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American Morning

In Texas and Oklahoma, Wildfires Bring Another Day of Destruction; Breast Cancer Drug

Aired December 29, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien. More than 100 homes smoldering in ruins in Texas and Oklahoma this morning after wildfires bring another day of destruction. And fire crews could have more tough work ahead. We'll take you to the scene.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad today. On the West Coast, a dangerous situation, rivers near the breaking point and more rain on the way. The severe weather forecast coming your way.

O'BRIEN: And a shocking story out of Pakistan. A father kills his three daughters and his stepdaughter, his wife watching in horror, all for a twisted notion of family honor. That story is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

COSTELLO: And good morning. And welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It's 7:00 Eastern straight up.

O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. We begin with those wildfires, those fires have scorched thousands of acres in Oklahoma and Texas, bone dry conditions, high winds, bad combination, fueling the flames. Five deaths are blamed on the fires now. No rain in sight. There's concern the next few days could bring more of the same.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): The fires burned their way through parts of Texas and Oklahoma, killing at least five people, and destroying more than 100 homes and businesses. Among the areas hardest hit, the tiny Texas town of Cross Plains.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have tornado back in '94, I believe, and I thought that was bad, but this is so much worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's taken my only memories, memories from my grandkids. The antiques that we had in the house, really that's nothing. It was the sentimental value of the house.

O'BRIEN: Now much of the town looks like this, little more than embers and memories.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to see all they worked for, all the years, and pictures and things that they'll never have again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Students of mine lost homes, friends, community members. It's just I don't know what we're going to do right now.

O'BRIEN: Amid the devastation, some signs of hope. That simple red X means everyone in this house made it out alive. Down the road, this is all that's left of the old Methodist Church. Shards of stain- glassed windows, a clue to what was here. The congregation celebrates its 120th anniversary on New Year's Day. Firefighters in Texas have fought more than 75 fires in the past two days. There are dozens more in Oklahoma.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a huge fire out here.

O'BRIEN: In the town of Mustang, homeowners took matters into their own hands when a small grass fire became a raging inferno.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeing it on TV, watching your house burn on TV, you're just glad you're in the in it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And coming up at the bottom of the hour, we'll talk with a mother and son from Cross Plains, Texas, who lost their church in the fire, but managed to save their home and some others all by themselves with a garden hose -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's pretty amazing.

Well, Mother Nature is about to do some damage in Northern California, more damage I should say, because the ground is already drenched. And it's going to get worse before it gets better as this series of severe storms keeps on coming in from the Pacific. Rivers are at their highest levels in seven years, flood warning being posted in the northern parts of California. Some evacuations have already been ordered, and even Southern California could be at risk for mudslides.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: In Washington, lawmakers up in arms. They want to know why money earmarked for rebuilding in the wake of 9/11 went to a Nevada tanning salon. Numerous businesses, among them, Dunkin' Donuts and Papa John's Pizza, have borrowed billions of dollars meant for those impacted by those terror attacks, and the small-business administration allowed it to happen.

AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken live in Washington with more on this shocking story.

How did it happen, Bob?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the Associated Press is reporting the inspector general of the Small Business Administration charging that a full 85 percent of those who -- businesses who got loans under what was called STAR, the Supplemental Terrorist Activity Program, the program that was supposed to go to businesses that had been affected by the terror attacks of 9/11, that there was not close enough check to see if they qualified, while at the same time, businesses, particularly in the New York area, that probably would have qualified had a great deal of difficulty getting those loans.

Now Congress, as you pointed out, is quite up in arms, to use your expression. The person who is the chair of the committee in the Senate that's involved with this, Senator Olympia Snowe, says she wants an investigation to see if Congress needs to do anything.

It should also be pointed out that lending institutions who participate in this program make a profit, so there will, of course, be a look to see if any laws were broken and if this can be tightened up. It's the kind of thing that involved millions upon millions of dollars and oftentimes gets caught up in a bureaucracy and oftentimes people are not as careful, this is putting it as charitably as possible, could be.

The administrator of the SBA says that at least there is no evidence that anybody who was not supposed to get a loan did get one. The problem is, that a huge number of the cases, there is no evidence that the right people did get the loans.

O'BRIEN: Now, Bob, a couple things. These companies, the tanning salon, the Dunkin' Donuts that received these loans, they had no idea that the money was meant for 9/11 impacted businesses?

FRANKEN: That's what some of them claim, and what will be interesting to find out is what rational the lending institutions would use to get into this program and whether there was any evidence that there was knowledge among the professionals in the loan business this was an easy one to manipulate.

O'BRIEN: OK. And that is an important point. There's a middle man in all of this, a financial institution. So it's kind of a complicated story, but thanks for helping us sort it out.

Bob Franken in Washington -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We are following several developments out of Iraq for you this morning. A deadly suicide car bombing in Baghdad, also more criticism of the mid-December elections. Jennifer Eccleston following these developments. She's live in Baghdad.

Tell us more, Jennifer.

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt this morning at a checkpoint which led to the controversial ministry of interior.

Now three police guards at that checkpoint died in the attack, as well as one civilian. Now eight others, including five additional policemen, were wounded in that morning attack.

A little context here, the ministry of interior is one of the most feared organizations among the Sunnis in this country, and they accuse it of launching deadly attacks on their community. And of course, it is suspected that it's members of the Sunni community that make up the insurgents, and those who are setting off these IEDs, these suicide bombers and suicide car bombs -- Carol. COSTELLO: Jennifer, I know you talked exclusively with the former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. What is he saying about the elections?

ECCLESTON: Well, you know, protests up and down the country. Thousands are calling for a new ballot after claims of systematic fraud in that December 15th historic vote, and from former Interior Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, as you mentioned, he's one the most high- profile voices in this ongoing controversy. He's head of an umbrella grouping of secular Shiites and Sunnis, and he gave CNN, as you mentioned, an exclusive interview yesterday where he offered specific evidence of those voter irregularities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYAD ALLWAI, FMR. IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: We tried to play by the rules ourselves. We never fought over a gang (ph) or intimidated anybody. We respected and still respect democracy, and we think that democracy at the end of the day will prevail here in Iraq.

Unfortunately, others used different tactics, and they used religious symbols, intimidates, assassinations, rigging of boxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ECCLESTON: Now he's demanding that Iraq's electoral commission and the governing Shiites, who look to remain in control of the new government, address these allegations before final results are released.

Now those final results are expected sometime next week. He also says there has been no response thus far and if attempts to form a government start before the controversy is addressed, then he says democracy has failed in Iraq. He said it would be democracy in disguise, and he would not answer potential calls to be in a government. Instead, he would remain in opposition in the new parliament -- Carol.

COSTELLO: But he's running for office, isn't he?

ECCLESTON: Absolutely. I mean, he is considered to be, at least in the press reports, although he refutes this, to be America, the United States leading candidate for a prime minister, for the role of prime minister. Of course, as the initial results show, and again these are preliminary results, and we won't know the final standings until next week. It shows that his grouping is in a very distant fourth place. It even says that he received less votes than he did during last year, last January's historic vote, so the likelihood of getting a senior position in the government appears to be slim, unless there is some major coalition -- some major forming of groupings that fall behind him in the various other ethnic communities. Unless they support him, it doesn't look like he will have a senior position -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jennifer Eccleston reporting live from Baghdad for us this morning, thank you. O'BRIEN: In Milwaukee, police are looking for suspects in the beating of a man dragged from his car by an angry mob. Keith Oppenheim in Milwaukee for us this morning.

Keith, this is a bizarre story. First of all, the victim in this case, how is he doing this morning?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN ANCHOR: Well, his name is Samuel McClain, Miles. He's 50 years old. He's doing a little bit better. He was brought into the hospital a couple days ago in a coma and couldn't breathe. And now he faces surgery for injuries to his face, multiple injuries to his head.

But police say that happened in a nutshell is on Monday night, Samuel McClain is driving on a residential street in Milwaukee. He honks his horn, tries to get some people out of the way, perhaps 15 kids on a street, between the ages of 16 to 23, police say, and nobody moves. In fact, he is then attacked, apparently people are jumping on his head, according to investigators, and police -- we're going to hear from them now -- indicate he is -- even though they are investigating what he was doing in that neighborhood, they are clearly calling him the victim in this matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE SCHWARTZ, MILWAUKEE POLICE SPOKESPERSON: Someone who would do this to someone who is just driving down the street is someone that's very dangerous. These people are very dangerous. Because this was what seems to be at this point an unprovoked attack,and we want to get those people off of the streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: The mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, is making a direct appeal to residents in the neighborhood where this happened and to Milwaukee residents in general, because he's concerned that the mentality of the mob, if you will, is making it harder for people to feel comfortable talking. He's very concerned that people are intimidated by the mob.

Back to you.

O'BRIEN: Keith, is there a racial component to this story?

OPPENHEIM: As far as I know, that the potential suspects in this case are African-American. It is a poor neighborhood, largely inhabited by African-American residents. But it would be black-on- black crime. So I don't think that it's racial in the sense you may be asking.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Keith Oppenheim in Milwaukee. Keith will be digging deeper into this story all throughout the day, and he'll have a full report for you on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN. Please join us for that.

From Pakistan, we have a shocking story to tell you about. A man, described as completely unrepentant, calmly recounting how he slit the throats of his three little girls and a 25-year-old stepdaughter. He says he did so to restore the family's honor, killing the older girl because he thought she had committed adultery, and the other girls, aged four to eight, to prevent them from doing the same later in life. Here is the picture of the man, Nazir Ahmed, seated at home in a Pakistani village, with two sons aged 11 and 13. The man's wife tells authorities she looked on helplessly as the girls were killed. Apparently there are hundreds of these so-called honor killings of Pakistani women and girls each year. You can find out much more about this story on CNN.com.

COSTELLO: Coming up, doctors find a new use for an old drug in the fight against breast cancer. It might offer hope for thousands in the early stages of the disease.

O'BRIEN: Also our special series on the newsmakers of the year, Five in '05, we call it. Today number four, I believe: Terri Schiavo, the emotional family feud that played out in front of all of us.

COSTELLO: Had the country riveted for months, didn't it?

Plus, more on those devastating wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma. How one heroic teenager prevented even more destruction. We'll have this -- his story just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

COSTELLO: Coming up, new hope for women in the early stages of breast cancer. How a new use for an old drug could save thousands of lives. That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: There is now a better, early treatment for breast cancer. The government has just approved a new use for Femara, but there are very specific conditions. Dr. Rache Simmons is a surgeon at the New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and she joins us this morning.

Thanks for joining us.

DR. RACHE SIMMONS, BREAST SURGEON: Thank you for inviting me.

COSTELLO: So why was this so long in coming?

SIMMONS: Well, this actually was a drug that was used in advanced breast cancer for years, and it was so successful, they've now used it with women with more earlier breast cancer.

COSTELLO: so in the past, it was only used for women with advanced breast cancer; now they found it effective in the early stages.

SIMMONS: Exactly. COSTELLO: How does it really differ from Tamoxifen, which is usually what women take.

SIMMONS: Right, Tamoxifen and Femara are very similar drugs. Femara is in a family called aromtase inhibitors, and what it actually, they both do is lower the estrogen of the breast cancer cell be exposed to. What's good about the Femara, there are less side effects than Tamoxifen.

COSTELLO: Well, there was a study done in "The New England Journal of Medicine" about the percentage of women healthy after five years of taking each drug, and there doesn't seem to be that big of a difference; 84 percent Femara stayed healthy after five years, 81 percent Tamoxifen. It doesn't seem like such a big deal when you look at the percentages.

SIMMONS: The numbers are not that different, unless you have very large populations of patients, and that's why it became significant. But again, the side effects are less with Femara, specifically you don't get the side effects of blood clots and side effect of uterine cancer that you do with Tamoxifen.

COSTELLO: So if I'm taking Tamoxifen now and I hear this, I'm going to want to switch. So can I just suddenly switch?

SIMMONS: That's a little more controversial. Certainly women that have taken Tamoxifen for five years may benefit from now going on Femara. If a women has taken Tamoxifen for two or three years, she really should discuss it with her doctor. They may not to switch them midstream to Femara at this point.

COSTELLO: Are there some cases where Femara, for some women, are there some cases they should not take Femara over Tamoxifen, or does it matter?

SIMMONS: Well, the one side effect for Femara is actually higher is osteoporosis. So if you do have osteoporosis, Tamoxifen may actually be a better drug for you. If you're taking Femara, then you need too take other medications to treat your osteoporosis.

COSTELLO: And again, Femara at one point was only approved for advanced breast cancer. Why did it take so long for them to determine that it was effective in treating the early stages of breast cancer? There was only one drug around, which was Tamoxifen, which really didn't give women much of a choice.

SIMMONS: Well, actually it's typical with breast cancer drugs, that typically are used first with advanced-stage breast cancer, and if found to be effective in those patients, they begin to use them in earlier stage breast cancers.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being with us today. And of course you should consult with your doctor if thinking of changing, right?

SIMMONS: Thank you very much.

COSTELLO: Thanks.

Thanks to Dr. Rache Simmons of the New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Coming up, more on those devastating wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma. Dozens of homes already destroyed, and it would be even worse if not for the heroics of one Texas teenager. We'll tell you his story a little later.

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