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CNN Live At Daybreak

Hard Questions; Miers Microscope; Wilma: Category 4; Pedal Power

Aired October 20, 2005 - 05:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: European health ministers are meeting this morning near London to discuss ways to stop the spread of Bird Flu. Emergency procedures to deal with a possible pandemic are also being outlined. And in Asia, another fatality has been reported. Officials in Thailand say a 13th victim has died from Bird Flu.
Juror Michael Jackson. Santa Barbara County sent a jury summons to Jackson at his Neverland Ranch. But it's doubtful that Jackson will sit on a jury in the same courtroom he was tried in on child molestation charges. Jackson's attorneys have asked for a deferment since he now lives in Bahrain.

To the Forecast Center and, Jacqui, good morning.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. Good morning, everybody.

Keeping our eye on Wilma right now, a very dangerous and potentially catastrophic storm. Category 4 now, so it's weakened a little bit since yesterday. But don't be surprised if this blossoms back up we think later on today, back to 5 status. Right now winds are at 150 miles per hour. They need to be over 155 in order to be considered a Category 5.

Storm system is moving generally to the west-northwest. However, we are expecting a gradual curve to be taking place. And, unfortunately, we could be seeing landfall and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula late tomorrow or early on Friday.

There you can see the storm system moving very slowly through this region. And because it's moving so slow, we've backed off on the time of landfall predicted across the Florida Peninsula. And keep in mind there are going to be a lot of changes between now and then. We're still talking a good three, four, five days before this is even going to get close to us.

You can see a weakening trend through here as it moves in to the Gulf of Mexico. It's going to be encountering some unfavorable wind, the wind sheer, and that's what's going to be driving the storms towards the U.S.

And also the water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are just a little bit cooler. And remember this time of the year we don't have nearly as much sunshine, so everything begins to cool down just a little bit. So make sure you stay tuned and keep it here as we anticipate more changes. The computer models have been changing a little bit all over the place.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Jacqui.

Want to take a look now at how people are preparing for Wilma. Resort areas along the coast of Mexico are asking tourists to pack up and go, or at least get ready to leave in a hurry. The evacuation of tourists from the Florida Keys already under way and a mandatory evacuation order for full-time residents could come down as early as today, noon today, I should say.

People are boarding up and stocking up in other parts of Florida, as well. FEMA says they have emergency supplies set up in three cities, Jacksonville, Lakeland and Homestead.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was supposed to be in New Mexico today, but he cancelled the trip in order to focus on preparations for Wilma. Still, after yesterday's appearance before a House committee looking into the government's response to Katrina, he might have wished he'd been out of town.

Jeanne Meserve has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If Michael Chertoff thought that firing Mike Brown as head of FEMA would deflect criticism from himself and the Department of Homeland Security, boy, was he wrong.

REP. CYNTHIA MCKINNEY (D), GEORGIA: Mr. Secretary, if the nursing home owners are arrested for negligent homicide, why shouldn't you also be arrested for negligent homicide?

REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: You told us that you didn't have the authority to have an evacuation.

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I could not...

SHAYS: And it's kind of like Pontius Pilate washing his hands. That's the way it comes across to me.

MESERVE: Calling himself "no hurricane expert," Chertoff said he relied on Mike Brown to be his commander in the field.

REP. STEVE BUYER (R), INDIANA: Well, if all of that's true, why did -- on Tuesday did you have to designate him as the guy in charge?

CHERTOFF: Well, and the reason I did it...

BUYER: Because it was you. It was you.

MESERVE: Congressman Steve Buyer marched right out of his seat to make Chertoff acknowledge his own responsibility.

BUYER: I know you've seen this.

CHERTOFF: Of course I've seen it. That's right.

BUYER: That's you.

CHERTOFF: That's correct. Now...

BUYER: It's you, right?

CHERTOFF: Right.

MESERVE: Chertoff's public line during the Katrina recovery, the federal response effort was going well. But he told the committee he didn't find out about the levee breaks until the day after they occurred, how he sometimes had trouble getting Mike Brown to return his calls and how he couldn't get answers to some questions then or now.

CHERTOFF: I still don't know the full story about why some things didn't move.

MESERVE: FEMA was overwhelmed by Katrina, Chertoff acknowledged, crippled by outmoded systems for purchasing and distributing aid and poor planning.

(on camera): To prevent a replay of the Katrina response, Chertoff says he will create teams to do rapid emergency reconnaissance after catastrophes and designate in-charge individuals ahead of them. Former FEMA employees say he is reinventing the wheel, that the agency used to do those things when FEMA was a more functional organization.

Jeanne Meserve; CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still on the subject of politics, an arrest warrant is issued for Representative Tom DeLay. The former House majority leader is expected to turn himself in to Texas authorities later today. It's the next step in DeLay's felony indictment on criminal conspiracy and money laundering charges. DeLay and two associates are accused of a scheme to illegally steer corporate campaign contributions to state legislative candidates in 2002. DeLay will be fingerprinted and he'll be photographed when he surrenders.

To say the Senate Judiciary Committee is not happy with Harriet Miers is putting it mildly, and confirmation hearings on President Bush's choice for the Supreme Court haven't even begun yet.

Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is on the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Looks like Harriet Miers flunked her homework assignment.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: The comments I have heard range from incomplete to insulting. Certainly it was inadequate.

CROWLEY: Miers gets a redo. The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked for fuller answers to more than a third of the original questionnaire. Items including, but not limited to, bar and court admission, potential conflicts of interest, constitutional issues, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. This is getting the feel of a never-ending story.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA), JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: It was only two weeks and two days ago that Ms. Miers' name was sent to the Senate. It seems like a year and a half ago for all that has happened.

CROWLEY: Including, but not limited to, a revolt by some conservatives who worry Miers is not smart enough, qualified enough or anti-abortion enough, a public dispute over a private discussion with Arlen Specter about a pivotal court case involving privacy, public questions about alleged private assurances from the White House. Let's just say the tone of things is a bit sour.

LEAHY: We're working hard to carry out our responsibilities, not have this thing taken by winks and nods and quiet promises over conference calls. We'd actually like to know what the heck is going on.

CROWLEY: No single thing said or done so far is enough to doom Miers' chances. But time has not served this nomination well, nor has it done much for the mood of the Republican chairman in charge of the hearings.

SPECTER: I am very anxious to get this hearing in to the hearing room where we have a stenographer and we have a witness and we have orderly procedures and do it like the Constitution says it ought to be done.

CROWLEY: The Senate Judiciary Committee will open the Miers hearings November 7.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Hurricane Wilma bears down on the Yucatan Peninsula. We'll find out what the situation is this morning in Cancun. We're going to talk live to someone there.

Also finding ways to save money in this tight energy market is as easy as riding a bike.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: People throughout the Caribbean are making way for Hurricane Wilma. Schools and businesses are closed from Cuba to Cancun and thousands of tourists are heading home early.

Joining me now is Brian James who is one of those tourists in Cancun, Mexico. He also happens to be a meteorologist.

Good morning -- Brian.

BRIAN JAMES, METEOROLOGIST, KVII-TV: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So is the weather pretty nice there so far?

JAMES: So far so good. Waves are a little bit turbulent right now. The winds have picked up a little bit. But overall, it's not too bad. The clouds have started to roll in. So it's getting a little bit uglier out there.

COSTELLO: So what are you going to do?

JAMES: We're going to stick it out for right now. We will find out from the hotel come about 9:00 this morning as to what they're going to do with us. We do have the option of moving further inland, but they will make the determination based on what the local government officials decide they want to do in terms of evacuations. But there is an evacuation plan in place that if things are going to get bad enough, then they will move us inland.

COSTELLO: So the hotel will actually kick you out if the government says mandatory evacuations for tourists?

JAMES: That's basically what it comes down to, we just pack up, we move into a destination that is further inland and I guess we would return afterwards. We'll find out more information I guess a little bit later this morning.

But people are really nervous. They have seen what's happened with Rita. They have seen what happened with Katrina. And they're naturally a little bit apprehensive, especially when you're talking about, at least on record right now, the deepest hurricane ever to be in the Atlantic basin. So it's a lot of people are really on edge.

But the good news is that the hotels, they're keeping us informed. They keep posting up the latest forecast track and some of the information. So they are doing a good job of keeping us at least ahead of the storm right now.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Brian, you're a meteorologist.

JAMES: Yes.

COSTELLO: It's been a nasty hurricane season, and yet you chose to go to Cancun.

JAMES: You know it was one of those things you had to roll the dice, you were hoping, OK, there was a depression down there and maybe it's going to turn towards Cuba and move north, but you only have so much of a window of opportunity to take vacation. So rolled the dice and unfortunately it didn't come up so well.

COSTELLO: No, I don't mean to make fun of you, I really don't.

JAMES: No.

COSTELLO: But it's just so ironic. This hurricane, though, is so powerful. It turned powerful very quickly and the sustained winds are massive right now.

JAMES: Yes. That definitely makes us a little bit nervous here. They have done a little bit of boarding up. There's not a whole lot going on. They are not taping up all the windows and doing a whole lot of boarding, at least right now. But I have a feeling that if the track does hold true the way it stands right now, then more than likely they're going to do a lot more of that in the coming hours.

But the way it stands right now, they're kind of a little bit nervous, because they don't want to make the residents or make the tourists nervous either, so they're trying to keep it at bay right now. But I have a feeling that if it does hold true, the track comes plowing on up, I'm sure they're going to go ahead and do a lot of boarding and taping.

COSTELLO: Brian James, a meteorologist on vacation in Cancun.

Good luck to you, Brian, and thanks for talking to us this morning.

JAMES: Well thank you very much. Yes, wish the best of luck to everyone around here.

COSTELLO: Definitely.

Want to see how the residents of Key West are preparing for the storm. For that we turn to Dave Malkoff of CNN affiliate WFOR.

Morning -- Dave.

DAVE MALKOFF, WFOR-TV REPORTER: Good morning, Carol.

Brian is on vacation down there in Mexico. A lot of people are on vacation here in Key West, and they got the word yesterday that they have to get out of here. All the hotels got a note saying that the people have to get on the road, the non-residents.

As you can see down here, they are starting to board up some of the buildings here on Key West's main drag, Duvall Street. And if you look at this video from earlier today, you can see they have been boarding up all over Key West. There is a state of emergency. That just gives them some extra power so they can get federal assistance and county assistance and government assistance as this storm roars through.

The schools are closed for the rest of the week down here. And they have that mandatory evacuation for non-residents that went into effect yesterday. Then they have the mandatory evacuation for residents, everyone else. Beginning later today, the parks are closed, the tolls are lifted.

They're starting to bring people up to a shelter that's actually in the mainland here. They will take buses from Key West all the way up to the mainland. Those are free buses so they can get all the homeless people out of here. And, basically, anyone who doesn't have a car, they will have a way to get out of Key West.

But you know with that storm stalling out there in the ocean, a lot of people are just wanting this to get over with and come through. They don't want to see it stalling out there or gaining power and coming through. These storms are just so unpredictable that all they have to do is notch up just one or two degrees and we can either miss the storm or get a real wallop down here in Key West.

That is the very latest. Live from Duvall Street, I'm Dave Malkoff.

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: Don't go away yet, Dave, I have one more question.

MALKOFF: Sure. Yes. Yes.

COSTELLO: How are officials going to handle the traffic going out of Key West? Do they have a plan?

MALKOFF: Well they are trying to get all the people on the buses as soon as possible because the traffic is a problem. Carol is talking about how there is just one lane road -- there is just one two-lane road that takes you in and out of Key West. That is the only way in and out. So that can get clogged up. So that is why they are trying to get people on the road as early as possible and get the buses as early as possible.

There will come a time when they say if you haven't left Key West, if you haven't left the Keys, you need to stay down here, because it will get way too dangerous to cross that road, because there's a Seven Mile Bridge there. And if a wind gust comes by, they don't want those buses or cars going into the water.

COSTELLO: All right, well I hope people heed the warnings.

Dave Malkoff from our affiliate WFOR...

MALKOFF: Sure.

COSTELLO: ... reporting live in Key West this morning.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:46 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Top presidential adviser Karl Rove reportedly told a grand jury that he and vice presidential aide Scooter Libby discussed their contacts with reporters about CIA operative Valerie Plame before she was outed. That's according to The Associated Press and "The Washington Post" citing people familiar with Rove's testimony.

There's a new mega millionaire out there this morning. Here are the winning numbers for the $340 million Power Ball jackpot: 7, 21, 43, 44, 49. The Power Ball number 29. The winning ticket, one winning ticket, purchased in Oregon. It is the nation's second richest Power Ball jackpot.

In money news, a bidding war over Warren Buffett's authorized biography. Banton Dell Publishing, a division of Random House, got the deal. It's reportedly worth more than $7 million. The book is due out in 2008. The 75-year-old Buffett has an estimated wealth of $40 billion.

In pop culture, the Parents Television Council issues its list of the worst programs for family audiences. On the list, two of the biggest hits, "CSI" and "Desperate Housewives."

In sports, Hurricane Wilma disrupting things for lots of people, including sports fans. Georgia Tech's game Saturday at the University of Miami has been postponed to November 19. That also forced Miami to move its November 17 Thursday night game to Wake Forest to Saturday, November 12.

To the Forecast Center and -- Jacqui Jeras.

JERAS: Hey, Carol.

We're keeping our eye on Wilma right now. Some weakening has taken place since yesterday, but we are expecting the storm to ramp back up again later on this afternoon. So looking at a Category 4 now with winds of 150 miles per hour.

The good news is, we just checked in on the Florida Keys, is that we have a lot of time to prepare for this. The storm system is moving very, very slowly. So we have all of today, all of Friday before we really need to get worried about the impact of the storm beginning to hit, though some isolated showers and thunderstorms even hit the Keys yesterday afternoon.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: But we like it.

JERAS: We do, it's lovely.

COSTELLO: Thank you -- Jacqui.

JERAS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Before you reach for that second doughnut, listen up, it could soon be harder to sue your favorite fast food joint if you yourself are super sized.

Also, those high gas prices, you could be paying interesting dividends. Our Tom Foreman will explain.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Fast food giants may soon rest easy. That's because the House of Representatives passed the so-called Cheeseburger Bill. The bill bans civil lawsuits by people who say their health problems are caused by fast food. In other words, Congress says people cannot blame their obesity on fast food companies. A similar bill passed the House in the last Congress, but it never made it through the Senate. We'll keep you posted.

As gas prices go up, many of you are looking for ways to cut down on your fuel consumption. Have you tried pedaling to work?

Our Tom Foreman looks at that commuter alternative.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of the oldest forms of alternative commuting is getting new scrutiny against the modern reality of $3 gas. Just ask Lynne Mavracic. She gave up her car in February and started using her bike to go to work. Eight months later, with no gas bills, parking fees, insurance, she says she has saved, no kidding, $6,000.

LYNNE MAVRACIC, CYCLIST: I won't lie, it was a serious adjustment at first. It was a real adjustment. I really -- because you get in a mindset of hopping in your car and it only takes five minutes to go to the grocery store.

FOREMAN (on camera): Now you're going everywhere on your bike?

MAVRACIC: Yes, it's all pretty much by bike.

MATTHEW COOK, BICYCLE PRO SHOP: OK, this is like those originally...

FOREMAN (voice-over): No wonder bike sales are hotter now than they have been since the energy crisis of the '70s. And bike makers are keeping commuters in mind.

COOK: Absolutely, yes. And the handlebars are more upright. You know you have front suspension, seat suspension, so it just smoothes things out a little bit, because the roads here are pretty nasty.

FOREMAN: The shocking reality of downtown traffic in major cities has traditionally made bicycle commuting an option only for the athletic.

(on camera): It's very dicey down here with cars stopping and doors opening.

(voice-over): But that's changing. ELIZABETH PRESTON, LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLIST: That transportation bill it's...

FOREMAN: Elizabeth Preston with the League of American Bicyclist explains. The latest federal transportation bill contains $5 billion tax dollars for making cities more friendly for bikers and walkers, more trials, more biking lanes, more education programs for riders and drivers.

PRESTON: So now when you're mad and you don't want to pay the fuel prices, you can still go out and start bike commuting. And you'll be amazed at the infrastructure that's there waiting for you to use.

FOREMAN: That will not answer questions like can you shower at work? What do you do when it rains? By the way, biking enthusiasts say start small. Figure those things out as you go. But look at it this way, driving to work costs me $125 a week. The Metro at least $35 a week. Biking is a bit slower, only a bit.

(on camera): Although, even when you consider the helmet and gloves and the bags and the fancy bike and everything, it's still a lot cheaper.

(voice-over): If I commuted by bicycle every day for just two months, I'd pocket $1,000. Not a bad payoff just a little way down the trail.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Here's a quick look at what's ahead in the second hour of DAYBREAK.

The number of obese Americans way up, but you may be risking your life with surgery to achieve a leaner look.

And political analyst Bill Schneider gives us his take on the imminent arrest of Tom DeLay. Is it the end of the line for The Hammer or just a slight delay in his career?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is Thursday, October 20.

And evacuations will begin soon as Wilma bears down, and so the boarding up begins again for many homeowners in the Florida Peninsula.

Europe bracing for the Bird Flu. How does an entire continent coordinate the fight to stop the spread of the disease?

And the dangers of slimming down with surgery, it may not be the best option for everyone.

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you. We'll have more on those stories in just a minute.

But first, let's go right to CNN's hurricane headquarters and CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

OK, tell us about Wilma -- Jacqui.

JERAS: Well, Wilma has weakened a little bit, but there have been a lot of changes. If you didn't watch CNN last night, you need to pay attention here, because things are a changing very rapidly with Wilma. It's weakened a little bit. It's down to a Category 4 hurricane. Maximum winds now 150 miles per hour. But even though it's weakening right now, we are expecting this to ramp up again later on this afternoon, and it could become a Category 5 again.

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