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Classes Resume at Virginia Tech; Baghdad Wall; NASA Troubles; Virginia Tech Students Return to Class; U.S. Finds Baghdad Bomb Maker's Lair; Boris Yeltsin, 76, Dies
Aired April 23, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And I'm Betty Nguyen -- good morning, everybody -- in for Heidi Collins today.
You can watch events come in to the NEWSROOM live on this Monday, April 23rd. Here is what's on the rundown.
Students returning to class at Virginia Tech one week after the horrific shooting rampage. The campus remembers.
That's live this hour.
HARRIS: Protesters on the streets. Now the U.S. military says it will halt construction of the wall. It was meant to protect Baghdad Sunnis from Shiites.
NGUYEN: Well, we hear about it, but rarely do we see it. Check that out. Golf ball-sized hail pounds the Plains. The extreme weather that is moving east today, it's all in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And at the top this hour, Virginia Tech returning to class, far from returning to normal one week after a gunman's rampage. The campus inches back toward routine. Classes resume, but only after a few moments of remembrance.
CNN's Brianna Keilar is on campus this morning.
Brianna, good to see you.
How are the students paying tribute to the victims this morning?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, before going to class this morning, at 7:15 a.m. dozens of students gathered to honor the first two students who were killed in the rampage here last Monday. They gathered outside West Ambler Johnston dorm, where Emily Hilscher and Ryan Clark were killed.
Emily Hilscher, 19 years old, of course, majored in animal and poultry sciences. And she was a resident there at West Ambler Johnston. And Ryan Clark, whose nickname was "Stack," and he was so well- known by many students here because he was a resident assistant in that hall, he was a senior from Martinez, Georgia, and he would have been graduating here in just a couple of weeks.
Also coming up, Tony, at 9:45, students will be honoring the other 30 students who were killed by a gunman here a week ago. Of course, this time a week ago, it was really unclear exactly what was going to befall the university, but it would all too soon become clear, and the way students will be honoring those that they lost here last Monday is by tolling a bell, having a moment of silence at the drill field there on the center of campus. And then they're going to release one white balloon for each of the 32 victims, and then they're going to release a lot of maroon and orange balloons to signify solidarity among all of these Hokies, and the fact they are moving toward recovery and trying to get a small sense of normalcy here, Tony, although obviously it's somewhat of a new normal.
HARRIS: Wow.
Hey, Brianna, just another quick question for you. Students -- explain this to us -- have the option of not returning to class. What happens if they choose that option?
KEILAR: They've been given a number of options on how they can finish out the school year, and what happens is, if they are not comfortable with returning to class, they can take their grade as it stands. Obviously the semester is almost completely over, and so they have finished a lot of their work, and they can just take their grade as it stands -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK.
CNN's Briana Keilar on the campus there at Virginia Tech.
Brianna, thank you.
For a week now they've been mourners. Today, they become students again. A moment of silence at Virginia Tech. The ceremony live this hour in the NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: Well, wildfires in southeast Georgia, they are spreading. Take a look at this.
Those fires began a week ago in Ware County. We're going to get that video up for you. And then another 10,000 acres has burned.
Here it is. Just look at that, pushing the overall total to 55,000 acres. The fires are only 30 percent contained.
Eighteen homes have been destroyed so far. Firefighters say the weather has been the big problem. And a shift in the winds sent smoke through Atlanta and on up to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
HARRIS: Man, look at that. Destruction in Texas to tell you about this morning after tornadoes ripped through parts of the state. Worst hit was tiny Cactus, Texas, in the panhandle. Most of the town lost power when storms roll through over the weekend.
There's a dusk-to-dawn curfew in effect right now to cut down on the looting. At least 14 people were injured, one critically.
Take a listen to this. Amazing video. Look at that. The same storm system that spawned the west Texas tornadoes brought golf ball- sized hail to some parts of north Texas.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Well, there are more suicide bombings across Iraq this morning. Police say at least 24 people are dead, 50 others wounded. In one attack near Baghdad's Green Zone, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a restaurant. Seven people were killed in that explosion.
Now, in a different attack, a car bomb targeted police in Baquba. A provincial official says six police officers, including a general, were killed, and at least 10 people died in another car bomb attack north of Mosul.
HARRIS: Construction under review. The U.S. military says it is reconsidering a temporary wall it's been building in a Sunni neighborhood of Baghdad. This after Iraq's prime minister objected.
Live now to our Arwa Damon in Baghdad.
Arwa, good morning to you. What is going on with the construction of that wall today?
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, the construction of the wall is under way, although the U.S. and Iraqi military here have been quick to emphasize that it is not a wall, but rather a barrier, a barrier that is intended to secure certain neighborhoods in Baghdad. But the construction of this barrier, or wall, no matter what you call it, is really stirring up quite some controversy.
We saw residents of Adhamiya -- that is the Sunni enclave in the northwestern part of the capital -- surrounded on all sides by Shia neighborhoods where this barrier is going up. Thousands of residents there are taking to the streets, calling for an end to what they are calling the sectarian barrier, saying this type of division of the capital will really only further divide the Iraqi people rather than try to unite them.
Now, yesterday we heard from Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, saying that he has asked for an end to the construction of this barrier. But again, his spokesman here in Baghdad quick to clarify those comments, saying that the prime minister was objecting to a continuous concrete wall to be set up in this area, and then explaining that that was not the intent, but rather that the wall would be a mix of blast walls, concrete barriers, in some places sand barriers, other areas concertino wire, with multiple checkpoints. Again, the main aim behind this wall that is going up not just in Adhamiya, but also in other parts of the capital, is to try to if not contain the violence, at least impede the flow of explosives and arms in Baghdad -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK, Arwa. So the U.S. military says that the wall is there to stem this violence but, we see that the violence has been ongoing today in the capital. Fill us in.
DAMON: It has. A suicide bomber just walked into a restaurant at about 10:00 in the morning, very close to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, carried out that attack that left at least seven Iraqis dead and many more wounded. Shortly thereafter, there was another explosion in a car park not too far from that attack itself.
And really, this also goes back to this whole issue of the wall and the efforts that have been ongoing. What we are seeing is that, despite the current Baghdad security plan, the insurgency is still capable of carrying out these attacks, be it suicide, car bomb, suicide bombers, or just car bombs.
So, that is what the U.S. and the Iraqi militaries are really trying to emphasize right now to the Iraqi people, that these barriers that they're putting up are not meant to isolate them or force them into their neighborhoods, but rather it's more of an effort to impede these types of explosives from moving and being circulated around Baghdad. But that's not really the way that the Iraqis themselves are viewing it, and their main concern is that if these walls do come up, it's going to be much harder to bring them down -- Tony.
HARRIS: To bring them down.
CNN's Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad.
Arwa, thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, Houston, we have some problems, not just one. A recent shooting, though, and some troubling questions here on Earth keeps NASA from flying high. We have those details ahead in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: A tight-knit community of Navy pilots mourning the loss of one of their own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... grateful for everybody's well wishes, and together as a community we will get through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The life and career of Blue Angel pilot Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: Also coming up, we want to talk about the gender gap and the pay gap. A new study offers some new numbers. We are comparing paychecks.
That's in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: President Bush at one of those fancy swank Washington dinners. Roasted lame duck on the menu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Number two...
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Doing a better job of talking to each other. The left hand now knows what the right hand is doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Letterman's top moments of the Bush presidency. His top 10 list straight ahead in the NEWSROOM for you this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: And welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM.
The Blue Angels back home in Pensacola and mourning the loss of one of their own. Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis died Saturday when his F-18 Hornet crashed during an air show in South Carolina.
Here's some exclusive video of that air show. It's amateur video of the crash taken by an I-Reporter, Teresa Richardson.
Now, the Navy says it could be several weeks before it announces the results of its investigation, but we want to give you a closer look at Davis.
He was an 11-year Navy veteran. He joined the Blue Angels in 2000. His nickname was Kojak.
Davis earned Top Stick status in his fighter squadron class at Naval Air Station, Oceana. Now, he graduated from Navy Fighter Weapons School in 2004 and flew support missions for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
HARRIS: NASA making headlines, but not for the space program. The latest incident, what police describe as a murder-suicide. Now security measures are under review and NASA is under scrutiny.
CNN's John Zarrella has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): NASA, accustomed to successes in space...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Glad we brought all that heavy hardware.
ZARRELLA: ... is now spending a lot of time dealing with tragedy and distraction here on Earth. Friday, a murder-suicide at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
MICHAEL COATS, DIRECTOR, JOHNSON SPACE CENTER: Right now, we're trying to understand why this happened, how this happened.
ZARRELLA: Possibly distraught over a poor performance review, a NASA engineer took a female hostage, then shot and killed his supervisor and himself.
In February, astronaut Lisa Nowak, a space shuttle veteran, was charged with attempted kidnapping of a female Air Force captain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Murder was the plan, and it just was not able to be carried out.
ZARRELLA: Both women were romantically linked to space shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein. NASA believes the incidents are random, not stress-related, and that psychological testing or screening isn't necessary.
MICHAEL GRIFFITH, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We live in a free society. We do not have a governmental state in which people can be plucked out of their offices or off the street and made to report for counseling or evaluation or assessment because someone thinks they're acting strangely.
ZARRELLA: Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin told CNN's Larry King that NASA needs to keep a closer watch, at least on its astronauts.
BUZZ ALDRIN, ASTRONAUT: And I don't know how to carry it out, but this is certainly an indication that had somebody been overseeing the performance of people under their jurisdiction a little closer, maybe they could have dictated -- or detected this.
ZARRELLA: Bad publicity comes at a time when NASA is desperately trying to define its future.
JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: And my concern is that the space program isn't going to end with a bang. It's going to end with a whimper. That we're just going to wake up one day and discover that we no longer have a space program.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff of Space Shuttle Atlantis.
ZARRELLA: The space agency desperately needs public support, but capturing headlines with incidents here on Earth does little to keep NASA flying high.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Going green in the nation's capital. A school with a mission, and that is saving energy while teaching kids about the environment.
That's ahead in the NEWSROOM. ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business".
Probably no surprise to you that women don't earn enough -- earn the same as men for the same jobs. But I'm going to tell you how it starts right out of college.
Stay with me. I'll have more in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, you have no doubt noticed if you've filled up lately you have paid up, and big. A national survey says gas prices rose more than eight cents a gallon in just two weeks. Nearly 70 cents so far this year.
The Lundberg Survey says self-serve regular now averages $2.87 a gallon. The cheapest gas is in Minneapolis, at $2.65, while folks in San Francisco shell out $3.37 a gallon. Lundberg says prices could start falling within days as refiners get back to normal and imports replenish those supplies.
And Tony, you've got a story coming up that I am just outraged about.
HARRIS: You're outraged? OK. Hold your fire for just a second, Betty.
NGUYEN: Not funny.
HARRIS: Just a second.
A pay gap between the sexes starts early. OK? That's according to a new study.
Just one year out of college, women's salaries start to lag behind their male peers.
Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" in New York for us.
And Ali, I guess you know Betty's ready to go on this one.
VELSHI: I hear you. I hear you. Keep her mic open so she can tell me about it.
HARRIS: Yes, sure.
VELSHI: This is no secret that we know women don't get paid as much as men do for the same work. A new study now out just this morning by the Association of University Women Educational Foundation has something interesting to say about it.
One year out of college -- take women's pay as a percentage of men's pay. One year out of college, women are earning 80 percent of what men earn. Ten years after college, 10 years into work, women are earning 69 percent of what men earn. So it's going the wrong way. Now, just so you know, women have higher grade point averages, Tony and Betty, than men in every major, by the way, including math and science.
NGUYEN: Math and science, exactly.
VELSHI: Yes.
NGUYEN: So, why don't we make as much money, Ali? What's the reason?
VELSHI: Well, there are a lot of theories about this. Is it that women don't aggressively seek what they're due in the workforce? Or is it, in the idea of this organization that's done this study -- the quote I've got here is that "Part of the wage difference is a result of people's choices. Another part is employers' assumptions of what people's choices will be."
Now, get this. It says, "Employers assume that young women are going to leave the workforce when they have children, and, therefore, they don't promote them."
That's from Catherine Hill, the director of the organization.
HARRIS: Yes, but it sounds like they're putting together a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy here, Ali.
NGUYEN: You think so? Because I would say, though -- let me just jump in.
HARRIS: Sure.
NGUYEN: Another portion of this group said that the gap -- a portion of that gap is because of sex discrimination.
VELSHI: Well, here's -- here's what it comes down to, Tony. If you're -- and Betty.
If you're measuring the differences -- for instance, let's say people do take time off to have kids, and so that does affect those -- you know, those years that they're off affect the promotions that they would have gotten. Even when you take that all into account, according to this particular study, even when you take that all into account and you adjust the numbers for it, there's still an unexplained difference.
And that difference shouldn't be increasing as you spend more time in the workforce. So their argument is that there is this discrimination. Not discrimination in the sense of, she's a woman, I don't want to pay her. It's the -- maybe the degree to which you invest in a woman, thinking that she might leave early.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: It's maybe a more deep-rooted discrimination than the overt kind you think about. NGUYEN: Well, do you think it's also because women will just accept that type of pay?
VELSHI: That's -- you know, women have told me that. Even this morning, a number of women have said that's a theory that a lot of people buy into, that women take the job, they take the pay, they know they face greater dangers than men, so they don't push as hard to get those increases as they do.
Again, theory. Clearly, one of these theories or another one is right, because women are getting paid less than men for the same work.
HARRIS: Betty, how you feeling?
NGUYEN: I think you both owe me a percentage of your wages. How about that?
HARRIS: I saw that one coming.
NGUYEN: The check's in the mail, right?
HARRIS: All right, Ali.
VELSHI: You got it right.
HARRIS: Call for your fair share.
NGUYEN: Yes. I'll give you my address.
HARRIS: Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" this morning.
VELSHI: See you, guys.
HARRIS: Thanks, Betty, for the help.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, a jackpot of insurgent activity. U.S. troops literally stumble on to a major bomb- making operation.
That story still to come in the NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: Also, man's best friend and trusted therapist? Really? How dogs are helping people cope on the Virginia Tech campus.
That's in the NEWSROOM.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Liscovicz at the New York Stock Exchange, where the Dow closed 39 points from 13,000 on Friday. Will it hit that milestone level today?
The market opens in just a few minutes. We'll have some answers.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Look, it's my mission to get you paid, OK?
NGUYEN: I know. We're still talking about it.
HARRIS: That's it this morning, to get Betty paid.
NGUYEN: Love it.
HARRIS: Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM.
Good morning. I'm Tony Harris.
NGUYEN: Yes, good morning, everybody.
I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Heidi Collins today.
That opening bell about to start. Some people are going to get paid today.
Let's talk to Susan Liscovicz, who is live at the New York Stock Exchange.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
HARRIS: Weekend on the college campus, a time to sleep in, maybe blow off some steam. Not at Virginia Tech. Students reeling in from the deadly rampage, desperately trying to get back to the grind.
CNN's Jim Acosta talks to them and parents coping with a newfound separation anxiety.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like many students at Virginia Tech, Bret Wrenn is now back at school, but coming back wasn't easy. He lives in West Ambler Johnston Hall, the scene of the first shooting.
(on camera) Did it help to see mom? I bet it did.
GREG WRENN, STUDENT: Yes. Helped both of us, I think. It helps a bunch just to get away and see family.
ACOSTA (voice-over): As other parents dropped off their sons and daughters, passing the shrine outside the dorm, it was hard for Greg's mother to say good-bye.
(on camera) I get the sense, Cindy, that you don't want to let him go here.
CINDY WRENN, STUDENT'S MOTHER: No, I don't. But I have to. I can do it.
G. WRENN: Yes. We'll be OK.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But she didn't let him go without some motherly advice. G. WRENN: Don't stop talking. Find people to talk to. Call as much as you need.
ACOSTA: There are other signs of this campus coming back to life. A women's lacrosse game paid tribute to the fallen students.
But for the players' parents, it was hard at times to cheer on the team.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were saying we feel a little guilty.
ACOSTA: At the Drill Field, the 32 stones designated for each victim are still drawing hundreds of mourners. The sense of loss remains overwhelming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's taken away a lot of innocence and the sense of peace and security here, but I think they'll regain that.
ACOSTA: But also unmistakable is the sense of hope.
KRISTIN PATTERSON, STUDENT: Everyone's been saying that it's a really close community, and it's really true. You know, no one is (UNINTELLIGIBLE); everyone is there for each other.
ACOSTA: Back at Greg Wrenn's dorm, he sees a campus that has changed.
G. WRENN: There's still not a lot of people back, but the feeling on my hall is of more unity than ever before.
ACOSTA (on camera): Not every student is ready to go back to class. And the university says it's trying to work with those students, saying they can drop their classes for the semester without penalty.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Blacksburg, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: One good thing you can say about Blacksburg is the weather is fantastic there right now.
HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes.
NGUYEN: But in many other places around the nation, not so nice. Chad Myers joins us now with a look at the severe weather out there.
Hey, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And that can be the big dog and the big dog starts to spin and that's what we call a supercell, and we're worried about those for tomorrow.
NGUYEN: Don't even say the word "supercell."
HARRIS: Yes. We know exactly what that means.
NGUYEN: Thanks, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
HARRIS: Thank you, Chad.
President Bush speaking out about Iraq war funding this morning. Congress expected to pass a bill this week with a non-bonding resolution for withdrawal of U.S. troops. The president has vowed repeatedly to veto any bill that includes a timetable.
NGUYEN: Well, the deadly streets of Iraq is something we definitely want to talk about right now, because U.S. troops are searching out insurgent activity, trying to catch bombers before they strike.
CNN's Arwa Damon was on patrol with the troops as they literally stumbled into a bomb maker's hideout.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STAFF SGT. BRIAN HOOD, U.S. ARMY: What do we have here? Oh, wow. This is what they put inside the IEDs to kill us. Look at that. This is what -- those are our casualties right here.
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Staff Sergeant Brian Hood scoops out ball bearings, nuts and bolts. There are also timers, wires, cell phones.
The items spread out here look harmless, bits and pieces you could easily find in your home. But what was going on here is chilling.
HOOD: That's what times the IEDs that kill us. You got all the stuff.
DAMON: Someone was in the process of putting together triggers to set off roadside bombs, the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.
HOOD: They see us coming through, they'll call the cell phone number. That will activate the IED and will detonates on us. That's the biggest thing they use. They're cheap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's your...
HOOD: Here's your blasting cap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is.
HOOD: Give it up, brother.
Don't touch it with your fingers. Maybe we can get some fingerprints. Oh, this is great.
DAMON: What brought the U.S. Army to this house was dumb luck. Trying to get around a parked car, one of the Bradleys accidentally hit this wall. When the soldiers go inside to make sure the owner is compensated for the damage, they find the house trashed and all this in the living room.
(on camera) The insurgency will use just about anything that it can get its hands on here, even using pieces from a toy car to assemble a remote control to set off a roadside bomb.
(voice-over) It appears the bomb makers left in a panic: the phone left off the hook, a watch and wallet with an I.D. left on the table.
HOOD: Great.
DAMON: Looking for bombs, they dig through yard. In the background, the usual Baghdad sounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's an RPG, correct?
HOOD: That's RPGs being fired. I think we've made someone mad.
DAMON: They find a buried bucket, often used to store explosives, but nothing in it.
HOOD: These people could not have been here maybe more than 48 hours. They have not been here long. They'll force the family out and then they'll set up an operation like this, make the IEDs, and then they'll leave. And then they'll move to another house, force that family out and just do the cycle all over, keep us chasing them.
DAMON: The culprit may be running, but this time he left his deadly toys behind.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Man's best friend and trusted therapist. How dogs are helping people cope on the Virginia Tech campus in the NEWSROOM.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brianna Keilar in Blacksburg, Virginia, where Virginia Tech students are paying tribute to lives lost here as they return to class for the first time since the shooting. That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, around this time one week ago, a gunman gets ready to terrorize a college campus. That horror replaced this morning by somber remembrance. Students and faculty about to pause for a moment of silence to honor the dozens killed and wounded.
Want to take you live now to CNN's Brianna Keilar, who joins us from the campus.
Brianna, what's going on and what's going to happen in just a few minutes? How are they remembering?
KEILAR: Well, coming up here at 9:45, Betty, a tribute at the Drill Field there in the center of Virginia Tech's campus. Within -- you can see from this spot where they're going to be holding this tribute, Norris Hall, where the second shooting occurred here last week on Monday.
Now, at 9:45, a bell will toll. This is going to signify a moment of silence. And then the bell will toll 32 times, one for -- one time for each of the victims. And then 32 white balloons will be released, obviously, also one for each of the victims.
And after that, you're going to see a mass release of orange and maroon balloons, this to signify that Hokies here are united. And that's something we've really seen on campus, an amazing unity, an amazing -- an amazing spirit that all these people are sharing, banding together.
But earlier at 7:15, there was another tribute. This was a tribute to the first two students who lost their lives here. Dozens of students gathered outside of West Ambler Johnston Hall, the dorm where Emily Hirscher and Ryan Clark were killed, to pay tribute to them.
But obviously at that point, Betty, after the 7:15 shooting, it was very unclear a week ago just what was befalling this campus. No one had any idea of what would be to come -- Betty.
NGUYEN: And it was just so horrifying what did occur after that.
As we're looking at pictures, video of that earlier remembrance. We want to get you some live picture, as well, of many crowds just waiting there for this moment of silence.
Do you have an idea -- I mean, you probably don't have the numbers, but have a lot of students decided to stay in school, come back to campus and not opt out?
KEILAR: you know, a lot of state of the unions have, and I think this is something that a lot of people on the outside of this story are surprised at. But most of the students I speak with -- in fact, every student I've spoken with says, "I am coming back to school. I am going to finish out the school year."
And they were given the choice, Betty, to take their grades as they stand right now. Obviously, much of the semester has been completed.
One of my colleagues who's actually a Virginia Tech alum went to his frat house, the frat house he attended. And he did speak with a couple students who said, "No, we're done, you know. This is it. We're seniors. We don't want to finish out the school year."
But everyone I have talked to has said, "I'm coming back" -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Just want to pause and just watch this, just for a second as they hold this moment of silence.
(BELL RINGS 32 TIMES)
NGUYEN: Thirty-two bells have been tolled, 32 white balloons leased in the air as students remember what happened on their campus at Virginia Tech one week ago today.
HARRIS: And as we keep an eye on the Virginia Tech campus, we have some breaking news into the CNN NEWSROOM this morning.
Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin has died. He was 76 years old. A Kremlin official -- Kremlin official telling the Associated Press that Yeltsin died but giving no cause of death or further information.
Our Matthew Chance is with us now.
And Matthew, this is news just coming to us here in the CNN NEWSROOM. what additional information do you have for us?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not a great deal at this time, Tony, except to say that I've spoken to the presidential spokesperson here in Russia, and he's confirmed to us that, indeed, Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, has died.
He died, apparently, about -- just over an hour ago. They're not disclosing publicly yet what he died of. But Interfax, the state Russian news agency, is saying that it was some kind of heart failure.
He was 76 year old -- years old, which is a considerable age for a man in Russia. He had ongoing health problems, of course, particularly associated with alcohol. He was infamous for that.
He was also a deeply controversial figure. Many Russians blame him for the breakup of the Soviet Union, for what happened in Russia after that. But nevertheless, his death will be a shock for many Russians today.
HARRIS: Matthew, what do we know about his life, recent years?
CHANCE: Well, since he retired from the Russian presidency in the year 2000, just before Vladimir Putin took office, he's lived a very quiet life. His health has actually seemed to be improving.
He's been living in his country cottage outside of Moscow, pursuing his passions in life, namely tennis. We've often seen him around the world at various high-profile tennis tournaments supporting Russian players. That was his real sporting love.
And, you know, he seemed to be getting better. And there were no indications before this that he was ill in any way. He seemed to be fit. Obviously, this news came to us within the last few minutes, that he's, in fact, died. HARRIS: Matthew, how is likely to be remembered by the people of Russia? You mentioned that he is often blamed for the breakup of the Soviet Union. I'm wondering how he is likely to be viewed by his countrymen.
CHANCE: Well, blame for that. But I think more blame for what happened to Russia afterwards and its kind of loss of face as a kind of defeated party in the -- in the Cold War.
Boris Yeltsin wasn't a president who many Russians were proud of. They didn't see him as a particularly respectable figure. He was often appearing drunk, and that was embarrassing to many Russians.
But at the same time I think many Russian will be aware of the achievements that he actually made as president. He was the first president of a democratic Russia, a free Russia after the break-up of the Soviet Union. He was a strong advocate of democracy.
I think everybody will remember the time when he stood on the tank outside the White House during the coup of '91 and argued for the release of President Gorbachev. I mean, this is a figure who has an iconic image in the eyes of many Russians and many people around the world.
HARRIS: Matthew Chance reporting for us this morning on the breaking news that former Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, has died at the age of 76.
NGUYEN: Well, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen, in this morning for Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.
Former President Boris Yeltsin has died. Yeltsin stood up to the communists and pushed Russia toward democracy and a market economy.
NGUYEN: Also, a moment of silence on the Virginia Tech campus. Just minutes ago, as you watched it here, students honored those gunned down a week ago today.
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