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American Morning

Tropical Storm Alberto; Baghdad Security; Targeting Judges?

Aired June 13, 2006 - 06:00   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, Tuesday, June 13. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

A hurricane warning is in effect from south of Tampa Bay to near Tallahassee, Florida as Tropical Storm Alberto is closing in on Florida's Gulf Coast. The storm is expected to make landfall sometime this morning. Tropical storm force winds already churning up the surf along the west coast. Twenty thousand Floridians have been ordered to higher ground. As always, CNN is your hurricane headquarters.

This morning, we've got reporters up and down Florida's coast. Rob Marciano is in Cedar Key. Dan Lothian is in Steinhatchee, Florida. Susan Candiotti in Clearwater. Susan Roesgen in St. George Island. And our severe weather expert Chad Myers is at the CNN Weather Center.

Let's begin with Chad this morning.

Hey, Chad, good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

When they put a perfect picture of a hurricane into the encyclopedia, they're not going to show this behind me. It just gulped in a bunch of dry air in the overnight hours. There really is not an eye. It's kind of a center to circulation you'll find maybe better on radar. We'll move that ahead.

There is the center of circulation. It's still not on shore yet, so there's still a chance that this could get a little bit stronger. But right now the storm is not a hurricane. Still hurricane warnings up in case there's a hurricane gust.

But the biggest threat today will be the water rushing onshore in a storm surge. Could be eight feet in some of these low-lying bays. Anywhere from St. Marks all the way down just north of Newport Richie into Tarpon Springs.

And then see the red boxes, those are tornado watch boxes. And in fact, we even have a tornado warning this morning for south of Brunswick, Georgia. There's the circle. There's the center of the storm. Can't call that an eye, too big for that. There's Brunswick, Georgia, there's St. Mary's and the storm right there and it's not that far from that King's Bay base there. Right there, just north of St. Mary's, this is the storm with the tornado on it. And that's really going to be our main threat today, the threat of tornadoes and the threat of some water coming in, especially along the west coast. Not so much wind. We're just not going to see more than the 65-miles-per-hour winds there. And here you go, this is what they even had.

Remember yesterday we had this number one in the middle of this making it a hurricane. There is no forecast for it to become a hurricane anymore. Pressure now is 995, the winds are at 65 miles per hour. And if you're keeping track at home, 29.2 north, 84.2 west.

Now that is not to say that a 65-mile-per-hour wind and a 75- mile-per-hour gust is not going to do damage, it will. And so will any water being pushed with it. Water has so much more force than the wind. So just because it's a Cat 1 or less than a Cat 1 storm and just a tropical storm, do not take it lightly if you are in the way. Otherwise, it's an incredible rainmaker in a place that really needs a lot of rain.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks.

MYERS: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Rob Marciano this morning. He's in Cedar Key. He's joining us by phone.

Hey, Rob. How is it looking where you are?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well it's still blowing pretty good, Soledad. It's still raining on and off, not quite as heavily as it was last night as it seems most of the action as far as moisture is concerned has moved up towards the north and east.

But with this -- the center of this thing still being pretty close to us, about 60 miles or so west and maybe a little bit northwest now, we're on the right side, so still the strong side of the system.

And for a while there last night it was blowing real hard with winds gusting usually over 50, 55 miles an hour. And then it calmed down for an hour or so and then it picked up again as seemingly as a center path. And now we're behind it. We're in the right lower quadrant, if you will, and the winds are still, still blowing hard and I would imagine gusting over 40, 45 miles, maybe even 50 miles an hour.

As far as any sort of damage here in Cedar Key, it seems to be limited. You know this is an island that juts out into the Gulf of Mexico. The storms are no stranger to these folks. And the trees are pretty strong. Not much in the way of power outages that I can see throughout the island. So damage at this point is minimal. But still, still blowing pretty hard this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, we'll continue to watch it from where you are in Cedar Key in Florida.

Thanks, Rob.

Let's move about 50 miles north along the coast to Steinhatchee. That's where AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian is standing by for us.

Hey, Dan, good morning.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

The big concern here continues to be that wall of water that could potentially hit the low-lying areas. We are told that the storm surge caused some problems during Dennis last year. Anywhere between 8 to 10 feet, we're told, by emergency management officials. So with that concern in mind, they ordered mandatory evacuations for some 2,000 folks in those low-lying areas. They also opened one shelter, but we're told only a handful of people have taken advantage of that.

And also one interesting point is they sent out eight school buses across the country to try to pick up folks who needed to get out of the storm's path. Obviously concerned that there would be folks, once given that mandatory evacuation, would not be able to leave on their own. But we're told no one took advantage of that. So obviously they were able to get out of their way in their own vehicles. We're not told how many of those 2,000 folks who live in the low-lying areas were able to evacuate.

Right now, just a light breeze blowing, on-and-off rain, no damage to report -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Dan Lothian for us this morning. He's in Steinhatchee. Forgive my mispronunciation. Steinhatchee in Florida this morning.

LOTHIAN: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Dan -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Moving south along the Gulf Coast, we hit Clearwater Beach. That's just outside Tampa. CNN's Susan Candiotti was there yesterday. She's there this morning.

Susan, what's happening there?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

It's very dry this morning. In fact, you could see the full moon. We got a break in the clouds.

But I want to show you, we've got high winds, gusts of around 25 miles per hour. And shooting straight out, obviously the sun hasn't come up, but you can see the waves kicking up. Seas are supposed to be around four to six feet.

And because of that high sea action, we can show you some pictures now of a barge, apparently a construction barge, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, that banged into the Howard Franklin Bridge, which goes between Tampa and St. Pete, connects those two areas back to back. Now all of those -- some of the lanes were shut down for a time, but they're back open again. No one was injured. And it would appear that there is no structural damage to that bridge.

That's about it for here. We don't have any reports of any power outages as yet. We'll see what things look like as the sun comes up.

Back to you, -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Susan Candiotti at Clearwater Beach, thank you.

Let's move across the Gulf now to the west, St. George Island. That's between Tallahassee and Panama City. Susan Roesgen is there.

Susan, what are you seeing?

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not too much right now, Miles. As you can see, a little bit of wind, a little bit of rain. But as you know, this is a barrier island. It's only 29 miles long and only a mile wide. And barrier islands do just that, Miles, they act as a buffer between the worst of the storm and the coastline. In fact, the State Park Service here just recently finished clearing away 340 tons of debris left behind from Hurricane Dennis last year.

Now there aren't a lot of buildings on this island, not many structures, a few low-slung buildings, a couple of beachy motels and restaurants and bars. So the concern isn't too great right here on St. George Island.

The greater concern is what Dan Lothian mentioned earlier in his area right along the coast from the storm surge. I've talked this morning to the emergency management folks in both Franklin County and Apalachicola and in Wakulla County just west of there. In both areas, they believe that it's not too bad yet, but they are concerned about a storm surge. They got about a nine-foot storm surge during Hurricane Dennis that flooded some cars and some buildings. So that's what they're going to be watching later today -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Susan Roesgen, St. George Island, thank you very much.

Next hour, we'll check in with the National Hurricane Center for an up-to-the-minute situation report on Alberto's path and strength.

And of course stay with CNN your hurricane headquarters -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: A look now at what else is happening in America this morning.

The wife of a Tennessee minister who was found shot to death is now facing murder charges. Mary Winkler was indicted on Monday. Authorities have said she confessed. They have not revealed a motive, though. Her husband, Matthew Winkler, was found dead, you'll remember, in his bedroom back in March when he failed to show up for an evening service.

Dozens of passengers evacuated from a commuter ferry in Boston Harbor after it caught fire. Take a look at these pictures here. The flames broke out in the engine room. The Coast Guard says 65 passengers and 5 crew members were transferred to another ferry and nobody was hurt.

In Tampa, Florida, a small plane slammed into a house and exploded into flames. It killed the pilot. It's left the co-pilot in critical condition. One woman, who was inside the house, said she ran for her life. She managed to get out of there without any injuries. Not clear if weather was a factor in that crash.

Two bulls escaped from their trailer in Houston early on Monday morning, caused chaos on some big roadways. One bull was hit by a truck and so badly injured it had to be put down. The other one, though, was eventually caught, not before it charged a patrol car, though. Everybody OK in that.

And scientists have discovered a new species of hammer head shark off the coast of South Carolina. Researchers say the newfound species is at risk of extinction. And in fact the yet-to-be-named species is considered so rare they may only breed in certain South Carolina bays.

Miles, that's a look at what's happening in America.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, still to come in the program, judging safety in the courtroom. A judge is shot, a suspect is on the loose. How does this happen? We'll look at some ways to bring order to the courts.

S. O'BRIEN: And then we're going to tell you why DaimlerChrysler is recalling more than 110,000 popular SUVs.

M. O'BRIEN: And say it isn't so, Ben Roethlisberger. You wouldn't go on the football field helmetless, why would you ride your motorcycle without one? We'll update the Steeler hero's condition.

S. O'BRIEN: Plus, Carrie Lee joins us with some business headlines.

Hey, -- Carrie.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to both of you.

Another day of selling on Wall Street. The Dow down nearly 100 points yesterday. A key inflation report coming out this morning could drive the session. We'll have that coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.

A hurricane warning from Tampa Bay to Tallahassee as Tropical Storm Alberto closes in on Florida's Gulf Coast. The storm is expected to make landfall midday today. Governor Jeb Bush has issued mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying counties in the storm's path.

Let's head to the CNN Center now. The Weather Department a busy place this morning.

Good morning, -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Miles.

Literally this storm has turned into a storm surge storm for the coast here. It's called the Nature Coast, the Big Ben and also maybe a tornado maker for the rest of Florida and even on up into places like South Carolina and the low country of Georgia.

There is the storm itself. It gobbled in a bunch of dry air, so the eye is not really there. There's a center of circulation, still about 60 miles just to the west of Cedar Key where Rob Marciano is. This storm will travel up and across Georgia, even across the low country of South Carolina and up into North Carolina. This will just make an awful lot of great rainfall for a lot of people.

Yes, there is a hurricane warning. And, yes, there may be some hurricane gusts. But right now the sustained wind with the storm is 65 miles per hour. There is the storm. Literally, it is the only thing on the map today. There's very little going on in the upper Midwest, through the Keys, all the way down even into parts of Texas, very little in the way of weather. So I guess that's why we focus on that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

But where are the rain showers now? This is kind of a big picture here. You can see some of the red boxes, those are tornado watch boxes. Here's the center of circulation. To get a hurricane, you need an eye and it needs to be 20 miles across. This is 100 miles across. So the big threat today are the thunderstorms that you see popping up here all the way along I-95 right on up through Daytona, Jacksonville and Savannah.

And, yes, we still have that one tornado warning that's in effect north of Jacksonville, just to the north of St. Mary's, the storm right there. And it is traveling towards Brunswick and it still shows some sign of rotation there. So if you're in southeastern Georgia, you may want to take cover with that storm right along I-95 headed to Brunswick.

Back to you guys in New York.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks a lot.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Got some breaking news to get to you. A military crackdown on the streets of Baghdad.

CNN's John Vause is live for us in Baghdad this morning.

Hey, John, good morning.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.

We've learned from the office of the Iraqi prime minister this massive crackdown which will begin 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. That's 10:00 p.m. Eastern. The numbers are staggering. What we're being told, at least 70,000 Iraqi and coalition forces will be on the street in Baghdad alone. We are told two brigades from the Iraqi police. Two brigades of Iraqi police commandos. Two brigades from the Iraqi Army, as well as the emergency police, as well as coalition forces will begin this crackdown 6:00 a.m. local time, the largest operation since the U.S. handed sovereignty back to the Iraqis June 2004.

Roads in and out of Baghdad will be secured. There will be a curfew, which, we are told, will go into effect from 9:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. in the morning. That will, no doubt, take place tonight.

Special uniforms will be issued to the Iraqi forces to distinguish them between those who may have been wearing fake uniforms, one of the big complaints that many Iraqis have made in the recent months. Raids will be stepped up against suspected insurgent safe houses. Air support will be called in if needed.

Iraqi officials say they do expect clashes with, in particular, the Sunni insurgents around the Baghdad area. The prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, will decide when this crackdown will end -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: John Vause for us this morning. He's in Baghdad.

Thanks, John, for the update -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A manhunt under way in Nevada for a man who shot a judge and is suspected of murder.

Carol Costello now live with us to tell us a little bit more.

Good morning, -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's happened again, Miles.

You know this man is wanted for a murder at an apartment in Reno where his estranged wife happened to live. Now police say that very same man is a person of interest in the shooting of a family court judge, a crime that has an all-too-familiar ring to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the latest case of a judge possibly targeted by a former defendant or plaintiff. Reno, Nevada police say family court Judge Chuck Weller was shot while standing near a window in his office.

CHIEF JIM JOHNS, RENO, NEVADA POLICE: We had two initial victims identified in this shooting. Judge Chuck Weller received at least one injury from what appears to be a high-velocity projectile, possibly from a rifle. His staff member received what appears to be some shrapnel or some fragmentation wounds. She's in very good shape and she was treated at a local hospital.

COSTELLO: Police are looking for Darren Roy Mack, a person of interest, who previously appeared before Weller in a divorce case. He's also a suspect in the slaying of an unidentified person at an apartment across town. The incidents happened only hours apart. It is the latest case of a judge in danger.

The U.S. Marshal Service says in 2005 nearly 700 threats were made against judges nationwide. In March of last year, Judge Rowland Barnes was murdered in an Atlanta courthouse, along with a court reporter and a sheriff's deputy. The suspect in the killings, Brian Nichols, led authorities on a daylong manhunt that also resulted in the death of a U.S. Customs agent.

In another incident last year, U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow found her husband and mother dead in the basement of her Chicago-area home. A man whose medical malpractice case had been dismissed by Lefkow admitted to the killings in notes found after he committed suicide.

Both the Barnes and Lefkow cases have sparked calls for greater courthouse security and better protection for judges. And now this latest case is putting the safety of judges back in the spotlight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And you see that window there shattered. Judge Weller is 53 years old. He's still in the hospital this morning. He's recovering from a gunshot wound to his chest. Police say he is conscious. He's talking with his family.

And if you're wondering why that window shattered so easily, it's because it just had your typical glass that you'd make a window out of, not bulletproof glass. And of course they're rethinking that now. Of course it's very expensive to put in bulletproof glass, so they're thinking of putting tinted windows in to see if that might protect judges more.

M. O'BRIEN: How many times do we have to go through this story before this courthouse security isn't really addressed?

COSTELLO: Well, you know in this case it all came down to money, because there was talk of building this -- this is a new office building in Reno. There was talk of putting in these bulletproof windows, but it's so expensive, so they opted not to, and now this. Does the expense even matter?

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

COSTELLO: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Good question. Carol Costello, thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we've got a warning about Jeep Grand Cherokees to tell you about. That's coming up. Stay with us for that.

And then also this, a sticky situation at the airport. Yes, security screeners thought maybe it was a bomb. Here's a hint, it was actually honey and a bunch of other stuff.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

S. O'BRIEN: We'll tell you what happened there. It's a messy situation to tell you about.

M. O'BRIEN: Very interesting.

S. O'BRIEN: And we continue to track Tropical Storm Alberto. The very latest on what's happening on the ground and of course by satellite, too. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Here's a look at some of the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

We're keeping an eye on Alberto. Thousands of Florida residents and vacationers, too, have been ordered to evacuate ahead of the season's first named storm.

Americans seem a little more optimistic about the mission in Iraq in the wake of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death. A new CNN poll finds that 43 percent of people think things are going well in Iraq. That's up 5 percent. Fifty-five percent, though, still think the invasion of Iraq was a mistake.

And Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, in stable condition this morning. That's following a motorcycle accident. He underwent seven hours of surgery, mostly on his face. Roethlisberger wasn't wearing a helmet when his motorcycle crashed -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Jeep owners, listen up, you may be in the hot seat, literally, and you need to get to a dealer soon. DaimlerChrysler recalling more than 110,000 2003 and 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees because their front seat warmers can overheat and catch fire.

Am I supposed to be doing this story? Obviously not.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow!

M. O'BRIEN: You've got -- you're set up for something else.

Hi, Carrie. How are you?

LEE: We'll figure it out for them.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll tell you about the Jeep story later. There's the Jeeps. Listen, if you have a 2003, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee, call your dealer because your hot...

S. O'BRIEN: Right. They're recalling it.

M. O'BRIEN: ... your seat warmer may catch fire, OK. That's all I got for you. That was very odd.

S. O'BRIEN: Fifteen people have been burned.

M. O'BRIEN: We're breaking in the new set here. There's some kinks. And it's a shakedown cruise. We've got a desk that's an aircraft carrier, so that seems appropriate.

Carrie Lee, good morning to you.

LEE: Talking about a different kind of hot seat.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

LEE: The markets, the Dow down 99 points yesterday. This, after the worst week on Wall Street for the year. So the Dow is now at its lowest finish since February.

Techs also taking a big hit. Investors continue to worry about inflation. You can see a quick recap on Monday's action there. And we will get a key inflation report due out today as well as tomorrow. So that can give us some direction. But technology stocks now down 10 percent from their recent May high and that constitutes a technology correction.

Now one other thing happening in the tech world, a possible price war between Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, AMD. They both make chips. They both make semiconductors. And so these stocks have been losing some ground as well. Intel is one of the Dow 30 and that stock is now at a 3-year low. But lower prices for chips could translate into good news for consumers, potentially lower prices there.

Meanwhile, the uncertainty about the U.S. economy sending shock waves throughout the world. Japan's Nikkei finishing 4 percent lower today. That is the biggest one-day loss over there in two years.

Finally, futures pointing to a lower open for this Tuesday morning here in the U.S. A look at producer prices, the PPI. That measures inflation at the wholesale level. Could give us some direction. That report comes out an hour before the session starts today.

But so far, looking like some more red arrows,...

M. O'BRIEN: You sound blue.

LEE: ... unfortunately, for the bulls.

M. O'BRIEN: You sound blue about the red.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm blue about the red.

LEE: I feel like I'm going to be working until the bitter end here if the market continues like this, so...

S. O'BRIEN: ... slide.

LEE: ... but, yes, we've seen a lot of selling lately.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Carrie, thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Carrie.

The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including CNN's team of reporters standing by along Florida's Gulf Coast. They're keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Alberto for you. And we're live with the very latest on the conditions.

Also, day two of President Bush's war council. The president plans to call in some extra guidance today to help feel out the situation in Iraq. We're looking at that as well.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING Quick News at CNN.com/am.

Still to come on our program, breaking news out of Iraq, a huge military crackdown on the streets of Baghdad, as we speak, trying to end the spike of violence there. Seventy thousand Iraqi police and U.S. troops on the streets. We're live with the latest. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

You're looking at some live pictures this morning from Clearwater, Florida. Also, some pictures of Steinhatchee, Florida as well.

Happening this morning in fact, Tropical Storm Alberto and it is bearing down on Florida's Gulf Coast. It's expected to make landfall a little bit later this morning. More than 20,000 people have been ordered to evacuate. The main threat from the storm we are told is heavy rainfall.

Morning. Welcome, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

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