Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Drawing Fire; Recovery Effort in Tsunami-Devastated Areas Continues to Bring Forward More Stories of Hope

Aired February 22, 2005 - 10:30   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're coming up on the half hour. Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez. Here's what's happening right now in the news.

Getting right to it, a Texas man is scheduled to face a judge this morning in connection with the disappearance of a pregnant woman and her son. Suspect Stephen Barbee was booked overnight on capital murder charges after a search of his home. The woman and her 7-year- old son have been missing since Saturday. We hope to learn more about this case. In fact, we expect to in about 30 minutes. That's when we're told that police there around Ft. Worth are going to hold a news conference, and we plan to bring that to you live. So stick around.

Also at least six deaths are now being blame on the latest storms to hit California. One more rain is expected in part -- more rain, I should say, is expected in part of the state today. Now the storms have triggered an avalanche near Lake Tahoe. But this particular shot that you're looking at right here came in to us just moments ago, and we're told it's in the Highland Park area, not sure of exactly what the specifics are. That's a live picture, by the way. Scenes like this have been unfolding and playing out over the past 48 hours, and we'll continue to follow this developing story.

Let's switch now to the FBI, investigating laser-beam sightings reported by pilots flying into the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. The FAA says six pilots reported seeing a green laser. This was Sunday night. Unless recent laser incidents, the FBI says this beam wasn't aimed at cockpits. A laser can briefly disorient a pilot during the critical stage of ascent, in other words, the takeoff, or the descent, the landing.

And President Bush is expected to arrive at European Union headquarters just a few minutes from now. The president in his second full day of talks in Brussels, as he attempts to somehow strengthen ties with Europe. Earlier today, the president thanked NATO leaders for helping to maintain peace in post-war Iraq.

KAGAN: To world news now. A car bomb targets an Iraqi convoy today in Baghdad, leaving three people dead. Police say the blast went off as the special forces convoy took off from the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Hospital sources say 32 people were injured. Meanwhile, Australia's prime minister says he's decided to send additional troops to Iraq. He says up to 470 more troops will head to the region to protect Japanese engineers and replace Dutch troops, who are leaving in March.

Despite the moves toward rebuilding in Iraq, the people struggling to survive admits the insurgency still face tough times. One Iraqi man is targeting the insurgents by transforming his anger into art.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has that story from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's painful and provocative, and that's exactly what this cartoon is supposed to be.

"The most painful thing I've ever drawn," newspaper cartoonist Muayyad Nima tells me.

"So many Iraqis have been killed by insurgents, he explains. But their bodies are like a sea, but Iraq is determined to sail across to a better place."

MUAYYAD NIMA, CARTOONIST (through translator): I try to make the viewers see the cartoon in its real form, so he's shocked by the ideas. So at least he starts to realize that he cannot be neutral, that he has to take a side.

ROBERTSON: But his pictures, like this one of a family watching TV, reveling in the bloodshed by insurgents, or this, where Iraqis simply ignore insurgents on a killing spree. And not just a wake-up call to Iraqis. They are a direct challenge to the insurgents.

NIMA (through translator): I try to make my style as one of a stand. That is why I cartoon, which gives a sense of deepness after all these events and this atmosphere that is full of killing and terrorism. I have to be tough.

ROBERTSON: And Muayyad's message does seem to be getting through.

"His cartoons go deep into the true reality," this reader says. "It really is stinging criticism."

Such critique, though, is a new and rare phenomenon. Saddam Hussein banned dissent. And today, few cartoonists dare risk the insurgents' wrath and possible death.

NIMA (through translator): It seems I am not feeling the fear. It is not heroism. I feel that I'm presenting a work that enlightens people.

ROBERTSON: Some of his pictures need no explanation. For this grandfather who made a living teaching ceramics during Saddam Hussein's rule, years of artistic frustration finally being released. NIMA (through translator): I have to be like this. When I implement an idea, I really feel that some people are being moved by the idea, which means that I am on the right path.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: This Saturday marks two months since the massive earthquake and tsunami hit. Life may really never be the same to the devastated areas, but the recovery effort, it does continue to bring forward more stories of hope there, like this one from Sri Lanka, as reported by CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're among the most vivid, unforgettable images of the tsunami, the train they called the Queen of the Sea, tons and tons of steel, tossed around like a child's toy.

There were more than a thousand people aboard the train that day when high water forced it to stop. Villagers climbed onto the cars to stay dry. That's when the full force of the tsunami hit, knocking the train off the tracks, killing at least 900 people on board.

A week later, when I visited the site, debris was still everywhere. So was the stench of death. No one who was there will ever forget it.

(on camera): And it's so strange. Each car has been separated one from the other, and in some cases that saved some people's lives, because some cars were separated and weren't as badly hit by the second wave of water. Other cars got a direct hit.

You don't have to use your imagination to figure out what people were doing the second the water hit. Here is a plate of food someone was just -- someone was eating, surrounded by flies. This woman's purse. Another one down here. Over here is a baby's diaper. That looks like a child's purse.

There is no way to know whether the people in this car survived, whether they got out, whether some of them got out, whether all of them were killed.

Look at this wall too. I mean, the water, clearly, the water just came up, just left this residue here, left all the silt that it brought with it, even up in the fans. They're filled with sea grasses, seaweed.

(voice-over): That was nearly two months ago. This is Galle now. There's still plenty of devastation, but look, behind the people praying, stacks of supplies for repairs. Several of the old train cars, still muddy and caved in, have been set upright, a makeshift memorial.

But on this Sunday, the people are hurrying down the tracks to see something else. Up the newly laid tracks, in the last stop before Galle, a new train is pulling in. Men hang a banner. It reads, "The train is running for the first time in 57 days." With a whistle and a wave goodbye, the train pulls out for a historic ride, the first train ride into Galle since the tsunami, the new cars rolling past the old, new life back on track.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Good news in a place where there hasn't been much. That's Anderson Cooper reporting.

Now the Ocean Queen, the name of the train that runs from Columbo to Mutari. It's a distance of 100 miles. Regular service resumed, in fact, just today.

KAGAN: There's a debate that is drawing international attention and stirring emotions in Florida. Up next reporters take to the street to keep Terri Schiavo on life support.

SANCHEZ: Also after a delay, it's back to business in the Michael Jackson case. We're going to at what's next in this trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back.

KAGAN: So I have some scoop on somebody that we work with.

SANCHEZ: Good.

KAGAN: David Haffenreffer, living the double life. By day, business reporter.

SANCHEZ: Yes?

KAGAN: But if you tune into the new showbiz show on Headline News, he's like this hip, fun guy, hanging with P. Diddy, got the leather jacket on.

SANCHEZ: Really?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Let's take a look at what's on the legal docket, in our look at legal briefs.

The Supreme Court hears arguments today on the issue of eminent domain. This case centers on seven families in New London, Connecticut. They say the government should not be able to take their homes for a private economic development project.

SANCHEZ: And police are saying that it was a computer glitch that delayed the identification of a convicted child molester who allegedly raped at least five women and girls in the Denver area. A computer glitch. Now, that's the explanation from investigators are who are trying to figure out how the 35-year-old Brent (ph) escaped arrest until last Friday. They say DNA evidence from an alleged rape from October was temporarily lost because it wasn't uploaded into a computer database.

KAGAN: The legal fight over Terri Schiavo may be resolved today. You'll remember she's the woman who doctors say had been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years. An appeals court is expected to decide today Schiavo's feeding tube should be removed, as her husband wants, or whether her parents will prevail their fight to keep the feeding tube in place. Demonstrators who oppose Michael Schiavo's efforts to have the feeding tube removed are protesting today outside his home.

SANCHEZ: We're going to talk about that case and also this one. The questioning of prospective jurors in the Michael Jackson trial. It resumes today. Jury selection has been delayed twice over the last couple of weeks.

Legal analyst Kendall Coffey is joining us now from Miami to talk about this case. Let's start with that. And I'm not a legal analyst and you are. So let me tell you what my take on this would be. If I was a juror and I was sitting there and I had to wait for days or if I was a judge and had to wait for days and then I find out the reason I was sitting there waiting was because the defendant had the flu, I don't know, but I might be a little bit upset. Would I be wrong in that conjecture?

KENDALL COFFEY, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: You're totally right, Rick. I think this is a bad choice for Michael Jackson's opening number with this jury. As you said, 250 of them delayed and disrupted. And they're going to be a goodly number of them that think that this illness was all about Michael Jackson having an allergic reaction to being on trial.

SANCHEZ: Tell me about this voir dire process and why it's taking so darn long.

COFFEY: Well, I think it's taking long for all kinds of reasons. We know about the years of notoriety and celebrity, as well as, frankly, the bombardments of pretrial publicity. That complicates it. Also, the written questionnaire was pretty limiting. It didn't really go into much detail as some of them.

The big problem, Rick, is with the eyes of the world watching, most of these folks will be very reluctant to talk about their real reactions and what they really think about Michael Jackson. So the defense and the prosecutor is going to be going bit by bit to try to get past people who are going to want to say what they think the world wants to hear. And, frankly, that makes it just that much tougher in an already difficult case.

SANCHEZ: I know you're a really good attorney because I covered you for many years down in south Florida. And I know you're a very good prosecutor, as well. If you are a prosecutor in this case, what are you looking for? What would be your strategy, Kendall? COFFEY: Parents. Parents with young children. Because if they can get a lot of parents and the numbers look good, that could be, from a prosecution perspective, like having a bankrobber tried by a jury filled with bankers. I think from the defense perspective, they want the artsiest craftsiest people they can find, Rick, because they not only have to get past Michael Jackson's strangeness, they need to the get -- buy into this conspiracy theory, saying that this all about a money-grubbing family and a prosecutor with a mean vendetta.

SANCHEZ: Get past Michael Jackson's strangeness. You say that well. Let's switch to another case now. This one's taking place in Florida -- taking part in Florida. Place in Florida, pardon me. And it's the Terri Schiavo case. This really pits her husband, who says it's time to remove the tubes, against Terri's parents, who say, no, it's not, we want her to remain on life support. The governor has chimed in for the parents. But this thing is basically about to end this week unless a judge comes in and does what?

COFFEY: A giant unless, Rick, because what the family is seeking is from some judge somewhere a stay. That is to say, we've got more litigation miles to travel, the final chapter hasn't been written and please, whatever is done, don't remove life support. Because that reaches a finality. And in so many ways, this is just like a death penalty case where, as we know, in one court or another, through one appeal after another, people can remain on death row for more than 20 years. I think the parents of Terri Schiavo view this in very much the same way.

SANCHEZ: And the husband says this is exactly what my wife wanted, she told me so. So I guess it's really up to the judge now to decide what she really wanted, because there is nothing written on paper, correct?

COFFEY: That's right. And up to now, the judge has said that what Terri Schiavo would have wanted would have been to to be allowed to die. The parents obviously have very different feelings, they have limitless resolve, as all of us would, where our own child is concerned. So while this may be getting to the end, I can also see a scenario where new litigations, new appeals get cranked up again and where this continues to go on for some time.

SANCHEZ: And on and on. Boy, tough case. Kendall Coffey, as usual, thanks so much for being with us.

COFFEY: Hey, thank you, Rick.

SANCHEZ: We're going to have the very latest on that situation out in California. And we'll have it for you when we come back. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exposure to polluted air can damage the DNA of babies before they're born. That's according to a study published Tuesday. Researchers studied newborns in New York City, concluding that pollutants from vehicles, heating, power generation and smoking can reach the fetus, causing chromosomal damage. They say the findings may lead to new approaches for the preventions of some cancers.

And a reminder to smoker that it's never too late to quit. Researchers with the Lung Health Study followed 6,000 middle-aged heavy smokers all with mild lung disease. They found the death rate was cut nearly in half in those participants able to quit smoking for five or more years.

Christy Feig, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We continue to follow the weather woes of Southern California, fifth rainiest season on record, since they started counting back in the 1800s. Lots of backyards and houses are falling.

This scene we're about to show you comes from Highland Park, and it is a report that we took off the air from KTLA from Eric Spellman. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC SPELLMAN, KTLA REPORTER (on camera: You see those homes perched on that ridge there. They're a lot closer to the edge than they were earlier. There was a landslide here some time after midnight. So a big section of the hillside came crashing down. The ground is still very unstable here, and pieces of if hill are moving. We're seeing sections dropping off from time to time, little mini landslides happening. Let me show you an example that happened just a few minutes ago.

And let's see if we can show that for you. There we go. You see a large section of the deck came crashing down the hillside here, a big section of concrete. So definitely the ground here is very unstable. The fire department has already red-tagged four of the homes here. They've told residents to get out of the way, they don't think it's a safe place for them to be.

So folks in this neighborhood have left their homes and firefighters are continuing to see cracking and signs of shifting on some of the patios. And there's a pool up there in one of those backyards. They emptied out the water from that pool to get rid of some of the weight.

But they're monitoring the situation here. What they're concerned about is that this whole neighbor that's perched on this edge here could come crashing down into this canyon. And from the looks of things here with the shifting that we're seeing this morning, one fire captain who was here all night and all morning said, look, it's only a matter of time until this happens. And again, we're seeing evidence of that with that deck that we just showed you coming crashing down here a few moments ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So that was Eric Spellman, a reporter with one of our affiliates KTLA. People in Southern California, where I hail from, they like those hillside homes. You get great views. It kind of keeps you up and out, unless you end up in the soup (ph) down there.

SANCHEZ: But you get in the rainy season, and you're living in a -- as one of our reporters said yesterday, a precarious perch.

KAGAN: Yes. Or not. You're already down there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: A story that we're going to have for you is taking place in Texas. We say developing because part of the story has come in, but not the other part. An arrest has been made in the case of this missing pregnant woman with her 7-year-old son that you just saw in the picture. But we still don't have many of the details as to where they are for example. We are expecting a news conference at any moment. And as soon as it happens, you'll see it live right here on CNN.

KAGAN: And we are going to go back to the weather picture and the weather story in Southern California, more homes being evacuated in Los Angeles. I'll have a chance to talk with the mayor in just a moment.

The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY coming up after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 February 22, 2005 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're coming up on the half hour. Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez. Here's what's happening right now in the news.

Getting right to it, a Texas man is scheduled to face a judge this morning in connection with the disappearance of a pregnant woman and her son. Suspect Stephen Barbee was booked overnight on capital murder charges after a search of his home. The woman and her 7-year- old son have been missing since Saturday. We hope to learn more about this case. In fact, we expect to in about 30 minutes. That's when we're told that police there around Ft. Worth are going to hold a news conference, and we plan to bring that to you live. So stick around.

Also at least six deaths are now being blame on the latest storms to hit California. One more rain is expected in part -- more rain, I should say, is expected in part of the state today. Now the storms have triggered an avalanche near Lake Tahoe. But this particular shot that you're looking at right here came in to us just moments ago, and we're told it's in the Highland Park area, not sure of exactly what the specifics are. That's a live picture, by the way. Scenes like this have been unfolding and playing out over the past 48 hours, and we'll continue to follow this developing story.

Let's switch now to the FBI, investigating laser-beam sightings reported by pilots flying into the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. The FAA says six pilots reported seeing a green laser. This was Sunday night. Unless recent laser incidents, the FBI says this beam wasn't aimed at cockpits. A laser can briefly disorient a pilot during the critical stage of ascent, in other words, the takeoff, or the descent, the landing.

And President Bush is expected to arrive at European Union headquarters just a few minutes from now. The president in his second full day of talks in Brussels, as he attempts to somehow strengthen ties with Europe. Earlier today, the president thanked NATO leaders for helping to maintain peace in post-war Iraq.

KAGAN: To world news now. A car bomb targets an Iraqi convoy today in Baghdad, leaving three people dead. Police say the blast went off as the special forces convoy took off from the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Hospital sources say 32 people were injured. Meanwhile, Australia's prime minister says he's decided to send additional troops to Iraq. He says up to 470 more troops will head to the region to protect Japanese engineers and replace Dutch troops, who are leaving in March.

Despite the moves toward rebuilding in Iraq, the people struggling to survive admits the insurgency still face tough times. One Iraqi man is targeting the insurgents by transforming his anger into art.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has that story from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's painful and provocative, and that's exactly what this cartoon is supposed to be.

"The most painful thing I've ever drawn," newspaper cartoonist Muayyad Nima tells me.

"So many Iraqis have been killed by insurgents, he explains. But their bodies are like a sea, but Iraq is determined to sail across to a better place."

MUAYYAD NIMA, CARTOONIST (through translator): I try to make the viewers see the cartoon in its real form, so he's shocked by the ideas. So at least he starts to realize that he cannot be neutral, that he has to take a side.

ROBERTSON: But his pictures, like this one of a family watching TV, reveling in the bloodshed by insurgents, or this, where Iraqis simply ignore insurgents on a killing spree. And not just a wake-up call to Iraqis. They are a direct challenge to the insurgents.

NIMA (through translator): I try to make my style as one of a stand. That is why I cartoon, which gives a sense of deepness after all these events and this atmosphere that is full of killing and terrorism. I have to be tough.

ROBERTSON: And Muayyad's message does seem to be getting through.

"His cartoons go deep into the true reality," this reader says. "It really is stinging criticism."

Such critique, though, is a new and rare phenomenon. Saddam Hussein banned dissent. And today, few cartoonists dare risk the insurgents' wrath and possible death.

NIMA (through translator): It seems I am not feeling the fear. It is not heroism. I feel that I'm presenting a work that enlightens people.

ROBERTSON: Some of his pictures need no explanation. For this grandfather who made a living teaching ceramics during Saddam Hussein's rule, years of artistic frustration finally being released. NIMA (through translator): I have to be like this. When I implement an idea, I really feel that some people are being moved by the idea, which means that I am on the right path.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: This Saturday marks two months since the massive earthquake and tsunami hit. Life may really never be the same to the devastated areas, but the recovery effort, it does continue to bring forward more stories of hope there, like this one from Sri Lanka, as reported by CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're among the most vivid, unforgettable images of the tsunami, the train they called the Queen of the Sea, tons and tons of steel, tossed around like a child's toy.

There were more than a thousand people aboard the train that day when high water forced it to stop. Villagers climbed onto the cars to stay dry. That's when the full force of the tsunami hit, knocking the train off the tracks, killing at least 900 people on board.

A week later, when I visited the site, debris was still everywhere. So was the stench of death. No one who was there will ever forget it.

(on camera): And it's so strange. Each car has been separated one from the other, and in some cases that saved some people's lives, because some cars were separated and weren't as badly hit by the second wave of water. Other cars got a direct hit.

You don't have to use your imagination to figure out what people were doing the second the water hit. Here is a plate of food someone was just -- someone was eating, surrounded by flies. This woman's purse. Another one down here. Over here is a baby's diaper. That looks like a child's purse.

There is no way to know whether the people in this car survived, whether they got out, whether some of them got out, whether all of them were killed.

Look at this wall too. I mean, the water, clearly, the water just came up, just left this residue here, left all the silt that it brought with it, even up in the fans. They're filled with sea grasses, seaweed.

(voice-over): That was nearly two months ago. This is Galle now. There's still plenty of devastation, but look, behind the people praying, stacks of supplies for repairs. Several of the old train cars, still muddy and caved in, have been set upright, a makeshift memorial.

But on this Sunday, the people are hurrying down the tracks to see something else. Up the newly laid tracks, in the last stop before Galle, a new train is pulling in. Men hang a banner. It reads, "The train is running for the first time in 57 days." With a whistle and a wave goodbye, the train pulls out for a historic ride, the first train ride into Galle since the tsunami, the new cars rolling past the old, new life back on track.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Good news in a place where there hasn't been much. That's Anderson Cooper reporting.

Now the Ocean Queen, the name of the train that runs from Columbo to Mutari. It's a distance of 100 miles. Regular service resumed, in fact, just today.

KAGAN: There's a debate that is drawing international attention and stirring emotions in Florida. Up next reporters take to the street to keep Terri Schiavo on life support.

SANCHEZ: Also after a delay, it's back to business in the Michael Jackson case. We're going to at what's next in this trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back.

KAGAN: So I have some scoop on somebody that we work with.

SANCHEZ: Good.

KAGAN: David Haffenreffer, living the double life. By day, business reporter.

SANCHEZ: Yes?

KAGAN: But if you tune into the new showbiz show on Headline News, he's like this hip, fun guy, hanging with P. Diddy, got the leather jacket on.

SANCHEZ: Really?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Let's take a look at what's on the legal docket, in our look at legal briefs.

The Supreme Court hears arguments today on the issue of eminent domain. This case centers on seven families in New London, Connecticut. They say the government should not be able to take their homes for a private economic development project.

SANCHEZ: And police are saying that it was a computer glitch that delayed the identification of a convicted child molester who allegedly raped at least five women and girls in the Denver area. A computer glitch. Now, that's the explanation from investigators are who are trying to figure out how the 35-year-old Brent (ph) escaped arrest until last Friday. They say DNA evidence from an alleged rape from October was temporarily lost because it wasn't uploaded into a computer database.

KAGAN: The legal fight over Terri Schiavo may be resolved today. You'll remember she's the woman who doctors say had been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years. An appeals court is expected to decide today Schiavo's feeding tube should be removed, as her husband wants, or whether her parents will prevail their fight to keep the feeding tube in place. Demonstrators who oppose Michael Schiavo's efforts to have the feeding tube removed are protesting today outside his home.

SANCHEZ: We're going to talk about that case and also this one. The questioning of prospective jurors in the Michael Jackson trial. It resumes today. Jury selection has been delayed twice over the last couple of weeks.

Legal analyst Kendall Coffey is joining us now from Miami to talk about this case. Let's start with that. And I'm not a legal analyst and you are. So let me tell you what my take on this would be. If I was a juror and I was sitting there and I had to wait for days or if I was a judge and had to wait for days and then I find out the reason I was sitting there waiting was because the defendant had the flu, I don't know, but I might be a little bit upset. Would I be wrong in that conjecture?

KENDALL COFFEY, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: You're totally right, Rick. I think this is a bad choice for Michael Jackson's opening number with this jury. As you said, 250 of them delayed and disrupted. And they're going to be a goodly number of them that think that this illness was all about Michael Jackson having an allergic reaction to being on trial.

SANCHEZ: Tell me about this voir dire process and why it's taking so darn long.

COFFEY: Well, I think it's taking long for all kinds of reasons. We know about the years of notoriety and celebrity, as well as, frankly, the bombardments of pretrial publicity. That complicates it. Also, the written questionnaire was pretty limiting. It didn't really go into much detail as some of them.

The big problem, Rick, is with the eyes of the world watching, most of these folks will be very reluctant to talk about their real reactions and what they really think about Michael Jackson. So the defense and the prosecutor is going to be going bit by bit to try to get past people who are going to want to say what they think the world wants to hear. And, frankly, that makes it just that much tougher in an already difficult case.

SANCHEZ: I know you're a really good attorney because I covered you for many years down in south Florida. And I know you're a very good prosecutor, as well. If you are a prosecutor in this case, what are you looking for? What would be your strategy, Kendall? COFFEY: Parents. Parents with young children. Because if they can get a lot of parents and the numbers look good, that could be, from a prosecution perspective, like having a bankrobber tried by a jury filled with bankers. I think from the defense perspective, they want the artsiest craftsiest people they can find, Rick, because they not only have to get past Michael Jackson's strangeness, they need to the get -- buy into this conspiracy theory, saying that this all about a money-grubbing family and a prosecutor with a mean vendetta.

SANCHEZ: Get past Michael Jackson's strangeness. You say that well. Let's switch to another case now. This one's taking place in Florida -- taking part in Florida. Place in Florida, pardon me. And it's the Terri Schiavo case. This really pits her husband, who says it's time to remove the tubes, against Terri's parents, who say, no, it's not, we want her to remain on life support. The governor has chimed in for the parents. But this thing is basically about to end this week unless a judge comes in and does what?

COFFEY: A giant unless, Rick, because what the family is seeking is from some judge somewhere a stay. That is to say, we've got more litigation miles to travel, the final chapter hasn't been written and please, whatever is done, don't remove life support. Because that reaches a finality. And in so many ways, this is just like a death penalty case where, as we know, in one court or another, through one appeal after another, people can remain on death row for more than 20 years. I think the parents of Terri Schiavo view this in very much the same way.

SANCHEZ: And the husband says this is exactly what my wife wanted, she told me so. So I guess it's really up to the judge now to decide what she really wanted, because there is nothing written on paper, correct?

COFFEY: That's right. And up to now, the judge has said that what Terri Schiavo would have wanted would have been to to be allowed to die. The parents obviously have very different feelings, they have limitless resolve, as all of us would, where our own child is concerned. So while this may be getting to the end, I can also see a scenario where new litigations, new appeals get cranked up again and where this continues to go on for some time.

SANCHEZ: And on and on. Boy, tough case. Kendall Coffey, as usual, thanks so much for being with us.

COFFEY: Hey, thank you, Rick.

SANCHEZ: We're going to have the very latest on that situation out in California. And we'll have it for you when we come back. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exposure to polluted air can damage the DNA of babies before they're born. That's according to a study published Tuesday. Researchers studied newborns in New York City, concluding that pollutants from vehicles, heating, power generation and smoking can reach the fetus, causing chromosomal damage. They say the findings may lead to new approaches for the preventions of some cancers.

And a reminder to smoker that it's never too late to quit. Researchers with the Lung Health Study followed 6,000 middle-aged heavy smokers all with mild lung disease. They found the death rate was cut nearly in half in those participants able to quit smoking for five or more years.

Christy Feig, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We continue to follow the weather woes of Southern California, fifth rainiest season on record, since they started counting back in the 1800s. Lots of backyards and houses are falling.

This scene we're about to show you comes from Highland Park, and it is a report that we took off the air from KTLA from Eric Spellman. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC SPELLMAN, KTLA REPORTER (on camera: You see those homes perched on that ridge there. They're a lot closer to the edge than they were earlier. There was a landslide here some time after midnight. So a big section of the hillside came crashing down. The ground is still very unstable here, and pieces of if hill are moving. We're seeing sections dropping off from time to time, little mini landslides happening. Let me show you an example that happened just a few minutes ago.

And let's see if we can show that for you. There we go. You see a large section of the deck came crashing down the hillside here, a big section of concrete. So definitely the ground here is very unstable. The fire department has already red-tagged four of the homes here. They've told residents to get out of the way, they don't think it's a safe place for them to be.

So folks in this neighborhood have left their homes and firefighters are continuing to see cracking and signs of shifting on some of the patios. And there's a pool up there in one of those backyards. They emptied out the water from that pool to get rid of some of the weight.

But they're monitoring the situation here. What they're concerned about is that this whole neighbor that's perched on this edge here could come crashing down into this canyon. And from the looks of things here with the shifting that we're seeing this morning, one fire captain who was here all night and all morning said, look, it's only a matter of time until this happens. And again, we're seeing evidence of that with that deck that we just showed you coming crashing down here a few moments ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So that was Eric Spellman, a reporter with one of our affiliates KTLA. People in Southern California, where I hail from, they like those hillside homes. You get great views. It kind of keeps you up and out, unless you end up in the soup (ph) down there.

SANCHEZ: But you get in the rainy season, and you're living in a -- as one of our reporters said yesterday, a precarious perch.

KAGAN: Yes. Or not. You're already down there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: A story that we're going to have for you is taking place in Texas. We say developing because part of the story has come in, but not the other part. An arrest has been made in the case of this missing pregnant woman with her 7-year-old son that you just saw in the picture. But we still don't have many of the details as to where they are for example. We are expecting a news conference at any moment. And as soon as it happens, you'll see it live right here on CNN.

KAGAN: And we are going to go back to the weather picture and the weather story in Southern California, more homes being evacuated in Los Angeles. I'll have a chance to talk with the mayor in just a moment.

The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY coming up after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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