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Rep. Millender-McDonald Dies; Somber Mood at White House Correspondents Dinner; Navy Identified Blue Angels Pilot Killed Yesterday
Aired April 22, 2007 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDNETIFIED FEMALE: I have to walk past Norris. There's no other options and I can't even imagine what that's going to be like. But I feel like I owe it to the students to go back and just finish the year out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Next in the NEWSROOM, Virginia Tech students prepare to return to class for the first time since last week's massacre.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In light of this week's tragedy at Virginia Tech, I decided not to be funny.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: A somber mood at last night's White House correspondents' dinner, an event normally filled with laughter.
And we now know his family was watching when this pilot's jet crashed during an air show in Beaufort, South Carolina yesterday.
Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you are in the NEWSROOM. Within the past hour, the navy identified Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis as the Blue Angels killed yesterday. Davis was a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He had flown combat missions over Afghanistan and joined the Blue Angels in September of 2005. He was 32-years-old.
Video obtained by CNN shows the final seconds before the tragic crash. Davis's plane will enter your screen from the right. It appears to be wobbling as it circles toward the other Blue Angels. As it tries to join formation, the plane loses altitude and plunges beneath the tree tops.
Today, the navy is combing for clues in the residential area where the plane went down. The investigation is just beginning. It is expected to take several weeks. More now from Beaufort from CNN's Nicole Lapin.
NICOLE LAPIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A bittersweet day at the blues festival air show. The show went on, but not quite as expected. There was a missing man formation, the first one for the Blue Angels in 10 years. And they played "taps." Remembering one of their own, Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis, a pilot that died in Saturday's crash, an 11-year veteran of the navy and a member of the Blue Angels for two years.
Thousands of people came out on the second day of the show, many to enjoy those flips and those turns. And many more with a lot of questions about the day before when a six-plane formation tragically ended with just five.
Military sources say the plane crashed after it clipped some trees on a sharp turn toward the end of their formation but the investigation continues. Nicole Lapin, CNN, Beaufort, South Carolina.
WHITFIELD: And with more on that investigation, CNN's Joshua Levs is with me now.
JOSHUA LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi. You know, a lot of people really want to know what happened. Obviously that's where the focus is heading right now and in addition to the mourning as you saw from Nicole is going on.
These crashes really are very rare. In fact, this is the first time that a pilot with the Blue Angels has died while flying since 1999.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: The missing man formation, marking the loss of a navy pilot who had joined its elite aerial demonstration team. The ceremony comes as investigators try to piece together what happened.
The air show Saturday appeared to be going beautifully. The Blue Angels were in perfect formation, putting on the kind of demonstration that's made them legendary for over 50 years. Then near the end of the show, this. In CNN report video sent to us by spectator Teresa Richardson (ph), you see one of the six jets topple through the air and spiral downward. Then a huge plume of smoke rising to the sky. People from another vantage point saw something very bright.
BUZZ HENRY, WITNESS: I've seen this big old fire ball going across the sky and I said, hey that isn't in the show.
LEVS: Buzz Henry ended up finding and leading authorities to the pilot's body near a pond. Chunks of the F-18 hornet had crashed into homes. Officials say eight structures were damaged and some people were hurt.
CAPT. SARAH KANSTEINER, MARINE CORPS: According to officials on scene, eight individuals were injured. According to reports and to the best of our knowledge, these injuries can be characterized as non- life threatening.
LEVS: How did it happen? We can't see it but a military source tells CNN the jet clipped a pine tree during a sharp turn at the end of the exhibition. Officials have no public comment while an investigation is conducted.
KANSTEINER: I can't confirm anything about the cause of the crash at this time.
WILLIAM WINN, BEAUFORT CO. EMERGENCY MGMT: This is difficult for us. Beaufort County is a close-knit community with the military friends and neighbors.
LEVS: Authorities decided the show must go on though without the Blue Angels and it did, giving spectators a chance to celebrate the magic of flight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: And people do turn out to see that kind of magic. They always get really big crowds and they had a really big crowd when this happened. And I want to tell you, and Fred I'll tell you, too, the squadron put out a statement and it said our squadron and the entire U.S. navy are grieving the loss of a great American, a great naval officer and most of all, a great friend.
WHITFIELD: So many people are -- this is so rare. Their track record is impeccable.
LEVS: It is amazing. And actually, you've got to stop and think about how amazing it is, given that what they're doing is generally called death-defying stunts. These are death-defying stunts. These guys fly - the simplest way to put in vernacular, they fly incredibly fast and do some of the toughest tricks of any pilots anywhere in the world of all time. And still they have these crashes incredibly rarely.
I mentioned earlier there was one in '99 and that was actually during a training session. We had to look all the way back to 1985 to find the last time there was any kind of fatal crash that happened during an air show.
WHITFIELD: Incredible. Still so sad it had to happen the way it did. Thanks so much, Josh.
LEVS: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, later this hour, we will have more on the fallen pilot, lieutenant commander Kevin Davis. And we hope you'll stay for that.
This Sunday, people all across the country are attending church and praying for the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. This weekend, more memorials. About 1,800 people packed church in Chantilly, Virginia to remember Reema Samaha, an 18-year-old killed while sitting in French class at Norris Hall. She was remembered as a graceful and talented dancer.
And members of the Virginia Tech marching band played at a memorial in Georgia yesterday for band mate Ryan Clark. He was one of the first people shot. Clark's funeral will be held tomorrow in Augusta.
Investigators in the Virginia Tech massacre are following lots of leads, including one that leads to the Internet. Sources say gunman Seung Hui-Cho may have used eBay in part of his deadly plan. CNN's Brianna Keilar joins us now from the Virginia Tech campus. Brianna, what are you learning?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, court documents show that investigators are seeking records connected to an eBay account ID and an e-mail account that may have been used by Seung Hui- Cho to buy ammunition online.
CNN's search of transaction information attached to the eBay ID "blazers5505" shows a March 22nd purchase of two standard 10-round magazines for a 22-caliber handgun, the exact same kind of handgun that Cho used in Norris Hall that was discovered there in Norris Hall here on Monday.
And apparently according to the transaction information, it was bought from a -- not the gun, rather, but the ammunition bought from a company in Rigby, Idaho. EBay profile information shows the user of "blazers5505" listed the residence for the account to be Blacksburg, Virginia.
Meanwhile, here on the Virginia Tech campus, the students here continue to mourn.
Today, hundreds of students gathered here for a non- denominational Christian service. Students told us this has been a horrific thing that happened here at Virginia Tech but they will survive it and they'll draw strength from it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRETT CLARK, VIRGINIA TECH STUDENT: It's just strengthened so much more in this past week and I know I'm going to leave here with that strength in community that I can always come back to and I know that it will always be with me. And as horrific as this week was, that was one thing that came out of it.
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KEILAR: One of the topics that was actually discussed at the service was the need to reach out to Seung Hui-Cho's family. Also many students told me they're really looking forward to going back to school tomorrow, even though they know it's going to be terribly difficult. But they say being around people who are going through what they're going through, also going to this church service as they do most Sundays has really been helpful in helping them cope. They say things here certainly they're not normal but they're starting to do some normal things. And that includes going back to school, Fred.
WHITFIELD: And Brianna, people reached out to the Virginia Tech community from all over but what makes today's visit by a special group of folks that much more meaningful. KEILAR: That's right. At this church service, there were actually three people that survived the Columbine High School massacre. They were in the audience there and I asked them what their message was that they're sending to the Virginia Tech students here and they say that they're here to be living testimonies of the fact to get through this.
They say when you're going through something like this, when you have lost friends, when you've lost loved ones, you feel like there's no light at the end of the tunnel and they're here to say, look, we got through this. There is light at the end of the tunnel for you guys, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right Brianna, thanks so much. Later tonight, CNN is honoring the students and instructors killed at Virginia Tech beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, "AMERICAN MORNING's" Kiran Chetry will host "32 Lives to Remember," a look back at the victims of the worst campus shooting in U.S. history.
And for one Virginia Tech student and his family, there is more tragedy. Freshman Jeff Soriano survived the massacre on Monday only to die in a car accident over the weekend. Soriano killed when the car struck another vehicle in Norfolk. Soriano's father says he was almost hit in the campus shootings and was lucky to escape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ENRIQUE SORIANO, FATHER OF JEFF SORIANO: We really do miss him so much, the boy that we really love, we loved so much.
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WHITFIELD: Enrique Soriano says his son was so shaken up by the campus shootings, that he had asked the parents to pick him up from the campus and take him home.
Well, it is usually a night of jovial jousting, but because of the Virginia Tech tragedy, last night's annual White house Correspondents dinner took on a more somber mood. We'll take you to D.C. next for that story.
And then take a look at this, hard to believe. Golf-ball sized hail and more severe weather is expected. Details from meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is coming up.
Plus -- newer is not always better when it comes to safe cars. The story of that coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: This just in to CNN. A U.S. congressmanwoman has died of cancer. California democrat Juanita Millender-McDonald died in her home in Carson today. She was in her seventh term representing a Southern California district that includes Compton, Long Beach, and parts of Los Angeles. Millender-McDonald's staff did not reveal what kind of cancer that she had been suffering from. She had just last week asked to take several weeks of leave because she was battling cancer. She was 68.
Well, it is always a time of great food, lots of celebrities and lots of laughs at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner. But the event last night was anything but typical. CNN's White House correspondent Elaine Quijano was there. And give us an idea of what took place last night.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Fredricka, it really was a more subdued kind of tone to the entire event. It started at the outset really with a moment of silence for the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.
And after that, the editor of the school's student newspaper came out. Her name is Amy Steele and she had been editor for only about three weeks when the shootings happened. She came out and led all of us in a chant, let's go Hokies. And the White House Correspondents association also awarded the newspaper $5,000, a grant, to help them continue with their work.
There were some lighter moments, certainly. One of them being when David Letterman sent a video titled "Top Ten George W. Bush Moments." Letterman saying that he couldn't make it. He was sorry but he had yoga on Saturday night. So he couldn't make it. Comedian Rich Little, of course, the headliner, got some laughs as well for his impersonations. But President Bush decided he would not tell any jokes himself this year. He said that in light of how tough a week this was, he decided he wouldn't do that. Certainly a different feel to this year's annual dinner than in past years.
WHITFIELD: And it was a different feel in other respects, too, because there was a surprise guest. Certainly a familiar face but everyone was so glad to see him last night.
QUIJANO: Absolutely. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who last month, of course, had surgery and learned that his cancer had returned. He walked out onto the dias there and immediately everybody in the room, 3,000 people jumped to their feet, gave him a standing ovation.
He said that he was certainly thankful for all of the support given to him by people and, you know, as rough and tumble a place as Washington can be, it was great to see that kind of unity.
Tony Snow saying that he was looking forward to being back with us soon, to sparring with us again. He said there will be that entertainment again, trust me. And certainly hope that's the case, Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: All right Elaine, thanks so much. Speaking of entertainment, we are going to have a little bit more of the lighter side-type moments at the Correspondents Dinner later on in this broadcast. In about 30 minutes from now, we'll show you what comedian David Letterman did have to say about that long list of kind of the president's funniest moments and they're funny. You will laugh. You don't want to miss that.
So, just how safe is the car that you're driving? Results of crash tests still to come in the NEWSROOM.
And the sights and sounds of some pretty dangerous hail crashing to the ground there in Texas. Jacqui Jeras is watching it all.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we had 111 severe hail reports yesterday, Fredericka, a taste of things to come. It is going to be a busy week, severe weather wise. We'll tell you where the wicked weather is heading next. That's coming up in your forecast.
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WHITFIELD: Seems like something out of a movie, doesn't it? Well, that is real. The Texas panhandle popping with severe weather in all kinds of forms. That is some serious hail right there.
JERAS: Golf ball sized.
WHITFIELD: That's what they say. I believe it. I wonder how long it takes to melt.
JERAS: I don't know.
WHITFIELD: OK, just my little trivia question of the day. All right, well, that wasn't all. Then there were funnel clouds. That, too, caught on tape.
This twister located just south of Amarillo. The National Weather Service is trying to determine just how many tornadoes might have hit the panhandle.
We're told a small town of Cactus hit hard, 14 people were hurt, two of them seriously and at last report dozens of people were still unaccounted for.
Very serious stuff. Well, the nasty weather wasn't limited to the Lone Star state. A Friday night twister tore up the cornhusker country and this what it looked like afterward in Grand Island, Nebraska. A few farms and one home destroyed. Several people suffered minor injuries there, as well.
And in south Georgia, they just need a little bit of rain to clear out some of the smoke and these flames. Wildfires still burning in Okefenokee swamp. About 45,000 acres have already been charred. And firefighters say they have about a third of that blaze contained. They hope to fully extinguish it, weather permitting, hopefully in the next week or so. Jacqui Jeras, when you walk out of the door here in Atlanta, you can smell the smoke. Did you see it?
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Coming up in the next half hour, Jacqui Jeras reveals the computer industry's dirty little secret. I bet you didn't know about that and what's being done about it. It's a pretty intriguing report that you don't want to miss and you'll only see it here on CNN.
Well, it's expected to be an emotional day tomorrow at Virginia Tech when students return to class for the first time since last week's horrible shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIENTIFIED FEMALE: I have to walk past Norris. There's no other option and U can't even imagine what that's going to be like but I feel like I owe it to the students to go back and just finish the year out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHTIFIELD: Next in the NEWSROOM, students talk about what it will be like when they return to the scene of the massacre.
Also, a new U.S./Baghdad safety plan comes under fire. Building walls around certain neighborhoods, the problem is, who gets locked inside?
Plus, somewhere in these waters is a shark that took a chunk out of a Florida surfer. It's that time of the year, folks. The story coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Hello, again. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center.
Happening right now, the navy identified the Blue Angels pilot killed in an air show yesterday in South Carolina. Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis died when his jet crashed after clipping a pine tree. An investigation is under way.
Church services today in several places to remember the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. Hundreds of students gathered on Tech's Blacksburg campus for a non-denominational memorial.
And more brutal attacks in Iraq. Today in Mosul, police say gunmen stopped a bus filled with textile workers, then shot and killed 21 of them, all members of the Yazidi religious minority.
Police are investigating whether the attack was in retaliation for the recent stoning of a Yazidi woman who converted to Islam.
In Baghdad, two car bombs detonated outside of a police station, 16 Iraqis were killed. Nearly 100 others were hurt. Eight more people were killed in other blasts around the capital.
Iraq's prime minister is speaking out against a new security technique in Baghdad, walling off entire neighborhoods to help contain the violence.
Today, Nuri al-Maliki said he wants U.S. troops to stop building a three-mile barrier around the Sunni enclave in a Shiite area of Baghdad. CNN's Arwa Damon toured another gated community in the capital and discovered even with the walls, security challenges are great.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to Amiriyah is southwest Baghdad. This is one of two check points into the gated community where Iraqi army sergeant major Ali Hassan is in charge.
SGT. MAJ. ALI HASSAN, IRAQI ARMY (through translator): An insurgent can just shoot an RPG and then a few moments later, comes through the checkpoint and wave hello at me.
DAMON: His checkpoint is attacked two to three times a week. Many of his soldiers have fled or were killed. One problem about sealing a neighborhood like this one? You sealed the killers in with the innocent.
Here, the insurgents are a deadly mix of al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni groups. About 30,000 people, innocent and insurgent, in two square miles.
HASSAN: We haven't been able to fully control area but we have been able to choke it off.
DAMON: The idea here is to protect those inside from threats both from the outside and from within. This is what's left of a blown-out car which had come from inside the neighborhood.
STAFF SGT. BRIAN HOOD, U.S. ARMY: When you have that mosque right there, that's where we take a lot of sniper fire. And it' s just a game you play with them.
DAMON: The game here is deadly. Not just one of chasing insurgents but also keeping the community gated.
STAFF SGT. MICHAEL DIXON, U.S. ARMY: As you can see, they have got the hooks on the top of them. A lot of times the vehicles will come in, chain them up, pull those barriers aside and then they will be able to drive in for that night or for until we spot it.
DAMON (on camera): Here along the northern boundary of the neighborhood, the troops say it's especially challenging. They're constantly setting up these barriers and as you can see come to see them brought down and set them up once again.
(voice-over): The military says murders are down 80 percent the last four months. Tips about insurgent activity are up. Still, about half the stores we see while driving through the market are closed and trash is everywhere.
This man complains about the trash but this Sergeant Major Hassan explains any time of an employee enters the area, they end up dead. Waiting online on a trip out of Amariyah, three-year-old twins are as restless as kids anywhere stuck in the backseat of a car.
Their mother tells us that she's still afraid to leave their house but the kids' father disagrees saying security inside Amariyah is all right. American forces hope he's right. Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad. (END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And now here stateside , to the latest on that deadly Blue Angels crash in South Carolina. CNN I-Reporter Fred Yelenik sent in these photos of the air show and wreckage. Today we learned the name of the pilot killed in that crash. H was Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis and his family was among the spectators watching the performance when his plane ran into trouble.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD (voice-over): Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis, call name Kojak, killed when his F-18 crashed near the end of a Blue Angels exhibition in Beaufort, South Carolina, Saturday. He described his jet in this video taken last summer.
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER KEVIN DAVIS, DIED IN CRASH: It's a F-18 Hornet. It's an extremely fast fighter aircraft used by the United States Navy and Marine Corps. It's an extremely maneuverable aircraft.
WHITFIELD: Davis was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was active in the Civil Air Patrol during high school and went on to attend Embry Riddle Air Nautical University, graduating in 1996. People in the hometown were shaken by the news.
LEE MCGILL TEICHERT, FRIEND OF DAVID FAMILY: So unbelievable. We loved him so much.
WHITFIELD: Davis spent the last 11 years in the Navy and deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. He joined the elite flying group in September 2005.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD (on camera): And now in Virginia, classes are set to resume Monday at the Virginia Tech campus as students and faculty somehow try to put the tragedy behind them. CNN's Gary Nurenberg spoke with a few Hokies who will try to do just that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAUREN EMERY, VIRGINIA TECH JUNIOR: Thank you so much for calling.
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under the watchful eye of her mother and her dog Matrix, Virginia Tech junior Lauren Emery spent part of the weekend checking e-mail from professors planning for the last two weeks of class.
She's among three Washington area students who tell CNN they'll return to Virginia Tech for resumption of classes on Monday despite the school's offer to give all students full credit if they want to quit for the year.
EMERY: The school's such a part of me that I could never imagine leaving and I don't think it's, of course, going to be easy. But I really do want to go back.
NURENBERG: Freshman Tiffany Pripeton needed sometime at home.
TIFFANY PRIPETON, VA. TECH FRESHMAN: But I do want to return and spend sometime at school and tell those people that I love them and give them a hug and, you know, finish out my classes and have that closure.
DANNY VOLTMER, VA. TECH FRESHMAN: A friend of mine was shot several times.
NURENBERG: Freshman Danny Voltmer said he was stunned by the wounding of his friend.
VOLTMER: I didn't know how to react. I was in shock. All I could think was oh my God, oh my God, I hope she is OK.
NURENBERG: It changed them all.
PRIPETON: I know these people. This is so close to me and it scared me.
NURENBERG: Going to class, they'll have to walk past Norris Hall where the massacre took place.
VOLTMER: It will never be the same. I'll never be able to walk by without turning my head.
NURENBERG: Turning your head toward it or away from it?
VOLTMER: Toward it.
NURENBERG: And thinking ...
VOLTMER: Just what my friend Hillary must have been thinking, how she must have reacted and how terrible to just one second be learning French and then the next second be involved in such tragedy.
EMERY: I have to walk past Norris. There's no other option, and I can't even imagine what that's going to be like but I feel like I owe it to the students to go back and just finish the year out.
NURENBERG: So older than they were a week ago but with the resilience of youth, they're returning to the place where they feel they simply have to be. Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Monday's tragedy in Blacksburg has created a collegiate solidarity of sorts across the Virginia commonwealth. Just take a look at the cartoon. Look closely. Drawn by University of Richmond grad, Ben Lansing, he posted it to a Virginia Tech MySpace Web page Monday night. And the hits have been nonstop since.
The drawing shows the Virginia Tech Hokie in the center being consoled by fellow mascots from the rest of the state's colleges and universities. The cartoon is become so popular Ben says he is inundated with requests to make it into a T-shirt, screen design but honoring Virginia Tech's stated wishes not to do so. Instead, Ben, the cartoonist, has put a link on the Web site so people may donate to the Hokies Spirit Memorial Fund if they want to.
So we'll have continuing coverage tonight on the Virginia Tech tragedy with special programming dedicated to giving you as much information as possible. At 7:00 Eastern, AMERICAN MORNING's Karen Chetry hosts "32 Lives to Remember." That's followed by Soledad O'Brien and CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT look inside to the mind of a madman. "Massacre at Virginia Tech."
At 9:00, it's a special edition of LARRY KING LIVE with eyewitness accounts and stories of survival. Plus former President Bill Clinton. Our special reports begin tonight at 7:00 Eastern.
Perhaps you're driving a new car. You would think it's a lot safer than some of the older models, right? Well, not necessarily. Take a look at this. A crash test to find out what vehicles are the safest. Results you don't want to miss next in THE NEWSROOM.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Plus, a visit to a server farm. Well, think of this as carpooling for your computers where one server can take the place of many. We'll have this story coming up on this Earth Day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: New auto designs are helping to save lives. That's the finding of a study on driver death rates. CNN's Greg Hunter reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's crash test facilities and one reason why death rates have gone down is because manufacturers have made cars better. A good example, the Ford F-150 pickup.
(voice-over): The 2001 Ford F-150 pickup was one of the worst performers in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash tests. Look at the way that the cab folds on impact. Compare it to the redesigned 2004 model where the cab stays intact.
ANNE MCCARTT, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: When we looked at driver death rates, what we saw was the newer F-150 had a death rate half that of the older model.
HUNTER (on camera): What an improvement.
MCCARTT: It's a dramatic improvement. This is a much safer vehicle now.
HUNTER (voice-over): The Institute compiled statistics on driver death rates of more than 200 vehicles between the years 2001 and 2004. The latest data available. Ranking the best and worst according to class and size.
Smaller cars had generally higher death rates. But some cars did much better than others in the same category. The Mini Cooper had one third the fatalities of the Acura RSX.
(on camera): Did it have something to do with quality?
MCCARTT: Quality is definitely an important factor.
HUNTER (voice-over): Large, heavy vehicles have the lowest death rates and SUVs, which have a tendency to rollover are getting safer. Mainly because of electronic stability control.
But even in SUVs without electronic stability control, the death rates vary widely. Take, for example, older models of the Honda Pilot. It had six times fewer driver deaths than the Chevy Blazer.
(on camera): Aren't some of the vehicles that have low death rates just built better?
MCCARTT: They are built better. They're built and what I mean by built better is they're built so that they do a very good job protecting occupants in the event of a crash.
HUNTER (voice-over): A General Motors spokesman criticized the study for not describing the details of who drives the car and driver behavior. A Honda spokesman said the lower rated Acura RSX tends to appeal to younger, less experienced drivers.
Ford criticized the study saying it "fails to take into account the critical factors related to fatality rates including seat belt usage, alcohol consumption and driving experience."
The insurance institute says those factors remain similar across categories of vehicles, making comparisons legitimate.
(on camera): The insurance institute says when a vehicle does well on its crash test, it will likely protect you in a real world accident. For example, look at this brand of minivan. This did well in the crash test. You can see the driver's compartment stayed intact opposed to this brand of minivan.
The driver's compartment didn't stay intact. It crushed in. It did badly in the crash test and it also does badly in a real world accident, as well.
If you'd like to find out how your vehicle did, concerning driver deaths, click on to cnn.com for a complete list. Greg Hunter, CNN, Ruckersville, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, it was supposed to be a day of sun and fun. But it didn't end up that way. A shark bit the hand of a 23-year-old surfer yesterday. He had been surfing off Florida's east coast in Volusia County and authorities say the man believes the shark was between three and four feet long. Doctors say the surfer is expected to recover. Pretty close call there.
Meantime, Major League Baseball players are used to the antics of fans, sometimes not very polite and but one apparently went a little too far Friday Night at the Atlanta Braves game against the New York Mets.
Authorities say a 40-year-old man directed a high powered flashlight on the field. Frank Martinez is now accused of trying to distract the Braves players. So he was charged with interfering with a professional sporting event. A big no-no and reckless endangerment. Taking it very seriously there.
Did you show your gratitude to the planet today? Plenty of people of have. Today is Earth Day and environmentally friendly folks around the world are now taking part in events to protect the planet.
For 37 years now, people have used Earth Day to inspire awareness and global change. Organizers say the event attracts hundreds of millions of participants.
It is a big issue environmentalists are worried about. Computer server farmers like the ones that keep CNN on the air require a lot of energy to keep them running and to keep them cool. So the high-tech sector wants to make them a lot more efficient. Our Jacqui Jeras joins us now with more on this eco-friendly initiative.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, Fredricka, imagine saving a business thousands of dollars, reducing the amount of needed computer space and at the same time, helping the environment.
Well, it's all possible with these virtual servers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERAS (voice-over): Remember those primitive times when people actually had to get in their car and drive in order to buy a book or book a flight or bid in an auction?
No more gas guzzling for a lot of chores we now routinely do online. So that's good for the environment, right? Well, the computer servers that handle all of those transactions also gobble a lot of energy.
TOM BRADICICH, IBM: For the first time, we are seeing the amount of money spent to provide electricity and cooling for the computer equipment is now greater than the actual money spent to buy the computer equipment.
JERAS: The giants in the tech industry including IBM, Sun, AMD and Intel have created a non-profit organization called the Green Grid to adopt energy saving measures globally.
IBM in Silicon Valley is running software that puts computer serves into standby mode when they're not in use. WILLY CHIU, IBM SILICON VALLEY: We save $39,000 in this small cluster of about 800 machines a year because we're able to reduce the energy consumption.
JERAS: Many top firms use so-called virtual data centers. This one saves Solvay Pharmaceuticals outside Atlanta $60,000 a year in cooling and electricity costs. Some call virtualization server car pooling. It allows one server to take the place of many.
BRUCE MCMILLAN, SOLVAY PHARMACEUTICALS: Every place that you see the marks is where server hardware used to be. We started this project, we had 65 physical boxes. Now we are down to about 25.
JERAS: Data centers use one to two percent of all of the electricity in the United States. And that that's expected to double in the next five years. Conservation groups are working with the tech industry to get better performance out of every kilowatt.
NOAH HORWITZ, NATIONAL RESOURCES DEFENSE CO.: And if we can, we can reduce the need for about a dozen large coal burning power plants.
JERAS: It's not just the big tech types who need an energy diet. Consumer electronics now use almost 15 percent of the juice in many homes. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends turning off your computer, monitor and printer when you're not using them and buying Energy Star qualified equipment which use up to 70 percent less energy than their conventional counter parts.
That way, you will save gas and electricity when letting the fingers do the buying.
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JERAS (on camera): And computer techs say that they expect the consolidation to continue to improve in the years to come.
Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: We need to hear that. We need some encouraging ...
JERAS: Some good news on Earth Day.
WHITFIELD: ... news on that. We all need to go greener. All right. Thanks a lot.
Well, let's go global right now with headlines from around the world and it's not very encouraging at all.
The sounds of gun fire filling the streets of Somalia's capital. Somalia insurgents are battling it out with troops backing Somalia government officials. The fight has been raging for five days now. A human rights group says at least 47 people were killed today alone. That brings the total death toll in the last week now to 212.
France's presidential race is now down to just two candidates. And they're on complete opposite sides of the political spectrum. Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has finished first and Socialist Segolene Royal came in second. The two will face off in a run-off election on May 6th.
And there are major questions and concerns about Nigeria's presidential election. The ruling party there appears to be well ahead of the main opposition group but there are widespread reports of voter fraud including ballot stuffing and a shortage of voting slips.
Independent monitors say the election should be rerun. And Australian officials have called off the search for three men missing off the Great Barrier Reef. Their catamaran was found Wednesday with no one on board. Police believe they were swept off the boat when it hit rough seas a week ago. Experts say there's little to no chance the men are still alive.
So they say laughter is the best medicine. And the beleaguered Bush administration took a pretty big dose last night.
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DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: Number seven ...
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WHITFIELD: Yeah. You have to laugh at yourself every now and then. David Letterman wasn't even there but he managed to steal the show at the White House correspondents' dinner. That is coming up next in THE NEWSROOM.
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WHITFIELD: They have the three Gs, a little glitz, some glamour, good-natured humor. It was all part of the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner last night in Washington.
White House press secretary Tony Snow even showed up. And he got a very warm welcome there. It was his first public appearance since revealing he is battling cancer again. Comedian Rich Little, well, they left them all laughing and in stitches and "Late Show" host David Letterman did too, making a videotape appearance with the top 10 list of the funniest presidential flubs.
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LETTERMAN: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. And happy to be included in the proceedings here this evening. I'm sorry I can't be there with you but as you probably know, Saturday night for me, yoga.
The category tonight, top 10 favorite George W. Bush moments. Top 10 favorite George W. Bush moments. Here we go. Number 10. Oh, oh!
Number nine.
GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: If it feels good, do it. If you got a problem, blame somebody else.
LETTERMAN: Number eight.
BUSH: The issue of immigration stirs intense emotions. And in recent weeks, Americans have seen those emotions on display. On the streets of major cities.
LETTERMAN: Number seven.
Number six.
BUSH: That there be a stable Iran. Iran that is capable of rejecting Iranian influence. I mean, Iraq.
LETTERMAN: Number five.
BUSH: I like to fish.
LETTERMAN: Number four.
Number three.
Number two.
BUSH: Doing a better job of talking to each other. The left hand now knows what the right hand is doing.
LETTERMAN: And the number one favorite George W. Bush moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Everyone had a great laugh last night but the president himself refrained from any comedy in deference to what's been a tough week for everyone across the country. The massacre at the Virginia Tech campus is in part why, and it has sparked a lot of controversy about gun control laws in America.
Next, in a special LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK, the debate surrounding our Second Amendment right to bear arms. LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK is next. Then at 7:00, AMERICAN MORNING's Kiran Chetry hosts "32 Lives to Remember" followed by Soledad O'Brien and CNN's SPECIAL INVESTIGATION UNIT's look inside the mind of a mad man. "Massacre at Virginia Tech."
At 9:00 Eastern, it's a special edition of LARRY KING LIVE with eyewitness accounts and stories of survival. Plus, former President Bill Clinton. Our special reports begin tonight 7:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Fredericka Whitfield.
The latest on today's top stories coming up next followed by LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK.
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