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American Morning

Discussion With Longtime New Orleans Anchor; Road to Recovery

Aired September 13, 2005 - 08:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's just after 8:30 here in New York. Let's get right to Miles, because he's In New Orleans this morning at that levee on 17th Street, really been the focus of much attention over the last couple of weeks, and then of course today as well.
Miles, good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, thanks very much.

Yes, this will be the focus of attention as long as it exists. Quite frankly, we're sitting on about 2,000 sandbags covered by gravel. It's a high-maintenance fix. And the Corps of Engineers will be out here 24/7 making sure it doesn't spring a leak. A levee not far from here, London Avenue it's called, about three miles away yesterday, sprung its leak. They did some repairs, put some additional sandbags on it. But clearly, this will be high maintenance until they come up with sort of a medium permanent fix, and then ultimately long-range, how to make this canal able to withstand something as great as Katrina wrought onto this city.

This story for journalists all over the world has been a huge one, of course. We have been covering it with an appropriate amount of coverage as a result. Imagine what it's like as a local news anchor and local reporter to try to contend wall of this, and then also on top of that face all of the logistical challenges of simply staying on the air.

Our next guest is a longtime anchor here in the city of New Orleans, Angela Hill with WWL-TV. They've managed to stay on the air the whole time. They actually relocated a good portion of their staff to Baton Rouge.

Unfortunately, on the day Katrina came in, she was on vacation.

Angela, that must have been so frustrating as a journalist to be watching something that to your home city on CNN.

ANGELA HILL, WWL-TV: It was unreal, and frustrating is the word. But thank heaven to CNN. When I say I was glued to CNN, that is an understatement. It was the worst feeling of powerlessness. And I kept thinking, you know, there are hundreds thousands of Louisianians watching just like I am, watching that horror, watching that water rise, watching the trauma of what the people in the dome were going through, the horror of what was happening at the convention center, and just sitting there watching, not able to do anything.

As a journalist, it was just knocked to your knees.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, the other frustrating thing, I imagine, is that, in many respects, your audience is unable to see you and hear you, because they don't have power. They're off the grid right now, still largely without power here. How have you and your team been able to do your job and keep going? And how are you getting the word out? How are you spreading the news?

HILL: We have never stopped. And let me tell you, from the moment this thing began until this morning and forever, we are on the air, and we got something like 16 million hits on the Internet. Thank heaven for the Internet. That was a huge source of communication. Louisiana Public Broadcasting has adopted us. We are now broadcasting out of there throughout the state. So we are going, going, going, and we have teams everywhere.

We actually moved to baton rouge lock, stock and barrel. And for the people who were here, there were seven to a room sleeping on floors. What this team of people did is incredible.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, I saw all of your team there. I was in the same location as them when the storm came through. That was such a critically, in retrospect, good decision to move out of harm's way. The other stations didn't do the same, did they?

HILL: Well, I think everybody had their own design. This -- we had thought about this because of Ivan, what is plan A, what is plan B? Plan A was, of course, please let us stay on Rampart Street. Then they went to our tower in Gretna (ph), then we went to Baton Rouge. But all along, we had that fail-safe of Baton Rouge. (INAUDIBLE). I call him General Eisenhower.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's good to have a General Eisenhower. As a matter of fact, we could use a few more Eisenhowers in the government, I think, in the wake of all of this.

This is a personal loss for so many people on your staff. I know you suffered some damage to your property as well, and to persevere through that and keep coming to work has been difficult. How has it been? What's the morale like on the staff?

HILL: I don't know what happens. We have always called ourselves a family. I know that sounds, oh yes, but we have always called ourselves a family. I've been there 30 years. Many people have been there upwards of that. Something happened. We just held on. People have homes underwater right now. They are coming to work, they are shooting tape, they are anchoring, they are covering stories; they're working with FEMA. Our corporate company came in -- thank you so much, thank you so much -- and literally said, we're going to help with you housing, we're going to help you through this, because we know you're working 24/7. Some people didn't take off until this past weekend. They have children that have to go to schools. They have parents. It's that they have accomplished with what they have done is such a testimony to them.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, you're on the air. You have been on the air ever since. How long will you keep up this pace? It's got to be very draining.

HILL: It's very draining, but you know, this is what we do. And you know that. There is the adrenaline going. There is this enormous sense of all the times for communication to go kaput. But the greater responsibility we have is to continue to tell the stories. Look what you're talking about right now, the little leak. This is going to be ongoing for so long. That's what we do and that's what the responsibility is.

M. O'BRIEN: Angela Hill, anchor of WWL Television, been on the air through Katrina and ever since, keep up the good work. Thanks for your time.

M. O'BRIEN: Miles, can I just say one thing?

HILL: Sure.

M. O'BRIEN: Miles, I just wanted to say when I finally got to go through town, I was so nervous about seeing what I had seen on television. It exists. But I drove through that town, the dry parts, and I said this city is going to live. This is fixable. We are going to be New Orleans again. It will be a little different, but it's going to happen. And I mean that from the heart. I knee town and I know those people, and I know we will be there again, and people will come visit, and they will have fun. And I invite everybody.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Angela Hill. We look forward to visiting the new New Orleans.

And now let's check some other headlines. Carol Costello in New York with that.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: She was terrific.

Thank you, Miles. And good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, insurgents shelled a heavily fortified green zone in Baghdad. Two mortar rounds exploded inside the protected area that houses the Iraqi government and foreign embassies. There are reports of damage, but no injuries.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani reportedly said thousands of U.S. troops could go home within months. The Iraqi leader told "The Washington Post" that Iraqi troops will be ready to take control of parts of the country by the end of the year, and that would free up as many as 50,000 American forces. The pullout likely to top the agenda later today during a private meeting Mr. Talabani and President Bush.

There is a possible turning point today in the standoff between Northwest Airlines and its mechanics. The airline says it is poised to start hiring permanent replacement for those striking union workers. They walked out on August 20th. A final round of contract talks broke down on Sunday morning. And President Bush's choice for U.S. chief justice in the hot seat. Members of Senate Judiciary Committee set to begin questioning John Roberts in the next hour. CNN will have live coverage today of the Roberts confirmation hearing with Wolf Blitzer from THE SITUATION ROOM at a special time, 9:30 a.m. Eastern.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, for years, one resident of New Orleans called her home a dollhouse. Well, now, look at it. Thanks to Katrina, it kind of kind of looks like one. Her story is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: This is a live picture from the Garden District of New Orleans. Lisa Hix used to live inside this apartment building. She used to call her place the dollhouse. And now, it resembles a dollhouse for other reasons, as its facade was ripped away by Hurricane Katrina.

CNN's Dan Lothian caught up with Lisa Hix and tells her harrowing tale.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA HIX, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: These are all the clothes I saved, and my brand-new refrigerator, my Barbie doll refrigerator and kitchen. It's just, you know -- what can you do?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lisa Hix sifts through her belongings in the garden district apartment she often called her doll house.

Now, thanks to Hurricane Katrina, it really looks like one.

HIX: Well...

LOTHIAN: The entire front of her building is gone. She's now taking a risk walking around the exposed second floor of her heavily damaged apartment to recover what she can.

HIX: OK, I'm just getting to where sorting out my valuables and my computer stashed over there, my artwork and all that, and now I'm like, what's next? The rare book collection I'm digging out is in there safe right now.

LOTHIAN: Hix rode out the storm at a nearby hotel, then evacuated the city, the place she's called home the past 20 years. She's now living with a relative outside New Orleans. While her loss is painful, she says she feels much worse for other victims who lost so much more.

HIX: There is so many other people suffering.

LOTHIAN: The freelance writer who works part-time as a bartender says the hurricane may have ravaged her city, but did not destroy her will to return and rebuild.

HIX: I want to come back as soon as I can, and I want to be among the first people to build.

LOTHIAN: Most likely leaving her dollhouse behind.

Dan Lothian, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: So many stories like Lisa's to tell. I'm told that in this neighborhood here, where the floodwaters have risen and still remain, Soledad, there may be 160,000 houses. Whether they're dollhouses or not, we don't know, but 160,000 houses that may not be salvageable.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, Miles, I got to tell you, I believe it. I believe it. When you fly over that area, you just see house after house, after neighborhood after neighborhood just flooded with water or just wrecked by the damage. I absolutely believe that estimate.

Thanks, Miles.

Business news now. Tax cuts from President Bush are put on hold in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

You and Miles just talking about the cost of hurricane cleanup, and those numbers continue to rise. Sixty-two billion dollars already allocated, and many think $50 billion more on its way soon. Some saying the total cost of government aid could be as much as $200 billion. Now Republican congressional leaders starting to say, you can't have it all. Say, $200 billion to cleanup after the hurricane, $300 billion has been spent so far on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can't do those two things and have tax cuts. That's what Republican congressional leaders are starting to get their heads around right now, according to "The Wall Street Journal" and other sources.

There were some moves to extend tax cuts. Now it appear that that will be backed off from. Here you can take a look and see, for instance, the centerpiece of the Bush administration's tax cuts was the 15 percent rate on capital gains and dividends set to expire in '08. They wanted to extend that this fall, Soledad. That will likely be tabled for now. The AMT fix, Alternative Minimum Tax, that will likely be addressed, however. Very important session, though, for the president this fall, because next year, you've got those midterm elections coming up. And after that, Soledad, of course, he kind of becomes a lame duck. Republicans were really counting on getting a lot of this legislation through, and it really appears that, at least for now, they're going to be tabling it.

Also the estate tax was another thing they were proposing to make permanent, banning that, and that is really something that is not palatable at this time, I think.

S. O'BRIEN: No, the numbers are just not adding up, at this point.

SERWER: No, it doesn't work.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, what should the priority be when it comes to rebuilding New Orleans? A closer look at that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Live from New Orleans.

The Army Corps of Engineers is estimating it could be early to middle part of October before the water, which is on the wet side of this levee breach that I'm standing on, is dried out and pumped away. And the process begins of sort of figuring out what can be salvaged and what cannot. But, of course, that's just really the beginning of the process of a very long recovery.

Joining me to talk about what lies ahead for the city -- might be hard to predict -- but Oliver Thomas is the president of the New Orleans City Council. Good to have you with us, Mr. Thomas. What do you see is the biggest need right now in the city of New Orleans?

OLIVER THOMAS, PRESIDENT, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: Well, I think the biggest need is to get the water out, make sure that all of the health and safety issues are addressed, and to really just let our citizens know who can't come back into the city that we're protecting their property.

When I go around the state and I went to Houston and Dallas yesterday, most people really want to know when can I come back and who is protecting my property? And no matter -- whether it's a mansion on St. Charles Avenue or a little house in the lower ninth ward or Central City or Lakeview, they want to know their property is safe and that their values are protected, whether they're wet and soggy or underwater. They want to know that the city, the state and federal government is protecting their property.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, that is a big concern, isn't it, Mr. Thomas? Because I've -- by one estimate, there could be 160,000 houses that are not even salvageable. And in many cases, when people are faced with that reality, can't even get to their homes, concerned about looting, you've got a real issue of managing a lot of very upset people. What's going to be done about that?

THOMAS: Well, you know, first of all, you have to make sure that they understand that this is a -- still a serious situation. There is still a lot of water in the city. A lot of potential toxins. There's some health issues that have to be addressed by the CDC and the State Health Department So we have to clear that up.

But you know, there is there a plan for recovery. And other than the billions of dollars that the president and Congress has improved, you know, things like a federal income tax break, a waiver for five years, property and sales tax, waiver for a couple years, reimbursed by the federal government. It would be nice for the (INAUDIBLE) to do something for our community in distress.

So there are a lot of things that can help our economy rebound if everybody comes together and does it. Let's have both of the Super Bowl -- let's have both of the political conventions in our city.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Mr. Thomas, what I was really referring to, though, is kind of a Superdome scenario. You know, a disaster made worse by human tragedy. People upset, people descending on neighborhoods, trying to get in. You say you have a plan, but there was supposedly a plan for the hurricane, as well. You can imagine there a lot of people concerned about this this morning.

THOMAS: Well, I think a lot of people are concerned. There are a lot of things that could have been done better. You know, when I went out and did assessments of the levees and I saw how high the water was a full day before the storm was supposed to arrive, I even predicted that there would be some flooding. You know, I think the state and city Office of Emergency Preparation did their job.

I mean, that's what we're supposed to do, prepare. Could some things have been done better? Yes. You know, FEMA, the federal emergency management, could they have managed better? Yes. But what do we do from here forward to assure our citizens that we're rebuilding their community and that we're protecting their community and that we're going to see their tax dollars come in to help restore their community. That is what most of people that I...

M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Thomas, can you -- can you understand, though, how residents who have been displaced, having seen what unfolded here after Katrina, might be concerned that the city is unable to protect their property? And aren't you concerned what might happen then?

THOMAS: Well, the number one thing that the city could do to protect this property is something that the city couldn't do, and that is build a levee system to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. The federal levee system. The federal levee system was only built to withstand Category 3. We had a hurricane...

M. O'BRIEN: No, Mr. Thomas, I'm sorry, let me -- could I -- I'm sorry, let me make myself clear. I want to know what the plan is to avoid thousands of people demanding to come back to their neighborhoods. What is the city going to do about that?

THOMAS: Well, you mean to help them come back or to stop them from coming back?

M. O'BRIEN: Well, yes. You might want to stop them because it's very dangerous, as you well know.

THOMAS: Well, right now, you have General Honore is in charge of access in and out of the city, along with the state police. So I think they have a plan right now. I think business people who need to retrieve a computer disk and employee records have some access. But until the city is assessed for a lot of these health concerns, I think people should be very cautious.

Now, we have some parts of the city that are dry. French Quarter, Algiers and St. Charles Avenue along the riverfront. I think we can begin to start some limited access there. But the areas that may be toxic, I think we have to be careful. And we're all working together.

M. O'BRIEN: Oliver Thomas is the president of the New Orleans -- yes sir. Oliver Thomas, president of the New Orleans City Council, thank you very much for being with us.

Back with more AMERICAN MORNING in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien live in the city of New Orleans. I'm standing on top of the fixed breach of the 17th Street Canal. Exclusive live coverage of this location, this key location where the Corps of Engineers is desperately trying to plug the water and pump out the city -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm Soledad O'Brien in New York.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, another storm to tell you about. Hurricane warnings are now being posted as Ophelia takes aim at the Carolina coast.

And chief justice nominee John Roberts ready to face some tough questions from senators about 30 minutes from now on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning, welcome back, everybody. Just after 9:00 here in New York.

Let's get right to Miles, because, as you mentioned the word key, Miles, key in the failure to protect the city of New Orleans, that levee, and key now in the efforts to repair it, isn't it?

M. O'BRIEN: It surely is, Soledad. This is one of five failures of the so-called floodwalls. This is a floodwall right here. Think of this right now, if you will, in New Orleans as kind of the Berlin Wall of water. On the right side here, there's the 17th Street Canal, there's the floodwall that's intact. Everything on the other side of that floodwall over there is dry and obviously has a much better chance of recovery.

Come over here on the other side of the Berlin Wall, if you will, of flood and look at what we've got over here. More than 100,000 homes, all the way over really to the Mississippi River, flooded out because of this singular breach.

Now, I'm standing on the 2,000 sandbags. And we're offering you some exclusive pictures. Nobody's gotten a camera down here until this morning. The 2,000 sandbags that are designed to plug this gap. It's not an easy task.

Take a look at these. First of all, these sandbags are huge, 7,000, 10,000 pounds in some cases. Two thousand of them dropped in by those big Chinook helicopters.

And the reason I'm kind of yelling is there are about three or four pumps here that are part of the effort to pump out this water. It's obviously a slow task. I'm going to back away because it's so noisy.

What they really need are the New Orleans pumps, the pumps that are designed to keep this place dry in the event of a storm. They need those back up online, but they are so far largely inoperative. They've had a hard time getting them going. A fraction of the 170 pumps are now up and running. That's the scene right out here. We're sort of on the dividing line of a tale of two cities.

Sean Callebs is on the dry side of New Orleans this morning. He's near the French Quarter. Troubling news this morning, the discovery of 45 bodies inside one downtown hospital.

Sean, give us the latest.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very sobering news in the aftermath of the hurricane. Happened at Memorial Hospital. You will remember that's the hospital in the heart of the city that's basically cut off by floodwaters, lost power, staff doing everything they could around the clock. Fanning victims as the temperature inside climbed to more than 100 degrees.

Well we know Sunday 45 bodies were removed from that hospital. That is the largest number of victims found at one site yet. And that pushed the number of fatalities in Louisiana up to 280.

Exactly what happened, exactly how did they die? Well the coroner is going to be investigating that.

We know that the spokesman for the parent company that owns the hospital says that everybody at that hospital had plenty of food and water and the staff was doing everything that it could. They said most of these were victims who suffered from long-term illnesses. And they said that they evacuated all of the living out of that hospital this past Friday. Once that happened, they sent a private security firm in. And then, of course, this past Sunday, the very grim work, Miles, of removing all of those victims -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: Well, Sean, right here they're still trying to pump out 36 billion gallons of water. Where you stand, it's dry, and there are some good signs of progress. Tell us what you're seeing.

CALLEBS: Yes, exactly. About 12 miles to the north of where we're standing right now, another positive step as this city tries to reinvigorate itself. They're going to be resuming flights at the Louis Armstrong International Airport. It's basically just a symbolic gesture. There aren't going to be a great number of flights. There are going to be about 30 today.

The two terminals up there suffered very serious damage. They said it's going to take some time to get those repaired. And they believe once they begin that work they're going to find even more troubling information at that airport. So it could be some time before that airport is up and running.

And one final note, Miles, you know that you're talking about all the water down there. We have heard that it's going to take about three months to get drinking water restored to all parts of this city. Now many homes are getting back online. They have water.

You see the Mississippi behind me, like I said, if they turn the water on, that's basically what they're going to get, untreated water. So they're telling everybody, even if the water comes back on, by all means, don't get near it, don't use it. Obviously just a toxic mess in this city at this hour -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink.

Thank you, Sean Callebs.

Back to you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks.

Let's talk a little bit about the cleanup and what lies ahead. A new man is in charge of the federal emergency today, his name is David Paulison, and he is the acting head of FEMA. He's replacing Michael Brown. He resigned on Monday. Lots of anger and criticism of the administration's response to Katrina was leveled at Mike Brown.

Dana Bash joins us this morning.

Dana, nice to talk to you again.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the new guy. He's experienced. Is he everything that Mike Brown was not?

BASH: That is very well put, Soledad. You know part of the criticism of Mike Brown once people started really looking at his experience is that some people thought, well, wait a minute, his resume is incredibly thin given the kind of task that he had in front of him. You know Paulison is, perhaps, as you said, anything but. He has some hard core first responder experience.

Let's take a look at some of his resume, 2003-2004 Director of FEMA's emergency preparedness force. He was administrator for the U.S. Fire Administration, Chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. In fact, he has three decades of fire fighting experience. And politically, what's interesting here is that, first of all, you saw that the White House was very ready with this when Mike Brown gave his resume.

And then, also, you have some Democrats who are sort of in the responder world, like James Lee Witt, the former FEMA director under President Clinton, now working with the Louisiana governor, quietly telling Democrats this guy is OK, he actually knows what he's doing. That is like gold to the White House -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, and I would bet they need that right about now with all the criticism that's being leveled their way?

BASH: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about race and what kind of a role race may or may not have played in the aftermath of this tragedy, frankly. There are polls out that show white people may not think that race was an issue but black people certainly do.

BASH: That's right. And we can take a look at the latest CNN- "USA Today"-Gallup Poll which shows 12 percent of whites say that efforts to help the New Orleans victims were slow because many of the victims were black. But the number that is striking is 60 percent, 60 percent of blacks think that is the case.

Now, Soledad, the White House is very careful what they say publicly about this. But on top of that kind of number, you also have very influential black stars, like Kanye West saying things like George Bush doesn't care about black people. To which the first lady called disgusting.

But the White House understands that they need to try to beat this back. They, more than a week ago, invited African-American leaders to the White House. You have the president down in the disaster area time and time again meeting with the victims, showing the fact that he does care about them.

And he was asked specifically about the race question yesterday. Let's listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the recovery effort. When those Coast Guard choppers, many of whom were first on the scene, were pulling people off roofs, they didn't check the color of a person's skin. They wanted to save lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP) S. O'BRIEN: Well you know what I find a little interesting about that soundbite, though, is no one's claiming the storm discriminated. And certainly no one has anything but praise for the Coast Guard who were among the first to pluck people out of their roofs where they were clinging for dear life.

Isn't the question really, and the question that's not necessarily being answered, but isn't the question really was the administration slow to respond when pictures of mostly black people were on TV and over days were clearly in dire straits? Has there been a direct answer to that question?

BASH: No, the answer is no. There hasn't been. And they are very, very careful to stick to their line at this point. But the bottom line is this is a question that is not -- it's going to be asked time and time again of the White House.

Politically what is perhaps most disconcerting for the White House, Soledad, is that President Bush tried so hard during 2004 to court the African-American vote. The Republican National Committee chairman has spent virtually the entire last year as having that his number one priority, to really expand the Republican Party to include African-Americans. It's really going to be interesting to see what this particular storm and these accusations that it was that there was racism involved will do to that effort.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it will be interesting to see if this has been a major back step, frankly, in the African-American community.

We should mention we got news and information just in to CNN. Thursday, 9:00 p.m., the president is going to address the nation. We will see if he addresses this specific question as well. He's going to address the nation from Louisiana. We're going to of course carry that for you, the president's remarks, when it happens.

Dana, thank you very much. It's always nice to see you again in person.

BASH: Thank you, you too.

S. O'BRIEN: And let's talk about some of the other stories that are making news today with Carol Costello.

Good morning, again -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News."

President Bush is poised to welcome Iraqi leader Jalal Talabani to the White House this morning. The two are expected to hold a private meeting in just over an hour. Topping their agenda, possible plans to withdrawal some troops from Iraq. The president then heads to New York for a summit marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nations. We also just got word a short time ago, you heard Soledad say it, the president will address the nation this Thursday.

A bizarre story unfolding in rural northern Ohio. Police there rescued eight children locked up by their foster parents in three-foot wooden cages. Police say some of the cages were rigged with alarms or blocked by furniture. The parents claim they caged the children, ages 1 through 14, to protect them. The eight children are all in state care. Prosecutors are now reviewing this case.

Human error, not terrorism, is being blamed for Monday's power outage in Los Angeles. The blackout spanned neighborhoods throughout the city. The affected areas, you can see there in red, they start north in the San Fernando Valley and continue through to southern Los Angeles. The outages closed shops and caused traffic stalls for about four hours. The power failure came one day after a suspected al Qaeda operative was seen in a video threatening an attack on Los Angeles. Turns out, though, workers accidentally cut some wires.

And Tropical Storm Ophelia still lurking off the Carolina coast. So let's check in with Chad to see where it's heading now, morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

If you remember the first landfall of Katrina, it was forecast to be somewhere north of Fort Lauderdale, because the forecast track was to turn to the right. Well, it never turned to the right. It kept going straight, and, in fact, for a while it turned to the left.

Well, this storm is forecast to turn to the right, as well. But if you follow that line, I'm not seeing any turn to the right. So if you're anywhere from Isle of Palms northward, especially through into Myrtle Beach, you need to keep your eye on this storm in case it does not take that landfall to the north. We have to keep watching it.

Getting a little stronger at this hour. Trying to get an eye, trying to get a few more miles per hour, because right now it is just a tropical storm, although hurricane warnings are in effect all the way from South Santee River all the way up to Cape Lookout. And that does include South Santee River. That would include a straight line storm rather than the big turn as the Hurricane Center is forecasting -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Pretty big range.

All right, Chad, thanks. Chad, did you hear the story? It is an absolute heartbreaker.

O'BRIEN: I did.

S. O'BRIEN: Remember Susan Torres, we told you about her, she was the pregnant woman who doctors kept on life support so her baby would be big enough to be born and survive? Well the baby, who was named Susan, after her mother, died on Sunday, early Sunday morning. It was apparently an infection that overwhelmed the baby's little body. She was just 5 months old, and you know a little over 5 months, 5 days old. And everybody, of course, had their greatest hopes for this little baby's survival, but it was not to be. Terrible ending to a really terrible story.

A short break and we're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The questioning of Judge John Roberts begins in just a few minutes. The Senate Judiciary Committee convenes at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, and they're considering whether Roberts has the qualifications to become the chief justice of the United States.

Wolf Blitzer is leading CNN's coverage today. He joins us from "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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