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Firefighters Injured in Missouri Fire; Ann Nicole's Will to Be Made Public Today; Upstate New York Socked with More Snow; Congress to Vote on Resolution on Iraq

Aired February 16, 2007 - 13:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: It's the top of the hour. We start breaking news here from the CNN NEWSROOM.

Five Kansas City firefighters injured while fighting this building fire in Kansas City, Missouri. We're told those firefighters were injured in a flashover that happened inside that building. They've been hospitalized.

It's a two-story building, we're told, that holds a number of business, including a bridal shop and also Kennedy's Bar and Grill.

DON LEMON, CO-HOST: And what you're looking at right there, live, Kyra, that's a wall that has fallen on the ground. We have some video of that wall falling down earlier. That is presenting a major problem here for the people fighting this fire. There it is, falling.

Again, as Kyra said, five firefighters injured in this fire.

The NEWSROOM starts right now.

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.

The Anna Nicole Smith drama. This afternoon in the NEWSROOM, the release of the will. What's in it and who is the executor?

PHILLIPS: The NBA's nightmare. Former player Tim Hardaway's hate message to gays. Players and NBA brass speak out. And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I live in that glass House. I've cheated 10 million times. And I'll admit it straight up, dude. I've done it 10 million times. Lived to pay for it and lived to walk away from it. So we've all been there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So much for cheaters never win. What do fans think about the NASCAR scandal? We want to hear from you.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And we're following breaking developments in the Anna Nicole Smith trial -- or case, rather. It is a question that could have a multimillion dollar answer. Who's named in the Anna Nicole Smith will? After a week of speculation, we will find out today.

And CNN's national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, joins us live from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to tell us the latest -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don.

At about 2:30 Eastern Time, that will -- will be made part of the public record. It's not being entered in probate, as they say, when someone dies, but it is an exhibit during this case, part of the case trying to deal with who gets custody of Anna Nicole Smith's remains.

And the reason that the will is important is that it will name the executor. The executor is Howard K. Stern. We've seen a copy of that single page, that part of it, signed by Anna Nicole Smith.

But her attorneys say what's important about this is that it will illustrate that he does have standing in this case and can speak for Anna Nicole Smith as to what her final wishes were, where she wanted to be buried, in the Bahamas, next to her son, Daniel, who was buried there in September. So we will get to see that.

But not only this -- this is perhaps an even bigger headline. Howard K. Stern himself has been ordered by a judge here to appear in court when it next meets on Tuesday morning to testify in this case. He will have the opportunity, then, to state to the court what Anna Nicole Smith said to him about where she wanted to be buried.

And here's what his attorneys had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTA BARTH, ATTORNEY FOR HOWARD K. STERN: This giant puzzle is simply the issue of where do we bury Anna Nicole Smith. That's it. Decedent's intent. I am here to prove that it's the intent of Anna Nicole Smith.

And I'm going to utilize evidence which will include testimony of many people, and it will also include other, you know, written evidence. It will include, you know -- the words of Anna herself...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: One other key thing was established here today, and that is this, that the formal embalming process of Anna Nicole Smith's remains can now get under way. And that is because a funeral home has now been designated. They are keeping the name of it secret. And that will be done at the Broward County medical examiner's office because of the security that is already in place there.

Don, back to you.

LEMON: All right, Susan.

And of course, what does all this mean? Thank you very much. What does all this mean? A little bit later on this hour, we'll sort through the intrigue and the technicalities with Lisa Bloom of Court TV.

PHILLIPS: Want to take you live again to Kansas City, Missouri, where we're following a fire that's been going for a number of hours now.

Five Kansas City firefighters were injured in this blaze while fighting this building fire. We're told they're suffering from severe burns. Those firefighters were injured as a flashover took place inside that building. They are hospitalized.

This two-story building in Kansas City, apparently, the roof collapsed. And the Kennedy Bar and Grill, a French bistro, other businesses, including a popular bridal shop, are inside this building. You see that roof collapsed right there. You can actually see some of the firefighters running from the part of the roof there that fell off.

We are told that firefighters had feared that that building could still collapse in its entirety because of the strong winds that's fueling that fire. We're going to continue to follow this and bring you more information as we get it.

Now live pictures from the House floor. The waning minutes, maybe the waning hours in a week-long debate on a troop surge in Iraq. Passage of a nonbinding resolution supporting the troops, opposing the surge is pretty much a done deal. In the House, that is.

Democrats in the Senate will try to bring it up there as soon as tomorrow, but those prospects are far less certain.

We expect to hear from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just minutes from now. And when that happens, we're going to bring it to you live right here from the NEWSROOM.

And high-tech chitchat today between Washington and Baghdad. President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki spoke face-to- face via satellite. The topic, security and more security. The prime minister praised the early stages of the new crackdown in Baghdad, calling it a dazzling success. Mr. Bush repeated his support for al- Maliki.

Lemon: Well, it is nothing short of a winter nightmare. Folks in upstate New York are up to their shingles in snow and now getting dumped on again.

CNN's Reggie Aqui is trying to stay on top of things, in the snowed under community of Mexico.

Hi, Reggie.

REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. Up to the shingles in snow. That is a perfect description of what's going on here. This is the Peak family's home. They've been nice enough to let us kind of explore and have you take a look at what's going on here.

First, I want to show you the shovels. You've got adult shovel. And you've got the kid shovel. The whole family has to be a part of this because of this. Take a look at this snow mound and how it is blocking their second door. If you were to open that door right now it would be an avalanche inside of their house.

That's a combination of all the snow we've gotten. It's also the plowing they've done around here and the snow drifts that continue.

It just started snowing about an hour ago here in Mexico. It snowed all night. We had a little bit of a break. But you can see this tunnel that I'm walking through right now, this is what you'll see at just about every home here in Mexico and Oswego County, basically every town in Oswego.

And I'm going to have you take a look to the right. Because you're going to see the front yard right next to the garage area. There is a basketball court. And look how that -- just look at it. A kid could walk up to that and dunk it because of how high that snow is today.

And we are continuing to see this fall down. This is-- this is mostly at this point lake effect snow. And we think this lake effect snow is going to continue probably until about 10 p.m. tonight.

You can see just how close I can get to this roof. The kids who live in this house were on the roof shoveling out and then also kind of sledding down it, too. And they're actually in school today, which is sort of interesting. Even though they've had more snow than they've ever seen in their lives, we're talking about upwards or 11 or 12 feet.

They're still trying to get life kind of back to normal. So people are going to work. They are going to school in some cases. But it's been very tough on them. They're used to getting this amount of snow in about a whole winter. They're not used to getting this in a two-week period.

So it's getting a little old, Don, to be quite honest with you. People are very patient in this neck of the woods when it comes to weather. But that patience is starting to run out a little bit, as you can imagine.

LEMON: I think enough is enough is really the best way to put it here. Now, the National Guard has been mobilized. What are they doing in the affected areas here, Reggie?

AQUI: That's right, yes, the National Guard is here. There's about 100 of them in town. Actually just drove through sort of the main street here in Mexico. And they are shoveling off roofs. They're helping out with the schools, to get that clear, so the kids can go back to school.

They're also -- around some of the -- just the municipal buildings here. So that's been a big help to these folks. It's still under a state of emergency. So they are getting resources from the rest of the state.

And we even heard of a group of Mennonites which came from all over New York and all over the area. They came up here and they were shoveling off roofs like this so that these roofs don't collapse.

There was a Wal-Mart that had to close last night because the fire department was concerned about the shoppers who were inside. They evacuated that, and they're checking that out today.

LEMON: Reggie Aqui, in the other Mexico. Mexico's a lot warmer today. Thank you so much for that report.

Well, moving on down the road, finally drivers stranded on a stretch of Interstate 78 outside Hamburg, Pennsylvania, since yesterday, well, they've been sprung loose, escorted off the highway by snowplows.

Several jack-knifed tractor trailers had backed up traffic for 50 miles. And then came the ice. Even though the traffic jam was cleared, the roads have not been cleared. Parts of I-78, as well as I-80 and I-81 still caked up in snow and ice, and they are still closed.

The forecast you don't want to hear if you live in upstate New York. That one right there. Rob Marciano, it makes us wish that we could send it all west, don't you think?

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: And Rob, you witnessed that in upstate New York, you witnessed it firsthand. So you saw it.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's unbelievable to see firsthand. You just -- you can't believe your eyes when you see that much snow.

And you know, they say it's lighter because it's lake effect. But that much snow is that much snow. And they are completely buried. So they're definitely looking forward to spring.

LEMON: Rob Marciano, thank you.

MARCIANO: See you, Don.

PHILLIPS: More now on this building fire in Kansas City, Missouri. You can see firefighters now up on one of the roofs after part of it collapsed, still trying to fight this fire.

Five of their own have been injured while fighting this building fire. They are suffering from severe burns. They've been hospitalized. We're told that happened when a flashover inside the building happened.

They were trying to tackle different tacks like ventilating the building. They were searching for victims. They were putting water on the blaze, and there was just nowhere else for the heat to go, causing that flashover, causing five firefighters to be rushed to the hospital with severe burns.

It's a two-story building, we're told. The roof had collapsed. Inside Kennedy's Bar and Grill, a French bistro and other businesses including a bridal shop. The firefighters are still concerned this building could completely collapse because of the strong winds that are fueling the fire. We're going to bring you more information as we get it.

LEMON: Kyra, we have more breaking news in here to the CNN NEWSROOM. We have just learned that Anna Nicole Smith's will has just been released. As soon as we get the information on that, we'll get our reporter up for you. We're going to bring it to you live right after this break.

Also, gentlemen, start your injures. Maybe it ought to be, cheaters, start juicing your engines. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, NASCAR's increasingly tarnished track record.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Some new information here into the CNN NEWSROOM. We have just learned that Anna Nicole Smith's will has been released. It just was released a short time ago. And we're working all of our sources and trying to get the information in front of you. But this is coming out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

That will will be talked about, and the contents of it talked about in just a short time.

As you know, there has been a fight -- a number of fights over Anna Nicole Smith's body who will get custody of that, who will get custody of the baby, who is the baby's father, where she will be buried. All of that in question. But this will may share some light on some of that for us.

But breaking developments in the Anna Nicole Smith case there.

PHILLIPS: I know we're waiting for Susan Candiotti to get up to the mic. She's been following all this. We're trying to get our hands on that will so we can read a little more.

And you know, an interesting character in this whole scenario is the judge. A number of articles coming out. You may have been tuning into this coverage and seeing that the judge at times has been very humorous. At times critics have said he's been a little too outspoken, that he just shoots from the hip.

But Broward County Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin has pretty much of an interesting background, starting out as a taxi cab driver to pay through school, and then he made it to law school. And now he is a judge presiding over this case.

It sort of is ironic, it sort of adds to the whole drama of this entire scenario. He's been described as a judge with an open mouth, insert foot style. And really, what he has been saying throughout this whole ordeal is not shocking to his colleagues. So it's been interesting, nonetheless, to listen to him carry out during the proceedings among all the lawyers.

We're going to talk with Lisa Bloom from Court TV. She's going to talk more about this judge, more about the will, and also the fact that the judge ordered the body to be embalmed. And we'll be talking about the DNA testing, as well.

LEMON: Yes, I was going to say, it is interesting, that -- because he did make a decision -- there was so much up in the air with this, Kyra. But he did say, you know what? We need to get the DNA and her body is decomposing, and she needs some sense of closure, at least for her, needs to come of this.

So again, we're going to be talking to all those experts. And as soon as we get our Susan Candiotti up, we'll get it for you.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, let's take you to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi, House speaker, speaking right now. We'll take a live shot.

Angie, do we want to listen in to this? All right, we're going to listen in just a second here. What's happening is -- you've probably been aware of this four-day debate over the Iraq war, a lot of politics going on, pointing fingers, a lot of pressure on what to do in Iraq.

The Democrats, looks like they may be pushing a measure through, could happen today, causing a sort of unique session tomorrow among the Senate on if more troops will head to Iraq or not and how they'll be funded.

Let's listen to the House speaker.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Iraq's neighbors have the greatest stake in Iraq's stability and the role it will play in the region. Leaders of those countries are best able to help Iraqi leaders improve security by reducing ethnic tensions.

To this end, an international contact group should be established to support a political settlement in Iraq and preserve Iraq's sovereignty.

Senator Reid and I also wrote to the president that an international conference should be convened to broaden support for the reconstruction effort that is essential if Iraqis are going to be put to work building their country's future.

And on the subject of reconstruction, there has been little effective reconstruction in Iraq because of mismanagement and disappearances of funds. That is why we propose that in order for the reconstruction of Iraq to attract international support, it must be conducted according to practices which are honest, transparent and accountable.

Reconstruction must be guided by the kind of process set forth in legislation introduced by Congressman Patrick Mercy and the Blue Dog Coalition. The United States should take the lead on accountability in reconstruction.

Politically, there has been no sustained and effective effort to engage rival Iraqi factions. The U.S. must insist that Iraqi leaders make the political compromises needed for a broad-based and sustainable political settlement that will produce an inclusive political system in Iraq.

A good beginning would be to press Iraqi leaders to amend the constitution to achieve a fair sharing of power and resources. That was promised at the time of the referendum over one year ago.

The resulting political consensus will allow Iraqi security forces to challenge the militias on behalf of the nation and to disarm them.

Proponents of the president's escalation are equating the war on terror to the war in Iraq. As our esteemed chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Mike Skelton of Missouri, great patriot, has observed, quote, "Two conflicts, two wars, and the two should not be confused. There are those who attempt to fuse (ph) the two conflicts together as the war on terror, but the wars are truly separate and distinct," Chairman Skelton stated.

The war in Iraq continues to detract from our ability to fight against the war on international terrorism effectively. We need to finish the job started more than five years ago in Afghanistan against the al Qaeda and the Taliban and address other conditions around the world in which the appeal of terrorism breeds.

The longer it takes us to resolve the situation in Iraq, the longer resources and attention will continue to be diverted from the war on terrorism. Our ability to respond to the escalating conflict in Afghanistan and other potential crises in the world is constrained severely by the deterioration in military readiness to levels not seen since the Vietnam era.

So we have the six elements that we talked about: change of mission; redeployment of troops; building a political consensus; engaging in diplomacy; reform of reconstruction; and a refocus on the war on terror.

PHILLIPS: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, laying it out right there. That's the measure they're debating there on the House floor. It criticizes the Bush decision to deploy an additional 21,500 troops in Iraq.

Republicans fearing that this could be -- there could be serious consequences to national security if a failure in Iraq occurs, saying that cutting off funding, limiting military options, and pushing for immediate withdrawal of troops will only make the future of Iraq more dangerous for Iraqis and U.S. troops.

We are going to follow the House passage. More than likely it will pass. And then there will be a unique meeting, actually a very rare meeting tomorrow, within the Senate -- among the Senate. Of course, they expected to not be able to pass this, but we're following both sides.

If you want to go to CNN.com/pipeline, you can watch the entire thing.

LEMON: And of course, more fallout in the Anna Nicole Smith case here. All the players are leaving court after a hearing this morning to talk about who gets custody of the body. But the new information we're finding out right now is that Anna Nicole Smith's will has been released.

Our Susan Candiotti is going over those papers. She's going to join us very shortly to talk about exactly what's happening. In the meantime, as I said, folks are leaving court and they're sort of reacting to all of this.

Let's go now to Krista Barth. She's the attorney for Howard K. Stern. This is her just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARTH: I'm concerned for the baby, but it's what the judge ordered so we're going to comply with it, of course.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disappointed? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

BARTH: No, of course -- well, here's why I was up in arms. To me, you know, we come to court -- it's legalities but we call it -- like, you know, you like to have clean hands. And that means, like, you don't do something to make it so it's hard for somebody to come. And that's kind of what I was upset about.

That, you know, you file a restraining order to keep the baby in the Bahamas and you say, but you have to come over here. And yes, we're the moving party, but they're the respondents. You know, they're also seeking legal redress in here.

So they did this, tied his hands behind his back and said you have to leave your baby unattended. And everybody knows the situation is a little difficult right now. So for that reason, I'm concerned. But we'll make -- we'll do what we have to do to make sure that Anna goes where she needs to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK that was Krista Barth, who is the attorney for Howard K. Stern. She's talking about the baby, but we also have the will being released.

Things are happening so fast here, Susan. Can you respond to either of these? I know you have the will there. But what she's talking about and the baby and being in the Bahamas.

CANDIOTTI: I think the key thing about being in the Bahamas. As you know, the baby is under a court order in the Bahamas to remain there. And Howard K. Stern will be coming here, as ordered by the court, to testify in this case, to try to prove to the court that he does speak on behalf of Anna Nicole Smith and can tell the court what her wishes were and where she wanted to be buried.

There will also be other witnesses. In terms of the DNA that has nothing to do with where her remains will go. That's a separate issue that will be taken up by that court in California where the paternity suit is filed. But at least the DNA will be preserved.

We are now getting our first look at the will, which is about 18, 19 pages long. As far as I can tell, there really are no surprises in it. But I will show you the signature of Anna Nicole Smith, right here on the will. That is her given name, Vickie Lynn Marshall. She took the stage name, as it were, Anna Nicole Smith.

But this more or less sets out that, in fact, Howard K. Stern is her -- the executor of her will, as we have known for quite some time now. It gives him full authority throughout to take care of her assets, her property, that kind of thing.

And when this will was written in 2001, naturally, her infant daughter had not yet been born, so this would refer only to her son, Daniel, and all property going to him. Of course, as you know, he died of an overdose in September, just a few days after his infant sister -- his sister was born.

And this does tell you in a little bit of detail that all of the -- her assets should be held in a trust by Howard K. Stern for any of her minor or minors until the age of 21, and then a third of it was supposed to go to them, a third of it, more, at age 25. And at age 30, some of the moneys would be split up in additional ways, in additional interest, that kind of thing.

And that he was permitted to do -- make tax savings, make investments that would provide for her beneficiaries, any tax savings, that kind of thing.

One -- one line I thought was rather unusual and that is if any of her property was found to be contaminated by any kind of toxic contamination, as it stated here, that her estate should, in fact, pay for the cleanup of any toxic contamination.

Other than that, it is fairly cut and dry, and, again, was not updated after her infant daughter was born.

Back to you, Don.

LEMON: And that daughter being born just five months ago, you know, just days before her son died.

Susan Candiotti, thank you. We're going to let you go read more of that will. And we'll bring that to you as soon as Susan finds more. But again, as Susan said, Anna Nicole Smith said in a 2001 will that all property of her estate should be given to longtime companion Howard K. Stern to hold in trust. That was in 2001.

Lisa Bloom from Court TV is going to join us a little bit later. And also, B.J. Bernstein, who is a legal analyst, to talk about anything when it comes to the Anna Nicole Smith case. It is very interesting and intriguing. And as we said from the very beginning, a lot of legal ramifications when it comes to this.

We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It's the bottom of the hour. We start with new information. Anna Nicole Smith's will has been released. In it, some very interesting things, which my partner right here is going to talk to you about.

PHILLIPS: That's right, in death, as in life, Anna Nicole Smith seems destined to legal entanglements. The court battle over Smith's burial now in its third day, and some paternity issues, child custody issues, inheritance issues. It's not going to end any time soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CIRCUIT JUDGE LARRY SEIDLIN, PRESIDING OVER SMITH REMAINS: I believe in the turtle approach. We've entered now the first threshold. We're going to spend time here. We're in no rush. We're not selling cars. We're going to sit here quietly, and we're going to plow through each issue slowly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That judge say piece of work. Court TV's Anchor Lisa Bloom has been following all of it from Court TV studios there in New York.

We'll talk about him in a minute. But he lays out a good point, yes, it's going to move slowly, but it seems like we're finding more and more -- quickly, just the details, now the will?

LISA BLOOM, ANCHOR, COURT TV: That's right, the judge has said at some points he's going to move slowly, at other times being quickly. But look, some things in this case, actually time is of the essence.

Number one, Anna Nicole's remains are decomposing. Now, he ordered they would be embalmed beginning today. But even so, those remains are not going to be preserved indefinitely by embalming. The judge recognized she wanted to be beautiful and have an open casket at her funeral. Every day that goes by, the chances of that decrease.

Probably even more urgent is the situation involving five-month- old Dannielynn. Her mother is gone. She's with her, now, legal father, Howard Stern, if not necessarily biological father. Probably bonding with him and every day that goes by, she's not meeting her real biological father, whoever that may be.

At one point, she may be ripped away from Howard Stern. Her mother is gone. And put into the custody of a virtual stranger. Every day that goes by, that becomes more psychologically damaging for her.

PHILLIPS: A couple of different questions. The will -- Howard Stern, it looks like is the one that will be able to take over this estate. But not necessarily because -- doesn't there have to be a death certificate issued before the executor of that will can step in and do anything?

BLOOM: Yeah, the will has kind of come into the proceeding sideways. How things normally proceed and nothing is normal in the case of Anna Nicole Smith.

How things normally proceeds is, when there's a death, the coroner issues a death certificate which lists the cause of death. That has not happened yet, because we're still waiting for toxicology reports, and other reports taken in connection with Anna Nicole's remains. So those have not come back yet, so there's no death certificate, because we don't have the cause of death. As a result because there's no death certificate, the will has not been probated.

Even though Stern and his attorneys have the will it hasn't been formerly gone through a probate court, as we might expect. However, in this proceeding about Anna Nicole's remains, Judge Seidlin said, I want to see the will. And the other attorney's say, we want to see the will. So the will was introduced into evidence, in this case, although it is not officially probated yet.

PHILLIPS: Well, so -- coming across the wires here, it says the attorney for Smith's estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, says that the will was not filed in any court, so it's not valid. Do we know if it's true or not?

BLOOM: We don't know if it's true or not. A will is not filed in court until the decedent, the person who dies, passes away. So that would happen in probate court. I would not doubt at all there's going to be a will contest. The will, as I understand it, does not name Dannielynn because she hadn't been born yet, maybe not even conceived yet, as of the time of the will. Usually the law will imply that a parent intends to provide for a child, even if they're not mentioned in the will.

Her other child, Daniel, of course, already did die. There's the question of others, the mother, Howard Stern, did she intend to provide for him? Maybe a will contest similar to the will contest Anna Nicole, herself was involved in over J. Howard Marshall's estate for the last dozen years.

PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what, this all gets so confusing. I'm trying to figure out how to ask the right questions to piece this together because there's so many dangling elements.

BLOOM: Yes.

PHILLIPS: All right let me get back to the cause of death, because you can't have a death certificate until you figure out a cause of death. What's out there now? They're talking about maybe she O.D.ed, are the questions still out there that she could have possibly been murdered?

BLOOM: A lot of questions. Absolutely, a lot of questions still out there. First of all, was it a suicide? There's an affidavit filed by a nanny in connection with a wrongful termination dispute, that was filed December 4 of 2006, before Anna's death, in which she said Anna twice tried to commit suicide after the death of Daniel, back in September. So was this a suicide? We don't know.

We don't know because the drugs that may have been in Anna Nicole's body have not yet been revealed, because of the toxicology reports haven't come back yet. Even if she did overdose on some kind of drug, prescription or otherwise, that could have been an accidental death. So we may not know whether it was a suicide or accidental death.

I asked whether it was some kind of a homicide, you know, questions have swirled around Howard K. Stern, because he was present when Daniel died, apparently from methadone, and other medications that were in his system. And he was at least in the same town, in Florida, as Anna Nicole when she died. So there are a lot of questions about him.

I don't see what motive he would have to take the lives of either of them. He's certainly innocent until proven guilty. No one's accused him of anything, but there's a lot of suspicions.

PHILLIPS: Who has custody of the baby right now?

BLOOM: Right now, Howard K. Stern does. He is the legal father of the baby, right now, because his name is on the birth certificate. So, until some judge in the Bahamas says you are no longer the legal father, he has the legal rights to control, and have custody over that baby. But an order has been entered into the Bahamas saying the baby can't leave the Bahamas. We're going to keep the baby here until we get this all sorted out.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about this judge. We've put together some interesting comments he's made in the past couple of days. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEIDLIN: This body belongs to me now.

It's cold, but it won't decompose so fast. That baby is on a cold, cold storage room. We're in a French labyrinth (ph). We're in a maze. But when you look at the center of a maze, it all points to one issue, what's in the best interest of the child?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: What do you think of this guy?

BLOOM: You know, he's a combination of Jackie Mason and a Zen guru. He's a guy from the Bronx, who's down there in Florida. He's proud of his accent. He cracks jokes. On the other hand, he loves to talk about the process. He loves to say that everyone here is beautiful. Let's all get along. Slow down. Be happy. Don't worry. I mean, that's the kind of judge he is. It's a fascinating courtroom to watch.

We're covering it, by the way, gavel to gavel live on Court TV.

PHILLIPS: Everybody, it seems like, knows that he's quite the character. You think he was handpicked for this case because of the drama surrounding everything?

BLOOM: He may well have been. I mean this is a judge who, look, not withstanding all the jokes, and all the warm and fuzzy comments he makes, he clearly wants to get control of this thing. He doesn't want this to turn into a legal thicket that nobody can get out of, so he wants to take control. And he's emphasized, he wants to show respect and dignity for Anna Nicole Smith's remains and he wants to keep the child's best interest first and foremost.

So, people can criticize the legal rulings, or criticize the fact he seems to be going very, very, very slowly, but clearly he's got the best interest, I think, at heart. They got the right issues at heart.

PHILLIPS: All right, Lisa Bloom, Court TV. As you said, you'll be covering this gavel to gavel. My guess is we'll be covering it little by little. Thanks, Lisa.

BLOOM: OK, thank you.

LEMON: Gentlemen, start your engines. Maybe it oughta be cheaters, start juicing your engines. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, NASCAR's increasingly tarnished track record.

Plus this --

PHILLIPS: Pregnant women and seafood, a new school of thought about fish consumption for mothers to be. Details straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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LEMON: We are following several developing stories in the NEWSROOM, today, including this one. A big scandal at NASCAR's biggest race. The crew chief and the team director for driver Michael Waltrip have been kicked out of Sunday's Daytona 500. Four other crew chiefs were also disciplined for breaking the rules to boost their speeds. But some people, including some drivers, say cheating is not unusual.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KYLE PETTY, NASCAR DRIVER: I'm not throwing rocks. I live in that glass house. I've cheated 10 million times. I'll admit it straight up, dude. I've done it 10 million times. Lived to pay for it, and lived to walk away from it. We've all been there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What about you? Is cheating ever OK, at work, in society, anywhere? Is it ever OK? Send us an e-mail to CNNnewsroom@cnn.com and tell us what you think. We'll read some of your comments a little bit later on.

PHILLIPS: Represent? Not us. The NBA says it won't put up with the Tim Hardaway fiasco. Straight ahead from the NEWSROOM, a former star officially bounced.

LEMON: A fatal flu.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hard to imagine that, you know, an eight- year-old passed away from the flu.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Schoolchildren in Washington State hit especially hard. We'll have details about that coming up in the NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: And the will of Anna Nicole finally released. Our Susan Candiotti is reading through it. We'll have more after the break.

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LEMON: New information is coming in by the minute here in the CNN NEWSROOM. According to court papers just released, Anna Nicole will just released a short time ago, in Florida. It says that Howard K. Stern is the executor of that will, to be held in trust by her son, until her son reached a certain age. Just moments ago our Susan Candiotti reported on the findings in that will.

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SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (On camera): We are now getting our first look at the will, which is about 18, 19 pages long. As far as I can tell, there really are no surprises in it. But I will show you the signature of Anna Nicole Smith right here on the will. That is her given name, Vickie Lynn Marshall. She took the stage name, as it were, Anna Nicole Smith.

But this more or less sets out that, in fact, Howard K. Stern is the executor of her will, as we have known for quite sometime now. It gives him full authority throughout to take care of her assets, her property, that kind of thing.

When this will was written, in 2001, naturally, her infant daughter had not yet been born, so this would refer only to her son Daniel, and all property going to him.

Of course, as you know, he died of an overdose in September, just a few days after his infant sister -- his sister was born. This does tell you in a little bit of detail that all of the -- her assets should be held in a trust by Howard K. Stern, for any of her minor or minors, until the age of 21, and then a third of it was supposed to go to them. A third of it more at age 25, and at age 30, some of the moneys would be split up in additional ways, in additional interests, that kind of thing. And that he was permitted to do -- make tax savings, make investments, that would provide for her beneficiaries any tax savings, that kind of thing.

One line I thought was rather unusual and that is if any of her property was found to be contaminated by any kind of toxic contamination, as stated here, that her estate should, in fact, pay for the cleanup of any toxic contamination.

Other than that, it is fairly cut and dried. Again, was not updated after her infant daughter was born. Back to you, Don.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, that was Susan Candiotti reporting just a short time ago, here in the NEWSROOM, about the findings in Anna Nicole Smith's will. Apparently her partner, Howard K. Stern is mentioned, or named, as the executor of that will.

Lots of wrangling going on, we're going to get some clarification about all of this coming up at the top of the hour. Lisa Bloom from Court TV will shed some light on all this for us. We'll have much more in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: News from medicine now. Fish may be brain food after all. Research out today shows that pregnant women, who eat two to three servings of seafood a week may have children with higher IQs. Those children also show better developmental skills than those from mothers who shunned seafood. Study's authors are surprised by what they found. Health experts have long urge pregnant women to limit fish intake because of a potential risk for mercury.

LEMON: Are you coughing, sneezing, achy, feverish? Well, you're not alone. Flu season is in full swing, and even forcing some schools around the country to close down. Washington State, the flu's taken a deadly turn. Reporter Jim Foreman, of our Seattle affiliate KING, has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM FOREMAN, REPORTER, KING TV NEWS (voice over): Medical investigators are racing to find out just how Maria Olembaugh (ph) died. She was suffering flu-like symptoms this week when she suddenly passed away. Maria had just turned eight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to imagine that an eight-year-old passed away from flu. FOREMAN: Maria was a second grader here at Seattle's Laurel Hurst Elementary, where teachers and counselors told students of her death.

NICK ROSS, STUDENT: It just really made me feel bad.

FOREMAN: Nick Ross and his mother are coping with the disturbing news.

ROSS: She was really nice and she always usually went on big kids field trips. And it's just really sad that someone at school died.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very sad. We feel very sad for the family, very sad.

FOREMAN: If Maria in fact died from the flu, she would be the second area youngster to fall victim to influenza in the past two weeks. Seven-year-old Sara Horner, of Kent, died from a rare complication of the flu. And last week, Seattle's Bishop Blanchett (ph) High School was shut down after some 300 students called in sick with the flu bug.

DR. JEFF DUCHIN, SEATTLE KING CO. HEALTH DEPT: We are seeing in King County a lot of flu activity right now. We have a higher level of activity than we've had in the past few seasons.

FOREMAN: Back at Laurel Hurst, counselors will be on hand when the school bell rings again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Thanks to Jim Foreman, KING TV.

Let's get back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Susan Candiotti, on new details in the Anna Nicole Smith will -- Susan.

CANDIOTTI: Don, we gave an even closer read to the will and now we have some serious questions about what's at play here in this will, that was signed by Vickie Lynn Marshall, which is the real name of Anna Nicole Smith.

This has to do with who would get her property, her assets. I want to read something very important to you. It says, "except as otherwise provided in this will, I have intentionally omitted to provide for my spouse and other heirs, including future spouses and children." And other decedents, now living, and those who are after born or adopted.

This would appear to throw up into the air, since her son Daniel is gone -- he is named in here. And since he has died, to whom her assets would fall. Remember, they were supposed to go to her son, and Howard K. Stern, as the executor, to manage everything and hold them in trust.

But now this says, I specifically omit for any future spouses and children. So we're trying to find out from some legal experts now, does this mean that her next of kin, in fact, is not her daughter, but, in fact, may be her mother, Virgie Arthur? We'll try to get that answer for you.

LEMON: All right, Susan Candiotti, we'll try to get that answer for you as well. Thank you very much.

Lisa Bloom of Court TV coming up in just a short while to talk about this. Also, we'll have a legal analyst go over this will for us. We'll be back in just a moment.

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SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Where we're seeing a mild pullback after three days of nice gains that included two record high closes for the Dow industrials.

Right now, you're seeing the blue chips pull back just a little bit, down 15 points. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, is down 5 points.

Today, we got reads on wholesale inflation. That's obviously very important on Wall Street. It came in better than expected for the month of January. But housing starts, a completely different story. Housing starts in the month of January plunging more than 14 percent. That was worse than the Street expected. And, in fact, the worse monthly read since the summer of 1997.

Very quickly, DaimlerChrysler shares are in focus once again. They're up 4.5 percent on a report that GM is interested in buying the Chrysler Division of DaimlerChrysler. Shares are shooting up. That is not confirmed. But certainly the stock is moving.

That's latest from Wall Street. More NEWSROOM in just a moment. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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