly started the project with a hot spot in a downtown park earlier this year and that project led to the ambitious goal, becoming the first major U.S. city to offer free wireless high-speed internet access to everyone by early 2006

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: As a price of oil climbs people start paying more attention to alternatives and we're not just talking about alternative fuels for your vehicle. Ceci Rodgers reports on a way to make plastic without petroleum.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CECI RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Turning this into this is not really new. What's changed is this, oil prices surging past $50 a barrel. Suddenly, oil-based plastics no longer have a big price advantage over plastic made from corn. The timing could not be better for joint venture Cargill-Dow, which launched production last year.

KATHLEEN BADER, CEO, CARGILL-DOW: Sales of our product are up 60 percent on the nine-month bases over the previous nine months. We've seen a clear trend of adoption by companies that are more environmentally focused.

RODGERS: Wild Oats Markets is the first American grosser to switch to what it calls "corntainers." The company says sales at the deli counter rose 17 percent after the containers were introduced.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems to be easier on the environment, probably cheaper in the long run. You know, how can that be bad?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that plastic comes from -- you know, petroleum and our reserves are going down anyhow, so if there's an alternative, it sounds like a good idea.

RODGERS: Wild Oats will soon carry bottled water and cutlery made from the biodegradable plastic. Plastic containers made from corn are arriving in more mainstream grocery stores too. Del Monte has decided to use the packaging for its cut up fruits and veggies. Americans have lagged behind the Japanese and Europeans who already use corn plastics for everything from synthetic fabrics plastic to Sony walkman. But, that's changing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then we're going to us springtime painting in that closet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

RODGERS: At this exclusive home furnishing store in Chicago, shoppers are snapping up designer carpet tiles made from corn plastic.

JASON BALLEW, OWNER, ABODE: That's been one of the best selling products that we have here at Abode.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm more conscious about environmentally sound products. That is important to me and that makes a difference in my life.

RODGERS: It's attitudes like that that has Cargill-Dow predicting a doubling in production and sales every year for the foreseeable future.

(on camera): Plastic made from corn is a long way from overtaking its petroleum counterpart, but for the first time it's gaing a toehold in the mainstream in America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Well, in Africa, stories about farming often relate to food shortages, drought or famine. But in a community in Mali, farmers are having a different problem and they've come up with a rather low-tech solution. Camille Wright Felton explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILLE WRIGHT FELTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Each year during harvest time, this rural community in Mali is host to two nomadic groups that come to graze their cattle or to work as herders.

They come from within Mali and from neighboring Mauritania to Belen, a farming community where people breed cattle and goat and grow millet. The animal population has grown so large that herders need help coordinating grazing patterns.

Community leaders decided to setup a radio station to help herders figure out where to take their animals and provide news and entertainment, as well.

A German aide organization paid 80 percent of the $46,000 price tag for the station's infrastructure. Belen's people did the building themselves to cover the remaining 20 percent. A business consultant from Bamako came in to teach them about bookkeeping and management.

CUMAR SANGARE, BUSINESS CONSULTANT (through translator): This radio station will be functional and it will be able to run itself. I am convinced of it because these people are critical, they ask questions. They want to know answers because they know they have a new tool in their hands, but also they are happy because there is a follow-up and there is support for a while to come.

FELTON: The technicians and presenters are all from local villages. They spent two months in Sagu (ph) training to produce their own shows.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I do my own programming and shows by myself. The speaking part is coming much easier and the show is getting much better.

FELTON: But it's not just about cattle herding. There's also music and news programming.

FELTON: In the short time the station has been on the air, it's six hours of programming each day have become part of the daily routine of many villagers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The radio is really good because it plays good music and gives you information. If you can't go to your parents' village, you can still hear what's happening and your parents can also listen to the news on the radio.

FELTON: Belen's radio station is a community created solution that's bringing the community closer together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, check out how you can be turned into a heliogram.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: If you think cell phones with cameras are cool, you may like this even better. Atika Schubert shows us a device that lets you send a live image anywhere in 3D.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SCHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You've seen it work for Princess Leia in "Star Wars." Now see it for real. This is the Transport, a 3D hologram communicator inspired by the movie. But the inventor Takeshi Hoshino wants to put it to more earthly uses.

"You can use this for communication between remote locations," he told us. "Or you can record the swing of a professional baseball player and check your form."

Here's how it works. a double-sided mirror in the center rotates at 20 times per second. The image is projected from above and reflected on to the spinning mirror by a circle of mirrors that captures every single so the viewer can see the sender in 3D. Backstage, Hoshino shows us how the image is sent.

(on camera): In this booth I'm surrounded, 360 degrees, by mirrors that are reflecting my image up to four cameras above me and that image is being projected outside into a 3D hologram called the Transport.

(voice-over): Cameras and microphones are wired on both ends to ensure both the sender and receiver can see and talk to each other in real-time.

(on camera): It's an idea that could not only change the way you communicate. It could also change the way you watch the news.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, President Bush is back. No, he wasn't gone anywhere. We're talking about the mysterious bump on his back during the first debate. We'll hear some theories about what it was.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: If you have ever been to Rome, and it's on my list of places to go, you'll surely remember the beauty of its archaeological treasures. Yet everyday tourists could only visit a fraction of what's left of ancient Roam because large areas remain buried underneath the modern city. As Alessio Vinci reports, some of those sites are closer than you think. ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the heart of Rome, a stone's throw away from the Coliseum lies the Trojan (PH) Forum, once the epicenter of ancient Roman life. Even on a rainy day like this one, it is a must-see for thousands of tourist. Yet, it is what sight seers can't see that remains perhaps the biggest treasure here locked behind these steel gates.

GIANNI PONTI, ARCHAEOLOGIST: This is always closed to the public.

VINCI: Archaeologist Gianni Ponti took me where he said no tourist has ever been before.

PONTI: The area is huge. It's about, I would say, 500 square meters large. It's all underground.

VINCI: The area is home to thousands of ancient pieces once part of the Trojan (PH) Forum. Most of them dating back to the first and second century A.D. Even the floor we are walking on is authentic.

PONTI: You can sort of tell how well it's preserved, and how colorful all of the marble, all the different marble types were used.

VINCI: Most of the objects, which range from small fragments of facades and statues to large chunks of columns, have been cleaned, studied, measured, photographed and cataloged, and experts say they are now ready to be put on public display so that tourists visiting the forum get a better idea of what the sites looked like almost 2,000 years ago.

PONTI: This is a colossal fragment of a finger, of an index finger.

VINCI (on camera): Of an index finger? Just this part.

PONTI: This part over, this part over here from the knuckle to the beginning of the hand. The statue must have been about 12 meters tall.

VINCI (voice-over): The project to make this area accessible to tourists already exists, but the city of Rome doesn't have the millions of dollars necessary to make it happen, beginning with the ceiling in desperate need of repair.

PONTI: See, this is the problem, is you come to a site like this and you get to see the floors, the foundations, the fragments that are dispersed. The difficult thing is to put them back together in your mind.

VINCEI (on camera): A big giant puzzle.

PONTI: It's a giant puzzle. But the end result of the puzzle is a three dimensional reconstruction of what the buildings were like.

VINCI (voice-over): That's the project and a dream perhaps, while these treasures, for now, remain in the custody of public oblivion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: OK, well here's something that may have intended to remain in oblivion, but thanks in large part to the web, it didn't. Was there really some kind of electronic device under President Bush's jacket during the first debate? Bruce Burkhart has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can run, but you can't hide.

BRUCE BURKHART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maybe, but can you hide something in your jacket? The back of the jacket, specifically. The modern day battle of the bulge, websites and web bloggers have been spinning out theories about that bulge in the president's jacket.

(on camera): Now, I suppose all this is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I don't know what the big deal is. I don't see anything unusual about the president's jacket. Still we're going to look at some of the theories out there.

(voice-over): Some speculator that it's kind of medical device. Others say it's a tracking device that lets the secret service know where the president is at all times. Still others think it's a bulletproof vest. But the most persistent and popular theory is that the president was wearing an electronic receiver that allowed aids to prompt him with answers during the debates.

BUSH: In his last litany of ah -- if ah...

BURKHART: The theory that the White House and campaign aides laugh off.

TIM RUSSERT, "MEET THE PRESS": Clear up this mystery raging on the internet. This is the first debate, George Bush at the podium, the bulge in the back of the suit. All right, come clean. What is it?

KEN MEHLMAN, BUSH CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The president was receiving secret signals from aliens in outer space. You heard it here on "Meet the Press."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mean you sent Rove into orbit?

BURKHART: But such answers have not quelled the buzz over the bulge, the White House has either brushed off the question, or one case suggested that the president had a bad tailor. In the mainstream media, the budge has been fodder for the late-night comics.

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": President Bush's approval rating dropped down toto 47 percent. Remember the lump was in his back? Now they said it's in his throat. Yeah.

BURKHART: Conspiracy theory or the real thing. The mystery of the bulge shows no sign of dying down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: All right, I'm being told that's all the time we have for now, but here's what's coming up next week:

An underwater traing facility facilitates helps prepare astronauts to act as doctors if there's an emergency in space.

That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, let's hear from you. You can send us an e-mail at next@cnn.com. And check out our website, that's at cnn.com/next.

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

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


Aired October 23, 2004 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRIKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, NEXT@CNN: Senator Kerry told a crowd in Colorado that Bush is going around the country trying to scare people. At least 14 people were killed in three separate acts of violence in Iraq today. Twelve of the victims were Iraqis killed in a pair of suicide car bombings. The third attack was a drive-by shooting that killed a pair of Turkish truck drivers.
Coming up at 4:00 Eastern, we'll have a live report from Carl Penhaul in Baghdad. He'll have the latest on the day's violence in Iraq.

American astronaut Michael Fink is about to return to Earth following a six-month stay aboard the international space station. He and two Russian cosmonauts will begin their ride home in a Russian capsule later on today. Fink looks forward to meeting the baby daughter his wife gave birth to while he was aboard the space station.

And now it is time to see how the weather is shaping up around the country. Here's meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It will be a stormy day today across the nation's midsection from Michigan extending all the way down into Mississippi. A slight risk of severe thunderstorms producing damaging winds, large hail and even an isolated tornado can't be ruled out. We'll be wet for everybody from Minneapolis extending through St. Louis, Indianapolis today down to New Orleans. High pressure dominating your weather here across the East, but there is quite a bit of surface moisture. And that is why a lot of you had a very foggy start this morning. However, those clouds will be on the increase throughout the day for today and the rain should be arriving by tomorrow afternoon. So at least it should be nice and dry for the game tonight in Boston.

Across the West, a cold front draping its way through parts of the inner mountain west. You will see snowfall levels down to about 3500 feet into the cascades. A little bit of snow expected into the Sierra Nevada's and the mountains across Idaho and into Montana. High pressure sandwiched in between those two systems making for a nice day for you in Denver and also a good day in Goodland, Kansas. Temperature wise will be cool across much of the West, 55 degrees in Salt Lake City. Nice day in Phoenix with 79 with a cool 50 in Boston, 70 degrees this afternoon in Atlanta. Fred, back to you.

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

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, Wyoming and the feds battle over how to protect live stock with out wiping out wolves.

Also a new screening system could spot explosives in cargo headed for commercial airliners. So why isn't it installed everywhere? And some archaeological treasures of Rome that tourists never see. All that and more on NEXT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice over): More Americans will vote electronically on November 2nd than ever before. Is the technology up to the task though? Well, Republicans and Democrats both have their legal teams on high alert in case of ballot problems. So what's really changed since the debacle of the Florida vote and recount of 2000?

Before hanging chads had such an effect on the last presidential election, most Americans never gave the act of voting much thought. Crank a lever, punch a hole, come on how hard can it be, right? Well in a lot of places, things hadn't changed in decades. These days high tech voting machines come with everything from touch screens to a spinning scroll wheel. You need to insert a smart card in some or punch a number into others. The aim is to make it all simple, secure and accurate.

MICHAEL ALVAREZ, CALIF. INSTITUTE OF TECH: Unfortunately I think my guess is that we'll find there will be a number of places throughout the country that will experience substantial problems with the electoral process on November 2nd.

SIEBERG: Researchers from Caltech (ph) and MIT have been analyzing the fall out of 2000. And those we spoke to say the big problems this time around are just as likely to happen because of human error such as improperly trained poll workers as it is with computer malfunction. Of course, the scariest scenario involves a hack attack. Unlikely, the experts say, but not impossible.

DAVID DILL, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: I'm not an anti computer person. SIEBERG: Despite or perhaps because of its computer background, Stanford professor David Dill is an outspoken critic of electronic voting. He worries about things like a company insider who could program the machines to malfunction or skew the results.

DILL: The worst thing that could happen I think with electronic voting is a hack that goes into the software before it's distributed to thousands of machines around the country and then a very small number of people, possibly only one, could have made that change that affects thousands and thousands of votes.

SIEBERG (on camera): Thomas Edison actually invented an electronic voting machine way back in 1869. His idea never caught on. As these maps illustrate since that time, more and more counties have invested in some type of voting machine whether it's high tech or low tech right up to today. This is what the country will look like on November 2 and the purple color represents any county that has invested in an electronic voting machine. In fact about one-third of the country will use them. One day the entire country could be purple. So experts say we better get it right.

SIEBERG (voice over): After 2000 in Georgia and Nevada every precinct has gone electric. Counties in another 26 states are also using electronic voting and almost one-third of the voters in the country will use some form of high-tech machine. Many analyst say the pressure to not be Florida has caused a rush into new unproven technology. Critics say, whoa, slow down.

DILL: Because the touch screen machines seem to be the newest, shiniest machines, I think that they were very attractive to people.

SIEBERG: MIT's Ted Selker says voting problems aren't new. With computers, new things could go wrong. And he says some poll workers simply don't get enough training on the high-tech devices. To make his point Selker showed us some photos he took while observing Nevada's statewide election in September. For example no one told this well meaning gentleman that he didn't need a number 2 pencil go jab the touch screen. Selker also showed us a rather low-tech solution to handling a paper jam this woman had scissors to cut people's ballots and then paste them together.

TED SELKER, MIT: One out of 20 printers that I saw jammed at some time during the day. We have to be careful about how we treat the ballots as we are going from the voting machines to the tallies.

SIEBERG: The makers of the machines say no matter what new concerns there are, electronic voting is still much better than anything else.

MICHELLE SHAFER: I think the electronic voting industry has gotten a bum rap because people are not comparing electronic voting technology with lever machines with punch cards with known inferior voting methods. They are comparing them with things that need utmost security like missiles and weapons devices.

SIEBERG: And then there's the issue of paper. Nevada has a statewide paper trail. The only one to do so. But most electronic voting machines are paperless. Without paper Dill says, many voters will not be sure that their vote was recorded accurately.

DILL: With a paper based system you can see the ballots being marked and you can see them going into a ballot box. If you have good laws, you can go watch them count the ballots. And with electronic voting, all of that stuff is hidden inside the machines.

SIEBERG: Computers crash. Programs fail. No technology is perfect. But with so much on the line, people need assurances that their votes will be counted, not those of some ghost of the machine.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SIEBERG: Well as the poster child for ballot problems, Florida was in the spotlight this week when its polls opened for early voting. John Zarrella reports on how things went on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the first day of early voting in Florida supervisors of elections heard the two words that make them cringe. Technical glitch.

BRENDA SNIPES: I do see that the first day of early voting we did have some technical things that need to be worked out. And I think that's just almost the nature of the beast but we're on top of it.

ZARRELLA: In a state much maligned for its seemingly recent inability to run a problem-free election. The issues election officials state wide dealt with were more spotty than chronic. While voting machines worked, support equipment didn't always. In Broward County, voters stood in line for more than one hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's easier to get a flu shot than to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very frustrated, I've been here since quarter after eight this morning.

ZARRELLA: Computers at several of the 14 polling stations open in Broward County were not talking to computers at the supervisor's office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem here is that there is a problem with the connection with the main frame computer.

ZARRELLA: Across the state, there were a variety of issues. Some technical, but not all. In Orange County, which includes Orlando, computers went down for 10 minutes. Reason unknown. In Palm Beach County, a state legislator said she was not given a complete absentee ballot. In Duval County the supervisor of elections resigned, citing health reasons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Well as the week went on some officials said the glitches were being worked out, but the long lines continue. Now there's at least one American who won't have to stand in line to vote in this election. Astronaut Leroy Chow who arrived at the International Space Station last weekend for a six-month stay. He gets to vote from space. He's using a secure e-mail connection to cast his ballot and remember there are no exit polls in space.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we come back, the Florida Everglades are home to some invader species that might even scare the gators. We'll tell you how they got there.

And later in the show, what was that bulge on President Bush's back during the first debate? We'll tell you some of the theories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Some sad news from Thailand this week for animal lovers. At least 30 tigers at a private zoo died of bird flu in less than a week. Officials decided to euthanasia another 40 that were sick with the disease. More than 400 tigers were at the tiger zoo. They were all fed raw chicken which could be the source of the bird flu. The bird flu has killed more than thirty people in Asia this year. And forced the culling of millions of birds.

And hundreds of giant squid have been washing up dead in southwest Washington State. It's not clear what's hilling these humble jumble flying squid. Wildlife officials do say the creatures normally die after they spawn so this may be part of a normal cycle. They say stormy weather may have washed them ashore.

And you've no doubt heard the stories about alligators living in the sewers of New York after they were dumped as unwanted pets. But down in Florida where alligators are suppose to live, officials are worried about another kind of abandoned pet that is turning up in gator territory. John Zarrella returns with that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice over): Everglades National Park biologist Skip Snow and wildfire technician Laurie Overhofer (ph) have a problem, snakes. Not just any snake, one particular kind. The Burmese python.

SKIP SNOW, PARK BIOLOGIST: Wild born. Didn't buy it at a pet shop.

ZARRELLA: To the biologist, this python, they call him Bob born in the glades is a bad sign. Like Bob found on the side of a park road, pythons are turning up by the dozens and may be gaining a dangerous foothold.

SNOW: In the last 10 months, to this date, we've removed or found dead 36 Burmese pythons, that is more than three a month so far and the year is not out.

ZARRELLA: National park biologist are convinced the pythons now turning up in the glades were one-time pets. When they got too big, the owners let them loose in the park. Snow and Overhover (ph) have no idea how many are out there, but they do know they are not all cute little babies like Bob. Last February a photographer Mike Merciay (ph) captured these images of a giant python perhaps 12 feet long tangling with a Florida alligator.

Biologists think the gator probably won but there's no proof. The carcass was never found. The park service has found other large pythons, too. One measuring more than 12.5 feet. Another more than 10 feet. And the growth occurs in no time at all.

ZARRELLA (on camera) Park biologists say that with in the first two years of its life, the Burmese python can grow to nine feet long, and that, they say is when people who keep them as pets decide they are much too difficult to handle. Miami-Dade County's venom response unit routinely gets calls about snakes that were one-time pets, now on the loose. These are some of the reptiles they've captured.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a call that came in Friday came in through our fire alarm dispatch center from PD, which is the police department. Reference a loose snake in the yard. We got a call that said an individual had this snake in their yard it was chasing their cat around the back yard trying to eat them.

ZARRELLA: Though pythons are not poisonous, the scientists fear they'll be a serious threat to native birds and small mammals if they have established themselves here. It happened on the island of Guam where brown tree snakes were accidentally introduced.

LORI OVERHOFER, WILDLIFE TECHNICIAN: When you walk into the forests in Guam, it's silence. You won't hear any birds. You can even hear the flies in the trees because there's no native wildlife. The snake has pretty much just designated everything.

ZARRELLA: The Everglade's biologist don't believe the pythons can cause that level of destruction here. Besides the American alligator, there are no other animals in the glades to keep the pythons in check.

SNOW: Once they get bigger, once they exceed the size of the native snakes, seven, eight, nine feet and get out of that range our predators are comfortable with, if you will, it's unlikely they have much of a natural predator here.

ZARRELLA: In hopes of eradicating the snakes, road patrols have been increased, traps have been set and a dog is being trained to sniff for pythons. This is one nuisance snake in the river of grass the park could do without.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up what kind of car does the discriminating car thief drive? We'll tell you what's most likely to be stolen and why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: It's come up in every presidential debate and the 9/11 commission called it a "major vulnerability." The fact that most cargo that goes on passenger planes is not screen for explosives. Kathleen Koch reports on what is and isn't being done to keep bombs out of cargo holds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Machines just screen luggage and instead checking boxes of cargo for bombs. CNN got a first look at this test under way at three airports. Safety officials call it promising and insist cargo screening is as an all- time high.

MARK HATFIELD, TSA SPOKESMAN: We added 100 new cargo inspectors last year and we just got funding to get another 100 of them so that human element goes into the mix. We're increasing the number of dog teams and canine detection units.

KOCH: Carrying cargo brings in 10 percent of passenger airline revenue. But since Congress in 1990 first suggested all cargo be checked for explosives, airlines and shippers worried about delays have balked.

JIM MAY, AIR TRANSPORT ASSOC: It would have the potential of destroying that industry. Again, the goal that we're trying to achieve here is the maximum amount of screening possible given the technology that's available.

KOCH: In January, the government required airlines to begin randomly inspecting cargo. Federal and airline officials admit most air cargo still goes unchecked. For families who lost loved ones aboard Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 it's a troubling fact.

PAUL HUDSON, FATHER OF PAN AM 103 VICTIM: I would call on the airlines to voluntarily either ban cargo entirely or to screen whatever they are taking. The amount of revenue they would lose is very small compared to the consequences should we be attacked as the Russian airliners were last month.

KOCH: Though it's not believed bombs in cargo were responsible in those cases, the U.S. in September began requiring all cargo on nonstop flights from Moscow to the U.S. be screened for explosives. It's a precaution Israel already takes for all of its air cargo.

REP. EDWARD MARKEY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: It is possible to screen every piece of cargo which goes on to passenger planes in the United States. It's not a question of technology. It's a question of will.

KOCH: Boston's Logan airport has tested a system an x-ray system for screening large amounts of air cargo and the government is about to announce $24 million in grants to six companies developing other screening technology.

KOCH (on camera): Still, experts say it would take up to five years to get even proven technology in place to screen the cargo on the U.S.'s 33,000 flights a day. So for now, Congress is ordering random cargo screening tripled and closer scrutiny of those who send shipments on passenger aircraft.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SEIBERG: All right from airports to seaports. The nation's ports are another concern for security officials. This week the port of Corpus Christi Texas got a sophisticated new security system. Dave Johnson from our affiliate KIII has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the site where the baseball stadium is being constructed.

DAVE JOHNSON, KIII (voice over): It's called a graphical system interface.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can manipulate and maneuver around anything in this area in three dimension.

JOHNSON: The old port security system was a bank of TV monitors that human eyes had to watch. The new system by a company called Vistascape is comprised of a virtual satellite view. At a series of more than 30 cameras on the ground. The view will cover a 23-mile stretch from Harbor Island to the ship channel. The triangles you see here represent the camera's line of sight and can be changed on a moment's notice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a video camera pick up this car moving along here. If I want to see it on a live view I just click on it and the camera pops up.

JOHNSON: Each individual camera can go up, down, left, right, in or out. Look here as thermal imaging on the virtual camera shows a series of human bodies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can get really close.

JOHNSON: One click and a camera zooms in to show it's a military personnel and their cargo.

LUTHER KIM, CHIEF OF PORT SECURITY: It will set off an alarm any time there's any movement out here that we know to be unauthorized and we set policies to determine what's authorized and who should be where and who shouldn't be where.

JOHNSON: Those policies are marked with blue and purple lines and can be changed at a moment's notice. Watch here as a boat approaches the harbor bridge designated as no man's land for unauthorized traffic.

KIM: Unlike the old system you don't have to be here looking at individual camera monitors. When a policy is violated, an alarm comes up. A camera comes up and shows us what is actually going on. You get a 30-second replay of what happened immediately prior to the alarm so that we know what's going on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: The first Vistascape system was bought by the U.S. Navy to use in San Diego. Other customers include several other seaports and a couple of airports. Stay with transportation and moving on to cars now. Insurance industry came out this week with its annual list of which automobiles make car thieves eyes light up. Julie Vallese has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): $10,000 bucks, that's what some of the after market tire and rim packages on the Cadillac Escalade will cost vehicle owners. No wonder more and more car thieves are making off with the glitzy truck. KIM HAZELBAKER, HIGHWAY LOSS DATA INSTITUTE: The Cadillac Escalade EXT is the most popular amongst thieves this year.

VALLESE: The Escalade SUV model was number one last year on the Highway Loss Data Institute list of stolen vehicles. This year it's number three.

HAZELBAKER: They are pop icon vehicles for whatever reason that might be. After all, Tony Soprano does drive an Escalade.

VALLESE: In statement General Motors said, while we regret any vehicles being stolen, this is clear evidence that the Cadillac Escalade is in high demand. Number two on the list Nissan's 2002 and 2003 Maxima. Often all thieves want are the lights that cost about $1,500.

HAZELBAKER: For a thief to take a headlight from the 2002, 2003 models and retrofit it into a 2001 model vehicle for instance and all of a sudden his car looks like the brand new ones.

VALLESE: But a design change in the current model may cut down on theft that because the new headlight design won't fit in older models. As for the vehicles least likely to be stolen, the Buick Lesaber, Buick Park Avenue, Ford Taurus, Buick Rendezvous (ph), and Saturn station wagon.

HAZELBAKER: There are vehicles that may in fact spend most of their nights in a suburban garage under lock and key.

VALLESE: Overall the Highway Loss Data Institute says fewer vehicles are being stolen, but the ones that are, are more expensive with more expensive parts. So overall, theft losses remain the same.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up in our next half hour meet a man who rescues reptiles in trouble and often gets bitten for his trouble.

And if you are bored by today's telephones, how would you like to communicate by hologram? Those stories and a lot more are coming up after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. All right, it's time for an update on the Maryland bear hunt which is set to begin next week. Now this Monday, a judge rejected a lawsuit by animal protection groups trying to block the hunt. He said the plaintiff did not prove that they would be irreparably harmed if the hunt went forward. And, we got e-mail this week from some of you, some claiming that we were biased in favor of the anti-hunting groups.

Well, we need to point out that our original report, which aired two weeks ago, gave plenty of air time to a couple living in western Maryland who were worried about their children's safety. And the state official who argued the bears needed to be controlled by a hunt. We got lots of e-mails after the report aired, all of them opposing the hunt. So, that's what we used in the show last week. Now the other side has weighed in, so let's give them equal time.

Paul in Urbana, Illinois writes, "The bears live in the panhandle counties, not downtown Baltimore or Annapolis. Yet, it is the people of large urban areas that think god has appointed them to decide how rural people must be forced to live!"

Jennifer in Grantville, Maryland writes: "I find it very interesting of the three e-mails you aired, none of the respondents were from western Maryland, the actual region in which the bear hunt will take place." She goes on to say, "The majority of residents can no longer allow their children to play in the backyard or enjoy walking through the forest for fear that they would be mauled by the bears," and she concludes, "Many of us who live here share the nonresidents' concern and are equally sad that some of the bears must be killed. However, we should be entitled to our safety and the bears are entitled to ecological balance."

So, the debate goes on. And we work to cover all sides of every issue that we report on and we try to do the same when we read viewer e-mails on the air. So, let's hear from you. You can send us an e- mail anytime at NEXT@CNN.com.

All right, well, out West it's wolves that have some ranchers worried. And the debate over how to control them has federal officials and their Wyoming counterparts snarling at each other. Gary Strieker has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cattle ranching is big business in the American West. And if there's a threat to the cattle business in Wyoming, say from packs of wild wolves coming from Yellowstone National Park, the state government takes action to deal with it.

PATRICK CRANK, ATTORNEY GENERAL WYOMING: There are just parts of Wyoming where it's not appropriate to have a wolf population.

STREIKER: Under Wyoming's plan, wolves in most parts of the state could be legally killed on site, like other animals describes as predators.

CRANK: For instance, jack rabbits, skunks, and stray cats.

STREIKER: But, federal authorities say wolves deserve better than that.

EDWARD BANGS, U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICES: Wyoming's plan is unacceptable.

STREIKER: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has invested lots of time and money to bring wild wolves back to the northern Rocky Mountains. Many decades after ranchers wiped them out across the West. BANGS: The only reason they'll disappear again is if people are allowed to kill too many. so there has to be government regulation of people killing wolves.

STREIKER: wolves in this region are still listed as protected wildlife under federal law. But, there are now more than 700 wolf wolfs in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it's time to remove that protection. But only after all three states adopt acceptable wolf management plans. Montana and Idaho have done that, but not Wyoming where state authorities claim their plan was rejected because the feds are intimidated by environmental groups.

CRANK: The Wyoming Wolf Management Plan is legal and should have been approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

STREIKER: Wyoming has filed a lawsuit to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to approve its plan for dealing with wolves. But for now, wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains remain under federal protection.

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SIEBERG: All right. Well, elsewhere, there were wildebeests roaming the streets of Fort Wayne, Indiana this week. Five of the animals escaped from the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo on Tuesday while zookeepers were trying to herd them into the winter quarters. The wildebeests hightailed it through a residential area and were recaptured after a chase, but two of them broke their legs and had to be euthanized.

Elsewhere, the Louisiana SPCA was called in Monday to rescue about 70 rabbits from a home near New Orleans. Officials said the homeowner bought two rabbits last year, and guess what? They did what rabbits do, and soon this house was swarming with bunnies, chewing the furniture and burrowing into mattresses. What a mess. Well, the owner finally called for help, the SPCA said the rabbits were all healthy, well fed and clean, even though the house wasn't. The agency is looking for new homes for the bunnies.

Well, rescuing fuzzy bunnies is one thing, but what if you've got a rattlesnake that needs rescuing? Well, if you are in Sonoma County, California, you call Al Wolf. Curtis Kim from our affiliate KFTY has this story.

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CURTIS KIM, KFTY REPORTER: Welcome to the sabastical (PH) home of Al Wolf. Not much different from any other house, other than his pets.

Welcome to Sonoma County Reptile Rescue.

AL WOLF, SONOMA COUNTY REPTILE RESCUE: Very few of our snakes have names. This one does. And what I'll do here is bring him out and, like I say, Western Diamond Back Rattle Snakes can get pretty darn large. This one we call "Rambo."

KIM: Al Wolf has been a lover of reptiles since childhood.

WOLF: We have boa constrictors here, Dumerils boas, we have pythons, we have anacondas in here, we have a lot more rattlesnakes on the bottom.

KIM: And it's not just snakes. How about tortoises and buffalo. Yes, buffalo -- four of them.

WOLF: I've had them since 1990, so I've had them 14 years. And, you know, they occasionally give you a baby.

KIM: Injuries? You bet! He's been bit at least 11 times by poisonous snakes and the like. His closest encounter came when he was looking for a rattler.

WOLF: I was wearing sunglasses and I had them on my forehead and I just put them down on my face and I was pulling backwards, and the snake was right above the rock, struck and hit right in the glasses. I mean, did the adrenalin flow? I don't even remember touching the bottom of the rock pile. I mean, I just sprung down and -- you know, the first thing that -- "Man, am I lucky." I took off the sunglasses and looked at the venom on them and I said, "Am I a lucky guy."

KIM: Wolf helps local humane societies retrieve unwanted snakes and other reptiles. You might say he even jumps at the chance.

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ANNOUNCER: Just ahead: Why the idea of turning corn into plastic just got wildly popular.

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SIEBERG (voice-over): Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love is now showing the love to wireless internet users. The city is building a free wireless internet zone covering the entire metropolitan area. Using Wi-Fi wireless networking technology, Philly started the project with a hot spot in a downtown park earlier this year and that project led to the ambitious goal, becoming the first major U.S. city to offer free wireless high-speed internet access to everyone by early 2006

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SIEBERG: As a price of oil climbs people start paying more attention to alternatives and we're not just talking about alternative fuels for your vehicle. Ceci Rodgers reports on a way to make plastic without petroleum.

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CECI RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Turning this into this is not really new. What's changed is this, oil prices surging past $50 a barrel. Suddenly, oil-based plastics no longer have a big price advantage over plastic made from corn. The timing could not be better for joint venture Cargill-Dow, which launched production last year.

KATHLEEN BADER, CEO, CARGILL-DOW: Sales of our product are up 60 percent on the nine-month bases over the previous nine months. We've seen a clear trend of adoption by companies that are more environmentally focused.

RODGERS: Wild Oats Markets is the first American grosser to switch to what it calls "corntainers." The company says sales at the deli counter rose 17 percent after the containers were introduced.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems to be easier on the environment, probably cheaper in the long run. You know, how can that be bad?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that plastic comes from -- you know, petroleum and our reserves are going down anyhow, so if there's an alternative, it sounds like a good idea.

RODGERS: Wild Oats will soon carry bottled water and cutlery made from the biodegradable plastic. Plastic containers made from corn are arriving in more mainstream grocery stores too. Del Monte has decided to use the packaging for its cut up fruits and veggies. Americans have lagged behind the Japanese and Europeans who already use corn plastics for everything from synthetic fabrics plastic to Sony walkman. But, that's changing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then we're going to us springtime painting in that closet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

RODGERS: At this exclusive home furnishing store in Chicago, shoppers are snapping up designer carpet tiles made from corn plastic.

JASON BALLEW, OWNER, ABODE: That's been one of the best selling products that we have here at Abode.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm more conscious about environmentally sound products. That is important to me and that makes a difference in my life.

RODGERS: It's attitudes like that that has Cargill-Dow predicting a doubling in production and sales every year for the foreseeable future.

(on camera): Plastic made from corn is a long way from overtaking its petroleum counterpart, but for the first time it's gaing a toehold in the mainstream in America.

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SIEBERG: Well, in Africa, stories about farming often relate to food shortages, drought or famine. But in a community in Mali, farmers are having a different problem and they've come up with a rather low-tech solution. Camille Wright Felton explains.

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CAMILLE WRIGHT FELTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Each year during harvest time, this rural community in Mali is host to two nomadic groups that come to graze their cattle or to work as herders.

They come from within Mali and from neighboring Mauritania to Belen, a farming community where people breed cattle and goat and grow millet. The animal population has grown so large that herders need help coordinating grazing patterns.

Community leaders decided to setup a radio station to help herders figure out where to take their animals and provide news and entertainment, as well.

A German aide organization paid 80 percent of the $46,000 price tag for the station's infrastructure. Belen's people did the building themselves to cover the remaining 20 percent. A business consultant from Bamako came in to teach them about bookkeeping and management.

CUMAR SANGARE, BUSINESS CONSULTANT (through translator): This radio station will be functional and it will be able to run itself. I am convinced of it because these people are critical, they ask questions. They want to know answers because they know they have a new tool in their hands, but also they are happy because there is a follow-up and there is support for a while to come.

FELTON: The technicians and presenters are all from local villages. They spent two months in Sagu (ph) training to produce their own shows.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I do my own programming and shows by myself. The speaking part is coming much easier and the show is getting much better.

FELTON: But it's not just about cattle herding. There's also music and news programming.

FELTON: In the short time the station has been on the air, it's six hours of programming each day have become part of the daily routine of many villagers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The radio is really good because it plays good music and gives you information. If you can't go to your parents' village, you can still hear what's happening and your parents can also listen to the news on the radio.

FELTON: Belen's radio station is a community created solution that's bringing the community closer together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, check out how you can be turned into a heliogram.

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SIEBERG: If you think cell phones with cameras are cool, you may like this even better. Atika Schubert shows us a device that lets you send a live image anywhere in 3D.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SCHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You've seen it work for Princess Leia in "Star Wars." Now see it for real. This is the Transport, a 3D hologram communicator inspired by the movie. But the inventor Takeshi Hoshino wants to put it to more earthly uses.

"You can use this for communication between remote locations," he told us. "Or you can record the swing of a professional baseball player and check your form."

Here's how it works. a double-sided mirror in the center rotates at 20 times per second. The image is projected from above and reflected on to the spinning mirror by a circle of mirrors that captures every single so the viewer can see the sender in 3D. Backstage, Hoshino shows us how the image is sent.

(on camera): In this booth I'm surrounded, 360 degrees, by mirrors that are reflecting my image up to four cameras above me and that image is being projected outside into a 3D hologram called the Transport.

(voice-over): Cameras and microphones are wired on both ends to ensure both the sender and receiver can see and talk to each other in real-time.

(on camera): It's an idea that could not only change the way you communicate. It could also change the way you watch the news.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, President Bush is back. No, he wasn't gone anywhere. We're talking about the mysterious bump on his back during the first debate. We'll hear some theories about what it was.

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SIEBERG: If you have ever been to Rome, and it's on my list of places to go, you'll surely remember the beauty of its archaeological treasures. Yet everyday tourists could only visit a fraction of what's left of ancient Roam because large areas remain buried underneath the modern city. As Alessio Vinci reports, some of those sites are closer than you think. ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the heart of Rome, a stone's throw away from the Coliseum lies the Trojan (PH) Forum, once the epicenter of ancient Roman life. Even on a rainy day like this one, it is a must-see for thousands of tourist. Yet, it is what sight seers can't see that remains perhaps the biggest treasure here locked behind these steel gates.

GIANNI PONTI, ARCHAEOLOGIST: This is always closed to the public.

VINCI: Archaeologist Gianni Ponti took me where he said no tourist has ever been before.

PONTI: The area is huge. It's about, I would say, 500 square meters large. It's all underground.

VINCI: The area is home to thousands of ancient pieces once part of the Trojan (PH) Forum. Most of them dating back to the first and second century A.D. Even the floor we are walking on is authentic.

PONTI: You can sort of tell how well it's preserved, and how colorful all of the marble, all the different marble types were used.

VINCI: Most of the objects, which range from small fragments of facades and statues to large chunks of columns, have been cleaned, studied, measured, photographed and cataloged, and experts say they are now ready to be put on public display so that tourists visiting the forum get a better idea of what the sites looked like almost 2,000 years ago.

PONTI: This is a colossal fragment of a finger, of an index finger.

VINCI (on camera): Of an index finger? Just this part.

PONTI: This part over, this part over here from the knuckle to the beginning of the hand. The statue must have been about 12 meters tall.

VINCI (voice-over): The project to make this area accessible to tourists already exists, but the city of Rome doesn't have the millions of dollars necessary to make it happen, beginning with the ceiling in desperate need of repair.

PONTI: See, this is the problem, is you come to a site like this and you get to see the floors, the foundations, the fragments that are dispersed. The difficult thing is to put them back together in your mind.

VINCEI (on camera): A big giant puzzle.

PONTI: It's a giant puzzle. But the end result of the puzzle is a three dimensional reconstruction of what the buildings were like.

VINCI (voice-over): That's the project and a dream perhaps, while these treasures, for now, remain in the custody of public oblivion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: OK, well here's something that may have intended to remain in oblivion, but thanks in large part to the web, it didn't. Was there really some kind of electronic device under President Bush's jacket during the first debate? Bruce Burkhart has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can run, but you can't hide.

BRUCE BURKHART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maybe, but can you hide something in your jacket? The back of the jacket, specifically. The modern day battle of the bulge, websites and web bloggers have been spinning out theories about that bulge in the president's jacket.

(on camera): Now, I suppose all this is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I don't know what the big deal is. I don't see anything unusual about the president's jacket. Still we're going to look at some of the theories out there.

(voice-over): Some speculator that it's kind of medical device. Others say it's a tracking device that lets the secret service know where the president is at all times. Still others think it's a bulletproof vest. But the most persistent and popular theory is that the president was wearing an electronic receiver that allowed aids to prompt him with answers during the debates.

BUSH: In his last litany of ah -- if ah...

BURKHART: The theory that the White House and campaign aides laugh off.

TIM RUSSERT, "MEET THE PRESS": Clear up this mystery raging on the internet. This is the first debate, George Bush at the podium, the bulge in the back of the suit. All right, come clean. What is it?

KEN MEHLMAN, BUSH CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The president was receiving secret signals from aliens in outer space. You heard it here on "Meet the Press."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mean you sent Rove into orbit?

BURKHART: But such answers have not quelled the buzz over the bulge, the White House has either brushed off the question, or one case suggested that the president had a bad tailor. In the mainstream media, the budge has been fodder for the late-night comics.

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": President Bush's approval rating dropped down toto 47 percent. Remember the lump was in his back? Now they said it's in his throat. Yeah.

BURKHART: Conspiracy theory or the real thing. The mystery of the bulge shows no sign of dying down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: All right, I'm being told that's all the time we have for now, but here's what's coming up next week:

An underwater traing facility facilitates helps prepare astronauts to act as doctors if there's an emergency in space.

That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, let's hear from you. You can send us an e-mail at next@cnn.com. And check out our website, that's at cnn.com/next.

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

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