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CNN Live Today

A Closer Look at Duke's Alleged Rape Suspects; White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan Resigning; Sex Offenders Killed

Aired April 19, 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: Good morning, and welcome to the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY. I'm Daryn Kagan.
We top this hour with the Duke rape investigation. Detectives searched the dorm rooms of two suspects. We are focusing on their hometowns as well.

What is the reaction among folks who knew the men long before their names became national news?

CNN's Alina Cho has the answer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Far away from the Duke campus, those who know the two lacrosse players are coming out to support them. Nineteen-year-old Collin Finnerty is from Garden City, New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a good kid. He's absolutely -- I mean, any family would love to have a kid like him.

CHO: Finnerty was a two-year Letterman at Shamanad (ph) High School. Jack Moran was his lacrosse coach.

JACK MORAN, FINNERTY'S HIGH SCHOOL COACH: He always met my expectations, and I never had a problem with him as a player or a student.

CHO: Back when Finnerty was a student there, he was number 7. At Duke, the sophomore had family ties. His brother is a senior there. Classmates say he and teammate Reade Seligmann would never commit rape.

AAINA AGARWAL, FRIEND OF ARRESTED PLAYER: I just know these boys to be kind and amazing people who wouldn't be capable of thinking of something like this, let alone participating in it.

CHO: But this is not the first time Finnerty has been in trouble. In November, he and two friends were arrested in Washington D.C., charged with assaulting a man outside of a Georgetown hotel.

Twenty-year-old Reade Seligmann has no prior criminal record. He's a sophomore from Essex Fells, New Jersey. In high school, he was number 4, known as a go-to guy who came through in the clutch. When it came time for to decide where to go to college, a friend said Seligmann chose Duke over Harvard and Princeton. The headmaster of his high school said, "I believe him innocent of the charges."

Neighbors of Collin Finnerty say they stand behind him 100 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The truth will come out, and I will bet my life on it. He's innocent. He is definitely innocent.

CHO: Alina Cho, CNN, Durham, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: That judgment of guilt or innocence will likely be left to a jury. How is the case shaping up, and what can we expect next?

A legal expert joins me now. Michael Gerhardt is a law professor at the University of North Carolina.

Professor, good morning.

MICHAEL GERHARDT, UNC LAW PROFESSOR: Good morning to you.

KAGAN: First, I would like to get some perspective on the timing of all this. This alleged attack took place on March 13th. There are some that are saying why is it taking so long to have people arrested, and some who think perhaps it's going right on the right amount of pace.

What would you say?

GERHARDT: Well, I'm sure it does seem fast to some and slow to others. And I don't -- I'm not surprised by that. But it seems to me that the critical thing is for people to take the right amount of time to get their evidence right and to make sure that the facts are established.

This is a critical case, obviously. It involves reputations and people's freedoms. It involves the reputations of institutions and it affects our whole community. And it seems that what we ought to avoid here is any rush to judgment. And I suspect that the prosecutors understand that and the defense lawyers particularly understand that.

KAGAN: What about -- what about the spinning we're seeing taking place? Especially the defense attorneys seem like they're a step ahead of the story, letting word leak about the accuser, letting word leak about possible lack of DNA evidence. Is that common?

GERHARDT: It's not common for a criminal case to be tried in public, but, of course, this is an uncommon case. This is a high- profile case. It's been high profile from the outset. And thus, I think the defense lawyers have a particular burden that they have chosen to sort of try to meet by going public as best they can to protect the reputations of those who have been indicted and the reputations of those that have been otherwise effected.

KAGAN: So, Professor, what will that do, ultimately, to try to get an untainted jury pool? GERHARDT: I'm sorry? I couldn't understand the question.

KAGAN: How that will make it -- that it will make it difficult, I would think, to come up with an untainted jury pool.

GERHARDT: That's exactly right. This is not a large community. This is a community that I suspect is following this case pretty closely. And so, a lot of people may be influenced by the coverage of this case.

And obviously, much of what we know is based on an incomplete amount of evidence. There's a lot of evidence that has not been made public. And I think that it's going to be a critical factor here about the extent to which the jury pool has been tainted by the public coverage.

KAGAN: Two students have been arrested. There's word that a third arrest could be coming. That third arrest coming later, could that make for a weaker case?

GERHARDT: I don't know. That's -- there's a lot of stuff we don't know about this case.

We don't know all the evidence. We don't know who that third person will be. We don't know what the evidence would be pertaining to that third person. And, of course, a lot of this depends on the credibility of witnesses.

So, at this point, we ought to proceed just simply one step at a time. There's much more that we don't know than we do know.

KAGAN: And we will be watching for it as it reveals itself.

Professor Gerhardt.

Thank you, Professor.

GERHARDT: Thank you for having me.

KAGAN: We are turning to political news now. There is more moving and shaking at the White House today. The president's press secretary is the latest staffer to call it quits.

Details now from White House Correspondent Elaine Quijano.

Elaine, how much of a surprise is this that Scott McClellan says, well, that's enough for me?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the announcement itself not necessarily unexpected. The timing, perhaps, is what is surprising. But clearly, there were indications that changes were in the works.

Now, we should mention, President Bush is on his way at this hour to Tuskegee University in Alabama, where he's set to talk about his competitiveness initiative. Of course, though, the big news being made before the president left. White House spokesman Scott McClellan announcing that after three years as the president's chief spokesman, he will be stepping down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I have given it my all, sir. And I have given you my all. And I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary over the next two to three weeks.

Thank you for the opportunity.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's going to be hard to replace Scott. And -- but nevertheless, he's made the decision. And I accept it.

One of these days he and I are going to be rocking on chairs in Texas talking about the good old days of his time as the press secretary. And I can assure you I will feel the same way then that I feel now, that I can say to Scott, job well done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: And again, in some respects, this timing really the surprise here. But the announcement itself not a surprise, necessarily. CNN had been reporting, in fact, for the past couple of weeks that, among the areas that the new chief of staff, Josh Bolten was looking at included legislative affairs and White House communications.

Now, one other change to pass along to you. Word of this coming from a senior administration official who says that Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, will be changing portfolios slightly. Instead of just looking at policy, he will now be shifting mostly to strategic planning, and that job of taking a look at policy will now be over at -- will now be taken over by Joel Kaplan, from the budget team. He will become deputy chief of staff for policy -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House.

Elaine, thank you.

Let's get more on the change of job description for Karl Rove. Our Dana Bash has more on that -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, it's really a fascinating thing to watch when it comes to Karl Rove, because it is clear that people on Capitol Hill, Republicans who are very, very worried about this coming election year, are very excited. I talked to several who say, "Thank god he is going to be the person who is going to really spend a lot of his time focusing on what we need more than anything to make sure that 2006 is not 1994," meaning that we will not lose control of Congress, that there is nobody, as far as they're concerned, who does that better. But I'm sure that this is going to be a tough thing to swallow for Karl Rove, because he has been doing policy this second term, and he considers himself a policy guy. But it is very interesting that Josh Bolten has decided to take somebody who really has had some free reign across this White House and reign him in a little bit -- Daryn.

KAGAN: I want to go back to your old beat on the White House. You dealt with Scott McClellan quite a bit. What can you tell us about the man?

BASH: Well, you know, watching him today, I was remembering what happened when he first started, when he first took over this job from Ari Fleischer. And it was just as the entire controversy over Joe Wilson and the outing of his wife, Valerie Plame, and the whole question of whether or not this big picture, why WMD wasn't found in Iraq and whether or not the White House lied about it, and so on and so forth.

So, he came in to a White House that was already changing dramatically in terms of the tone and tenor of the story, the relationship that he had with, frankly, a much more skeptical press corps at that time. And, you know, it was interesting to watch him as somebody who is a Bush loyalist, somebody who grew up in Texas politics, who we knew as a press corps was in the know, if you will, with the president because he was close with him, but somebody who was still trying to find his way in terms of Washington and trying to figure out how to sort of do the dance of being close to the president and loyal to the president and also trying to figure out how to come up with a strategy communications-wise big picture in terms of how to deal with Washington, which is certainly a major beast, especially if you have never really worked here before.

KAGAN: Yes. Which leads me to the question I asked John Roberts in the last hour. So, if the job of White House press secretary was posted online, let's say monster.com, how would you describe it? "Wanted?"

BASH: Dead or alive. No. You know, it is probably the hardest job in Washington, because you are out there every single day with a wide range of issues: politics, policy, international policy. And you are the person who has got to take questions from the White House, but you know that your words, you know, when the president isn't out there, are going to be played and heard around the world.

So, it is certainly something that is very difficult. But I think that if the wanted sign was up there, it's somebody who knows the boss well, knows the politics and the policy well, but also somebody who has a sense of humor, frankly, and can maybe work it out and have some back and forth with reporters in a way that some people, even friends of Scott McClellan and people who are very loyal to this president thought that he maybe didn't do enough of, use just basic sense of humor to try to ease some of the tension in that room.

KAGAN: Dana Bash, live from Washington, D.C.

Dana, thank you. BASH: Thank you.

KAGAN: On to the story of the congresswoman and the cop and how they clashed. Today, new details.

A report says that Representative Cynthia McKinney hit a Capitol Hill officer in the chest with her fist during a confrontation last month. "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" says the police report describes the incident as "an assault."

At first, McKinney claimed she was a victim of racial profiling, that the officer inappropriately touched her. Later, she apologized. A grand jury will decide whether McKinney will face charges.

Neil Young, he once sang the praises of President Bush's war on terror. Today, though, he's launching a new battle of his own.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL YOUNG, MUSICIAN: There's a message in the album, a message of reunification, and an underlying message that, to me, red and blue is not black and white.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Why a voice of the '60s and '70s is rising again, this time in anger.

Also ahead, online sex registries, do they spread information or fear? I'll talk with a recovering sex offender who says he wants to fix the system.

Plus, quarterbacks air it out. It turns out football fans can, too. A rumble in the stands. Ooh, watch that woman on the lower right part of your screen. We'll tell you about this tumble after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Two sex offenders in Maine did their time. Now they have paid for their crimes with their lives. Police say Steven Marshall tracked down two offenders through the state's online registry.

Keith Oppenheim has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Milo is a small town in the middle of the state of Maine. At 3:00 in the morning on Easter Sunday, Janice Gray didn't expect any visitors and saw someone outside her door.

JANICE GRAY, WIDOW: All I noticed a black jacket and I realized someone was standing there.

OPPENHEIM: Police believe that someone was Steven Marshall, a 20-year-old from Nova Scotia. Janice Gray says her husband Joseph was lying on the couch.

GRAY: I said Joe, somebody's out there. He stood up and I saw the spark right outside the window and he was shot. He sat back down on the couch, told me to call an ambulance and I saw another spark and he was shot again.

OPPENHEIM: Joseph Gray died. Then five hours later, 30 miles away in the small town of Corinth, it happened again. Police say Steven Marshall came to this mobile home, shot and killed 24 year old William Elliott.

CARL MITCHELL, CORINTH RESIDENT: There's got to be something wrong to have somebody come here in your house and shoot you, you know? We ain't used to that kind of stuff around here.

OPPENHEIM: Gray and Elliott had something in common. They were both registered sex offenders. Gray was convicted of a rape of a minor in 1992. Elliott convicted of sexual abuse in 2002. Their names and addresses were listed online on Maine's sex offender registry.

Police say electronic records indicate Steven Marshall had recently looked at 34 names on this registry. Investigators believe he targeted two of them, but don't know why.

Police say the plan started when Marshall visited his father in Northern Maine, stole a pickup and three guns.

(on camera): And then here at a bus station in Bangor, a major clue surfaced. Police tell us that a maintenance man noticed that a toilet in the men's room kept running. He looked inside the tank and found a bunch of 22 caliber bullets, a caliber that matched a gun taken by Marshall.

Police then got a description of a man matching Steven Marshall boarding a bus to Boston.

(voice-over): By Sunday evening, authorities in Boston pulled over this Vermont Bus Lines coach. Police say as officers approached, Steven Marshall pulled out a handgun and fatally shot himself. This is not the first time sex offenders on a public registry have been targeted.

STATE REP. MICHAEL VAUGHAN, MAINE: It sets them up. It makes them sitting ducks. They have their name and their face on the Internet.

OPPENHEIM: Still, police in Maine say the online registry gives the public important information. For Janice Gray, the attack has left bullet holes in her window and an emptier home.

GRAY: We lived for each other. He was my protector. They took my husband.

OPPENHEIM: And left her without a clear understanding as to why Steven Marshall ended three lives. Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Milo, Maine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Be sure to join Paula weeknights at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, on CNN.

Jake Goldenflame is a former sex offender. He now counsels other offenders and has some very strong views about the registries.

Jake joining me now from San Francisco.

Jake, good morning.

JAKE GOLDENFLAME, FORMERLY ACTIVE SEX OFFENDER: Thank you, Daryn. Good morning to you.

KAGAN: So, you are a registered sex offender, I imagine.

GOLDENFLAME: Yes, I am.

KAGAN: Has a threat ever occurred to you before these killings took place?

GOLDENFLAME: No, I've never faced any personal threat myself. And unfortunately, it simply is part of the baggage we have to carry, I'm afraid. It goes with the past that we have created for ourselves.

KAGAN: So, you think that that's just part of the deal and part of the punishment, that this has to -- sex offenders need to register?

GOLDENFLAME: Well, I think the sex offenders need to register because, first, the public needs to know who we are so it can protect itself as appropriate. And secondly, I think that registration helps us remember who we have been so we don't become that person again.

There's a risk involved, yes, but that risk is necessary to take in order for the public to have the protection that it deserves. And if it results in a tragedy like this one, as unfortunate as it is, that's the risk we have to be willing to assume if we want to live in the community.

KAGAN: But you do think that there might be some ways that they can be done better?

GOLDENFLAME: I know they can.

Last night, Daryn, I went on the Web myself and I found that you can go into any state's Web site without any identification whatsoever. I can log on as Osama bin Laden in any state I wanted to and have full access to the home addresses of all the men that I wanted. That's something they might want to tighten up so that you have to use at least a driver's license number or a state ID number to get on to these Web sites. Otherwise, any nut who wants to, fair game. KAGAN: Right. But then, also, any parent who wants to know who is living in their neighborhood would have that information as well very easily.

GOLDENFLAME: Well, here's the thing. We want parents to have it. What we want to make sure of is that people are accountable if they abuse it.

And if you had to use some kind of ID number, like your driver's license, in order to log on, then at least the system could tell you, if you abuse this, we know who you are. Don't abuse it.

KAGAN: OK. I've also read that you think that actually these registers could be done in a better way. And I want to go down some of the tips that you say you think would better.

One, say it in plain English. Say what each individual offender did?

GOLDENFLAME: Right.

KAGAN: And say when.

GOLDENFLAME: Yes.

KAGAN: And why is when important?

GOLDENFLAME: When is important so that if you've got sex offenders living in your neighborhood, you want to know, well, how long has this person been out of prison? Obviously, if somebody has been out, you know, 10 years, 12 years, something like that, probably knows something about taking control of himself. It's the newer people you want to take watch and put most of your attention on. Not have it diffused all over the place.

KAGAN: Yes. I don't think I want the 10-year guy living next door to me and my kids either, though, I've got to say.

GOLDENFLAME: I hear that. But would you rather know that he's been out 10 years or would you rather not know how long he's been out and wonder, does this guy have any control at all?

KAGAN: I don't know. I don't know if one really matters to me.

You also think, though, that how should be on there.

GOLDENFLAME: Absolutely. How is the M.O. How did I get my victim? How did each of these people get their victims so that you know what to look out for in our behavior and you can report it to authorities if it starts to occur so you don't have to wait until there's another victim.

KAGAN: Are sex offenders consistent like that, though? If you do it one way, one time, are you going to kind of stick with that?

GOLDENFLAME: Yes, the M.O. stands -- stays pretty constant. It really does.

KAGAN: Can you...

GOLDENFLAME: And the last thing...

KAGAN: Go ahead.

GOLDENFLAME: Pardon?

KAGAN: No, go ahead.

GOLDENFLAME: And the last thing -- yes, the last thing that I think these registries should include is some information on each one of us who says you can call in your community if you have any concerns about us, who is our probation officer, our parole agent? Or if we have none, who is in charge of the precinct's sexual assault team that you can contact if you have concerns about us? That's not there, and it should be for each one of us.

KAGAN: I think that's a really good tip. Absolutely. And you clearly have a fascinating perspective.

Thank you, Jake.

GOLDENFLAME: Thanks.

KAGAN: Jake Goldenflame joining us from San Francisco.

Right now, developing news to get to, and that has -- Carol Lin has that information for us -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Daryn, former House majority leader Tom DeLay, it looks like he's going to be facing one less criminal charge. An appeals court today upheld a judge's ruling, throwing out a felony conspiracy charge.

The reasoning, Daryn, is that the conspiracy law actually didn't apply to elections back in 2002. So, some might argue that's a technicality, but he is still faces one money laundering charge and one conspiracy charge in relation to fraud back in the 2002 state races.

Daryn, just wanted to give you an update on that case. No trial date set yet.

KAGAN: All right. Appreciate that. Carol, thank you.

A daring rescue is just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just told myself, don't look down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Probably a good idea. That's one brave little guy telling us what it was like dangling high above New York City. That story is coming up on LIVE TODAY.

Also, training the Iraqis. U.S. troops prepare to turn over the reigns. Danger zone ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: You know the old joke, I went to the fights and a hockey game broke out. Well, it seems it can happen at a football game, too.

Whoa! Watch the woman. Yes, football is a contact sport.

It happened at this woman got tossed on to the field at an Orlando Predators game. Fans came to blows over a football that was tossed into the stands.

Please, people, can't we just get along?

Orlando police may bring charges.

OK. Let's go to the instant replay. Watch the woman on the right. No! Yes, and there she goes over the side.

The fan with the beard doesn't even spill a drop.

Kudos to you for that, buddy.

Oh. Violence and sports, Chad. It just kind of makes you want to cry. I hope the woman was OK. You know, we're sitting here having kind of a...

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I don't know.

KAGAN: I don't know. We'll have to check.

MYERS: That's not a very soft field.

KAGAN: I know.

MYERS: It has like one inch of foam underneath it.

KAGAN: I know. Not good. And no pads or helmet.

MYERS: No, not on here.

KAGAN: Is the weather a contact sport today?

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Wow, two days of sunshine in California.

MYERS: Yes.

KAGAN: Hey, let me ask you this, are you a fan of Neil Young?

MYERS: Yes.

KAGAN: Yes. OK. Then stay with me for this next story.

MYERS: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: I've got a beautiful young girl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: He might be the old man in the word of rock, but consider the next story, young and angry. Neil Young, voice to the '60s and '70s, is now protesting the war in Iraq. His upcoming album has been the buzz of the Internet.

One track is entitled "Impeach the President." But the country rock icon dismisses partisan politics, saying, "Red and blue and is not black and white."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Living with war and having a conscience is what we're doing. If we -- if you have a conscience, you can't go throughout your day without realizing what's going on and questioning it and going, are we -- is this right?

You know, we have to be cognizant of the fact that we make mistakes. That's how you -- you know, that's part of freedom. We don't all have to believe in what our president believes to be patriotic. And we also -- you know, just talk about a 9/11 mentality. No one, George Bush or anyone else, owns the 9/11 mentality. It belongs to the United States of America. It belongs to everyone who was sitting there with their family watching TV, watching those buildings get hit by those jets. It belongs to George Bush and his family. It belongs to John Kerry. It belongs to me and my family, my American family. So I have a post-9/11 mentality; it just not the same as George Bush's.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: It is worth noting that the Canadian-born musician has previously voiced support for the war on terror policies, such as the controversial Patriot Act.

The album, by the way, is being released by Warner Music Groups, Reprise Records, and that is a corporate cousin of us here at CNN.

Eying the end game. President Bush says there will be victory in Afghanistan and Iran; it'll come when the two can sustain and defend themselves. Today the president called on Iraq to form a unity government soon. He says he's not surprised or deterred by his opponents.

In Iraq, Saddam Hussein's trial is on hold until Monday, and a U.S. soldier is killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad. One of the war's biggest hotspots has been the Anbar province.

CNN's Arwa Damon has an inside look at a joint operation taking place. It's a report you'll see only here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It's hard to imagine that people still live here among the devastated buildings in the heart of Ramadi. Each building bears the scars of the daily pitched battles. Like the one we experienced earlier this week between Marines guarding the governor's compound and insurgents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're bugging out.

DAMON: But on a joint Iraqi/American military operation, we met some of the families who have no choice but to stick it out right near the compound.

Akmed (ph), who was also a soldier under Saddam, tries to tell Joaheda (ph) that they won't leave until there is stability. Her son, Mohamed (ph), shows the bullet holes that scar their walls.

Mohamed's house is right in the crossfire. He and his family are caught between the Marines at the government center and the insurgent who are trying to fire at them.

This operation is to look for weapons caches used by insurgents who frequently launch their attacks from this area. The actual searches are carried out by Iraqis and a small number of American advisers. U.S. Marines set up a protective parameter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's also important at my level because we're training Jundi (ph) to do this, the Iraqi army, and we train with them and they see how we do it and they do it like we do it in the future.

DAMON: For the Iraqi army here, it's more like learning on the job. Of course there's no confusing these troops with Americans. Some things remain ala Iraqi. Taking a break to buy candy after searching this store. They are a light hearted bunch, as Sied (ph) puts it.

"Despite everything that we go through," he says, "we like to joke and laugh."

But this group takes its job seriously. They're operating in one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq. Dangerous that are very real to 12-year-old Haned (ph) who says that she is scared all the time, a sentiment echoed by her younger sister. Their mother, Helud (ph), says that she is helpless to protect her children. It's these men's jobs to convince the people of Ramadi that they can keep them safe and to be able to keep that promise. The process of training the Iraqi army moves forward, one small step at a time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an operation that's driven by intelligence. The Iraqi army goes through that process with their staff and they plan this thing. And when we go back today, we'll sit down and we'll say, how did the planning go? And we'll say, how did the execution go? And we'll say, what can we do better, you know, next time?

DAMON: The weapons they are looking for today are still out there, but at least they all made it back alive. Slightly better prepared to deal with the next time.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Ramadi, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: A big challenge is just ahead, and I mean big. Something is ailing this beluga whale. Stick around to meet the man who's trying to save Gaper the beluga.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Stuck dangling over New York City, it took rescuers nearly 12 hours, but a daring save high above the city is a success. All 68 passenger and two cable cars are back down on the ground safe and sound. A power failure caused the tram to get stuck. Some of those stranded were children. One tough little guy talked about ordeal shortly after he was rescued.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAX MAIER, RESCUED TRAM PASSENGER: Me and my babysitter were cold, and I gave her some of the blanket. We were just -- we were happy to be down. And a lot of people cheered us up when we were up there. They were making us laugh. They were dancing a little bit. They were nice people. And sometimes you can find great people in New York.

I felt like I was kind of -- like a movie stuntman a little bit. I just told myself, don't look down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Good advice. By the way, this isn't the first time the tram has gotten stuck. It happened last September, but that one only lasted an hour and a half.

On to an ailing whale who's getting a lot of attention here in Atlanta. Gasper is a prize beluga. He is sick, and he's in the sick bay at the Georgia Aquarium. He's being treated for skin and possible breathing problems. The Georgia Aquarium Tim Binder is here this morning to tell us more about what they're doing for Gasper.

Good morning.

TIM BINDER, GEORGIA AQUARIUM: Good morning.

KAGAN: Now he came to you this way, we should say.

BINDER: That's right. He was in a facility in Mexico City prior to this, and we saw health problems there.

KAGAN: So what exactly is wrong with him? BINDER: Well, we're not really sure. There's an underlying health issue that's causing these skin lesions to occur. We're starting to hear some raspiness in his breathing. We did some diagnostics yesterday. His lungs looked pretty clear, but we're concerned by those changes.

KAGAN: Now how does one treat a whale?

BINDER: There's a very unique approach here. We're working with the University of Georgia School of Veterinary Medicine. They've developed a product called Tricde (ph). It's a bioadhesive. It's an ointment that goes on these lesions.

KAGAN: So you're putting goo.

BINDER: We're putting goo on, that's right. But this stuff stays on underwater for up to 48 hours, and that's breakthrough technology.

KAGAN: And the theory is not necessarily these lesions, but what could get into him through the lesions in his skin?

BINDER: Well, with open lesions or open wounds we're worried about pathogens, like bacteria or fungus, entering the body.

But The real fundamental issue is what is causing these lesions to begin with, and now we're not certain.

KAGAN: The belugas are so popular over at the aquarium, I know, because they have these friendly faces, and they look so happy.

But how happy is he when he is laying here like this? I mean, I can't think he loves being out of the water?

BINDER: We don't see any ill effects from this. In fact, we monitor stress hormones in the blood when we're working on animals in that nature. We really see no ill effect from this type of activity.

KAGAN: He's also in isolation.

BINDER: He is.

KAGAN: Is that to protect him or the other whale?

BINDER: No, we saw a decreased appetite last week, so we wanted to provide a more direct hands-on opportunity to work with the animal. We're not concerned about any contamination from Gasper or otherwise. He was housed with another animal for eight years, and that animal shows no sign of illness at all.

KAGAN: But the isolation, what kind of effect does that have on him psychologically?

BINDER: Well, we don't believe there's any problem. He's eating, he's up, he's interacting. We're not seeing anything that we would consider being depressed. But what it does is it gives us the opportunity to work with him throughout the day, not having to worry about the guests or the other aspects of facility.

KAGAN: And the prognosis for Gasper?

BINDER: We really don't know. It's guarded until we can learn what's causing this illness. We have an -- we don't know where we're going at this point.

KAGAN: We're going to wish you luck on that. Big picture -- I know you brought Gasper and Nico from Mexico City. So you got the two boys and you have three girls. We're trying to create a little party atmosphere here, right?

BINDER: We are. We have three...

KAGAN: Let's make some babies.

BINDER: That's right, three females on loan from the New York Aquarium. We're seeing courtship, but we haven't seen any breeding. But our fingers are crossed.

KAGAN: How does a whale court?

BINDER: Well, they're -- they have a social structure very much like a wolf pack. So you have alpha males, alpha females. They buddy up to each other and they'll make themselves available if they're interested in courtship, and it's fun to watch.

KAGAN: And there you go. And after that, we make the guy from the aquarium blush.

BINDER: There you go.

KAGAN: OK, and if they -- we want to keep up on Gasper, and also if there's also baby news.

BINDER: Absolutely.

KAGAN: We'd like to hear about that, too. Hope that all goes well.

BINDER: Thank you.

KAGAN: Tim Binder from the Georgia Aquarium. Our best to Gasper.

BINDER: Thank you. We'll pass that along.

KAGAN: Well, we are talking about babies. Actress Brooke Shields is a mommy again. She gave birth to her second child with writer Chris Henchy. It's a daughter named Grier. After the first birth of her daughter, Shields wrote a book about her experience with postpartum depression. She also had a public spat with Tom Cruise over the use of antidepressants in treating that.

Well, so how about this ironic twist? Tom and Katie Holmes are the proud parents of a baby daughter. Seven pounds, seven ounces, twenty inches long. They've named her Suri, S-U-R-I, Suri. They say it means "Princess" in Hebrew and "Red Rose" in Persia. Now word on whether it was a silent birth that was sanctioned by the Church of Scientology. It's the first baby for Holmes. Cruise has two children with his ex-wife Nicole Kidman.

So, Suri, did you like it? I don't know. We asked you out there, what would you have named the Cruise baby. And, of course, you came through for us, viewers.

Meredith of St. Augustine, Florida, says, "Help Me! Help Me Cruise."

What else do we have. "How about Zoloft or Paxil for names?" Thank you Sandy in Connecticut.

Anne in Washington says, "Tom Cruise would likely have named his daughter Cumquat Cruise." Little Cumquat. Very cute.

And I think we have one more. Teddy in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, says, "How about Sunset Cruise?" We certainly have heard -- oh, one more. "Booze Cruise." Of course, John in New Jersey is going to be the one to come up with that. Little Boozy, our sweet little Boozy.

Viewers, you always come through us on those baby naming contests. Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, who would have thought we would see an outbreak of disease that has mostly been under control for decades? How it may have been spread, also surprising. We'll look ahead at that.

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KAGAN: That was a house. An explosion so loud that neighbors say it sounded look a plane was going down. The blast sent this house up in flames in Boynton Beach, Florida. Authorities say someone inside was making fireworks. M-80 shells and partial sticks of dynamite were also found. One person was killed, three others are still missing.

An old medical foe makes a return in a big way: the mumps. A vaccine has kept the virus in check for decades; now, hundreds of people across the Midwest have come down with the disease.

CNN's Mary Snow looks at how it may have spread in a story that first ran on "THE SITUATION ROOM."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Health officials discovered the first U.S. cases on an Iowa college campus in December. Now cases of the mumps in Iowa have skyrocketed to more than 600. And nearby Midwest states report dozens more, puzzling doctors.

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Where did it lurk? How is it that we didn't see further cases? SNOW: Mumps cause the glands under the jaw to swell, and people usually have a fever and headache. Severe complications like deafness and meningitis are rare. Mumps spread when infected people cough and sneeze.

What about when they travel?

DR. JANE SEWARD, CDC EPIDEMIOLOGIST: A disease like mumps spreading on a plane, it's very uncommon. But we wanted to be cautious and just inform passengers.

SNOW: The Centers for Disease Control is now investigating whether this mumps outbreak put air travelers at risk. The government is reaching out to passengers on flights taken by two infected people. Those infected people had many layovers.

According to the CDC, the first infected person traveled from Waterloo, Iowa, in late March to Minneapolis, Minnesota, then to Detroit, Michigan, then to Washington, D.C., and back. The other went from Tucson, Arizona, to Dallas, Texas, to Lafayette, Arkansas, to St. Louis, Missouri, to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on April 2nd.

SCHAFFNER: We can take this mumps epidemic as kind of a fire drill for what might happen if bird flu suddenly became transmissible to humans and was introduced into the United States.

SNOW: It's also testing the public health system response that was put into place after 9/11 to deal more effectively with biological emergencies.

PATRICIA QUINLISK, IOWA DEPT. OF PUBLIC HEALTH: So it is not only being useful for dealing with mumps, but it's actually testing our ability to deal with biological emergencies and showing us where we can do better.

SNOW: Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Join Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" this afternoon at 4:00 evening. A live primetime edition airs at 7:00 Eastern here on CNN.

Are they Hillary haters? Lots of questionable quotes in a new book out on Hillary Clinton. That's coming up on LIVE TODAY.

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KAGAN: Hillary Clinton. She is one woman that some Republicans love to hate. Now there's new ammunition, a book of so called "Hillary-isms," but are they really her quotes?

That's a question for our Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's practically a cottage industry in Bush-isms, presidential sentence mangling that turns phrases like trade barriers and tariffs into.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Terriers and bariffs.

MOOS: But Hillary-isms? Quotable quotes from Hillary Clinton?

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had tea.

MOOS: She may wished she had stayed home after she sees the new book "I've Always Been a Yankees Fan," featuring Hillary wearing a Cubs cap. No matter that she's already explained she's been a fan of both teams.

CLINTON: I needed an American League team that could win.

MOOS: "Hillary Clinton in her own words," says the cover, though even the author seems to hedge.

THOMAS KUIPER, AUTHOR, "I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A YANKEES FAN": Everything in the book is -- I believe it to be true, but since I wasn't there, I can't verify that it's 100 percent true.

MOOS: Which is what makes it different from say the book of Donald Rumsfeld comments turned into poetry, and even turned into song.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The world thinks all these things happen. They never happened?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They never happened, never happened

MOOS: The Rumsfeld quotes tend to be on the record, same for the five "Bush-isms" books. The president himself held up a copy.

BUSH: Then there's the most famous statement, rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?

MOOS: The editor of "Slate," who collected the Bush-isms, wasn't so amused with the Hillary book.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just looking at this thing. Every single quote has the F-word in it. This is kind of a Hillary haters fantasy of what Hillary sounds like in Private.

MOOS: Many of the quotes are unverifiable, coming from books attacking the Clintons. The Republican paralegal who compiled the quotes says he's proud of the book, but ...

KUIPER: I think it's a legitimate criticism that the book at times comes off as almost mean-spirited. I had so many sources of her using the profanity, that's just the way it came about. MOOS (on camera): But if you ask someone who works for Hillary Clinton if this sounds like the Hillary they know, they say no way. She just doesn't talk like that.

(voice-over): At least one remark Hillary allegedly made about her husband, "He's a hard dog to keep on the porch," never appeared in the talk magazine interview that BBC Online said it came from. Some quotes are indisputable.

CLINTON: I'm not sitting here some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.

MOOS: Question is, who's going to stand by these quotes?

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan. International news coming up next. Stay tune for "YOUR WORLD TODAY." I'll be back with the latest headlines from here in the U.S. in about 20 minutes. See you then.

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