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Additional Charges Expected Against Alleged Missouri Kidnapper, Bird Flu in Britain; Soldier Refuses Iraq Deployment, President Bush Sends Budget to Capitol Hill
Aired February 05, 2007 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour -- we start with a developing story.
Within the next hour, additional charges are expected against Michael Devlin. He's the alleged abductor of two Missouri boys, Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby.
Now, the charges are likely to shed light on some of what the boys may have endured.
And joining us now to talk to us about that, from Clayton, Missouri, our very own Jonathan Freed.
These details just developing -- Jonathan.
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's it.
We're expecting, within the hour, at this point, to hear from Robert McCulloch, who is the Saint Louis County prosecutor. Now, there are multiple jurisdictions involved in this case.
Kirkwood, Missouri, which is in the county that we are in now, is the location where the suspect, Michael Devlin, has been living. And it is the location where the two boys were found when the police moved in a number of weeks ago.
The charges that we have up until this point stem from Franklin County, which is to the south of here, as well as Washington County. And those are the two locations where the abductions allegedly happened.
So, what we have been waiting for is this third jurisdiction here in Saint Louis County to weigh in with charges. Now, the people on Devlin's defense side are bracing for what could be a large number of charges. Nothing is official at this point. But they are standing by and waiting for that possibility within the hour.
The other level of charges could come on the federal level, but neither the FBI, nor the U.S. attorney here in this Eastern District of Missouri have given an indication that they are ready to move forward with anything about that yet.
LEMON: All right, Jonathan Freed, keep monitoring that for us. And we will check back with you.
Thank you so much.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at first, he said he was testing the waters. Now it looks like Rudy Giuliani is closer to taking that plunge.
CNN confirms, the former New York mayor is taking another step toward a Republican run for president. He is filing what is called a statement of candidacy today. He set up an exploratory committee late last year, but it's still not a full-fledged announcement.
And it looks like Giuliani has got some momentum, though. Look at these poll numbers. It's a poll of Republicans conducted for CNN by Opinion Research Corporation. Giuliani leads their choices for the GOP nomination with 32 point. He's followed by John McCain, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney.
Now, the poll also asked Republicans if they would like to see Giuliani run for president; 77 percent said yes.
LEMON: Not a blank check for Iraq, but a pretty big one, that's what President Bush wants from you and the Democrat-controlled Congress. He sent his $2.9 trillion budget to Capitol Hill just hours ago
It fills up four huge books. But you can bet it will be taken apart line by line.
Our Ed Henry is joining us now from the White House, where Mr. Bush has been huddling with his team.
Hi, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good afternoon, Don.
You know, in fact, the president met with his Cabinet today, unveiled that budget that you were talking about. And he vowed that he would be able to continue sharp spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as spending for major programs in health and education and others here on the home front, but would still able to balance the budget by 2012 without raising any taxes.
As you can imagine, Democrats, now running Capitol Hill, as you noted, very skeptical that all these numbers will add up -- with all the charges flying back and forth, it could be easy to forget these are real programs, real money. And it's basically coming out of the pockets of taxpayers all across the country.
What is their money going to? Well, an increasing share of this federal budget, which is now reaching $2.9 trillion per year, an increasing share of that money going to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, $100 billion more this year, $140 billion more for next year for Iraq and Afghanistan, $50 billion more for 2009.
Now, the White House budget director, Rob Portman, told me, this is all about the White House trying to be more up front about these costs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT PORTMAN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: It's a credible and more transparent budget. Instead of painting a rosy scenario on revenues to get the balance, we take a cautious approach. We have shown full war costs for the rest of this administration and some of 2009.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: But that transparency only came after critics on Capitol Hill have been saying for the last couple of years that the White House was not being transparent enough, and that they had been basically lowballing the figures at the beginning of the year and then passing emergency spending bills for Iraq and Afghanistan in the middle of the year -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Ed Henry at the White House -- thank you, sir.
HENRY: Thank you.
NGUYEN: In other news, 20 people dead, dozens injured, damage in the millions of dollars -- just a fraction of the devastation in central Florida from Friday's tornadoes.
While the state is taking the lead on dealing with the disaster, national emergency teams are on the scene on standby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES MCINTYRE, SPOKESPERSON, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: At this time, the state hasn't requested any temporary housing units. What we try to do first, and the first option with the state is to use available resources within the state.
So, rental properties or whatever is available that they can move people into, if necessary, will probably be the options they use initially. And then, if there are other needs, then they would turn to us, make that request, and we will fulfill the need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And the needs are many in the small community of Lady Lake.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is there.
And, Susan, walk us through some of that need that we have been talking about.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, cleanup is well under way, Betty, in the four counties where these killer tornadoes stuck -- struck.
We are on one property belonging to the Gantner (ph) family. Here -- it's very noisy in other places, but, here, it is eerily quiet. Over my shoulder, you can see the breadth of destruction here. And over to this side, if we pan a little to the left, you can see a hospital bed. And that is where the elderly Mr. Gantner (ph) survived the storm, incredibly and miraculously. Unfortunately, his elderly wife did not. On
And, on the site this day, perhaps over my shoulder, you might be able to see. Some insurance adjustors are currently working with the family to help look over what their situation is here.
Over here, not only was there a home, a double-wide mobile home, located here, but this is part of what is left of their landscaping business -- not much.
You can see house plants like these strewn all over the place. But they figure this is a total loss, worth, the family says, about $2.5 million. And they did not have insurance. That's the sad part about it.
Now, as we show you some of what -- more of the debris field back here, we can tell you that FEMA claims adjusters are already on the ground, and they are visiting homes where people have already called in claims. More than 100 have done so, so far. The adjusters go out to the property and make sure that the claim has been properly filed.
FEMA has also been delivering in various trailers water, ice, meals ready to eat. But there has been an amazing and truly impressive number of volunteer groups who have also come to the aid of many of the people here, donating food, water, and, in many cases, temporary housing for these folks. And that is why you heard that FEMA is not bringing in housing right now, the trailers that we see so often.
And that is because people have opened their homes, in many instances, or there are enough motels and hotels where they can service those who are in need of temporary housing.
One last thing to tell you about, you always have to look out for scam artists. We understand there was -- been a man going around in a trailer offering special help to the elderly to, for example, try to retrieve their medications for them. And, in one case, a woman did that, gave him the keys to her house, wasn't totally damaged, and apparently stole from her.
So, they're looking for this man. Unfortunately, these things happen after any tragedy, it would seem -- back to you.
NGUYEN: Oh, and just so awful every time you hear about it. Yet, it continues to happen.
Susan Candiotti, we appreciate your time.
LEMON: Very bizarre situation at a medical center in Dothan, Alabama.
T.J. Holmes, bring us up to date on that, not something you expect at a medical center.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, strange here.
What has happened here, Don, we do have some pictures, and, of course, pictures we're getting out of Dothan -- Dothan, Alabama. This is in the, what, southeast corner of the state. And these pictures, you can see some of the police activity. These are pictures that were taken a little while ago, so, this is not giving the away the strategic movements of the police.
But this is a prime care medical facility, where a man went in a couple of hours ago and ordered everybody out of this prime care, this medical clinic, and then barricaded himself inside.
According to authorities there, there are no hostages, nobody else in there, just this one guy, who walked in wearing camouflage clothing and a helmet. He ordered all the doctors, nurses, everybody out of the medical center and then barricaded himself in.
Witnesses say that, in fact -- in fact, he -- well, we need to change word on you here. I'm just being told now, Don, that we're getting reports that this situation has been taken care of, and it is over, and he is out.
Again, he had barricaded himself in, no hostages. Nobody was in there with him -- but barricaded himself in, no indication of what he might have wanted. But this has been going on for the past couple of hours. And now we're getting reports that, in fact, this situation has been taken care of and that he is possibly -- the situation has been taken care of.
We are following this. And we will -- we are going to get some more details here, Don, and we're going to get back to you when we figure out exactly what is happening.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Exactly how it was taken care of, right, T.J.?
HOLMES: Yes.
LEMON: Yes. Well, it's good news that it was taken care of, and we're glad that everyone is OK.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: We will check back to find out how it happened. Thank you, sir.
NGUYEN: Well, another story that we're following: Soldier, objector, defendant, this Army officer is all three. He drew national headlines for refusing to go to Iraq. Now he could draw prison time. We have his case ahead in the NEWSROOM. LEMON: No one has ever been charged in the 1981 kidnapping and death of Adam Walsh. You know his dad, John Walsh, "America's Most Wanted." But even his dad think there is a reason to take a serious look closer at the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer -- the evidence and a profiler's take next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Just moments ago, we were getting information on a developing story, when the situation changed.
Let's go back to T.J. Holmes in the NEWSROOM.
What did you learn, T.J.?
HOLMES: Yes, we were getting new details as we were on the air just a minute ago. Wanted to take a break and make sure we -- we had our information right.
But, yes, that situation in Dothan, Alabama, where a man had barricaded himself inside a medical clinic after ordering people out, a gunman there, he is now in custody, according to police. He was taken into custody peacefully without incident with the authorities, but he had gone into this medical clinic, ordered everybody out, didn't hurt anybody, but apparently shots were fired inside that clinic, ordered everybody out, barricaded himself in.
Don't exactly know why. Don't know why either that he was wearing camouflage clothing and wearing a helmet. Don't know who this guy is, what relationship or -- he might have had with the clinic. But the good news is, nobody here was hurt, and it appears that the situation is over, the gunman now in custody.
So, we just wanted to -- that information was coming in as we were on the air. That situation was changing. We wanted to make sure we got it right and got it to you -- Don.
LEMON: And not exactly the attire you would be wearing if you were just going to the doctor, I would imagine.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Thank you very much for that, T.J.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: Well, Adam Walsh was a cute, freckly 6-year-old back in 1981. Jeffrey Dahmer was 21, had already murdered his first victim.
Now a new book puts the two on intersecting paths, making the case that Dahmer kidnapped Adam from a Florida mall, and then killed him.
The book cites a couple of witnesses, who insist they saw Dahmer there. Before he was killed in prison, Dahmer was questioned about the Walsh case and denied involvement. He confessed to all his other crimes, he said; Why would he lie about Adam, he said.
Still, though, Adam's father, John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted," says Dahmer deserves another look.
And, last hour, we spoke to an investigative criminal profiler, Pat Brown, and got her thoughts on the whole thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Does this really fit Dahmer's profile? I mean, did he lure victims, or did he grab them and take some -- take them by force?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, generally speaking, he lured them. So, he didn't really just -- just go out there and grab, that we know of.
But, of course, we're talking about this is be -- before his other crimes were found. He may have changed techniques when he found he didn't like the way it worked.
But, again, I say we have to go back to witnesses, the problem with witnesses. You know, we like to believe exactly what they say, but, sometimes, they think they saw somebody that -- that was that person, but maybe it just looked like that person, or maybe now that they see a scary person and think, that must have been the guy.
Witnesses are real problematic. And it doesn't -- it means it's a very interesting piece of information. And, if it were way back then, if this were right after Adam Walsh was kidnapped, this would be a wonderful lead to follow up, to find the evidence.
But, at this point in time, the evidence does not exist. So, we are never going to be able to absolutely conclude that this could -- this was Jeffrey Dahmer who was in the parking lot or in -- in -- in the store.
NGUYEN: Well, those were two witnesses, but two FBI agents say it's worth another investigation. They, in fact, interviewed Dahmer.
And one agent, Neil Purtell, says, when you hear a person say, "Honest to God, I didn't do it," when they preface it by "Honest to God," he knows they're lying.
And that's what Dahmer told him.
What do you think about that?
BROWN: It's yet another theory.
And these are very good things for investigations and certainly make us look at someone very closely. But I have had enough experience in this field to know that you can have many coincidences, strange coincidences, where two or three serial killers are right on top of each other in the same area, and none of them even committed the crime that we're looking at.
We can have people come in who confess to things or sound like they absolutely did it and know things, and it turns out not to be them. So, we cannot jump to conclusions. And just I don't believe that unless they have DNA evidence or some article of Adam shows up in Jeffrey Dahmer's -- some bag he left someplace with somebody, unless we have that kind of conclusive evidence, they're going to waste a lot of money that could be used in cases that actually could be solved today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And just a factual note here -- no one has ever been arrested in the Adam Walsh case. But convicted serial killer Ottis Toole twice confessed and twice recanted. Toole did die in prison in 1996.
LEMON: Well, Dahmer's notoriety stems from both the number of his victims and the extent of his depravity.
Time now for a "Fact Check" on the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice-over): The FBI classified Jeffrey Dahmer as a disorganized serial killer. They murder on impulse, with little or no effort to cover up their tracks.
The majority of Dahmer's victims were African-American, Asian, or Hispanic men and boys. Many were gay or bisexual who he picked up in bars, bus stops or malls.
He lured them to his apartment in Milwaukee with promises of money or beer. After drugging their drinks, he would kill them while they were unconscious. He then would dismember the bodies, eat some parts, and refrigerate the rest. When Dahmer was arrested in 1991, police discovered a severed head and other body parts in the refrigerator.
Just what caused Dahmer to become one of the nation's most infamous serial murderers remains a mystery. He told investigators that he killed because he was lonely.
Dahmer was born in 1960 in Milwaukee. The family moved to Ohio. And that is where Dahmer, then 18, said he murdered his first victim, a young hitchhiker.
Dahmer graduated from high school, dropped out of college after one year, and then joined the Army. He was thrown out of the Army because of frequently being drunk.
Dahmer was convicted of 15 murders and sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms in prison. That's where he was found beaten to death in 1994. He was 34 years old.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NGUYEN: There is a major flap after deadly bird flu shows up in Great Britain, despite great precaution. We have details ahead here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Just look at the smoke coming off this fire in Miami.
And let's get you straight to CNN's T.J. Holmes in the NEWSROOM with the latest on this story.
What do you have, T.J.?
HOLMES: Well, yes, what we have for you right now, not a lot of information, but we have these pictures.
And we have been watching these flames shoot out of this building, an auto repair shop in Miami. This is on Biscayne Boulevard, if you do happen to know the area, happen to know this specific area of Biscayne Boulevard.
But we have been watching this. And it seems like -- or it appears that smokes and flames are coming out from all sides and all corners of this building. But you're seeing -- seeing these flames and seeing the smoke up into the air.
Been able to make out, at least from the live picture we're seeing, is that this is BMA Automotive is what it says on the side of the building there. And this place, at least on its Web site, is a -- says it's a complete auto repair facility, does the basics I guess you could expect, from brakes, oil changes, tuneups, tires, the whole thing.
So, in a place like this, you would expect chemicals, oil, and a lot of things that could catch fire and could burn like this. So, don't know the cause of this fire. Right now, don't know of -- no word of any injuries or anything like that. But we see firefighters on all sides trying to tackle this thing at, again, what appears to be BMA Automotive on Biscayne in Miami -- again, no word of injuries.
We are keeping an eye on this story. But the flames and the pictures here are quite remarkable, pretty good-sized -- no doubt, good-sized fire here. So, we're keeping an eye on this story, as well as several others. And we will bring you the updates as we get them here -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right, T.J., thank you for that.
LEMON: Well, in a bad mood at work today?
Are you?
NGUYEN: I'm OK. You?
LEMON: No? You're OK?
NGUYEN: You all right?
LEMON: Tell your boss. It's good for the company, if you are.
New research shows it may be the cranky, irritable workers who are the best...
NGUYEN: Uh-oh.
LEMON: ... problem-solvers at the office.
NGUYEN: Really?
LEMON: An associate professor of management at Rice University says her study shows, grumpy employees tend to be more analytical and more likely to see a need for change. She says, cheerful workers, on the other hand, might ignore problems, until there is a crisis.
NGUYEN: OK. Well, then I'm -- I'm grumpy.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: I'm going to be grumpy from now on, Don. You're in trouble.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Some troubling news for the nation's 36 million renters: Your monthly payment may get a little bigger this year.
Susan Lisovicz is joining us from New York Stock Exchange with details on all of that.
Not good news.
LISOVICZ: Yes. This -- this will make you cranky, for sure, Don.
(LAUGHTER)
LISOVICZ: Landlords across the country are expected to raise apartment rents for the third straight year.
Marcus Millichap, which is a real estate brokerage firm, says, the projected increase for this year is 5 percent. That will bring the national median rent to nearly $950. And, if it seems like the increase in rent is outpacing the increase in pay, you're right. Factoring in this year's rise, rent will be up 14 percent since 2005. And, in that same period, paychecks are expected to climb by just 4 percent.
One reason why, though, Don, of course, is that there were so many people that were buying places. And -- and folks who were renting really couldn't raise the rent, because so many people were leaving to buy.
LEMON: So, is that the -- what is the reason for the increase, then? Is that the reason now, that...
LISOVICZ: No. It's supply and demand, like it generally is.
LEMON: OK.
LISOVICZ: There will be 92,000 new rental units this year, but that's still not enough to meet the rising demand.
(CROSSTALK)
LISOVICZ: And this shouldn't come as a surprise. Manhattan renters will be shoulders with the biggest increase, more than 7 percent. You know that firsthand, right, Don?
LEMON: I do. And my rent in Manhattan was more than my mortgage. So...
LISOVICZ: Yes. Right...
LEMON: Twice as much.
LISOVICZ: ... for that little -- for that little shoe box.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: About that big.
LISOVICZ: I know it firsthand. On Wall...
LEMON: Three thousand bucks.
LISOVICZ: On Wall Street, we are not seeing major inflation. We're not seeing much of anything. It's a quiet day here on Wall Street.
Checking the numbers right now, the Dow industrials are up nine points. The Nasdaq is down four points.
Shares of Lear on the move, up nearly 12 percent -- billionaire investor Carl Icahn has made a nearly $2.5 billion offer for the auto parts supplier icon -- Icahn well known for pressuring the management of companies he invests in to improve stock performance. He currently owns a nearly 20 percent stake in Lear.
And that's a quick look at what is happening on Wall Street. I will be back in 30 minutes for the closing bell.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Let's get you straight to the NEWSROOM now and more on this fire out of Miami still continuing to push that black smoke well into the air -- T.J.
HOLMES: Yes. And this thing doesn't appear to be getting too much under control here. The -- it -- it seems to getting -- to be getting more intense, actually, as we have been watching this for the past several minutes now.
You can still see these flames here coming out of several areas and spots and sections all around the building. It doesn't look like the -- the fire is contained to one area or the other. Again, this is on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami. At least the sign on the wall says BMA Automotive. This is pictures we saw a short time ago and these were coming to us from our affiliate, not a live picture but this is some tape here that we have. We turn it around for you because it looks like this building really is starting to crumble now. You can see how intense that fire is.
Looks like a section of the building -- sections of the building may be starting to collapse, maybe the roof, the walls. The building seems to be not holding up too well, not certainly in a fire like this. You expect a whole bunch of damage, but it doesn't appear that the firefighters right now are able to quite contain this thing and put this fire, put these flames out. They seem to be getting more intense. Again we say this is an automotive shop. So as you can imagine, there's a bunch of stuff in there, oil and maybe even gasoline and chemicals and certainly tires even, certainly several things that can burn and fuel a fire like this. We even saw in a picture earlier a couple of vehicles sitting around there. So certainly it's going to be an unfortunate situation where I'm sure some vehicles were there being worked on and people are going to get word that their cars got caught up in this thing.
We don't know the cause of this fire right now, don't know about any possible injuries associated with it. People who were working in the building at the time, hopefully got out of there, but no word on injuries. Firefighters are certainly going after this thing right now but sending smoke up all over Miami. This probably can be seen for quite some distance there in town, but the black smoke keeps coming. You see those flames shooting out of the top there. But it looks like several areas of this building, not just contained to one section or the other, this pretty good sized auto repair shop. But flames seem to be coming out from all over the place, smoke all over the place and firefighters trying to get a handle on it. So we are keeping an eye on this and as we get those details, maybe even more pictures as we keep an eye on exactly how this fire behaves, we will bring those to you. Betty.
NGUYEN: Looks like it may take a little time too T.J. All right, thank you for that.
LEMON: In Baghdad, signs of a crackdown, the first possible steps in the long-awaited push to bring peace to a troubled city. Iraqi troops erected road blocks today as a new Iraqi general took command of the city security. Also General David Petraeus is headed to Iraq as a newly installed allied commander. His U.S. reinforcements still are flowing in. Some Iraqis say the crackdown is coming too slowly after Saturday's massive market bombing. The government announced that 1,000 Iraqis died in acts of violence last week alone. At least 31 killed today in Baghdad.
He didn't go to Iraq so now he is going to trial. A court- martial has started for Lieutenant Aaron Watada. The army officer drawing national headlines for refusing to go to the frontlines. Watada is being tried at Ft. Lewis in Washington State and CNN's Brian Todd is following that case for us from Washington, DC. Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, until last June, Lieutenant Watada was considered an exemplary soldier. Now as you mentioned, he's facing court-martial while his former unit with the second infantry division is in Iraq. Watada is not with them because he refused to go, becoming the first commissioned officer in this war to purposely not deploy with his unit.
The reason, his belief that the war is illegal. Today, Watada begins court-martial proceedings, charged with failing to deploy with his unit, conduct unbecoming an officer and contempt toward officials. That last charge for all the public statements he has made against the Bush administration since last June and the judge has already ruled that his central defense, the illegality of the war is a political question and cannot be ruled on by this military court.
Then there's jury selection. He's got to face a panel of his peers mostly army lieutenants. We asked a prominent attorney who's tried several military cases about that equation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EUGENE FIDELL, NATL INST. OF MILITARY JUSTICE: It's highly improbable that this jury will include no one who has been there. I think jury selection is going to be an interesting exercise because, obviously, it's a concern if you have people who have had the actual experience to go to Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Now if convicted, Watada could face about four years in a military prison. His family has already told CNN today they expect the trial to be done by Wednesday. Don?
LEMON: All right, CNN's Brian Todd in our Washington bureau, thank you Brian.
TODD: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Listen to this. A killer arrives in England and poultry farmers, they snap to attention to keep the virus out of their hen houses. CNN's Paula Hancocks has details on UK efforts to cage an outbreak of bird flu.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No chances are being taken at the site of Britain's first major flu outbreak. Decontamination is the best weapon these workers have against the spread of the disease. The last of the 160,000 slaughtered birds are taken from the infected farm in south England, local farmers can do little but wait to see if it has spread. Dominic Parkers' farm is four kilometers from the epicenter of the infection. This is as far as he will allow us on to his property, just two yards inside the entrance. With 180,000 chickens in coops filled (ph) here from the main road, the only people allowed on his farm since Friday are his two workers. He says his chickens are always inside away from the wild birds.
DOMINIC PARKER, FARMER: The poultry houses are sealed from outside birds going in and out. The men that are working in the sheds dip their feet. They wear suits to make sure that they're not carrying contamination between sheds.
HANCOCKS: Just outside the 10 kilometer surveillance zone, wild chickens roam around at will. These areas are merely being monitored. The British government says the strain of bird flu found at (INAUDIBLE) is the same as that found last month in Hungary where an outbreak among geese prompted the slaughtered of thousands of birds.
DAVID MILIBAND, BRITISH ENVIRONMENT SECRETARY: The risk to the general public is judged by health experts to be negligible. In particular, the food standards agency advised there is no risk in eating any sort of properly cooked poultry including turkey and eggs. At this stage, we do not know how this disease arrived in Suffolk.
HANCOCKS: The first outbreaks in the European Union was recorded in January 2006 in cases of wild swans. The first swan found in Britain was on the 6th of April. The UK poultry industry took a hit of $120 million in lost sales. This time both Russia and Japan have already banned all imports of British poultry products. To date, around 50 countries have had poultry infected with h5n1. The EU's top health official says this won't be the last outbreak in Europe, but he is confident that outbreaks will be contained.
MARCOS KYPRIANOU, EU FOOD COMMISSIONER: We shall never feel that we are safe in the sense of having eradicated it. But we have a system in place. We have to remain vigilant and we have to be ready to react.
HANCOCKS (on-camera): Bird flu has now hit three continents and killed 165 people worldwide, but at this point, British officials say that the risk to humans of this particular outbreak is negligible. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Halston (ph), southern England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Back here in the U.S., take a look at this, a huge firefight under way. You see firefighters on the ground. We're going to tell you more about this downtown Miami fire when we come back.
LEMON: And the presidential pool gets a little more crowded. Rudy Giuliani dips a toe in to test the waters. Details ahead in the CNN newsroom.
NGUYEN: Also, from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, an Arctic blast is making for a freezing February. Jacqui Jeras checks out the coldest places on the map for us when we come back. You're watching the CNN newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, let's get to -- talk about this fire that's happening in Miami there. It is believed to be an automotive facility. Joining us on the phone now is Ignatius Carroll. He's a public information officer for the Miami fire and rescue. What do you have there, sir?
VOICE OF IGNATIUS CARROLL, MIAMI FIRE-RESCUE: What we have right now is it seems to be a brake and muffler shop. We see a sign that says Goodyear. A lot of heavy smoke basically shut down a main artery of downtown Miami area. We have about 14 units that are on the scene and we've been able to contain this fire and pretty much bring it under control right now.
LEMON: So you have contained this fire? You said it is a brake and muffler shop. Tell us what kind of chemicals you're fighting there.
CARROLL: We're not sure about the chemicals inside, but automotive, they have all kinds of stuff in there. But we do know that there is a lot of tires inside which is basically what's been fueling this fire and generating all that smoke that everybody is seeing in Miami right now. But we have several units on the scene right now and so far there are no injuries, but we are attacking this from the outside.
LEMON: So you said no injuries. We did see it appeared like some of the walls possibly collapsed there. Can you update us about that?
CARROLL: I haven't had a chance to take a walk around the area because of all the smoke. We're trying to keep people out of that area as much as possible and even urging people who are even watching to stay away from the area because of all the smoke so there are not any kind of medical problems that may occur.
LEMON: We're looking at a live picture. We're still seeing some of that smoke, very early on. It was dark. Now it's a little bit lighter. Tell us about the size of this facility that you're working against here.
CARROLL: Well, right now, it's by itself right now. It's not catching any other building. We did have to evacuate some apartment buildings behind it, get the residents out of there in the event the smoke was to consume that apartment building. But we have a control (INAUDIBLE) and we're hitting the fire from the inside right now as you see with our aerial ladders.
LEMON: Have you done any air quality tests? If rubber is burning or any type of chemicals here, it could be hazardous to people if they're breathing this.
CARROLL: That's a good factor. That's why we try to tell people to stay away. But we have our hazmat team that is on scene to be able to take those readings in the event that we need to clear out a larger area of Miami.
LEMON: What time did this all start?
CARROLL: This fire started just before 3:00 this afternoon.
LEMON: Just before 3:00 this afternoon. OK. Ignatius Carroll, thank you so much for joining us today with the Miami fire and rescue. He's a public information officer, obviously, a fire that started there just about 3:00 Eastern. He says it appears that everything is under control. So far, there are no health concerns they believe, but they have evacuated a few people from apartment buildings. No injuries so far, under control. Before, we saw very dark smoke pouring out of that place, now a lighter smoke which means that they have got a handle on this fire. More information as it becomes available on this, Betty.
NGUYEN: In political news, first, he said he was testing the waters. Now Rudy Giuliani is closer to taking that plunge. CNN confirms the former New York mayor is taking another step toward a Republican run for president. He is filing what is called a statement of candidacy today. Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are two things you need to do if you're thinking about running for president. One is to file for an exploratory committee and the other is to file a statement of candidacy. Most of the people that are currently in the race have already filed a statement of candidacy. So people like John McCain have already filed those. So this just sort of catches up to them.
Now, the significance may be that there has been in the past couple of weeks, a number of stories about Rudy Giuliani just playing around or is he really going to run? What is the deal here? Then we've begun to see these stories about how Rudy Giuliani is beginning to put together a team and now we see that he has filed his statement of candidacy. So it's part of the package that you have to do. And all of the candidates that we've been talking about for the past couple of months have already filed their statement of candidacies, with the notable exception of Senator Barack Obama who I assume is going to do that this weekend since we all expect him to announce his candidacy this week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right and it looks like Rudy Giuliani has already got some momentum. A poll of Republicans conducted for CNN by Opinion Research Corporation shows Giuliani favored for the nomination by 32 percent. He is followed by John McCain, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. The poll also asks Republicans if they would like to see Giuliani run for president. Seventy seven percent said yes.
And do remember, CNN is the place to see the first presidential debates of the season live from New Hampshire April 4th and 5th. LEMON: And In Texas today, Governor Rick Perry has signaled he will not back down from a controversial order requiring school girls to be vaccinated against a virus that causes cervical cancer. It is a virus transmitted sexually and is stirring debate in other states as well. Here is CNN's Alina Cho.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINO CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They may be too young to know about the birds and the bees, but some say these sixth grade girls are exactly the right age to get vaccinated against a potentially deadly sexually-transmitted virus.
DAVID CATANIA, DC COUNCILMEMBER AT LARGE: This vaccination is safe, proven safe, tested safe.
CHO: Washington, DC councilman at large David Catania introduced a bill this week that would require all 11 and 12-year-old girls to be immunized against the human papilloma virus. They would need it in order to go to school. The virus known as HPV causes cervical cancer, the second most common form of cancer among women, the third most deadly around the world. Texas and California are among the states debating similar measures and in South Dakota.
GOV. MIKE ROUNDS (R) SOUTH DAKOTA: We will be promoting this free vaccine so that as many girls as possible can be vaccinated.
CHO: A voluntary program is in place. Parents who want their daughters vaccinated can do so, free of charge. The state will pay for it. In Washington, DC, the program would be Federally funded.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's something that really interests me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very important.
CHO: Even the girls like the idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It probably would be a good idea. I mean, it's better to be safe than sorry.
CHO: The idea is to immunize children before they are sexually active, but those opposed to mandatory vaccination say the shots will give the girls a false sense of security and that the better solution is abstinence.
PETER SPRIGG, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: We feel it's very important that people not be told that this is a vaccine that will make it safe to have sex.
CATANIA: I think that's is perfectly ridiculous. I think it no more encourages sex than a tetanus shot encoura0ges you to step on a rusty nail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Just this morning, the Virginia statehouse passed a measure requiring the vaccination. That measure does include an escape clause for children whose parents oppose it. It still has to be reconciled with a state senate version.
NGUYEN: Well, it's not a good night for Bears fans, sorry, Don.
LEMON: Stop it already!
NGUYEN: What about Madison Avenue? Ahead in the newsroom the hits and the misses. Don will dry his eyes as well in the so-called Super Bowl of advertising.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Why are you guys making me read this story?
NGUYEN: It's the truth, Don. You must go on.
LEMON: After three hours (INAUDIBLE), three hours of slugging it out. After three hours of slugging out in the rain, Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy celebrating his team's Super Bowl win over the Chicago Bears last night. Dungy is the first African-American coach to win the game, but afterwards he was talking more about his faith than his race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY DUNGY, INDIANAPOLIS COACH: What we had this year was the young guys ready to go when we needed them and some of that was a growing process and that is what happened to us in the middle of the year. Some of those guys had to play and learn. We grew from it. But I really think that was the Lord preparing us to go into that playoff stretch and when we got into the playoffs, those guys were ready and it was a lot of fun riding with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Actually, congratulations to them. Indianapolis welcomes the Colts home with a parade this afternoon. The Indiana house has called off its session, Indianapolis public schools closed after some bus drivers skipped work on this post game day and the Monarch beverage company gives its workers a paid holiday, very nice for them.
NGUYEN: We've all been talking about those commercials. You've heard it Don. Yeah that was funny. No that one...(INAUDIBLE)
LEMON: Not so much.
NGUYEN: So you will hear both lines at the water cooler. Some on the lame side as you rap about last night's Super Bowl ads. Here's just a few.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Is this for it?
OK, that's fair. On 3?
Yeah. 1-2-3.
I think we just accidentally kissed.
Quick, do something manly!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So there you have it. What do you think? Funny or just lame? It seems most critics say lame. Devin Gordon of "Newsweek" writes, it's time to admit that the golden age of Super Bowl ads is over. Stuart Elliot of the "New York Times" says more than a dozen spots celebrating violence and an exaggerated cartoon like vein that was intended to be humorous, but often came across as cruel and callous and Eleftheria Pappas of "Ad Week" was more forgiving, saying, the truth is, just like every other year, there were highlights and low lights and at least this year, I didn't feel like throwing anything at my TV.
Well, here are the most popular ads from "USA Today" focus group poll. Budweiser crabs, worshipping the Bud ice chest, you saw just moments ago, Budweiser stray, the one with the dog and the Clydesdales and Bud Lite, rock, paper, scissors game for fear.
Now, let's get to those least popular ones, the lame ones, as some people are calling them. Godaddy.com, did you see this one, Don? The second airing of the marketing department?
LEMON: Didn't see it.
NGUYEN: You may not have missed much. Garmin and GPS navigator versus paper map monster on the least popular list and Flomax, prostate drug that lets men bike and kayak, just envision this one, folks, ouch is what we're thinking!
LEMON: OK.
NGUYEN: No transition here. Please?
LEMON: Wolf Blitzer is smiling there. What's coming up in "The Situation Room?"
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First of all, we got some great commercials coming up during "The Situation Room." We're going to make sure our viewers want to watch those commercials as well.
Also on a much more serious note, does the man once known as America's mayor have his eyes now set on governing America? Rudy Giuliani makes a key move toward the GOP presidential nomination.
And President Bush asks Congress to open up its wallet for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But will his nearly $3 trillion budget plan get a cold welcome on Capitol Hill? And I'll talk to the Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. He has a plan for health coverage for every American. All that guys coming up right here in "The Situation Room, some excellent commercials as well
LEMON: You're not getting away that easy. Colts or Bears, who were you rooting for?
BLITZER: I like them both but I did pick the Colts so I was right.
LEMON: So you were right.
NGUYEN: As in most cases, right, Wolf?
LEMON: I thought you were my friend, Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: But I like the Bears.
LEMON: All right. Thanks, Wolf. We'll be watching at 4:00 Eastern. The closing bell and a wrap of all the action on Wall Street just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.
LEMON: Susan Lisovicz standing by with a final look at the trading day for us. Hi Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Betty and Don. We never got to this story this afternoon. I thought I wanted to share it with you. This is something where coffee snobs should listen up. In the March issue of "Consumer Reports," McDonald's coffee beat out everybody else including Starbucks.
NGUYEN: Really?
LISOVICZ: The taste testers said that McDonald's premium roast coffee had no flaws. They labeled it decent and moderately strong. Starbucks was strong but burnt and bitter enough to make your eyes water instead of open. Whoa, those are fighting words. And there goes the closing bell. That means I have to go. We'll see you guys tomorrow and the closing bell rings on a very quiet day on Wall Street.
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