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CNN Live At Daybreak
Supreme Decision; Atlanta School Backpack Drive; Afghan Troops
Aired September 14, 2005 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.
Coming up in the next 30 minutes, it is election season in Afghanistan, but will ongoing violence cast a shadow in the voting process?
And a welcome gift for new students in Georgia displaced by Hurricane Katrina. We'll tell you all about it just ahead.
But first, "Now in the News."
As we've been telling you, we're getting these pictures in from Baghdad. This is central Baghdad near the main rail station and the Rasheed Hotel. I have a bit more information. You see that thick, black smoke pouring in from the ground, that is the result of a car bomb. And it must have been a sizable one. Jennifer Eccelston working to get us more information from Baghdad. We'll take you there live as soon as she gets some more new information together.
Also in Iraq, deadly bombings this morning leave at least 104 dead. Police say at least 186 others were wounded in the attack which all happened in the Baghdad area. One bomb targeted a group of laborers, another tore through a busy shopping area, other bombings targeted military convoys.
Two of the nation's biggest airlines, Delta and Northwest, may both file for bankruptcy protection as early as today. A spokesman for the airline pilots union says Northwest's board will decide today on a Chapter 11 filing. And "The Wall Street Journal" reports Delta will file its petition after the markets close today.
Residents of the suburban New Orleans communities of Gretna, Westwego and Lafitte get the OK to head home. Those cities suffered damage, I should say parishes, suffered damage from Katrina, but not the kind of devastating floods that drove so many residents out of New Orleans.
To the Forecast Center and, Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
There is Ophelia, still really the center of the storm, the eye offshore, but many of the outer bands already pounding Wilmington, Cape Fear, right on up to Atlantic Beach. You do see some weather here in the Central Plains that I'll also get to. There is the center of Ophelia way there off the coast.
Where you see these yellow boxes, that's severe weather. You're up and at them this morning in parts of Oklahoma and didn't expect it.
Here is the storm forecast now for Ophelia. You're keeping track at home, 33.2, 77.9. Winds are 75 miles per hour. And they're not forecast to get any stronger than this, but that's enough to do a lot of damage. I mean you've got to think about a severe thunderstorm warning in the Plains, you only need to be 55 to 60 to get that, and this obviously well in excess of that. And there may be gusts to around 85 or 90, because that 75 is a sustained wind with higher gusts.
A lot of wave action, all the way from Cape Hatteras right on down to the South Santee River. That's why the hurricane warnings are there, too. Hurricane conditions going to exist, really, in a lot of these areas in the next four to six hours.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad. We'll get back to you.
Now for an update on the latest hurricane headlines in our "Mission Critical" update.
We start with criminal charges. The owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish have now been charged with negligent homicide. Mable and Salvador Mangano face 34 charges. That's one for each of the bodies found in the flooded nursing home. Louisiana's attorney general says both have been jailed in Baton Rouge. Charles Foti Jr. says the couple declined an offer for buses and ambulances to evacuate the home.
The Louisiana governor, Kathleen Blanco, has been upset with FEMA over the handling of dead bodies in the state. The death toll stands officially at 423. Blanco blasted FEMA for its failure to sign a contract with a company working to clear those bodies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: No one, it seems, even those at the highest level, seems to be able to break through the bureaucracy to get this important mission done. I cannot stand by while this vital operation is not being handled appropriately. In death, as in life, our people deserve more respect than they have received.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: But Blanco sounded very different a few hours later after she talked with FEMA point man Vice Admiral Thad Allen. Now she says, "I deeply appreciate Admiral Allen's sensitivity and understanding and his call to me this afternoon. I am reassured by his call as I continue to have great confidence in the Admiral's leadership."
New Orleans may soon be open for business. Mayor Ray Nagin says he's just waiting for a key environmental study on the city's water quality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: If the report, the verbal report that I got from the EPA stands up, we will be set within the next couple of days to open up a couple of key areas of the city for full access, Algiers, central business district, French Quarter and uptown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Test results are expected as early as Monday.
If confirmed to the Supreme Court, he will preside over cases involving some of the most controversial issues of our times. So senators want to know what John Roberts thinks before they decide if he should be chief justice.
But as CNN's Bob Franken reports, so far, Roberts isn't telling too much.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So many questions, so few definitive answers.
JUDGE JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE NOMINEE: I feel the need to stay away from a discussion of particular cases. I'm happy to discuss the principles of stare decisis.
FRANKEN: Meaning, decided laws assumed, for starters, to be correctly decided, like Roe versus Wade.
ROBERTS: It's settled as a precedent of the court.
FRANKEN: But Supreme Court justices uniquely can overturn precedent. Almost 24 years ago, then Reagan Justice Department lawyer John Roberts wrote of what he termed a so-called right to privacy. That right is the key legal rationale for Roe.
SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: Do you believe today that the right of privacy does exist in the Constitution?
ROBERTS: Senator, I do. The right to privacy is protected under the Constitution in various ways.
FRANKEN: But Roberts repeatedly refused to state whether he believed Roe versus Wade was decided correctly.
And what of his memo written more than 20 years ago in which he said... SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Quote -- "some might question whether encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good."
FRANKEN: He had some explaining to do.
ROBERTS: And that's a common joke that goes back to Shakespeare has nothing to do with homemakers. The notion that that was my view is totally inconsistent and rebutted by my life. I married a lawyer.
FRANKEN: Democrats were frustrated by this lawyer's responses all day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute, Sen. Biden, he's not finished his answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's filibustering, sir. But, OK, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he's not. No, he's not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can go ahead and do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a bad word, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what we do, too. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead and continue not to answer.
FRANKEN (on camera): The sparring continues today with the widespread feeling that the Democrats haven't laid a glove on Roberts, at least not yet.
Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: In other news "Across America" this morning, it will cost you, the taxpayer, more than $4 million in legal fees to defend Eric Rudolph. He eventually pled guilty to deadly bombings at an Alabama's women's clinic and at the Olympic Park in Atlanta. By contrast, the cost of defending Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was $18 million.
In Miami Beach, Shaquille O'Neal to the rescue. Police say a man hit another in the back of the head with a bottle and jumped into a car that sped off. The Miami Heat center saw the incident, followed the car and flagged down a police officer. O'Neal has trained to become a Reserve officer.
Back to the Katrina aftermath. Here's another survivor. This penguin is 1 of 19 rescued from the New Orleans Aquarium destroyed by the storm. He is now at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Workers there put up a picture of the New Orleans Aquarium to make the evacuees feel more at home. Still to come on DAYBREAK, starting a new school can be tough, but imagine starting a new school in a new city with no belongings. In Atlanta, one radio station wanted new students from the Gulf Coast to feel right at home. We'll tell you how in a few minutes.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And as you will soon see, Ophelia is kicking up the wind and the rain in Wrightsville, North Carolina. I would assume this is near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes, just right across the bay here, Carol. And I've been looking at it on the radar picture here. This is a little bit farther inland, I'm assuming, so the winds not quite as strong, maybe even blocked a little bit by a building or two.
But notice the palm on the bottom left there in the dark. We're just under that light pole. That one really is getting some wind, where the palms up on top not doing too much. Again, probably behind the hotel or wherever this picture is coming from, from WSOC our affiliate there.
It is coming in. It is picking up. The western eyewall is just about ready to make landfall right there around Cape Fear, although that doesn't mean the storm has made landfall, the eye is still about 40 miles offshore, the center of the eye.
Actually, we can take one of my weather machines right now. I'll show you exactly where Wrightsville is. We can go right ahead to the TITAN radar, we'll get it for you here, be ready for it, set, there we go.
And the rain coming in just south of Wilmington. It's the big red zone here. Right to just to the south of Wilmington. Right, circle it right there, that is where Wrightsville is and where Wrightsville Beach is. Wrightsville Beach, obviously, right there on the beach and Wrightsville just about two or three miles inland. But the whole area there now really getting some spin to it as this rain just comes pouring in and so do the winds. Some of the winds coming in at well over 30 to 40 miles per hour.
We'll do a little check here what the winds are actually looking like. Some of them probably in the 30 to 45-miles-per-hour range. Carol, getting my little question mark going here and our little table. That's it, 35, 38, about 39, yes, about almost 40 miles per hour in some spots here. There we go. Little River 24, Long Beach 35 miles per hour right now, Wrightsville Beach about 33, North Myrtle Beach around 20. And as that storm gets closer, those numbers will go up -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, I'm looking at the Wrightsville, North Carolina Web site. Not very many people live there, about 2,500.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: And I would assume that mandatory evacuations were put into place yesterday and most people are out of there right now, at least I hope so.
MYERS: Let's go ahead and put this, you know I can roll this into motion. That's a static shot. But if you get it into motion, you'll see the eye itself there to the south. On the bottom part you can begin to see it. I'll clear the numbers, and there you see from Wilmington to Wrightsville. The bottom part there, the cape, if you will. The little point you see south of Wilmington, that is, in fact, Cape Fear.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: Sure.
COSTELLO: I know you'll keep following it for us.
MYERS: Certainly.
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
A large explosion rocked Baghdad within the past hour. An exchange of gunfire was heard in the central part of the city immediately following the blast. This latest explosion comes after a series of car bombings left more than 100 people dead.
World leaders are expected to sign a long-anticipated nuclear terrorism treaty today. The treaty has been in the works for more than two years. The leaders of all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, including President Bush, are expected to sign it today.
In money news, Delta Airlines could file for bankruptcy as early as today. Rising cost of jet fuel and competition blamed for the airline's financial problems. Restructuring isn't expected to impact schedules or frequent flyer programs. Northwest also considering a Chapter 11 decision today.
In culture, pop culture I should say, Dave Matthews and Josh Stone have signed on for a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall. The September 20 charity show will take place at the same time as a similar show at Madison Square Garden.
In sports, Ohio State will switch quarterbacks in the wake of last weekend's loss to Texas. Troy Smith will start when the Buckeyes kick off against San Diego State on Saturday. Smith split time with Justin Zwick during the Texas game.
To the Forecast Center and -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes, Michigan might need to do that, too. Man, they didn't play well. Either that or Notre Dame just has a really great team this year. And I hope so for the Fighting Irish. And good morning, everybody.
We'll take a look at some cities other than those affected by this. This is Ophelia with all of that rain coming onshore. Maybe you don't live there. I bet a lot of you don't.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.
That's a look at the latest headlines for you.
Just ahead on DAYBREAK, a backpack drive to help Gulf Coast kids get the jump on school supplies. It's just one of the many charitable things going on across the country.
But first, let's meet a brother and sister team who are working at the Houston Astrodome to help evacuees feel better about themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL LIN (?), CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Armed with the belief that a good haircut can put a smile on anyone's face, a brother and sister stylist team are giving hurricane victims staying at Houston's Astrodome a new outlook. They've been cutting, curling, shaving and coloring hair with a team of volunteers late into the night. Using their skills, they are helping evacuees on their way to a new job, a new home and a new beginning. One mother of six explained it by simply saying, if you look good, then you feel good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Millions of people are reaching into their hearts and into their wallets to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. In the days following the storm, up through September 11, Americans donated more than $738 million to the relief effort. Now in the first 10 days after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, $239 million was collected. And in the nine days after last December's tsunami, charitable groups collected $163 million. Americans are very generous people.
An Atlanta radio station is one of the many organizations and individuals coming together to help those who escaped the storm, but with little else than the clothes on their backs, I should say. All the Hits Q100 sponsored a backpack drive for more than 7,000 school kids who relocated to Georgia and are now back in school.
So let's check in with Bert Weiss from "The Bert Show."
Good morning -- Bert.
BERT WEISS, "THE BERT SHOW": Good morning, Carol. How are you?
COSTELLO: I'm fine. So who came up with the idea of backpacks? WEISS: Well kind of our listeners did. We were all around the radio station here kind of wondering what the next wave of relief was going to be for us. And the listeners called up and they e-mailed and they kind of pointed us in the right direction. They said, look, if we're going to help, why don't we all come together and kind of help the new students that have been displaced from the Gulf Coast here in Atlanta. So we ran with their idea.
COSTELLO: And how many backpacks did you collect?
WEISS: Well, we were initially looking to try to help every student here in the Atlanta area, every new student, so our goal was 7,300. And this is going to be the first time we publicly disclose exactly how many backpacks we got yesterday and supplies and stuff like that. We ended up with 12,117.
COSTELLO: My gosh!
WEISS: Yes.
COSTELLO: That's terrific! Tell me how many people called in to your radio station wanting to help in some way.
WEISS: We really must have hit a nerve here, because -- and I think we were feeling the same thing that All the Hits Q100 listeners were feeling, too. It's like it's such a massive project, you know, when you're looking at hurricane relief and you're looking at Katrina, like, where do you even start?
So when we came up with this idea, I think everybody was feeling the same kind of frustration, what can we do together? And as soon as we came up with the idea, as soon as "The Bert Show" listeners kind of told us what to do, the phone lines lit up and the e-mails were constant for four straight days.
COSTELLO: Wow! I want to ask you this, too, because I know that your morning show you know is meant to be kind of a humorous take on life and pop culture. But when the hurricane hit and in its aftermath, what were people talking about on your air?
WEISS: Well two of us were actually on vacation. We were out of the country. The other two that were here, Jenn and Melissa, obviously were into the story from the beginning of the show to the end of the show. And I think they were just feeling the exact same things that our listeners were feeling, confusion and frustration and then the next wave of how do we help and that's when this idea came up.
COSTELLO: Are you -- well then I guess you know I'm not really surprised that Americans have been so generous about donating, especially money?
WEISS: Georgians specifically like, I know year in and year out when you look at each state and their ranks due to philanthropy, Georgia ranks like number one or number two every single year in monies raised for different charities. So we're not real surprised by what happened to us the last couple of days. It's just been phenomenal.
COSTELLO: Well, Bert Weiss, from "The Bert Show" in Atlanta, thank you for joining us on DAYBREAK this morning, and congratulations.
WEISS: Thank you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Twelve thousands backpacks. That isn't too shabby.
WEISS: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Thanks, Bert.
On another topic, is there about to be a troop shakeup in Afghanistan. We'll have a live report for you from the field just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: There are published reports that senior Pentagon and military officials are discussing a proposal to cut American troop levels in Afghanistan by as much as 20 percent by next spring. Now that would be the largest withdrawal since the ousting of the Taliban in late 2001. The troops would be replaced by NATO soldiers who now oversee security and reconstruction missions in the northern and western parts of Afghanistan.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote is embedded with the U.S. Army. He joins us live from Kalot.
Ryan, what have you been seeing on the ground in Afghanistan?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well I'm with the 2nd of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Battalion. They are responsible -- they're headquartered here in Kalot, but they're responsible for security throughout what is called the Zabul Province. It is one of the larger provinces here in Afghanistan. And it is also considered really to be the last stronghold of Taliban here, a very contentious region.
And I've had the honor over the last couple of days to go out into the field with the soldiers, the infantrymen from this unit, including an air assaults mission the day before yesterday that we have some pictures of right now.
What I discovered, and this is my seventh trip here, is, and from that mission and the stories that I have heard from these soldiers, is that they, right here in the Zabul Province, have most of the fight. They -- many of them, this unit was in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, came into Afghanistan under the impression that it was going to be quiet here, that there might be peacekeeping to do, that there might be humanitarian operations to conduct.
And what they found is that they have a huge fight here. This unit, in the five months that they've been here, just over five months, have killed hundreds of Taliban. They've detained as many as that. And they say that the fight continues. It is not at all what they expected.
And they are bracing themselves right now getting ready to provide security at all the polling stations, together with the Afghan National Army, over the next four days, because on Sunday, Afghanistan is going to hold its first parliamentary election in more than 30 years. And these troops will be responsible for making sure that those polling stations are safe. Some Taliban militants have said that they will attack those polling stations.
And it's worth remembering that the last time that there was an election here was the presidential election for Afghanistan back in late last year. And in one particular region in this province, of the some 3,000 potential voters, only 34 people turned out to vote because of, they said, intimidation from Taliban elements. So this unit has its work cut out for it over the next few days.
COSTELLO: Ryan Chilcote reporting live from on the ground within Afghanistan.
Thank you, Ryan.
The next hour of DAYBREAK two minutes away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is Wednesday, September 14.
One big apology, two small town arrests, as Katrina's aftermath is felt far and wide. The tragedy inside this nursing home is only now being told. And what happens now to the owners who police say let it happen?
And the president says he takes full responsibility. Looking forward, how does New Orleans begin to rebuild?
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