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CNN Live Today
Third Surgery Over for Ariel Sharon; West Virginia Prepares for a Dozen Solemn Farewells; Twist of Fate
Aired January 06, 2006 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."
Doctors say they have been able to stop the bleeding in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's brain. The prime minister underwent a third round of surgery today. Sharon suffered a major stroke on Wednesday. Doctors say the latest brain scan shows significant improvement, but his condition remains critical.
We just had an update within the last hour on the sole survivor of the mine tragedy in West Virginia. Doctors say Randy McCloy's condition remains critical. He has undergone two oxygen treatments at a hospital in Pennsylvania. Doctors say McCloy remains under sedation as he tries to recover from a brain injury due to carbon monoxide.
The U.S. military now says 11 U.S. troops were killed in a wave of violence in Iraq. Officials said today that a soldier and a Marine died in a suicide bomb attack in Ramadi yesterday. The troops were among at least 140 people killed in a string of attacks across Iraq.
President Bush is due in Chicago shortly to push his economic agenda at the Chicago Board of Trade. We'll have a live report from Chicago in about 30 minutes.
Turkey reports its third death from avian flu. The 11-year-old girl who died is the sister of two teenagers who died earlier this week. They are the first fatal cases of bird flu reported from outside China and Southeast Asia.
And here in the U.S., U.S. poultry companies say they will begin testing all chicken flocks for the virus before processing. That's part of an effort to reassure the public that chicken is safe to eat.
And we learned just a few minutes ago that three-time Grammy winner Lou Rawls has died at the age of 72. Rawls' soulful voice was a staple on '70s radio. He died after a yearlong battle with lung cancer. Rawls was a longtime smoker, but he says he quit 35 years ago.
Good morning on this Friday morning. Welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY.
Checking the time around the world, just after 6:00 p.m. in Jerusalem; just after 11:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, Georgia; and just after 11:00 a.m. as well in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan. We begin this hour with the Israeli prime minister as he fights for his life. And the future of Middle East peace hangs in the balance.
Doctors say that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in critical condition following a third round of surgery today. The operation was to relieve pressure and stop bleeding in his brain.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer is in Jerusalem with more on Mr. Sharon's condition and the implications for the peace process.
Wolf, hello.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
The doctors at the Hadassah Medical Center here in Jerusalem say they've managed to stop the hemorrhaging, stop the bleeding, stop the pressure. They've provided another CT -- another CAT scan for Prime Minister Sharon, but he remains in critical condition right now, not very far away from where we are here in Jerusalem.
And by all accounts, his political days are over with, even if he does manage to recover somewhat. Most of the experts we've been speaking to are extremely gloomy about his prognosis.
Already, there's -- Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been named acting prime minister. He almost certainly will be named prime minister pending the Israeli elections schedule for the end of March. And it's going to be a political free-for-all, it's going to be a rough and very active political process in Israel as they try to put together the election campaign between now and the end of March.
There's no doubt in the short term, though, that Ehud Olmert, a strong, strong supporter of Ariel Sharon, will pursue these policies, more centrist kinds of policies. But there's going to be a question mark, what happens later. And all of that will depend on who emerges as Israel's next prime minister after these elections.
Interestingly, Daryn, the Palestinians themselves have their own scheduled elections this month. And the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, faces some significant challenges from Hamas and other militant groups within the Palestinian community.
So it's going to be a big question mark what happens in the Palestinian -- on the Palestinian side as well. Lots of unanswered questions.
What is clear, though, and all of our viewers clearly understand this, the United States has some significant interest in this part of the world, and we'll be watching and making sure that those interests are best taken care of as possible.
KAGAN: Well, and Wolf, do you already -- on the Israeli side do you already see the rough and tumble politics beginning behind the scenes? BLITZER: Yes. There's -- it's sort of a relatively quiet moment now, because everyone is very concerned about Prime Minister Sharon, even his political critics here in Israel. But there's, no doubt, jockeying going on.
For example, Ehud Olmert wants to be the new leader of the centrist party, the Kadima party that Sharon has founded, and he's managed to bring in the former Labor party leader, the former prime minister, Shimon Peres. And Olmert is aggressively wooing Shimon Peres, just as the new Labor leader, Amir Peretz, is wooing Shimon Peres to come back to his Labor party roots.
So there's a lot of behind-the-scenes jockeying. And on the right side of the political spectrum, the former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, he's now the new leader of the Likud party, and his campaign is moving full speed ahead.
KAGAN: Wolf Blitzer, live from Jerusalem, watching the status and the condition of the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon.
Wolf, thank you.
And if you at home step away from your television, stand by for updates on Mr. Sharon's condition online. CNN's coverage continues with live streaming video from Jerusalem on CNN's Pipeline.
West Virginia prepares for a dozen solemn farewells. The first funerals for the 12 miners who died this week will be held tomorrow. And one of the men's final words may provide a bit of solace to his grieving family.
CNN's Kimberly Osias joins us. She's in Upshur County, West Virginia, with details.
Kimberly, hello.
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Daryn.
Well, I'll tell you, it was just amazing. When we actually saw this letter, we all got a chill down our spine.
You really can't help but feel tremendous empathy for these families that have gone through so much, that incredible emotional roller-coaster, lost so much as well. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS (voice over): "Tell all I see them on the other side -- JR." Final words from 51-year-old Martin Toler, Jr., one of the 12 miners who died in the Sago coal mine in West Virginia.
Toler apparently wanted his family to know he wasn't suffering. He wrote, "It wasn't bad, just went to sleep." And at the bottom he wrote, "I love you."
Martin Toler was a section foreman and spent more than three decades working in the mines. We're told he was a proud father, seen here at his daughter's wedding, and a wonderful grandfather.
Toler's family received the letter after identifying his body. His nephew Randy Toler says the note was written on the back of an insurance form Martin had in his pocket.
RANDY TOLER, NEPHEW OF DECEASED MINER: It's become probably the most priceless possession our family has. That's what I'm told that carbon monoxide poisoning is, a pleasant death. But nevertheless, it's reassuring to have been told that from him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSIAS: I've been speaking with other family members as well, in particular, the Groves (ph) family. They did not receive a letter. However, they also say that they have a tremendous sense of peace in the notion that their loved ones died painlessly -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And any more information from the conversation with the Toler family?
OSIAS: Yes. Actually, I spent a good deal of time with Mr. Toler this morning. And he really -- he really is very peaceful.
He said that there were two distinct messages, not just to his wife and to his loved ones, but also to all the families as well, telling them that they were all OK and that -- you know, this is a spiritual community, Daryn -- that they were going to the other side to perhaps meet god.
KAGAN: Kimberly Osias, live from West Virginia.
Thank you.
The 12 miners how died had made it far into the mine when that explosion occurred. A second group had not made it as far because of a delay. And that twist of fate allowed them to escape.
CNN's Randi Kaye talked with one of the miners who made their way out in this report first seen on "ANDERSON COOPER 360."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): Early Monday morning, Eltan Wamsley went to work at the Sago Mine. About 10,000 feet in, it happened.
ELTAN WAMSLEY, SAGO MINE SURVIVOR: It was just a big blast of air, dust, smoke, and then it started getting hot.
KAYE (on camera): Did you ever see any fire?
WAMSLEY: No.
KAYE: What did you hear?
WAMSLEY: Just roar and rushing wind. I thought it was a roof fall somewhere in the mine.
KAYE (voice-over): Wamsley was with a team of 15 miners. They and another miner, a fire boss, working farther up, all realized they were in grave danger as the heat and the smoke kept coming at them.
WAMSLEY: I thought we was going to die. Especially when the heat and the smoke. I didn't think we would get out.
KAYE: They pushed their way to safe air pockets, put on their emergency breathing apparatus and managed to escape.
(on camera): How did you manage to get to a safe pocket when there's this rushing wind and moist dust air, as you describe it?
WAMSLEY: Just have to feel your way along 'til you find it.
KAYE: What did it look like in there?
WAMSLEY: Well, it was just -- it was dark. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
KAYE (voice-over): Wamsley's wife, Shannon, was at home. It was lightning. Something didn't feel right. She raced to the mine after learning of the explosion.
SHANNON WAMSLEY, WIFE OF MINER WAMSLEY: One of the wives had come up and it was horrible. She was crying, wondering where her husband was and asking Eltan, and that's when it dawned on me that I was very fortunate. And I went from being happy to being very -- I guess the feelings I went through was feeling guilty that I had my husband.
KAYE: The other team of miners, about 3,000 feet ahead of Wamsley's team, were trapped.
(on camera): How hard was it to get yourselves out, knowing what might have happened to the rest of them?
WAMSLEY: It was hard, but you got to think about your own individual family first.
KAYE: Have you given any thought to why them and why not all of you?
WAMSLEY: Yes. What delayed us that morning.
KAYE (voice-over): Wamsley's crew needed a bigger buggy to take them in. It delayed them ten minutes and saved their lives.
(on camera): That's an incredible thing to have escaped possible death, just my minutes.
WAMSLEY: Yes, because if it had been a normal day, then we'd have been right behind them. We would have already been around the turn.
KAYE: And caught in the explosion?
WAMSLEY: If we'd have went around the turn, we'd have been stuck.
S. WAMSLEY: How can you truly be happy when all the other miners' wives are going through such a hard time? And it's -- if he would have been further, I would be right there with them.
WAMSLEY: I told my wife, I said, they're behind the barricade. They'll find them.
KAYE (voice-over): Rescue crews did find them, but it was too late. Only one miner, Randall McCloy, was still alive.
S. WAMSLEY: I touch him every day and lately I wake up and I stare at him when he's sleeping and he snores and I used to complain about it. I don't complain about it anymore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And we had an update just about an hour ago on the condition of Randy McCloy, the sole survivor of the mine disaster. Doctors say he is in a medically-induced coma while being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.
The 26-year-old coal miner was transferred yesterday from West Virginia to a Pittsburgh hospital for treatment. Doctor say McCloy has received two hyperbaric oxygen treatments which may help his brain and other organs deprived of Oxygen. But they say his long-term prognosis at this point is unclear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JAMES VALERIANO, VICE CHAIRMAN, NEUROLOGY: It's early to know. I think neurologically, by far the best thing for him is that he's this young. Given his age, 26, his ability to recover is much greater than anybody at a later age. So I think, really, giving him the benefit of the doubt, it's much too early to say neurologically what his ultimate prognosis is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: So you've been hearing a lot over the last day or so about how doctors are treating McCloy's carbon monoxide poisoning. CNN's Kyra Phillips has information on the hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a fancy name for a fairly simply procedure. It works by putting a patient in a pressurized chamber with pure oxygen, about five times more oxygen than we breathe normally.
The increased oxygen spreads through the body and speeds up healing for many injuries. The increased pressure helps the body absorb and use the increased levels of oxygen. Some people say hyperbaric oxygen therapy dates back more than a century. But it really didn't become mainstream until it was tested and developed by the U.S. military after World War I.
It's mainly been used since then to treat deep sea divers suffering from decompression sickness. It's also used today to treat several other conditions, including carbon monoxide poisoning.
Some people believe it can also be effective in treating dozens of other conditions. You can even buy your own hyperbaric oxygen chamber. You may recall pop star Michael Jackson bought himself one in 1986. Medical experts warn then and still do today, hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be dangerous unless administered by trained medical personnel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, some say that you have to tear things down before you build them back up. But not everyone in New Orleans is pleased about having demolition crews in their neighborhood. More on that dispute ahead.
And one word has changed the way we search the Web: Google. Now the company could change the way do you other things online. We'll explain after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Let's go ahead and check in on business news. Susan Lisovicz, as usual, has that for us.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: Well, we are going to talk Google. Most people think of it as a search engine, but they're thinking of coming out with another service that could change the way you use that Web site and the way you use your technology. We'll find out more about that just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: It is good-bye to a giant of soul. Lung cancer claiming the life of Grammy-winning singer Lou Rawls today.
Our Entertainment Correspondent Sibila Vargas has a remembrance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): His velvet voice was unforgettable with songs like "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine." Musical legend Lou Rawls was unmistakably one of R&B's most gifted artists.
Born in Chicago, Rawls started out as a gospel singer, later switching to soul music. He went on to a successful career that spanned four decades, winning three Grammys and selling over 40 million albums. LOU RAWLS, SINGER: Actually, I've been to (ph) movies, some real feature films for theaters.
VARGAS: The multitalented musician had small parts in several big budget films, including "Blues Brothers 2000." He even lent his voice talents to the "Rugrats" movie in 1998.
RAWLS: I'm tired.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm irritated.
RAWLS: I love the extra leg room.
VARGAS: Rawls was also known for his tireless efforts to promote education. Instead of talking about it, he did something.
In 1979, he began the annual telethon the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars, now called An Evening of Stars. The event has raised over $200 million for the United Negro College Fund.
RAWLS: I say, if they can get to go to school and get an education, they'll learn that standing on the corner trying to think up things that are negative are obsolete because we now live in a high-tech society. And knowledge is the key. Education is the answer.
VARGAS: Rawls admitted being a smoker but quit 35 years ago. Despite battling both lung and brain cancer, Rawls remained upbeat, saying, "Don't count me out, brother."
Back in 1994, we asked him how he would like to be remembered.
RAWLS: Somebody that took the problem at hand and tried to deal with it. Somebody that tried to help somebody else help themselves, because it helps me in return.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Well, good morning, Memphis, Tennessee. Saying good morning because big bash at Graceland on Sunday.
The King, Elvis Presley, his birthday, he would have been 71 years old. So Happy Birthday to Elvis for those of you that believe that Elvis is still alive and out there running around. And good morning to Memphis.
Jacqui, have you ever made the pilgrimage to Graceland?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I have not.
KAGAN: You've got to go.
JERAS: Spiritually, though, Daryn.
KAGAN: Oh, spiritually you've been there, but physically, you've got to go. I mean, it's actually very well done.
JERAS: I would like to.
KAGAN: Really interesting.
JERAS: You know, I was online looking at all the doings in town going on. There's a lot going on. They've got this huge dance party, all the Elvis tours. You can go out, you can look at the mansion, check everything out there. They also have Elvis bingo.
KAGAN: Elvis bingo.
JERAS: Who knew?
KAGAN: Who knew? Now we do.
JERAS: Now we do.
KAGAN: What do we know about the weather?
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: All right. Jacqui, thank you for that.
Coming up, you might call it a Catch 22 of sorts in New Orleans. Families want to go home, but a lot of their houses are unstable. And not everyone can afford a new one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By keeping poor folks from coming back, that eliminates some of that problem. They don't have to deal with providing services to poor people. And many of then, the majority of them, are African-Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Is demolition the solution to cleaning up the city? A live report from New Orleans coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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