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CNN Live Today

Searching for Clues In Miami Beach Plane Crash; New York Transportation Strike; UPS Santa's Helpers

Aired December 20, 2005 - 10:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: With two hours of news. Two developing stories we're following this morning. The strike is on for New York City transit workers, leaving 7 million people wondering how they'll get around the big apple. And the search is on for clues in that seaplane crash off the Miami coast. We're expecting an update any time from NTSB investigators. Live coverage on both stories just minutes away.
First, though, here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

Vice President Dick Cheney met today with Pakistan's president before cutting short his Middle East tour to head back home. Cheney had planned to visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt tomorrow, but he's returning to Washington just in case he needs to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate. While he was in Pakistan, Cheney expressed America's deep sorrow over the deadly earthquake that struck Pakistan and Kashmir in October. About 87,000 people died. Millions are still homeless.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon joked with reporters as he walked out of a Jerusalem hospital today. He said he -- apparently, he said, you've missed me. Mr. Sharon is back on the job just two days after suffering a mild stroke. The 77-year-old Primir (ph) is running for re-election in March.

Federal investigators are asking for the public's help in locating some missing explosives. One hundred and fifty pounds of commercial plastic explosives disappeared from a private storage site in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That theft was discovered on Sunday night. There's a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the recovery of the material. Authorities say it's enough to level a building.

The debate over teaching evolution or what's called intelligent design in schools could come to a head today. A federal judge is expected to rule whether a school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, violated the Constitution by requiring its biology curriculum to include intelligent design. That theory argues that an unidentified intelligent force created life on earth and that Darwinism can't create complex life forms.

Good morning to you. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.

We're going to start this hour with a search for clues in the waters off of Miami Beach. Investigators want to raise the wreckage of a seaplane that crashed yesterday afternoon. Crews are looking for the cockpit voice recorder as they try to find a cause for the crash that killed 20 people. CNN's Christopher King joins us live from near the crash site.

Christopher, hello.

CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board do want to lift that seaplane out of the water. Take a look over here. As you can see behind me, this is the jetty where it all happened. This happened yesterday afternoon. The Coast Guard ships are back on the water. They want to evaluate how safe it is to put crews at the crash site under water. Now authorities say 20 people were onboard, three were infants. One person is still unaccounted for. The National Transportation Safety Board spoke a little while ago. They want to recover the plane's voice recorder for clues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ROSENKER, ACTING CHAIRMAN, NTSB: What we're here to do is to take a look at the actual dive teams and to begin the process of working on raising the aircraft so that we can assess what actually happened. We'll be looking at trying to accomplish the task of finding the cockpit voice recorder. Once we get that, we will send that back to Washington for analysis, a readout, and trying to find all parts of the aircraft. We'll get them on dry land and our investigators will begin going through those with a fine-toothed comb.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now there are reports that victims' families are saying that many of the passengers were related or friends and the plane was very old and there's no word yet on what caused the crash. But the age of the plane is one thing that investigators are looking into. It was built back in 1947. It's a 58-year-old plane.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Christopher, have they talked about any difficulty in either getting the voice recorder or the wreckage of the plane off the bottom of the sea floor. I understand the water is about 35 feet deep where they believe the wreckage is.

KING: Well, yes, Daryn, they do want to make sure that it is safe to put divers back in the water over there. And there is some question as to what type of voice data recorder they had there. Whether it's a sophisticated one or whether it's an older one that may not be able to give as many clues as some of the more sophisticated voice data recorders.

KAGAN: Christopher King, live from South Florida, thank you.

Well, for a number of people in Florida, a day at the beach turned into a moment of complete horror. This is what dozens of beach goers saw yesterday afternoon. The flaming wreckage of a seaplane plunging into the Atlantic. Among those who saw the crash were some German tourists who shot this video and gave it to us here at CNN. Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, the acting NTSB chairman said the tape will be a valuable resource for investigators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ROSENKER, ACTING CHAIRMAN, NTSB: Video like that is going to be extremely helpful as we progress down this investigation. It's very rare that we have the opportunity to get video of the actual accident, so we'll be taking that back to Washington. We have some security video from the United States Coast Guard. We'll be doing some analysis of that as well. All of this is very important towards finding an answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Rosenker is asking anyone else who might have shot amateur video or still photographs of the crash to please come forward.

It was a frightening 90 minutes for the passengers and crew of an Air India flight. The plane blew a tire after departing Los Angeles International Airport last night. The plane then circled, dumping fuel over the ocean, before returning for an emergency landing. Sparks flew on impact but no injuries were reported. Flights were temporarily stopped at the airport but service soon resumed.

Well, to New York City now where New Yorkers are struggling to find alternative transportation today after the city's subway and bus workers went on strike. New York's first transit strike in a quarter century is stranding 7 million daily riders and it comes at the height of the Christmas shopping season. Basically it's a big mess. Our Chris Huntington is outside New York's Penn Station with more on the effects of the strike.

Chris, glad to see you made it to work today.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I made it to work on time, Daryn, but, indeed, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be very late or are simply not even going to make it in today. It is a nasty commute, plain and simple. Of course, none of the subways and buses are running. As you mentioned, a transit system that ordinarily caries 7 million passengers a day.

There are additional bus lines speeding into the city, but there are restrictions for anybody wishing to drive into the city. You have to have a carpool of at least four people to come into Manhattan. And here in Manhattan, in Midtown Manhattan, new taxi rules in effect that are creating essentially curbside auctions. Now the taxies can pick up multiple fares and that means you've got groups of folks haggling over whether they want to go uptown or downtown. It's a potential boom for the taxi driver. But basically it is a tiny salve, if you will, for a really tough situation.

The issue, of course, is money, and lots of money. The 30,000 transit workers said initially that they wanted a raise of 8 percent. They backed down to 6 percent. The best they got was 3 percent this year, then 4 percent next year. Not enough to close the gap. It's now in court. The city and the Transit Authority promising huge fines against the union.

Mayor Bloomberg showing he's resolute and sticking with New Yorkers. He walked to work across the Brooklyn Bridge. He spent last night in the city's emergency command post which is over in Brooklyn across the East River. So a lot of folks burning up a lot of shoe leather today, Daryn. And we're only in day one. Back in 1980, there was a transit strike that lasted 11 days.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Chris, I don't know if you have a monitor there where you're standing near Penn Station, but I wanted to put up a live picture and maybe you can help us here, of folks getting on to a ferry and trying to get to work that way. The shot courtesy of WABC. Anything you can add to that?

HUNTINGTON: Well, sure. There's a regular system of water taxies, as they're called here in New York, that go up and down the East River, the Hudson River. There is, of course, the venerable Staten Island Ferry. Those systems are still running. And they've beefed them up, put on extra stops, extra ferries where possible and that is helping.

There are extra buses and some of the main railroad lines are still feeding into Manhattan. So, for instance, if you're able to take the Long Island Railroad or Amtrak, for instance, into Penn Station here and you only have a short walk, you're probably doing OK. And we've met a number of people like that. Most people we've spoken to, though, are angry about the strike. But then you ask them again, do the transit workers deserve more money? And they say, yes, they probably do. So they're upset about their personal situation but somewhat sympathetic about the transit worker's situation.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Sympathy that might wane as the frustration goes on and the colder it gets. Chris Huntington in New York City, thank you.

President Bush's desire to spread democracy in emerging nations takes a step forward this hour. A live look at the swearing in ceremony. John Danilovich as CEO of what they're calling the Millennium Challenge Corporation. MCA is a government-controlled company that will provide financial aid to those countries that embrace democracy and are able to show economic growth. Danilovich is the former U.S. ambassador to Brazil. And before that, he was ambassador to Costa Rica.

Word out of Pakistan this morning is that Vice President Dick Cheney is cutting his Middle East travel plans short. Doing that in order to take care of business back home on Capitol Hill. Our Dana Bash is traveling with Mr. Cheney and had a chance to talk with the vice president on the subject of the NSA's eavesdropping. A security tactic that Mr. Cheney staunchly defends as necessary to national security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We made the decision that when we have somebody inside the United States who's in touch not just overseas but is in touch with a terrorist or a terrorist suspect or an al Qaeda affiliate, that, in fact, that's proper and the president's authorized the NSA to be involved in looking at that transition. If we has been able to do that before 9/11, we might have been able to pick up on the two hijackers who were in San Diego in touch overseas with al Qaeda individuals or organizations.

So the activity we've undertaken is absolutely consistent with the Constitution. It's reviewed very carefully by the president every 45 days. He has to personally sign off on it. It has to be approved by the Justice Department and the attorney general and we've briefed the Congress on it about a dozen times. So it is a good, solid, sound policy. It is, I'm convinced, one of the reasons we have not been attacked for the last four years. It's absolutely the right thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: A new report suggests that President Bush tried to get "The New York Times" to kill its story about a domestic spying program. Jonathan Alter (ph), who writes on "Newsweek's" Web site, says the president summoned "The Times" publisher and executive editor to the Oval Office. That meeting reportedly took price on December 6th, 10 days before the story ran. Alter writes the president was unable to convince the newspaper men to kill the story. At his news conference yesterday, the president called the leak of the spy program a shameful act. And CNN National Security Adviser John McLaughlin believes the report may be a blow against the war on terror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Since this article was published in the press, we'll never know what we're not hearing. When these kind of programs are revealed, in my personal experience, terrorists inevitably begin to tighten up their security, go deeper underground and it's harder to find them, harder to detect them and harder to disrupt them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Both Republicans and Democrats are calling for congressional investigations into the spy program.

You want to be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

The end of the year is always a time to take stock and the Department of Homeland Security is no exception. Michael Chertoff speaks later this hour about his agency's performance. We will bring that to you live. Also ahead, it may be decision time in a Pennsylvania intelligent design case. We'll review the facts and talk about what the ruling could mean for schools across the country.

Plus, they're delivering 230 packages per second this week. We're going inside the heart and mind of the United Parcel Service.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A challenge to the partial results from last week's historic election in Iraq. And that challenge is coming from Sunni Arabs. The Iraqi accord front says that the mistakes must be correction order they want the country's election commission to re-run the vote in Baghdad. That is the biggest electoral district. Sunni leaders call the results a falsification of the will of the people. Final election results are expected at the end of the month.

For those who say victory cannot be achieved in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed them as naysayers last night on "Larry King Live." Rumsfeld took exception to assertions that Iraq is America's latest military quagmire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I am absolutely convinced that the course we're on is the right course and that there isn't any way we could -- some people are saying, well, we're losing the war. We're not losing the war. The only place this war could be lost would be in Washington, D.C. The troops out there, the young men ask women, are doing an absolutely superb job. The Iraqi security forces have improved every day, every week, every month. We are passing off more and more responsibility to them.

And so, too, in Afghanistan. If you look at what's going on there. They seated their parliament this week for the first time. They have a popularly-elected president for the first time in 5,000 years. It wasn't to long ago that people were saying Afghanistan was a quagmire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: There's also this news from Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He says today that 3,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan. That will bring the number from 19,000 down to about 16,000. That reduction has been long expected and should be completed by the spring.

A friendly reminder for you. Be sure to join us every night "Larry King Live"" every week night at 9 right here on CNN.

So ever wonder what it takes to get those packages from place to place? We're going to give you a behind the scenes look. We'll introduce you to the rough-and-tumble world of UPS straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: Taking a look at Wall Street. The Dow and the markets have been open about 50 minutes. The Dow, you can see, is down 13 points. The Nasdaq in negative territory as well, down seven.

Maybe investors are bummed about what they see happening in New York City. The transit strike is well underway and New Yorkers doing whatever they can to get into the city, by ferry or however they can. If they're in private cars, they have to have four to a car. And as you can see, traffic moving very slowly. A tough day in New York City.

Well, you might see someone going from house to house today dropping off packages, dressed not in red but in brown. This is expected to be the busiest day of the season for United Parcel Service. CNN's Jonathan Freed takes us inside a UPS nerve center that's right near Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): You are riding through the heart of UPS' largest sorting facility for ground shipments in North America. We tossed in a package equipped with a camera. There are 65 miles of conveyor belts and rollers at this one and a half million square foot facility outside of Chicago.

RICK MENDOZA, UPS SORTING MANAGER: Break is over. Let's go. Get everyone back on the clock.

FREED: Rick Mendoza is one of the people responsible for making sure your holiday wishes arrive on time.

MENDOZA: And it looks like they're going heavy to Dayton, Ohio.

FREED: It's the busiest shipping week of the year and UPS says it's handling some two million packages a day at this center alone.

Do you feel a sense of personal responsibility for making sure that everything gets to where it's supposed to go?

MENDOZA: Yes, I do. Because I have the position of insuring that all the processes are in place. FREED: So how do they sort through 100,000 packages an hour? Take this system called the bullfrog because of how so called lily pads make packages jump to their destination.

All right, let's test that.

MENDOZA: Let's test it.

FREED: OK.

What's this?

MENDOZA: This is Knoxville, Tennessee, pre-load.

FREED: OK. MENDOZA: The package all should say 3799. Grab one of them out, and we have, what, Knoxville, Tennessee, 3799. The right package in the right bag.

FREED: OK, you could have gotten lucky. Let's test one more.

MENDOZA: Let's test one more.

FREED: Another on at random.

MENDOZA: This one?

FREED: This one right here, sure.

MENDOZA: This one right here. This is a Ohio. (INAUDIBLE), Ohio, 4369. We go in. Here we go, Ohio, 4369.

FREED: Mendoza also watches over the folks who load and unload the trucks, which can be tricky during the holiday rush.

MENDOZA: From your shoulders to your waist is your power zone. And what we want to try to do is keep as much of the weight as you can within that zone. You don't want to carry packages below your waist. You don't want to to much overextend.

FREED: That's because things are already extended enough around here. Where, by company estimates, it's delivering up to 230 packages per second. At least ours didn't have to leave the building.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Hodgkins, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And, of course, UPS always appreciates good weather if they can get it to help get the packages where they're going. Chad Myers is here taking a look at that.

Chad, have you sent off all your holiday gifts?

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Also still ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY, Michael Chertoff giving the Department of Homeland Security its report card for 2005 and laying out some goals for the year to come.

Plus, a crucial ruling on intelligent design could come today. We'll take a look at the case that has put Dover, Pennsylvania, in the spotlight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're coming up on the half hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

Taxi rides are at a premium as New Yorkers deal with the first day of a transit strike. The city's buses and subways screech to a stop early this morning causing a commuter nightmare. There's no word on when contract talks will resume. Meanwhile, the city says it will lose more than $400 million a day during the strike.

A salvage team today will try to lift a submerged seaplane from the waters off of Miami Beach. The plane was carrying 20 people. It crashed yesterday afternoon. Nineteen bodies have been recovered. Crews are searching for the final victim, as well as a cockpit voice recorder. Investigators hope the recorder will provide clues to the crash of the vintage seaplane.

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