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American Morning
Abramoff Report; Senate Approves Terror Detainee Bill; Colorado School Shooting; California Wildfire
Aired September 29, 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. TGIF, Friday, September 29. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.
Here is a look at what's happening this morning.
In Lakeland, Florida, manhunt under way right now for a suspected cop killer. Authorities say a man shot two deputies yesterday, killed one during a traffic stop. Police are not able to confirm the suspect's name. They think the I.D. that he was carrying was bogus.
M. O'BRIEN: In Washington today, a clearer picture of that huge lobbying scandal, a congressional report detailing hundreds of contacts between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and lawmakers and top White House staffers. The administration says nothing new.
S. O'BRIEN: As soon as today President Bush could sign into law a new anti-terror measure. Last night, the Senate passed a bill that creates military commissions to prosecute terror detainees.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are racing to finish a new port security bill before they head home to campaign for re-election. That bill would require the nation's biggest ports to install radiation detectors by the end of next year.
M. O'BRIEN: A happy landing in Kazakhstan for the world's first female space tourist. The Russian Soyuz capsule carrying Anousheh Ansari and two space station crew members landed earlier today. Ansari paid $20 million for a 10-day visit to the space station. She called it magnificent.
S. O'BRIEN: Two bucks a -- two million bucks a day.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Worth every penny I bet.
M. O'BRIEN: That's five stars.
And in Maryland this morning, folks are cleaning up after severe weather swept through the state last night, spawning at least one tornado. The storm uprooted trees, damaged homes and left thousands without power. One person was injured, which brings us to Chad Myers at the CNN Weather Center, -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: How about this, 64 right now in New York, 39 in Detroit and 39 in Chicago.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.
Turning to central Florida this hour, the search for a killer, more than 500 police officers are looking for a man who is suspected of gunning down one deputy and wounding another. Pope County Deputy Vernon Matthew Williams, a 12-year police veteran died yesterday in an exchange of gunfire.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Lakeland which is just east of Tampa.
Susan, good morning.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Tracking dogs and night scopes are two of the tools that police are using to find this suspected cop killer. But, at this point, the sheriff says he doesn't know whether that suspect is inside or outside the perimeter they have set up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): It started as a routine traffic stop for speeding. Police say the driver didn't have a license, produced a false I.D. and then got nervous about the possibility of going to jail. He ran into some nearby woods. Giving chase, Polk County, Florida Sheriff's Deputy Matt Williams and his police dog were shot dead. Another deputy survived a leg wound.
SHERIFF GRADY JUDD, POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA: We are prepared for a gunfight, if he wants a gunfight, or we are prepared to take him into custody, peaceably, if he's got any sense at all. He will choose that option.
CANDIOTTI: The suspect's name on his fake I.D. was Iswardo Ramclaim (ph), but it could be phony too, just like his address.
JUDD: The address is bogus. The name very well may be bogus. But this is the face of the man who shot and killed my deputy today.
CANDIOTTI: After the deputies were shot, police say the suspect fired at another officer near a home, then disappeared again. Kathleen High School and two others in the immediate search area were locked down for about seven hours. Police from surrounding areas converged on the scene to help look for the suspect. Authorities also urged area residents to stay inside their homes. Just before nightfall, students were escorted to buses for home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fear just goes through you. You know you're wondering, my god, is this going to be like a Columbine?
CANDIOTTI: The manhunt took investigators into some woods where they used shields and more dogs to find the alleged cop killer.
JUDD: He's on the run. And anyone that gets in his way I'm absolutely confident will end up shot as well.
CANDIOTTI: The deputy who was killed was on the force for 12 years. He lost his life on his wife's birthday and leaves behind three children.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
As the sheriff put it, we want this suspect, we want him badly and we intend to bring him to justice -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: It sounds, Susan, like a big risk for the community as they fan out and try to find this guy who is clearly armed and dangerous. Are they going to have businesses open in the area, have schools open in the area?
CANDIOTTI: Two of the schools will be closed in this area, including the high school from where we are reporting. And a lot of people are nervous. They are staying inside today. Some businesses may very well close, don't know for sure. But the sheriff will be updating us in about an hour or so.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Susan Candiotti in Florida for us this morning.
Susan, thanks.
Let's turn to Colorado now where they have been able to identify the gunman in that deadly high school attack. They still don't know a motive, though, why he did it. Fifty-three-year-old Duane Morrison was a transient with no known connection to the Bailey, Colorado high school. Police say that Morrison took six female students hostage on Wednesday, ended up killing 16-year-old Emily Keyes and then he killed himself. Now police believe Morrison may have targeted certain female students and that he also sexually assaulted some of his hostages.
M. O'BRIEN: President Bush talking to a military audience about the war on terror today. Flush from twin victories on Capitol Hill, the House yesterday passing a bill allowing warrantless wiretapping of Americans with some restrictions and the Senate approving a bill that clarifies the rules of interrogations for terror detainees and clears the way for those suspects to face trials. At a fund raiser, Mr. Bush called the Democratic Party the party of cut and run.
The speech before retired officers in Washington begins at 9:40 this morning Eastern. We will carry it live for you.
Bob Woodward is out with a new book and it offers a harsh indictment of the Bush administration's public statements about the war in Iraq. "The Washington Post" journalist claims U.S. forces are now attacked more than a hundred times a day. And he says U.S. intelligence experts will -- believe the situation will get worse next year. Woodward chastises the Bush administration for publicly stating things are going to get better in Iraq. The book is entitled "State of Denial."
In Iraq, another day and another series of grim discoveries, 25 more bodies found across Baghdad. Since Sunday, police have found 147 bodies, nearly all of them showing signs of torture.
CNN's Arwa Damon live from Baghdad with more, -- Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
And those bodies were pretty much found scattered all over the capital. In a 24-hour period, 25 bodies were found. In the 24-hour period before that, 60 bodies. All of these bodies are believed to be the victims of sectarian violence. Many of them do bear gruesome signs of torture. All are found with gunshot wounds to the head. Increasingly, sectarian violence is becoming the number one challenge for security in this country.
And at the same time, we also had another roadside bomb exploding in central Baghdad this morning right before curfew began. Today is Friday. It is the holy day for Muslims and there is a curfew in place from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. But right before that curfew, in a central Baghdad neighborhood close to the National Theater, a roadside bomb wounded another 11 Iraqis -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Arwa Damon in Baghdad, thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning, the owners of a Rhode Island nightclub will plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges today. Jeffrey and Michael Derderian own The Station nightclub where a fire sparked by concert pyrotechnics burned the club to the ground killing a hundred people back in 2003. Now Michael Derderian is going to go to prison for four years. His brother gets a suspended sentence, probation and 500 hours of community service.
Two Roman Catholic priests are accused of stealing millions of dollars from their parish in Palm Beach. Retired Monsignor John Skehan, seen right -- let's see if we got a shot of him here somewhere. He's under arrest -- there he is -- after a trip from Ireland. But police are still looking for the Reverend Francis Guinan. Skehan was a pastor at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church for four decades. And investigators say that between the two of them they took $8.6 million and with that money bought property and took vacations.
Hawaiian crooner and legend Don Ho out of the hospital after he got a new pacemaker implanted. The 76-year-old is deciding when he's going to return to his show at the famous Waikiki Hotel. I've seen that show, pretty good. Ho is known, of course, for his signature tune "Tiny Bubbles."
And why did the turkey cross the road or, in this case, didn't cross the road? That appears to be eventually the aim of this big old bird. These pictures coming to us from Cleveland this morning. The wild turkey held up traffic. Look at this, people are chasing. All right, lady, you've got to go faster if you want to catch that turkey. Kind of gave everybody a run for their money. One woman was able to chase that turkey right back into the woods and that's where our story ends.
M. O'BRIEN: There's more to come, I'm sure. I'm sure we'll be seeing that lady.
S. O'BRIEN: Or maybe not on that one.
M. O'BRIEN: Or maybe not, all right.
Still to come on the program, your member of Congress is headed your way. Are you happy with him or her? We'll check some numbers on that.
And the first female space tourist feeling the pull of gravity again. She says she hopes she can go to space again soon. A live report from Russia coming up.
And we'll check in on business headlines as well.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.
Lakeland, Florida, a manhunt under way for a suspected cop killer. Authorities say the man shot two sheriff's deputies, killing one during a traffic stop yesterday.
Lawyers for a West Point cadet convicted of rape vowing to appeal this morning. Lonnie Story sentenced to eight years in prison yesterday for raping a fellow cadet.
In Maryland this morning, folks cleaning up after severe weather swept through the state last night, spawning at least one tornado. The storm uprooted trees, damaged homes, left thousands without power, one person injured -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Congress heading home to campaign for re-election.
Dana Bash reports on what this Congress has and has not accomplished.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One last time before Election Day, the president came to Capitol Hill looking for an 11th-hour victory on his signature issue, national security.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people need to know we're working together to win this war on terror.
BASH: This time Mr. Bush got what he wanted, bipartisan approval of a bill allowing tough interrogations of terror suspects. Yet a slew of other priorities will be left undone by the GOP Congress. And Republicans head home to campaign, battling this Democratic mantra.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: Like the do-nothing Congress of 1948, it's very difficult to get anything out of this Republican Congress.
BASH: In 1948, the year Harry Truman made an election issue of what he called the do-nothing Congress, the Senate was in session just 114 days. This year, the Senate is scheduled to meet a few more, 126. But, in 1948, the House was in session 110 days. This year, they're scheduled to meet only 93 before campaigning.
NORMAN ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: We have seen a Congress with fewer real hearings, fewer oversight hearings, less serious work and legislating to fulfill major issues, more show and less work, than any I can remember.
BASH: Republicans insist they have sent the president significant legislation, a prescription drug benefit for Medicare, a bill making it harder to declare bankruptcy, a measure to protect pensions.
And Congress has approved billions to fund disasters, like Katrina, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But major Bush priorities have stalled in the Republican-run Congress. Perhaps the most stinging loss, creating private accounts for Social Security, which the president spent months trying to sell. Another, lobbying reforms promised in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal.
Then, there's comprehensive immigration reform, pushed from the Oval Office in prime time,...
BUSH: Therefore, I support a temporary-worker program.
BASH: ... killed by fellow Republicans. GOP leaders blame Democrats for obstructing.
REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), HOUSE SPEAKER: So, you know, they have blocked the legislation that we would like to finish.
BASH: But some Republicans, like Congressman Ray LaHood, admit internal party squabbles cost them crucial achievements.
REP. RAY LAHOOD (R), ILLINOIS: So, there are big divisions within our own party and, in some cases, within the leadership of the House and Senate that are both governed by Republican leaders. So...
BASH: LaHood is disappointed they didn't get more done, but says sometimes doing nothing is not so bad.
LAHOOD: I think lowering gasoline prices has done more for us. And the fact is, we didn't have a dang thing to do about it.
BASH: Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Time for a check of the forecast now, Chad Myers at the CNN Center with that.
Hello, -- Chad.
MYERS: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, play that number, I guess.
All right, thank you very much, -- Chad.
MYERS: You bet.
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, back on terra firma, the world's first female space tourist ends her gold-plated adventure in orbit. Was it worth $20 million?
Also, revenge of the attack squirrels. We'll explain.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: A bit of a grilling on Capitol Hill yesterday as HP executives spoke before Congress.
Carrie Lee is here with more on that.
Hello, -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Patricia Dunn was really the woman in the hot seat, company's former chairwoman, talking about the whole spying scandal where people impersonated HP execs to get personal phone records. This happened at the congressional hearing yesterday. Only Patricia Dunn and Mark Hurd, the company's former -- the company's current Chief Executive, testified. HP's top lawyer, Ann Baskins, took the Fifth Amendment.
Basically Dunn blaming Hurd and Baskins for the company's problem. Dunn saying that she had been assured that only lawful methods were used. She said that she asked Hurd for approval of the probe and she says it was Baskins who made some errors in judgment. So this went on pretty much all day yesterday.
Hurd got off easy by comparison. He was also testifying along with Dunn. And Hurd took more responsibility, saying that the buck stops with me, among other things. And he did apologize for the problems.
But in addition to Baskins taking the Fifth, nine additional people, two outside contractors, also seven outside contractors, as well as two heading the investigation, didn't talk, taking the Fifth.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, will there be additional people who will testify in the future or is this it for now?
LEE: There could be. This is probably not the end all and be all of HP.
M. O'BRIEN: OK.
LEE: So that's what we know on that front. More...
S. O'BRIEN: I hope not. It's a fascinating story. I hope it doesn't end.
LEE: It really is. And the plot just keeps getting thicker and thicker with this.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: More battery recalls at Sony, so a big black eye for this company. This is, what, the fourth and fifth battery recall we're hearing about today.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: Two instances, Toshiba recalling 830 Sony laptop batteries. Yesterday, IBM and Lenovo announcing the recall of over 500,000. Problem again, catching fire. One of them, in fact a laptop, did catch fire in the Los Angeles International Airport this month, so.
M. O'BRIEN: Has anybody tallied up the total cost of all of these recalls yet? It's got to be a huge number.
LEE: Not the cost,...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: ... but the number of batteries recalled, seven million.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow!
LEE: So you can imagine, this is going to be huge.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow!
LEE: And sooner or later it's going to come out in Sony's probably quarterly report.
M. O'BRIEN: I would think so.
LEE: So not a good situation for them.
Meanwhile, futures pointing to another higher open for stocks after some decent gains yesterday. The Dow is now just four points away from its all-time closing high hit in January of 2000. Briefly peaked above that level yesterday, but couldn't quite get there. Who knows, maybe we'll do it today.
M. O'BRIEN: Carrie Lee, that was your last visit with us. You're moving on to a new schedule.
LEE: That's right, moving on to a later schedule, so I'll be tuning in from the comfort of my own apartment.
S. O'BRIEN: No, you'll be sleeping in.
M. O'BRIEN: Enjoy the sleep. We miss you and...
LEE: Thank you very much.
M. O'BRIEN: We will miss you and thanks for everything.
LEE: It was my pleasure. It was a lot of fun.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
LEE: And I appreciate that. Thanks.
M. O'BRIEN: OK, Carrie, good luck on your new shift.
LEE: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: A happy landing earlier today for the world's first female space tourist. Anousheh Ansari touched down in Kazakhstan at dawn this morning. She's the fourth space tourist, the first to blog from space and a candid blog it was. She spoke of her anxiety before launch and her meld to (ph) space as she made her way to the space station.
CNN's Ryan Chilcote live now in Moscow with more on Anousheh's story.
Hello, Ryan. How are you?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Miles.
Well Anousheh Ansari landed just before dawn in the barren step of Kazakhstan. As she appeared sitting next to the Russian cosmonaut and U.S. astronaut that accompanied her on the way down, she was all smiles and, as you put it, with good reason.
This was the fulfillment of a childhood dream for Anousheh. She is an Iranian-born American and she dreamed about this all the way going back to her childhood days in northeastern Iran. It is also a flight that really achieved a lot of firsts. Not only is she the first woman to pay her way into space, but she is also the first person ever of Iranian descent, excuse me, to go to space, period. And she is the first person, as you put it, to blog from a space station -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Ryan Chilcote in Moscow, thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, this story takes place in China. We're talking about animal athletes. That's right, animal athletes. They've gathered for what is, believe it or not, the marquee event of the non-human sports world. It is the Fourth National Animal Olympics. Yes, that's what it is.
Anything with fur or feathers gathers to imitate, in clothing too, human beings in their sporting events. More than 300 animal athletes are gathering in Shanghai. And over the next two months, they're going to compete in track and field, in bike racing. You saw a little boxing. Yes, those are bears on bikes. This year more than 30 species from all over China take part. And organizers are calling it their biggest event ever.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm waiting for the monkey blood doping scandal that's going to come out of this, right. All right, that's very cute.
The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including no mas. Some folks in Tennessee upset that their local library is stocking Spanish language books. We'll tell you about that.
And hundreds of police officers on a massive search for a man suspected of shooting two deputies in Florida, killing one of them. We'll have a live report from Lakeland, Florida ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, Canadian authorities are publicly apologizing to a man who was falsely accused of being a terrorist. Maher Arar was deported to Syria by the United States based on inaccurate information from Canadian authorities.
In southern California, the so-called Day Fire still burning. Firefighters are beginning to get the upper hand. The fire is now 63 percent contained. Full containment is in fact expected by Monday.
And in Maryland this morning, folks are cleaning up after severe weather swept through the state last night, spawned at least one tornado. The storm uprooted trees, damaged homes and left thousands of people without power. One person was injured in those storms.
Morning, welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
A desperate search for a cop killer is under way in central Florida at this hour. One Polk County deputy is dead, another injured, after a routine traffic stop ended in a hail of bullets.
CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti live from Lakeland with more, -- Susan.
CANDIOTTI: Hi, Miles.
About the only thing that police know for sure is what this suspect looks like. That's because he was using a false I.D. so they don't really know his real name. But at this hour, they are looking for him and they are looking for him hard. As you said, the whole thing started as a routine traffic stop for speeding. Police say the suspect got a little nervous, took off running, shots were fired and a 12-year veteran of the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Matt Williams, was gunned down, as well as his canine. Another deputy was wounded, but he will be OK.
Meantime in the search area, schools were locked down, some businesses closed yesterday and some people were warned to stay inside their homes. Meantime, hundreds of officers from the surrounding areas are helping in this search. And the sheriff says he is confident they will eventually find their suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDD: We want this guy. We want him very badly. We want him in custody. We want him brought to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: Now the sheriff said that they found something in this suspect's car, they won't say exactly what, that leads them to believe that drugs might have been involved. But again, they don't know for sure why he ran.
Back to you.
M. O'BRIEN: And they don't know for sure who he is, do they?
CANDIOTTI: That's right. They know what he looks like, but because he has this phony, bogus I.D. that had a name on it, they know that that name doesn't seem to be right. The address was phony, too. So, again, the only thing they know for sure is his face.
M. O'BRIEN: And finally today, will those schools be locked down once again? Will they be -- or, excuse me, not locked down. Will they be closed down today?
CANDIOTTI: This one high school from where we are reporting will be closed, but so far, that's the only one that will be -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Susan Candiotti in Lakeland.
Thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff had hundreds of contacts with Bush administration officials. That is according to a report from Congress that was released just a few minutes ago.
Joe Johns has our report this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: CNN congressional producer Deirdre Walsh (ph) caught up with the chairman of the committee last night and asked him about Karl Rove. Tom Davis said, "There's no evidence that anybody doing anything wrong. There is innuendo that, if you check it, maybe they did or maybe they didn't, but there's no evidence of anything, except that Abramoff was offering tickets to anybody in town. He offered me a skybox. We didn't know him, so we turned him down."
"That's what this guy did. There's some reason to believe they made these things up for their clients to make them think they were doing stuff.."
On the report's details about contacts with Rove, Davis said, "As far as we can tell there was only one meeting with Rove. That was right after the president's inauguration."
Still, Democrats are expected to use this information once again to try to stir up concern about Abramoff and his role in Washington as the midterm election approaches.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: A political victory for President Bush. The Senate approving that terror detainee bill yesterday. It allows for tough interrogation and prosecution of suspects.
CNN's Sumi Das in Washington with more.
Sumi, good morning.
SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
Well, yesterday, a Senate vote paved a path for the detainee legislation, not only to the president's desk, but as a feather in the caps of Republicans as they campaign for upcoming midterm elections.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: The ayes are 65, the nays are 34. The bill as amended is passed.
DAS (voice over): With nearly a two-thirds majority, the Senate, like the House, approved a bill establishing rules for the treatment and prosecution of terror suspects. The bill prohibits and defines in great detail specific techniques like murder and rape that are considered war crimes, while allowing the president some leeway in interpreting interrogation standards under the Geneva Conventions.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It also gives us the ability to conduct the kinds of interrogations that are deemed necessary concerning the most evil people in the world.
DAS: President Bush had called the terrorism measure his top legislative priority and yesterday lashed out at Democrats who opposed it.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Democrats offer nothing but criticism and obstruction and endless second- guessing.
DAS: House Speaker Dennis Hastert accused Democrats who voted against the measure of coddling terrorists.
Democrats pounced back.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I think every person in America would tear these people to shreds with their bare hands if they had the opportunity. So we certainly want them prosecuted and we want them punished, but not in a way that endangers our troops.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAS: A dozen Democrats did vote for the legislation. Miles, they include three senators facing tough reelection challenges from Republicans.
M. O'BRIEN: Sumi Das in Washington.
Thank you very much.
The president will speak to retired military officers in Washington at 9:40 this morning Eastern Time. We of course will bring it to you live -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Authorities in Colorado are learning more about a deadly hostage-taking at a rural high school. The suspected gunman's motive, though, remains a mystery.
CNN's Jonathan Freed has more from Bailey, Colorado, this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investigators here in Bailey, Colorado, are still trying to find out why a man entered Platte Canyon High School on Wednesday, taking female students hostage and killing one of them before killing himself.
Now, police say 16-year-old Emily Keyes was shot in the back of the head as she tried to escape from 53-year-old Duane Morrison, a man police say was living out of his car. Police say he had a history of minor offenses in Colorado but nothing violent.
Now, the Park County sheriff says Morrison sexually assaulted some of the girls before letting them go. The sheriff says Morrison may have specifically targeted female students.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we also have a report that a male high school student was approached by a suspect yesterday prior to the shooting and asked about the identity of a list of female students.
FREED: Police say a gun was found in a wooded area about a mile from the school, but it's not clear if it's related.
Now, the victim's parents say that they received a text message from their daughter during the ordeal, and it says, "I love u guys."
Jonathan Freed, CNN, Bailey, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening "In America," in Colorado another hearing in that horrific dragging death case. A judge refusing to impose a gag order.
Jose Luis Rubi-Nava is accused of killing Luz Marie Franco Fierros by dragging her behind his truck two weeks ago. Nava's attorney says national coverage of the case could taint a jury.
In Indiana, the windows of three vehicles broken on a Lake County highway within minutes of each other. Fortunately, no one hurt. Police say a pellet gun is more than likely responsible. So far, no connection to the shooting of at least 15 vehicles damaged in shootings between July and last August of last year -- this year.
A cement silo explosion in Boston dumped -- dumped dust on a fleet of school buses. More than 60 school bus drivers went to the hospital for treatment. Drivers and supervisors complained of irritated eyes and throats, with one person complaining of chest pains.
Well, first it was spinach, now milk. Two Washington State children became ill after drinking milk. Authorities say it was tainted by E. coli. The kids both drank raw, unpastureized milk from a local dairy. All that dairy's milk has been pulled from store shelves.
Rogue squirrels on the prowl in Mountain View, California, in a park there. In the latest attack, a squirrel pounced on a 4-year-old boy. He now has to get rabies shots. Park officials say there have been so many attacks, they plan to start trapping and killing the aggressive squirrels.
Time for a check of the forecast.
Chad Myers, good morning to you, sir.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: We've been telling you about this massive wildfire that's been burning in southern California now. It's gone on for four weeks. It's called the Day Fire because it began on Labor Day. But firefighters have another name for it, calling it "The Day After Day Fire," because this fire will just not quit.
CNN's Peter Viles has more for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For 25 days it has outfoxed the firefighters, shifting in one direction, then doubling back. But it's when the wind blows that it gets downright mean. A fire tornado, two of them, broke out Tuesday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two of them! Two of them! Oh my god, the other one next to it!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They merged! They merged! Oh, it came out the back.
VILES: Roughly 200 feet high, the tornado jumped fire lines, threatening the mountain village of Lockwood Valley.
STEVE MUELLER, CALIF. DEPT. OF FORESTRY: It picked up cardboard boxes, chairs and other items, and stuff was just flying around. I've never seen anything like that.
VILES: Many residents packed up and left their homes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just hope it's here when we get back.
VILES: The village was spared, but the Day Fire, so-called because it started on Labor Day, has now blackened a wilderness area the size of Chicago and is still less than 50 percent contained.
(on camera): The biggest challenge in fighting this fire has been the terrain. It is so steep and so rugged up in these hills, that when the fire flares like it is right now behind me, it's almost impossible to get in here with a fire engine or a bulldozer to fight these flames.
(voice over): When winds are calm, firefighters attack from the air, dumping water, even using a DC-10 to spread fire retardant. On the ground, hot shots, specially-trained ground crews, are doing what they can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now we're flying crews in, dropping them in. We call it coyote in and out. They stay in for three or four days. They live off of the supplies that are dropped there.
VILES: But when the fire jumped lines this week, it ran into valleys where firefighters had to fight back with hoses and bulldozers. More than 4,000 firefighters are now battling the blaze. This group just checked in from New York City.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so dry out here, this won't go out.
VILES: On day 25, the fire itself was hard to find, but these firefighters know the Day Fire is not done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're a little tired. The fire lays down and it picks back up again. So it has been a long ordeal.
VILES: An ordeal with no end in sight.
Peter Viles for CNN, Lockwood Valley, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: They've got that fire about 63 percent contained, which is at least some good news there.
Still to come this morning, we'll tell you why one community is outraged about the types of books on shelves at the public library.
That story, much more ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look now at stories that CNN correspondents around the world are covering today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Arwa Damon in Baghdad.
Iraqi police have found 25 more bodies scattered across the capital, bringing the total over the last 48 hours to 85 bodies, all believed to be victims of sectarian violence bearing gruesome signs of torture, and all with gunshot wounds to the head. Sectarian violence is increasingly becoming a greater threat to this country's future than the insurgency.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Rivers in Bangkok, where a new candidate has emerged as a leading contender for the post of prime minister, General Surayud Chulanont, a career soldier, who's currently an advisor to the king. People are hoping he will take the first steps to lead this country back to democracy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matthew Chance in Moscow.
Authorities in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia have now charged four Russian service personnel arrested earlier this week with espionage, despite angry protests in Moscow. The Kremlin has already withdrawn its ambassador from Georgia and ordered all Russian civilians -- citizens, rather, to be evacuated from the country. Georgia says that the Kremlin is reacting with hysteria and has released a security video it says proves that Russian service personnel were involved in espionage.
The background to this is that Russia maintains peacekeeping forces in Georgia and supports two breakaway regions of the country that want independence from Georgia. The Georgian leadership has been at odds with Russia for the past several years as it attempts to move closer to the NATO alliance and the European Union, but this latest diplomatic spat really represents a new low in those already strained relations between the two countries.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ryan Chilcote in Moscow.
American space tourist Anousheh Ansari is back on Earth after an 11-day trip in space capped with a four-hour rapid dissent back into the Earth's atmosphere. Ansari was all smiles at the landing site in the country of Kazakhstan.
The 40-year-old multimillionaire achieved a number of firsts with her flight. She became the first woman ever to pay her way into space, first person ever of Iranian descent to go, and the first person to blog from a space station.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: For more on these or any of our top stories, you can go right to our Web site at CNN.com -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come in the program, a book flap in Tennessee with some objecting to the public library's purchase of children's books in Spanish.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning in Lakeland, Florida, a massive manhunt and a plea for help from the public. Authorities there looking for a cop killer. It happened at a traffic stop. Another deputy injured. A news conference expected at the top of the hour.
In Rhode Island today, the owners of a nightclub that burned to the ground three years ago plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges. Pyrotechnics used by a rock band caused the fire. A hundred died.
And another laptop battery recall. This time Toshiba laptop owners need to listen up. The company is recalling more than 830,000 batteries made by Sony inside those Toshiba laptops. Sony says those batteries could catch fire.
S. O'BRIEN: In Tennessee, some residents are objecting to the library having books in Spanish on the shelves. It all became very controversial, ended up in the library's board meeting.
Nashville affiliate WKRN's Amy Napier Viteri has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAN ALLEN, LIBRARY DIRECTOR: It has been overwhelming, the calls that we have fielded for the positive response.
AMY NAPIER VITERI, REPORTER, WKRN (voice over): The community of Lewisburg is reaching out to the Marshall County Memorial Library after a News 2 report showed several residents don't want foreign language books on the shelves.
ROBIN MINOR, RESIDENT: These should not be paid for with the taxpayers' money of Marshall County. And I do think that we have a lot of county commissioners that would be interested on -- and again, if it's one penny, it's one penny too much.
I would like to see a policy that if somebody's going to donate a book to this library, where English has been the dominant language since 1836, let's make those books be donated in English only.
VITERI: The library's director was concerned until receiving all this feedback from the community.
ALLEN: It's a great relief to know that they feel that we're doing a good job and that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, and that's disseminating information, whether it's Spanish, French or English.
VITERI: Residents have been making donations for Spanish- language books. Many are in honor of Nellie Durera (ph), a library employee who has been criticized by some for hosting a bilingual story time.
ALLEN: I specifically said, "I want this book to be in honor, whatever you pick out, in honor of Nellie (ph), and make sure that it's Spanish-language materials."
VITERI: John Rowe, the chair of the library's board of trustees, says it's not the library's job to censor what kind of books are available to its patrons. But in spite of the controversy, he's glad for the support.
JOHN RAWE, CHAIRMAN, LIBRARY TRUSTEES: Very much so. I just wish that we had that kind of support without an issue like this bringing it out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: That was Amy Napier Viteri of our affiliate WKRN in Nashville reporting for us -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Buenos dias, Andy Serwer. How are you?
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": Oh, I'm not going to touch that.
M. O'BRIEN: Don't do it.
SERWER: I'm fine. I'm fine.
S. O'BRIEN: It's very controversial.
SERWER: This is a bilingual -- yes.
Anyway, Miles, good morning to you.
What would you pay for a Zune?
S. O'BRIEN: A what?
SERWER: A Zune.
Plus, what the world needs now, more and more and more Hummers, don't you think?
M. O'BRIEN: Like a hole in the head.
All right. Thank you, Andy Serwer.
SERWER: You're welcome.
M. O'BRIEN: A Georgia church is taking its faith to a new level. And you can see the results on the big screen. We'll tell you about it ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
A look now at some of the stories we're working on for you this morning.
A huge manhunt under way in Florida for a suspected cop killer.
Lawmakers release a report detailing disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's contacts with the White House.
A brother-in-law of the chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial is shot and killed.
And we'll look at why nine months after the Sago Mine tragedy victims' families still have questions about the cause of the disaster.
Plus, in southern California, firefighters just starting to get the upper hand against the so-called Day Fire.
Those stories are all ahead this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Microsoft would like to compete with the iPod. You bet they would!
Andy Serwer is here, "Minding Your Business," to tell us how they're doing with that zune thing.
SERWER: Zune, Zune, Zune, that's right.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: That is Microsoft's answer to the iPod, Miles, the digital music player that Microsoft plans to roll out on November 14th. This morning we found out the cost of the Zune, which is $249.
So that means that Microsoft is choosing, as you suggest, not to engage in a price war with Apple, which, you know, may not make a lot of sense. I mean, you've got a product that's so entrenched, and you're just going to come in and say, well, ours is better, it costs the same. Who knows?
I mean, they've got a subscription music service that's going to go with this, so you can pay $14.99 a month and have access to two million songs you can listen to during that month. So they also have the "buy the song for 99 cents" model.
You've got so many iPod players out there, though.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, what about if long term you start doing things that are going to be compatible with Microsoft? You know, wouldn't that be the goal?
SERWER: You mean with Apple -- to have Apple and Microsoft be compatible.
S. O'BRIEN: But also that you could sort of carve out a niche where people who have the Microsoft product can really, you know, get a benefit. I mean, that's what they've done in the past against Apple, right?
SERWER: Yes, but in this case, Apple's got the market share. And previously, you know, Windows had the market share. So...
M. O'BRIEN: It's kind of like a reverse of the PC world.
S. O'BRIEN: Right. Exactly. Exactly.
SERWER: Right. Right.
M. O'BRIEN: Interesting.
SERWER: Well, and the two have also worked together at times.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
SERWER: So, you know, it's interesting to see.
Other stories to tell you about this morning.
Ford Motor Credit, the financing arm of the auto giant, is going to be cutting 2,000 jobs in the U.S. and Canada over the next couple years. That's about 25 percent of its workforce. That's separate from layoffs at the automaker. They'll do this through attrition and layoffs.
And finally, another car story to tell you about this morning. Outspoken GM vice chairman Bob Lutz -- always love to hear what he has to say -- says that we should be making more Hummers. GM should be making more Hummers, it should double its product line.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: Are Hummers selling well?
SERWER: They're not selling that well.
S. O'BRIEN: OK.
SERWER: But he says -- it doesn't make that much sense to me -- he says, "We need a full product line." Why?
The H2, the H2 SUT, the H3. He needs more, maybe a pickup. And this also is at odds with Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire investor in GM who says that they should spin that business off completely.
So differences of opinion, I think is what we can say there. Maybe gas prices will go down and Hummer will come way back, but...
M. O'BRIEN: The electric Hummer, that's it.
SERWER: Yes. Yes. The hydrogen Hummer.
S. O'BRIEN: Anything could happen, Andy.
SERWER: Yes, right. Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Andy. We'll see you in a bit.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Time for a check of the forecast, and Chad Myers is at the CNN Center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill, where a new report gives more details about the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. And it names names.
More on that coming up.
CANDIOTTI: And I'm Susan Candiotti, live in Lakeland, Florida. The search is on for a killer who shot and killed a deputy, his police dog, and another officer. The latest on the manhunt coming up.
DAMON: Hundreds of Iraqis killed. I had the opportunity to tell the story of one of those victims.
Her story coming up on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: And obviously that was Jonathan Freed there with a little bit of audio trouble. He's covering the school shootings, a story that we were telling you about yesterday.
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