Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Holiday Travelers Crowd Airports; Huntsville Grieves Over Teens Killed in Bus Accident; NFL Denied to Millions on Thanksgiving Day; Russian Attempts Golf Shot In Space

Aired November 22, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon.

Forewarned is forearmed. If you're planning to travel, you will want to know what you're in for. We have got details coast to coast.

PHILLIPS: If I-40 is in your future, well, you will want to pay attention to avoid driving and crying.

LEMON: And the story of a hit on a quarterback that may have saved a young man's life.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

It handles more passengers than any other airport. Does that also mean delays? We certainly hope not.

Our Thomas Roberts is at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, right here in Atlanta. And that also means traveling with kids.

You have some advice for us, Thomas.

THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly do. Hope to pass that along.

Don, good afternoon.

Just want to tell everybody, things are happening smoothly here, right now, this hour; 4:00, though, is when officials here at Hartsfield warn that things are really going to pick up. The two times, 8:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m., that is really when they expect to see the rush of people trying to get home or wherever they are going for the holiday.

And, out of the 1.7 million people that are going to be traveling through here over the week, up until Monday, a lot of those are going to be young families, families that are traveling with kids, and maybe a lot of families that really have not traveled a lot over this year. And that's when a lot of the security changes went into effect, especially when it comes to your carry-on luggage.

And what I want to pass along is some good news from the TSA, talking about baby food. And we specifically mean formula and breast milk. They're now saying that parents can bring that on board with them in their carry-on, provided that a child or a toddler is accompanying that parent.

Also, they are not going to be testing the breast milk. They are not going to be testing the baby formula or asking you to taste it, a big change of what we have seen over the last year, when security started to crack down on exactly what people could be bringing on board.

But we did have a chance to catch up with passengers today, young families, to find out about their experience, and how they are handling it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kids are tough. The kids make it a little more difficult. But we did our best. They had plenty to play with on the plane. And now they are hungry. So, we're going to feed them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think what help us, we were -- we kind of plan in advance for everything, so we left three hours in advance. So, everything went very smooth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been hectic. I mean, the lines were long. And, well, you know, the people were crowded. You know, we had some time going through security, you know, which is understandable. You know, we had to have bottles checked and everything.

But, you know, the flight is a little bumpy, you know, because of the weather. And -- but, all in all, you know, it was all right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're hitting the 24-hour mark of our -- when our travel day started. And we are just happy to be back in America. We have been overseas for the past two years. My husband is active-duty. And we are here. And she is meeting grandparents the first time. She was born overseas. And we are happy to be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So, a lot of people, happy travelers that we are seeing come through here -- the TSA has also told us that, for the young families out there that may be worried that they are traveling with their kids, they are starting to handle that by training the TSA officers to be mindful of young kids, and maybe their fears about going through different security checkpoints, and to make sure that parents and kids stay in each other's line of sight.

One thing also to point out, Don, to everybody is, if you have questions, and you want more information, CNN.com has put up a great page of travel tips for everybody, more in detail. So, everybody can go there and check it out, before they need to rush out to different airports around the country today.

LEMON: And, Thomas, we want to remind people that we also have travel tips on the top and side of our screens there.

Again, give us those busy hours again for Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

ROBERTS: The busy hour is going to be coming up here at 4:00. So, I don't know if you guys want to revisit right before that or not.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: But, yes, we expect a lot more people.

It's calm right now, but 8:00 a.m. this morning, madhouse; 4:00 p.m., they expect it to be another madhouse. So, it's the calm before the storm, some would say, out here.

LEMON: All right, Thomas Roberts, thank you very much, sir.

PHILLIPS: Heavy rain, high winds making for a miserable Thanksgiving eve along Virginia's West Coast. The harder the rain, the faster intersections and side roads are flooding now.

Some schools closed early for the holiday, because of the potential for flooding. And, with winds gusting to 60 miles an hour, police are allowing only cars and pickup trucks across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Rain on one coast, snow on the other, maybe a bit of everything in between.

Jacqui Jeras in the CNN Weather Center with our travel forecast -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Kyra.

Yes, that storm causing all the flooding in Virginia, it's also down through the Carolinas, is improving for you folks down here. However, we're just getting started in the Mid-Atlantic corridor, also into the Northeast. And this is going to be a problem through tomorrow.

We do have flood warnings covering much of North Carolina. You can see Virginia, just one county being affected right now, but a lot of small creeks are out of those banks. So, if you're traveling on the secondary roads, be aware. You could be crossing a road with water over it. And you don't want to do that. Find an alternate route. Go around.

Heavy rain now pushing up towards the Delmarva region, along the I-95 corridor. It's going to be a wet and windy go of it. Those wind gusts we just mentioned, up to 60 miles per hour -- sustained winds at this time are up there around 20 to 30 miles per hour. So, expect to see very strong winds, kind of white knuckles on the steering wheel, unfortunately.

If you don't have to travel there today, I would really recommend you not doing it. At the airport, we have got a 30-minute departure delay right now out of Los Angeles at LAX. And we have got a live picture. There, you can see the low overcast conditions. And it's those low clouds that are holding things up. We have got a storm system in the Pacific Northwest, starting to get some of the cloudiness in with that system, but not expecting to see any rain for you in L.A.

Some of the other airport delays that we are dealing with at this hour, JFK now in on the action at 35 minutes -- a ground delay more than two hours still holding at La Guardia, about an hour and 10 minutes at this hour out of the Newark area. Philadelphia, an hour and 15 minutes, that's about status quo. We have been holding there for about the last three hours -- and Teterboro back in the action with 25-minute delays.

Your Thanksgiving holiday, what can you expect? Much better weather across the Southeast. We will still see that rain for the Thanksgiving parade, we think, into New York City. The Pacific Northeast will stay wet.

But the nation's midsection, you guys, gets the big prize, from Minneapolis all the way down to Houston, sunshine, warm temperatures, almost shorts, really.

Sixties?

(LAUGHTER)

JERAS: I can do it.

PHILLIPS: I know, I go back and forth. Oh, I would like the -- kind of the warm, shorts weather. But, then again, I would love to hit the slopes. What do you do?

JERAS: Oh, that would be good.

(LAUGHTER)

JERAS: Lots of fresh powder up in the Cascades.

PHILLIPS: Oh, that sounds good. Thanks, Jacqui.

JERAS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: CNN is your holiday travel headquarters. Just log on to CNN.com/holidaytravel. It's a special page with everything from travel tips to top destinations. And we will constantly update the site throughout the holiday travel season.

LEMON: Man-to-man in Amman -- a strategy section on the future of Iraq with President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The White House says the two will meet next week in the Jordanian capital to talk about ways to speed the transition from coalition to Iraqi-only forces. Mr. Bush is already scheduled to be in Europe for a NATO summit. He will fly from Lafayette to Amman for talks next Wednesday and Thursday.

PHILLIPS: Could there be too few of the few and the proud?

CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins us now with a look at the Marine Corps troop strength from the brand-new commandant.

Jamie, what role is Iraq playing in all this? And tell me about your one-on-one interview.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's -- it's a big role, Kyra.

And the new general who just took over charge of the Marine Corps, General James Conway, met with a group, a small group, of reporters here at the Pentagon this morning.

And he talked about one of the things he's most concerned about, which is the strain that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are putting on his forces. He says, essentially, that, with some Marine units headed back to Iraq for a fourth tour of duty, that the strain is just too much for those Marines to balance both military service and family life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL JAMES CONWAY, U.S. MARINE CORPS COMMANDANT: I think we may lose some of those folks. I think that the families, the young Marines, the sailors will say, that's -- that's just more than I think, you know, I'm willing to bear.

And it could have some negative consequences for us in that regard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Now, something has got to give, Conway says.

Either they have to send fewer Marines to war, or they need to recruit more Marines, and increase the size of the force. Here's the problem. There's about 180,000 Marines on active duty. Normally, they get a seven-month combat tour in the war zone, and then they get 14 months off.

Or, at least, that's the goal. But, these days, because the violence in Iraq has been unrelenting, they have been going back in as little as seven or eight months after they get back. And that is really having -- putting a strain on them.

And it's not just the strain on the individual Marines, but it also means that the Marine Corps as a whole cannot practice some of the other missions it's supposed to be prepared for. It's focused entirely on the counterinsurgency mission.

Now, General Conway, who is only eight days into the job, is not ready yet to make any really bold or expensive recommendations to increase the size of the Marine Corps force. What he's waiting for is to see what this new Iraq strategy -- might be, the adjustments that are expected, as a result of the Baker commission, and the Pentagon's own internal review.

If that calls for fewer Marines, then, he thinks he can -- he can work out with the Marines -- size of the Marine force he has now. And he's waiting to see essentially what the new strategy is going to be -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jamie McIntyre, thanks.

The worse mess yet for Iraqi civilians. The U.N. says that insurgent or sectarian attacks killed more than 3,700 Iraqi noncombatants in October. That's highest monthly death toll of the war. It's been rising since February, when sectarian violence exploded after the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra.

LEMON: Coming up: another apology from Michael Richards, after his racist rant on stage -- my conversation with the Reverend Al Sharpton, who was on the receiving end of that apology, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Eight states, 2,500 miles, and, today, a virtual armada of squad cars -- that's Interstate 40 this Thanksgiving weekend. If you don't want to see blue lights in your rearview mirror, you better pull over.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, it is certainly a somber holiday in Huntsville, Alabama -- a tight-knit city grieving for four teenaged girls killed in Monday's horrific school bus accident. A dozen other students and the bus driver are spending Thanksgiving in the hospital.

CNN's Rusty Dornin has the latest on what happened and what some survivors remember.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN HARKEY, BUS CRASH SURVIVOR: Life is too short to fool around.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A cracked hip and a bruised face, her marks of survival -- Morgan Harkey lived to tell about a 30-foot plunge in a school bus over a freeway overpass.

HARKEY: An orange car, I guess the tire blew on it, and it lost control, and it hit the bus. And I guess it popped our tire, and we went straight over the ramp.

DORNIN: The driver of the orange car that Harkey says clipped the bus was a 17-year-old student at the high school. His vehicle had flat tires when it came to rest following the crash. DEBBIE HERSMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD MEMBER: We have heard a number of reports that there was an issue involving the Celica. The Celica driver and the passenger were interviewed. And we know that they have said that there was something wrong with their vehicle that caused them to drift into that left lane.

DORNIN: As some bus crash survivors went home, there was news that a fourth teen, 16-year-old Crystal McCrary, had died.

Four students, all young girls with plans for the future -- one, 19-year-old, Nicole Ford, was the mother of a 4-year-old boy. Four years ago, she was shot in the face by her estranged boyfriend.

Investigators painstakingly walked every inch of the crash site, from above, marking where the bus first crashed into the barrier and careened down the ramp 117 feet, before it plunged to the field below. The driver was somehow ejected from the bus before it went over the side.

Officials say he was found on the overpass. He remains hospitalized, along with nearly a dozen of his passengers. Finally, the bus was towed to what officials called a safe location for further investigation.

Police say the case could be turned over to a grand jury to determine if any criminal charges will be filed against the driver of the orange car.

It's up to the NTSB to determine the cause of the crash, and one official said that could take as long as a year. It's likely to take a lot longer than that for this community to recover.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Huntsville, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Drug raid in Atlanta -- three cops wounded, a suspect shot to death, a grim scene that plays out in most big cities way too often. But the Atlanta woman who opened fire last night on the plainclothes officers who knocked her door down was 92 years old. Her family says that Kathryn Johnston lived alone in the same house for many years. Police say the outcome was tragic, but the raid was strictly by the book.

ALLAN DREHER, ASSISTANT ATLANTA POLICE CHIEF: As they were executing the search warrant, they were -- before they were -- they announced themselves before they forced open the door. Once the door was forced, the female inside began shooting at the police officers. The officers returned fire. And, as a result, Ms. Johnston received fatal injuries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, the wounded officers are all in good condition. Police note they did find suspected narcotics inside that house. They took away his book deal and his TV interview, but they could not keep O.J. Simpson quiet. Simpson went on a Miami radio station today, and denied killing anyone. He says the book that set off the firestorm entitled "If I Did It" is fiction, created by a ghostwriter.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "If I Did It."

O.J. SIMPSON, FORMER NFL PLAYER: That was their title. They came into the project with that as the title. At least, that's what was the title that was brought to me.

I saw what Judith Regan said: "O.J. brought me the deal."

I didn't bring anybody a deal. I didn't pitch anything.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, as you know, Simpson was acquitted at the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend Ron Goldman. He was later found liable for wrongful death in a civil suit. He would not say how much he got for the book deal, but says most went to pay bills and support his children.

LEMON: On your mark, get set, and wait. Hey, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a few travel turkeys. We are keeping our eyes on the road to help you avoid delays, or at least prepare to endure them.

PHILLIPS: And a lame duck pardons a couple of turkeys.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: I guess it's all part of the political pecking order. We are winging it here in the NEWSROOM. So, stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Oh, it's a big day tomorrow. For many of us, football is as much a part of Thanksgiving as turkey and stuffing. But millions of Americans will be missing out on a prime-time matchup tomorrow.

That's not good, Susan Lisovicz.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: She is at the New York Stock Exchange to explain all this.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN ANCHOR: Don, it's enough...

LEMON: What's going on?

LISOVICZ: It's enough to give you indigestion.

(LAUGHTER) LISOVICZ: Thanksgiving will include a third helping of pro football this year, but only for a fraction of fans.

The NFL Network will show its first live regular season game tomorrow night, the Denver Broncos vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. But only about 13 million of the country's 70 million cable households will be able to watch the game. That's because many of the biggest cable operators don't carry the NFL Network, and those that do, including Comcast, have it on a special package of channels that cost subscribers extra.

This has become such a big issue that even the Senate Judiciary Committee discussed the limited availability of the game. But there is good news for subscribers of the two big satellite TV providers. DirecTV and DISH Network will be able to watch the game. But many others, subscribers of Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, and Cablevision, will just have to be content with the other two NFL games on tap for tomorrow, Dolphins vs. Lions, and Bucs vs. the Cowboys.

And you will be rooting for one of those teams, I think, Don, right?

LEMON: I will be.

But my question to you is, is this all about dollars? Why aren't the big cable companies offering the network to more people?

LISOVICZ: Your -- yes, your instincts are exactly correct, Don.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: There you go.

LISOVICZ: Originally, the NFL Network was just going to show preseason and NFL Europe games. So, when they signed -- so, when it signed deals with the cable companies, it couldn't push for prime placement for the network.

But now the channel has a lineup of eight Thursday night and Saturday night games this season. And the NFL is asking the cable operators for 70 cents a month per subscriber in fees. And the cable companies are balking.

A lot of experts think the two sides will eventually come to an agreement, even if it takes a couple years, and a lot of fan frustration.

(MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Apology not accepted.

CNN has learned disgraced comedian Michael Richards telephoned the Reverend Al Sharpton, offering amends for his infamous racist tirade at an L.A. comedy club. I spoke to the Reverend Al Sharpton a short time ago, right here in the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL SHARPTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I got a call about an hour ago, Don, from a -- one of -- a gentleman I know here in New York, Howard Rubenstein, saying...

LEMON: Yes.

SHARPTON: ... that Michael Richards wanted to talk to me. He had saw how I had expressed outrage at not only for what he said, and how he said it -- and it was obviously racist -- but then to offer an apology, not even to the people he offended, but he goes on David Letterman's show -- and I have nothing but respect for Letterman, but that's certainly not the venue to address the people you offended.

And he wanted to call me and find out what he felt -- what I felt he should do. And I told him I would take the call, and Michael Richards called me.

LEMON: And, Reverend -- yes, it was -- watching that video with several people -- and I watched it live, or at least watched the airing of "David Letterman," and people were laughing, and -- because, you know, "David Letterman" is a funny show. It's a late-night show. So, I'm not sure people got the full extent of it.

Do you think that was the right platform?

SHARPTON: I agree with you.

I don't think a lot of the audience even understood that this was serious or understood the weight of it, which only added insult to injury to me.

LEMON: What would you have Michael Richards do? Because I'm understanding that you're not accepting his apology. Do I have that right?

SHARPTON: Well you have -- what I told him, was it's not about me accepting an apology. I certainly can't accept an apology for all people or for me, that I think that what he did was so injurious, that he has to sit down, and with a group, and decide how he tries to, A, deal with healing the obvious problem he's got in his own mind and in his own heart, because it could couldn't come out of you if it wasn't in you -- you can't regurgitate food that you hadn't first put in your body -- and then how you could be in some way helpful toward dealing with the continuing elements of racism we have in our society.

I mean, here's a guy -- I said, here you are, somebody we had in our living rooms. You were Kramer. We were used to you. And to come and see you say this is frightening to many Americans.

I said, you need to sit down with people. You need to have to deal with this. I invited him to sit with a group and deal with it in Harlem or South Central, wherever. He's agreed to do that. We intend to talk later with his people.

But this is not about accepting an apology. Let me be clear about that. This is about starting a process to really deal with the continue problem of racism in this country, broad-based and in entertainment. I mean, I'm upset that Trent Lott has in silence been accepted back in the U.S. Senate and not one senator has opened their mouth. This is not just about a comedian. This is about lingering racism that we refuse to deal with.

LEMON: And reverend Sharpton, we know that you're in the middle of your radio show. So, when you have to go, please tell us and then we'll get you back to that. But, other leaders are saying, that it's not just Michael Richards, it's also the larger culture, the media, you know saying the 'N' word in videos and in records and people calling each other.

And I know I just saw you on "Headline Prime," and you said you really can't equate the two. You're not saying that it's right for people to say that word, but calling someone the word in one context does not mean it's the same in another situation.

SHARPTON: I think that saying it one way is not the same as another. But I think we have to stop it across the board. I, first of all, we've got to make it clear that people have used now the 'N' word and it is a defense against hate crimes, Don. And going to the courts and saying, well no, I was using it as a hip-hop term, not as a racist term. So, now we are faced with the reality. And all of us have thought this, that the only group in America that you can't commit a hate crime against is black folks.

If I call a gay person out there a name, a hate crime. If I call a Catholic guy a name, hate crime, Jewish person a name, hate crime. And it should be. But if you call a black a nigger, it's permitted or is debatable. We cannot do that whether it is blacks on blacks or whether it's whites on blacks. We must make it clear -- I put out buttons, National Action Network, saying I'm not a nigger, N-I-G-G-E-R or N-I-G-G-A. Let's not argue the spelling. The significance is too deep.

LEMON: And reverend Sharpton, we have only a short time left but Chicago Urban League President Cheryl Jackson and CEO saying that this may actually open some dialogue. There could be some positive out of all of this. At least we are talking about it. And also she said and if you look at that tape, black and white people got up and walked out of that club.

SHARPTON: And that was the good news. Cheryl Jackson is right. She is a great upcoming leader in the Urban League. She ought to be part of the ones who will push this dialogue because we are not dealing with the problems back in the day. Unfortunately, there are still problems in our day.

LEMON: Reverend Al Sharpton, thank you so much. SHARPTON: All right Don.

LEMON: We know you're very busy today. Get back to your radio show. Thank you for calling in.

SHARPTON: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, let's get straight to the NEWSROOM. Carol Lin with details on a developing story. Is this the one out of L.A. or is this ...

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It is.

PHILLIPS: OK.

LIN: Yes, that's the one Kyra. We're talking about the 405 Freeway southbound. The main interstate that takes much of Los Angeles to the Los Angeles International airport on this very busy holiday weekend.

You're looking at the scene there where there's a truck that overturned. You can still see the body of that truck off to the shoulder. And what you're seeing there is the response teams who have spread some foam along the shoulder there, essentially, where there are yellow canisters. These canisters that piled onto the truck fell out into the highway and L.A. County fire had been trying to identify what sort of chemical this was, Kyra. Obviously, they were very concerned whether it would be flammable or not.

Now, as far as I know, there aren't any neighborhood evacuations. There's a neighborhood just on the other side of that interstate. But there were two people injured but they were minor injuries. The driver of the truck had minor injuries and then another driver was treated for chest pains on the scene. But this happened at about 10:00 in the morning Pacific time and 1:00 Eastern time. And Kyra, what they are saying to CNN right now is that they do not expect the 405 Freeway to reopen until 6:00 Pacific time, 9:00 Eastern time, tonight.

So traffic still being diverted off that freeway onto a side Interstate, the 105 Freeway. But a big mess there. We watched about an hour ago as people were literally making a U-turn on that freeway to drive on the shoulder northbound in the southbound lanes.

PHILLIPS: We also know there are side roads though if you have to get to the airport. I'm trying to remember Carol, because it's been awhile since I've been there.

LIN: Feel like a traffic reporter.

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly, but you can take that side roads from the beaches, right?

LIN: Right. You can actually, you can actually, if you can get to -- this is right about El Segundo. So, if you can exit at El Segundo because I'm not sure if it's right before or after that exit, but you can exit El Segundo and that will take you to the airport pretty much. People know how to use the side roads off that exit. But they can also get off on the Marina Del Rey Freeway, the 90 westbound and make their way on Lincoln.

PHILLIPS: Look at that -- Carol Lin, Traffic reporter now.

LIN: That's right. What can I say, I know those back roads and so do you.

PHILLIPS: That's why I asked you. I knew you could help folks out if they are whizzing by the tube. All right Carol, appreciate it. Thanks. We'll keep watching it.

LEMON: Next she'll say, traffic on the 5s coming up. Thank you Carol. Thank you Kyra.

He was born in the Midwest but he represents his less fortunate brethren all over the country. A Turkey named Flyer received a full presidential pardon today in the White House Rose Garden. A backup turkey with a not-so-fortunate name of Fryer was also spared. President Bush said Flyer really deserved life of leisure because earlier his dog Barney had chased it all over the White House grounds. So where do the turkeys go next? Of course, they go to Disneyland for tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day parade.

PHILLIPS: So, while you're doing your last-minute Thanksgiving shopping, you might want to know what the first family will be feasting on. The Camp David kitchen crew will be serving free range roasted chick turkey -- oops. That was a Freudian slip, along with cast iron skillet cornbread dressing and cranberry sauce.

There's going to be sauteed green beans, zucchini gratin and whipped maple sweet potatoes along with basil, chive, red potato mashed, with giblet gravy, and fresh clover rolls with honey butter. Desert will take the form off pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin mousse trifle? Truffle? What the heck is that? Is it truffle? Is that a typo? It's a trifle, oh thank you, so sorry. A trifle, a truffle, tomato, tomato. All right. And fresh fruit. There you have it. I know you're dying to know the menu.

Well the longest drive in the history of golf, scheduled to happen tonight. Russia finds a new way to make money in space with one big swing and zero gravity. Stay with us.

LEMON: It was no hail Mary pass but was it a case of divine intervention, maybe? A college quarterback loses a game but may have saved his own life. A story to cheer about. That's ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Looking out for police on your Thanksgiving road trip? Well, you won't have to look far. On Interstate 40, here's a live traffic cam shot. It's from Tennessee, one of the eight states that Highway I-40 runs right through. Troopers are posted every 10 miles from North Carolina to California. And joining us now, one of the men behind this unprecedented drive, Lieutenant Pete Norwood of Oklahoma Highway patrol. He's also the national spokesman for Operation Care.

We're going to have a lot of people on the roads. Tell me -- I think it's an obvious question -- but why are you doing this?

To save lives, right?

LT. PETE NORWOOD, OKLAHOMA HIGHWAY PATROL: To save lives, absolutely. Care is Combined Accident Reduction Effort. What we try to do is go out here -- and every state police agency's a member. We try to go out here and make sure that you're safe and you get to your destination safely.

LEMON: Yes, and it's hard to say, but you're really saving people from themselves, because every bit of research I read says that people are mostly concerned about getting there and getting there quickly. And they become anxious about it, and then all of a sudden, an accident ensues after that.

NORWOOD: Well, you always hear that story about the uncle that made it there in 15 minutes earlier than he did the year before. Not an option out here. This was a great operation for us to be involved in.

Actually, Lieutenant Bill James from Oklahoma and Colonel Steve Coleman from Arkansas got together and did it last year on I40. And then they talked about doing it across the -- both states of Arkansas and Oklahoma. And I had gone to the national CARE conference and spoke with Chief Farrensgotta (ph) of the New Mexico State Police, and he said they did it with Arizona. And it just kind of, you know, kind of snowballed from there. We started doing it across I40. My wife is real supportive, and said if anybody can get it done, you know everybody, so get it done.

LEMON: So you can do it. And I would imagine the reason you're doing this, because in those other places that have done it, it must have saved some lives.

What I want to know is will there really be officers every ten miles along this stretch of highway?

NORWOOD: Well, when you're talking about every ten miles, it doesn't mean you can speed for nine and then get to that extra tenth and, you know, kind of slow down.

What we've done, we've taken the model from Arkansas-Oklahoma and given troopers ten-mile stretches to patrol. So they could be there -- they're supposed to be there within every ten miles, but they are constantly moving. So we'll have, not only on the road, but we'll also have some aircraft enforcement as well. So you better look up, as well.

LEMON: Yes, and while you're talking there, we're showing a live picture from Knoxville, Tennessee. You can see it is bumper to bumper there, and that really sort of bulks this 37 million people, we're told by AAA, will drive 50 miles from home this holiday.

And also earlier, we were looking at the accident. I know it's not -- it doesn't really have anything to do with what you're doing on Highway 40 there. But we saw the accident on the 405 Freeway, and you see the sort of traffic volume that we have here.

One thing you want to tell people: slow down. The other thing you want to tell people: buckle up.

Right?

NORWOOD: Definitely buckle up. You never know when you're going to be involved in an accident. If you did, you'd be guessing lottery numbers every day. Buckle up. If you're going to be involved in an accident, make sure you're safe and you can survive that accident.

LEMON: And I would imagine as someone who's working out on the highways in your profession, you see the horrific things that happen. Many times, especially during the holidays, because you're, you know, carrying the whole family, it involves children.

Advice?

NORWOOD: That's the worse thing that a trooper can run across. Always buckle up a child. They can't make that choice. You make that choice for them. Keep them safe.

I'm just asking everybody to, you know, drive with a little bit of respect for everybody else. Lower your speed. Increase your following distances. You're going to have some delays because of the volume of traffic, but, you know, be respectful of others and let's get there safely and get home to our families.

LEMON: Yes, I would imagine that is the worst thing that you can see. Saving people from themselves, unfortunately, to say that, but it sounds like it's true.

Lieutenant Pete Norwood, Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

You have you a safe and happy holiday.

NORWOOD: You, too. Take care, sir.

LEMON: CNN is your holiday travel headquarters. Just log on to CNN.com/holidaytravel. It is a special page with everything from travel tips to top destinations. And we'll constantly update the site throughout the holiday travel season.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's the best mistake any quarterback ever made. Johnny DuRocher is the backup QB for the University of Washington Huskies. He suffered a concussion when he tried to make a tackle after throwing an interception. Then a routine CAT scan found something far from routine.

We get the story now from Gary Horcher of CNN affiliate KIRO.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNNY DUROCHER, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOOTBALL: I was going to have to get it cut out either now or in the future. So it was just going to keep growing.

GARY HORCHER, KIRO CORRESPONDENT: Johnny DuRocher's life-saving discovery happened because of an embarrassing mistake. Seconds after the Husky backup quarterback threw an interception against Stanford, he suffered a severe concussion while trying to make a tackle. A routine CAT scan revealed an egg-sized tumor growing on his brain.

DuRocher felt no sign of trouble ever before.

DUROCHER: No symptoms, no headaches, no nausea or anything like that. I was feeling really good, and then on Friday when they told me, I was just completely shocked because I was having -- you know, I was feeling really good.

HORCHER: DuRocher, who at Bethel High School was state Gatorade Player of the Year and the number one state quarterback recruit for academics, is still struggling with the fact his football career is now over. But he also calls the concussion divine intervention.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM, WASHINGTON COACH: Maybe the concussion may have been the best thing that could ever happen at this particular time. And that's one of the sad things that you have to say, but it also brings a great sense of joy, that now you may have stopped a problem or prevented a problem that could have been life-threatening.

HORCHER: And he says if he hadn't had the daylights violently knocked out of him, the mass in his head might have slowly, silently killed him. Now he's thankful for the opponent who delivered the hit.

DUROCHER: I'm thinking about writing the guy a thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, doctors think the tumor is benign. And surgery is scheduled for next week. In the meantime, Johnny says he isn't done with sports. Once he recovers, he plans to try out for the Huskies baseball team.

LEMON: You probably remember exactly where you were and what you were doing on the morning of 9/11. For Americans older than 50, it's the same with the Kennedy assassination. On this date in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in a motorcade in Dallas. He was 46 years old. If he were alive today, he'd be 89.

PHILLIPS: A long drive in outer space. The Russian space agency finds a new way to make money. We're going to show you how, straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you liked Alan Shepherd's 6 iron shot on the surface of the moon in 1971, you're going to love what's sure to be the longest drive in the history of golf, brought to you by the Russian space agency and a paying sponsor.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A golf club manufacturer is paying the Russian space agency hundreds of thousands of dollars to stage a publicity stunt, a cosmonaut hitting a golf ball over the International Space Station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good check.

CHILCOTE: In an exclusive interview from space, Mikhail Tyurin assured us he's up to the task.

(on camera): What happens if you don't hit it right? There were concerns that it could hit the station?

MIKHAIL TYURIN, COSMONAUT: I think it's impossible because we have our training here every day, and up to the event, our skills level should be in good position, good condition.

CHILCOTE (voice-over): Tyurin has come a long way as a golfer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we want to do with your golf is find out, first, have you had any experience at golf at all?

TYURIN: I can say for sure, no experience at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

CHILCOTE: Two instructors egged Tyurin along, even when it wasn't looking good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was so good that we went -- you know what? That was so good, Rick, but this is a different radius, OK?

CHILCOTE (on camera): Training on the golf course and in simulators like this one is a good way to improve your game if you're playing here on earth. But in order to improve his cosmic drive, Tyurin took his game to the closest thing he could find to space.

(voice-over): Astronauts train for spacewalks in the pool, so why not golf shots? The bulky spacesuit clearly doesn't help.

By one estimate, Tyurin's ball will travel 1.5 trillion yards before it burns up in the earth's atmosphere. Just in case Tyurin has a bad day and dings the station, no worries. The ball only weighs about 3 grams.

Alan Shepard used a real ball when he attempted the only other golf in space shot 30 years ago.

ALAN SHEPARD, ASTRONAUT: I'm going to try a little sandtrap shot here. I got more dirt than ball that time, got more dirt than ball. Here we go again. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That looked like a slice to me, Al.

CHILCOTE: Russia's commercial space stunts have horrified their partners at NASA, but the Russians say they need the cash and NASA should get in the swing.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Very interesting.

PHILLIPS: I thought gripping and ripping it off a carrier was pretty cool but that takes the cake right there.

LEMON: You have got to see this next video. Please pay attention to this, unwittingly proving NASA's point about the damage of a wayward golf ball, the damage it can do. CNN's space correspondent, "AMERICAN MORNING" co-host and weekend duffer Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: Believe me, I have seen him golf. He's a duffer. If you were up early, you may have caught Miles' hands-on demonstration and what I hastened to point out was his brand new, state-of-the-art studio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: How do they do the tee in space? Well, this is the tee. This is a space tee. It's kind of a little nylon spring deal. Here's the ball painted gold so they can see it more easily as it goes.

You kind of clip it in that tee thing, and then this thing goes down here on a ladder kind of thing. There's a ladder on the outside of the station. All right, I can't get the darn thing down. All right, well,, pretend that's on the ladder.

All right, now, let me have the golf club. This is an E21 golfer -- it's a Canadian company -- and they spent high six figures, maybe low seven figures for this. He will do it one handed because you he's in that bulky space suit. But you just go like this. May I have a mulligan, please? Thank you.

GROUP: Whoa!

O'BRIEN: I'm very sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you break something?

O'BRIEN: I think I might have. I'm going to go talk to the neighbors about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The best part about that is what Miles smacked was a huge etched glass map that probably didn't cost as much as the space mission, but close. Yes, that was classic Miles.

LEMON: Oh, my goodness. Thank goodness he did not hit that huge monitor. That would be mucho trouble. All right. We are hope you're OK, Miles.

Given all the free hot air, you have got to wonder why they don't do this in Washington but this is definitely a New York tradition, and NEWSROOM heads north for a live view as they blow them up, blow them up real good. You're looking live right now at the West Side of Manhattan. They're blowing up balloons for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

PHILLIPS: Scooby Doo. Give a shout out.

LEMON: There's Scooby. There's the cat -- what's that cat again? They're blowing him up as well. I think I see a little pig back there, too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Oh, take a look at that, Kyra. That is traffic, courtesy WYFF, Anderson County, South Carolina. It looks like it's moving but apparently in the southbound lanes there's a little bit of congestion going on. We told you 37 million people will be driving at least 50 miles away from home this holiday season. Be careful out there. Buckle up and watch your speed. Take a look at this live picture.

PHILLIPS: It's the Macy's Day parade. Everyone is getting ready. All right, so our bets are it's Big Bard. That's what we are thinking.

LEMON: Yes, Big Bird and then you pointed out Scooby and then I see a little pink one back there that I cannot figure out. But this is always a huge event in New York City right there...

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Seventy-five years Macy's has given us the tradition that celebrates both America and, of course, the holidays.

LEMON: Did you hear about the winds, what Jacqui said, Kyra, 15 to 20 miles tomorrow and that cutoff pretty close. Cutoff is 23-mile- per-hour winds, so let's hope it does not get above that or Scooby will be grounded.

PHILLIPS: More than a quarter million people are going to be watching for that parade.

LEMON: Yes, are you going to be one of them?

PHILLIPS: I'm working. I'll be watching it.

LEMON: You can watch it. Turn it on the monitor here.

PHILLIPS: That's right. LEMON: Fathers and sons can bond by fishing, camping, sports or even watching James Bond movies. Steve Milton and his boys bonded by banding -- rubber banding. They created the world's biggest rubber band ball. They start it about a year ago, adding a few pounds of rubber bands a day.

Eventually, the ball weighed a ton, then two tons and now more than 4,500 pounds, easily breaking the "Guinness Book's" old record. There are more than 175,000 rubber bands in there and you cannot find one when you need one, always. Big question is why?

PHILLIPS: Let's check in with Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. She is standing by for the "Closing Bell." And you actually do have some Turkey Day related news?

(MARKET REPORT)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com