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Highway Collapse; DC Sex Scandal; Mall Shootings; New Delta Debut; Gerri's Top Tips

Aired April 30, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Tony Harris. Stay informed in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown for you.
She is accused of catering to Washington's power brokers. The alleged D.C. madam in court this hour. We expect to hear from her shortly. Will it be a case of kiss and tell?

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Also, San Francisco Bay drivers sneaking to work this morning. Their commute made a lot tougher by the collapse of a major freeway overpass.

HARRIS: And a Kansas City mall shooting leaves three people dead, including the gunman. Police searching for a motive today.

Monday, April 30th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And at the top of this hour, in northern California, commuters are waking up to a real nightmare. A road of rubble. This had been a vital link between San Francisco and Oakland. The collapse has road crews scrambling to make repairs, but that job could take months. CNN's Chris Lawrence is in Oakland.

Chris, good morning to you.

Okay. 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time. How's it looking out there?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Could be worse. And some roads seem to be moving fairly well. Other parts are already slowing down to a crawl.

But, Tony, really, the real test is not going to come today. It's going to come tomorrow, next week and next month. Typically a day after a disaster, relatively small disaster like this, people will stay home. They'll take an extra day off. They'll work from home.

But once they get back into their normal swing, you've got an idea that more than a quarter of a million commuter have to pass through. And there are really no good alternates. You've got a maze of side streets that dump people on and off freeways. It is going to be a major headache as people get back into their normal routine in the days and weeks to come.

HARRIS: So, Chris, what kind of alternatives are officials suggesting to commuters when they finally do get back on the road in big numbers? LAWRENCE: Well, today, the state is picking up the tab to provide free, public transportation throughout the entire Bay area. They're urging people to adopt that until this gets fixed. Also, alternate roads, they're not that great. They're alternatives. They're not great alternatives.

Think about I-85 in Atlanta, I-95 in Baltimore, Washington, the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles. You know, you take a chunk of that freeway out of any of those metropolitan areas, there just is not the infrastructure to support tens of thousands of cars going in a different direction. So, yes, there is ways to get around, but they are not going to be fast. And this is going to add what some people are considering, you know, an hour, two hours on to some of these people's commutes.

HARRIS: So, listen, we're still very early in the process. Any idea of a time line on when it the repairs will be made, when the work will be completed?

LAWRENCE: Well, when a tanker -- a tanker has crashed like this before. This isn't the first time this has happened. The last time it happened on a road, you know, literally just down the road from here, it took about five to six months to get it fixed.

Now, after the North Ridge Earthquake in 1994, the state of California instituted a policy, a bonus so to speak, whereby they got a contractor and for every day that the contractor finished early on their project, they got a $10,000 bonus per day. It took a stretch of highway that was supposed to take about a year to finish. They got it done in about three months.

Now I talked to Caltrans here just a few minutes ago. They said that is a possibility in this case because of the size of this project. But they don't even have a contractor yet. They haven't drawn up the designs. So that's something that may be looked at down the road.

HARRIS: Yes. All right, Chris Lawrence for us this morning.

Chris, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: The alleged D.C. madam is back in court this hour, leaving many of her rich and powerful clients worried about the names she may drop. CNN's Jim Acosta has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Deborah Jeane Palfrey denies accusations she ran a D.C. prostitution ring.

DEBORAH JEANE PALFREY, PAMELA MARTIN AND ASSOCIATES: The firm, Pamela Martin and Associates, operated as a legal, high-end erotic fantasy service.

ACOSTA: But there are fears in the nation's capital that the woman behind the business, Pamela Martin and Associates, has every intention of naming names to stay out of jail.

PALFREY: This is on the head of the government. This is not on me. They had a chance at any given point in the last six or so months to stop this thing. But they don't seem to care.

ACOSTA: In an interview with the Internet radio site, WSRadio, Palfrey says she plans on disclosing more than a decades worth of phone records from her self-described erotic fantasy service as part of her defense.

PALFREY: Look, we're going to use some, if not many of these 10,000 people who used the service for the 13 years as defense witnesses. And many of these people have government clearances, security clearances, high-level individuals. Do you really want this to happen?

ACOSTA: High level individuals like Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias. He resigned last week for personal reasons after confirming to ABC News that he was one of Palfrey's clients. Tobias, a proponent of abstinence based AIDS prevention, and seen here with President Bush, told ABC he had only received massages from Palfrey's service.

Deborah Palfrey is requesting a public defender, claiming she's broke after federal authorities seized her life savings and other assets when she was arrested last fall.

Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, the longest terror case to work its way through British courts, today, convictions after a year long trial. Jurors today found five men guilty. They had planned to bomb targets, including a London nightclub, a shopping mall and power plants. A short time ago, the British judge handed down life sentences to all five men. Evidence presented secretly showed they had ties to the group that bombed London's transit system just about two years ago.

COLLINS: Chad Myers standing by now to give us an idea of the weather conditions all across the country. We know we've got flood in Texas, we've got that wildfire in Georgia. All kinds of stuff going on.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Meanwhile, we want to get back to that fire here in Georgia. Making progress, firefighters are, on the state's biggest ever wildfire. But there's still a lot of work to be done.

Of course, the flames have raised across 100 square miles of tinder dry forest and swamp land. That's about 82,000 acres. Some families who have been evacuated still can't go home. And a stretch of U.S. Highway 1 still shut down.

Right now, officials say the fire is about 70 percent contained, but full containment won't be easy. Winds are gusty and, as you heard Chad say, no rain in the forecast. The two-week-old blaze is expected to burn for at least another week.

What sent a man into a shooting frenzy at a Kansas City mall? Two people and a gunman were killed yesterday. How does an elderly woman's death factor into all of this? We get the very latest now from Sophia Wharton of affiliate KCTV in Kansas City.

Sophia, what's the latest on this?

SOPHIA WHARTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, right now the mall is closed. And I just want to just give you an idea. This mall, the Ward Parkway Mall, is in one of Kansas City's nicest areas. If we were ever called here, it's usually for a purse snatching or a car break in. Never something like this.

Two people gunned down in the parking lot as part of this crime spree. It may be random. We just don't know. But it started when police went to a house where they found a woman dead and that her car had been stolen.

Then they spot the stolen car. At that point, the gunman comes out and starts firing at a police officer, hitting one police officer in the arm. And then the third part of the story, the really horrifying part, when they came here. He came here to the Ward Parkway Shopping Center.

This is a look at the scene yesterday. The gunman came here yesterday afternoon around 3:30 after police say he stole the car and shot the police officer in the arm who tried to stop him. When he got to the mall, in one of Kansas City's nicest neighborhoods, he opened fire, killing two people near his car and hurting at least two others. And then, finally, police were able to kill him as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. TONY SANDERS, KANSAS CITY POLICE: On a sunny afternoon in the Midwest at a shopping center, hundreds and hundreds of people that go in to ready themselves for the workweek or come to the mall for relaxation purposes. That's exactly what you had today. And then you had a man who chose to come into the mall with a gun to do harm to people. So if you can only imagine that, you can imagine what would be described probably as your worst nightmare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHARTON: We've had reports from people inside of hearing dozen of shots firing and just ducking for cover. Of course, police were forced to take out the gunmen with a shot of their own. We're still waiting to find out who the shooter was and the names of the victims.

Reporting live in Kansas City, Sophia Wharton.

COLLINS: All right, Sophia, thanks so much for that.

HARRIS: And White House Press Secretary Tony Snow back at work this morning. Snow's been on medical leave since late last month. That's when doctors found his cancer had returned, spreading to his liver. In 2005, Snow was diagnosed with colon cancer and had his colon removed. On CNN's "American Morning" he talked about his current treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is unbelievable what medical researchers have been able to come up with in recent years. And conditions that used to be incurable are curable now. Conditions that used not to be treatable are treatable today. And there are a lot of people with situations worse than mine that have been living 20, 30 years by simply dealing with it, with regular chemo. They've been leading full and happy lives. And that's certainly what I hope to be doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And yesterday Snow was in North Carolina at Davidson College, his alma mater. He joked with alumni telling him, "to my classmates who think I'm going to lose my great hair, forget about it." We are expecting to hear from Tony Snow shortly. He will be offering comments this morning in what we call the morning gaggle. When that happens, we will bring those comments to you live right here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Emerging from bankruptcy and sporting a new image, the new Delta Airlines. Changes ahead for passengers, in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Also, the battle over immigration. Protestors ready to hit the streets again, while the president renews a call for reform.

COLLINS: On the mend and going home. The latest on the New Jersey governor's recovery from a terrible traffic crash. Have that ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Out of bankruptcy. As of this morning, passengers and investors are waiting to see if Delta Airlines can deliver better service, better fares and its predictions of lofty profits. CNN's Rusty Dornin is at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

And, Rusty, look, look -- first of all, good morning to you.

It is virtually impossible to overstate what a big story this is for the Atlanta area. So, if you would, tell us what Delta has planned for this big day.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot of surprises today. Take a look at the old paint job on the Delta airplanes, because you're not going to see them for long. In about an hour, they're going to unveil the brand new look for Delta. Their new image.

And, of course, the past 20 months have been very painful for this airline with cutbacks and layoffs. But now Delta emerging from bankruptcy plans to make a big splash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN, (voice over): Delta cut 6,000 jobs and $3 billion in annual operating costs. And smack-dab in the middle of the bankruptcy, the airline spent a bundle on remodeling at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport.

JIM WHITEHURST, DELTA CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: We spent $30 million over the last year redoing the lobby. We have many more check-in positions. We have many more kiosks. It means shorter lines, easier to get through the lobby.

DORNIN: Millions more spent to spruce up plane interiors, live TV in the consoles, even new flight attendant uniforms and the jets will get new paint jobs.

But what about the thousands of workers it was forced to lay off?

WHITEHURST: We even brought back most everyone who was out on furlough. And in most areas, we're hiring new people.

DORNIN: According to the "Atlanta Journal and Constitution," the legal bills facing Delta could top $200 million. That's about the equivalent of the annual salaries of 3,000 mechanics.

Other airlines have faced similar financial problems. Northwest also filed for bankruptcy on the same day as Delta in September of '05. But unlike Northwest, which has yet to emerge from bankruptcy, Delta benefits from a largely non-union labor force. Chapter 11 has also allowed Delta to streamline its costs and ship more jets to more profitable overseas routes. The new sleeker, more efficient Delta could also mean a nicer experience.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for flying Delta.

DORNIN: Does this mean we're going to get our pillows back?

WHITEHURST: We're looking hard at pillows. I don't want to promise you that, but we are looking hard at it. We are going to roll out food again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN: You heard it right, food. We might actually get meals. At least Delta is promising to bring back meals next fall on flights longer than three hours. Meantime, the new veiling is going to take place about an hour from now. The hangar is filled with employees and the CEO is going to be coming out to make that announcement.

Tony.

HARRIS: Did you say food? Did you say food on flights again?

DORNIN: Yes, food. Real food. You know, not the kind in the snack box. The kind we used to complain about, but now would love to have.

HARRIS: We'd love to have it again.

All right, Rusty Dornin for us.

Rusty, appreciate it. Thank you.

For American troops in Iraq, a deadly, new milestone for 2007. The U.S. death toll has climbed again.

George Tenet's take. Three years later, the former CIA director talking tough about his time with President Bush. His memoir out today. He is talking to Larry King tonight. The story straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Gerri Willis.

As you get older, financial pressures are intense. What you can do to stay out of trouble. That's next on "Top Tips" in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: OK. So let's go check out the numbers. Look at this. The Dow Jones Industrial average is 13,136.

HARRIS: OK.

COLLINS: Right now, up 16 points. Nasdaq down about three. But we're going to be watching these numbers. Just basically because it's fun.

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: And they're big. We're going to be talking business here a little bit later on in the show.

HARRIS: Bankruptcy. Can you guess which age group is seeing the fastest rise in declaring themselves insolvent? The answer should serve as a warning to all of us. Here with the answers, CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis. She joins us from New York with her "Top Tips."

Gerri, great to see you.

WILLIS: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: I would think it would be young people who may be are starting out and they get in over their heads and the next thing they know, boy, I've got to start over again.

WILLIS: Wrong.

HARRIS: Wrong?

WILLIS: It's seniors. It's older folks who are really getting into trouble right now. And, of course, you know, I mean, they have all kinds of pressures. Kids in college. You name it, they've got it.

HARRIS: So I love your first tip here because this is something that I'm not real familiar with. Your first tip is to consider reverse mortgages. Explain those to us.

WILLIS: Sure. You know, this could be a good option if you're struggling to pay your monthly bills, especially your mortgage. But you won't be able to leave your house to your kids. Here's how it works. You sell the home to the bank. And, in return, you get a stream of payments that last your lifetime. Now this allows you to live in the home and gives you some monthly income.

The downside, it's expensive. It could be thousands of dollars in closing costs. But if you want to know the numbers, figure out how much cash you could get, crunch the numbers at rmaarp.com. These products have really improved a lot. So if you're, you know, approaching retirement, you're in retirement, under financial pressure, your house is your biggest asset.

Tony.

HARRIS: That's right. And for those of us of a certain age, we should think long term?

WILLIS: Long term care. You're not this age yet, Tony, but healthcare costs are expected to increase 7 percent each year. As you get older, that's more important. So to curb this expense, investigate long-term care insurance. This will protect your assets in case you need to pay for assisted living or a nursing home stay. Now if you're between 45 and 65, this could be a very worthwhile investment. You will pay thousands less for a policy during these years. That is the time to buy.

HARRIS: I love this next tip because I think it's something that we can all do most times in our life. And that's the idea of downsizing.

WILLIS: Yes, you betcha. You've got that right, Tony. For most Americans, their biggest asset is their home, as I've said. And if you're really in need of cash, you can move either to a lower cost area or into a smaller house. Check out bestplaces.net. This web tool lets you compare costs of living between different areas. It's a really handy place to go.

HARRIS: And as we start to get older we approach retirement, we need to be extra careful about borrowing and be careful because there are some hidden fees and charges and things that can really, really catch you.

WILLIS: That's right. You know, 401(k) plans let you borough money, but this is really a last resort since messing with your nest egg is just a bad idea. You're going to have to pay that money back and the interest is about 4 percent to 8 percent. Now some 401(k) plans also have emergency disbursement where you don't have to pay that 10 percent penalty if you take the cash out. But your circumstances have to qualify as an emergency, either a job loss or unforeseen medical situation. So avoid that if you can.

And, of course, if you have any question, send them to us at toptips@cnn.com. We answer them right here every Friday and we love to hear from you.

HARRIS: Great viewers, great e-mails, great advice from you, Gerri. Appreciate it. Great to see you today.

WILLIS: Thank you, Tony. Good to see you.

HARRIS: Thanks.

COLLINS: All right. Coming up in just a few minutes here, it's Tony Snow's first day back on the job.

HARRIS: So it's Tony Snow day.

COLLINS: Yes.

HARRIS: Why not.

COLLINS: It's good to see him.

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: We're going to be bringing you some of his comments at the top of the White House briefing. But it is his first day back after five weeks ago, I guess it was late March, the 27th or something like that, when he announced that he was going to have this growth removed. And then as they removed the growth, they found that all of the cancer had come back. And then we were trying to figure out really what that meant and what his condition would be. But very hard to do when you're not a physician.

HARRIS: There he is, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, here he comes now.

HARRIS: Handshakes all around, right. Applause all around.

COLLINS: Obviously happy to see him there back at his post. Let's go ahead and listen in for just a moment, if we could.

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Just hanging out.

Thank you so much. It's great to be back.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

SNOW: All right. Well, on that note, let me announce the president's schedule for the day.

He received normal briefings in the morning. There's ongoing meeting with U.S. EU leaders in the Oval Office right now. There will be a working lunch with the U.S. EU leaders at noon and a joint press availability at 1:25. That will be a two plus two plus two. So just for those keeping score.

At 2:15, a meeting with TransAtlantic Business Dialogue. It is something that was set up by the late Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, designed to promote closer commercial dies between the United States and the European Union. It create a mechanism to encourage input to foster a more closely-integrated Trans Atlantic marketplace.

At 3:45, a photo opportunity with the First (ph) award winners. The First was founded in 1989 to inspire young people's interest in participation in science and technology. The president will participate in a photo opportunity with winners of the first robotics competition. They are from Baltimore, Maryland.

Let me also just -- some personal comments. I'll try not to get choked up. So I'll go slow.

You never anticipate this stuff. It just happens. I want to thank everybody in this room. You guys . . .

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

SNOW: I'm getting there. Thanks. And thanks for the basket.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

SNOW: No, I just -- I want to thank you all. It really meant to world to me. And anybody who does not believe that thoughts and prayers make a difference, they're just wrong.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

SNOW: I will. Thanks. Especially you.

Just a couple of things about my situation. I'm not trying to feel sorry for myself, I'm just going to stop being choked up because you guys have been so wonderful.

I'm a very lucky guy. As I told you before, we were out of an aggressive sense of caution going to do an exploratory surgery that did indicate that I still have cancer. Now I know the first reaction of people when they hear the word cancer is, uh-oh. But we live in kind of a different medical situation than we used to. And I have been blessed to be treated by, supported by some of the finest doctors in the world.

What we are going to do, we had surgery, where we did disclose, and there are some small cancers in the peritoneum. And we are going to attack them using chemotherapy. I'll start chemotherapy this Friday.

The design is to throw it into remission and transform it into a chronic disease. If cancer is merely a nuisance for a long period of time, that's fine with me. There are many people running around -- and I must tell you, I've received a lot of notes from folks who have had far worst cases than I have, who have survived many years with the kind of regimen that we're talking about, which is chemo up front and then maintenance chemo to continue combating cancer cells.

I won't tell you how it's going to work out, because I don't know. But we, obviously, feel optimistic and faith, hope and love are a big part of all of it.

The other thing is I hope folks out there who either maybe have cancer or have loved ones with cancer need to know a couple things. First, don't go it alone. The support I've received from you and from my colleagues at the White House and people around the country have been an enormous source of strength. You can't -- there's no way to quantify it, but you feel it. You feel it in your heart. And in many ways that may be the most important organ for recovery, to have the kind of spirit and to realize that in my case I'm unbelievably lucky and unbelievably blessed, and really happy to be back.

The other thing is, so don't go it alone. The other thing is be of courage. Realize that in an age like ours, things are happening very rapidly in the medical realm. I'm taking a cancer cocktail this time around, a chemo cocktail, that's going to contain two agents that were not in broad use two years ago. Things are moving very rapidly, and there's always hope. Not everybody will survive cancer, but on the other hand, you've got to realize you've got the gift of life, so make the most of it. And That is my view. and I'm going to make the most of my time with you.

I'll take questions.

QUESTION: Tony, has the White House alerted when the Iran supplemental is coming down, and how quickly would the president act to veto it?

SNOW: First, we can cut cameras now, because we have cut to the other portion of our...

COLLINS: There you have it, Tony Snow, really having a tough time coming back and talking a little bit about, as he calls it, his situation. And it was like you said, you know, whenever you say that you're not going to get choked up so you're going to talk slow, you can pretty much guarantee that you're going to get choked up.

But it's interesting, you know, he had a couple of really fantastic pointers, don't go alone and thoughts an prayers really make a difference when you go through something so serious.

HARRIS: How about appreciating the gift of life we all have, and to hear it from a man who is going through what he is going through, say he feels blessed, and fortunate and lucky. That is a strong statement.

COLLINS: Straight to the questions from the press.

HARRIS: And there you go. Oh, man.

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.

HARRIS: That's a such is good point, Heidi -- how about that supplemental?

COLLINS: I know. A bit off the topic, wasn't it?

HARRIS: My goodness.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins.

On to another story out of D.C. today, will her little black book become a Washington must read? Court date for an alleged madam. We're watching developments, coming up in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Crawling along -- Bay area drivers facing a nightmarish commute after a bridge collapse. Road to ruin the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And little ones and big trouble at the dentist office. A new study may make you think twice about your kid's next treat. Tot and tooth decay, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Rush hour around San Francisco Bay. A lot less rushing and a lot more than an hour's commute, that's for sure. The cause, a traffic nightmare, well, yesterday's collapse of a vital link between San Francisco and Oakland. The fiery crash of a gasoline tanker truck literally melted the overpass. Somehow the driver walked away with only moderate burns and no one else was injured. Today more than a quarter-million commuters are feeling the pain. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency and is offering free public transportation today. Rebuilding the highway will likely take several months.

COLLINS: The woman accused of running a prostitution ring for the rich and powerful appears in a Washington courtroom this morning. In fact, it's right inside that building. Those proceedings, we understand, are now over. But still, a lot of people are on edge. Debora Jeane Palfrey says she ran a legal exotic escort service. She's been indicted on federal racketeering and money-laundering charges. Palfrey says she will name some of her 10,000 clients and use them as defense witnesses. Palfrey is seeking a public defender. She says she's broke after federal authorities seized her assets when she was arrested last fall.

As we said, we understand those proceedings are concluded right now. but we believe she will be coming to the microphone shortly. We'll bring it to you when it happens.

HARRIS: Making good on a threat -- by tomorrow President Bush is expected to veto the new bill -- the new war spending bill, the measure, which cleared Congress last week includes a timetable for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, something the president is against. As the political wrangling goes on in Washington, more American troops lose their lives in Iraq. The Pentagon says 14 U.S. soldiers and Marines were killed over the weekend in and around Baghdad and in Anbar province.

April, with 104 U.S. troop deaths, is now the sixth deadliest month of the war. The total American death toll during the war now 3,351.

Attacking the administration, former CIA director George Tenet out with a new book, speaking out about 9/11 and the run up to the war in Iraq. Tenet says he's upset with the way the administration has been portraying his part, especially his slam dunk assessment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE TENET, FMR, CIA DIRECTOR: The hardest part of all this has just been listening to this for almost three years, listening to the vice president go on "Meet the Press" on the fifth year of 9/11, and say, you know, well, George Tenet said "slam dunk," as if he needed me to say "slam dunk" to go to war with Iraq, and they never let it go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Tenet's recent media splash is met with some criticism. A group of former CIA colleagues wondering why it took three years for him to finally speak out. Hear much more from George Tenet tonight. The ex-CIA chief kicks off Larry King's 50-year broadcasting. A weeklong celebration. A live cable exclusive with George Tenet tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

COLLINS: To Afghanistan now. Another American soldier has died in that country. The U.S.-led coalition says the soldier was killed at the start of three days of fighting in Herat province. That's in the western part of the country. And coalition forces say they have it killed at least 136 suspected Taliban militants in that campaign.

Immigration -- there's the political side and the personal side. Reform, promise but not delivered. And now a second wave of pro- immigration protests on tap.

CNN's Alina Cho has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Los Angeles Sunday, hundreds of children in the streets. Young faces, U.S. citizens. Many of their parents are in this country illegally. The children argue they too are victims when their parents are targeted for deportation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Children in our group, they're aware that all of -- they are born here, they are from immigrant parents. And the possibility the way the immigration laws are now of them being separated from their parents is very likely, and that's something that children don't want absolutely to have happen. CHO: Last year's immigration rallies were much larger and louder than expected. Hundreds of thousands are expected to gather in cities like L.A., New York and Chicago. The rallying cry, how U.S. immigration raids are uprooting families and tearing them apart.

Shortly after last year's rallies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched Operation Return to Sender. The goal, round up illegal immigrants and deport them. To date, the operation has netted more than 23,000 arrests nationwide.

President Bush renewed his call for immigration reform during a commencement speech Saturday at Miami Dade College.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need a system where our laws are respected. We feed a system that meets the legitimate needs of our economy. And we need a system that treats people with dignity.

CHO: The president and Congress have yet to work out the details. So some cities, like San Francisco, are taking matters into their own hands, by not cooperating with federal authorities as they try to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're a sanctuary city. We don't corroborate with the federal government as it relates to these raids.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Immigration nation, be sure to tune in to CNN tomorrow as we cover all the angles of the immigration debates. CNN correspondents are spread out across the country, from coast to coast and along the Mexican border, bringing you complete coverage, only on CNN.

HARRIS: Something new at KFC. It may be stamped on your next bucket of chicken. Look for it right here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: The dropping dollar, and here comes a flood of shoppers to American shores and stores. We'll tell you more about it in the NEWSROOM, after this.

Quickly, before we go to break actually, we are waiting to hear from this woman. This is Deborah Jeane Palfrey. She will apparently be coming to the microphone to offer some sort of statement about the proceedings that happened today when she was in court. Otherwise known as the alleged D.C. Madam.

Assets seized, she can't afford her legal defense, and she was asking the court for a public defender. Let's listen in.

MONTGOMERY BLAIR SIBLEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: As you know I'm the civil attorney for Deborah Jeane Palfrey. She's going to make a brief statement. I have some copies. There's Bill Kessling (ph) around here. He's got some copies he can hand out for you. If you don't get a copy, because I underestimated the number of people here today, it is posted at this time on her Web site, which is deborajeanepalfrey.com. So you can pull it down quickly there.

There's no sense screaming questions at Jeane. When she's done with her statements she will not answer them. I will attempt to address your questions to the extent the answer would not violate the exclusive agreement we have with ABC News.

That said, here is Deborah Jeane Palfrey.

DEBORAH JEANE PALFREY, PAMELA MARTIN AND ASSOC.: Good morning. I would like to comment on a few topics, including last Friday's disclosure by ABC News that former Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias was a customer of my previous business, Pamela Martin and Associates.

First, allow me to say how genuinely sorry I am for Mr. Tobias, his family, and his friends. I unfortunately know firsthand the impact such a revelation can have upon one's life. My family has suffered considerably since the onset of the government's charges against me last October.

As my civil attorney, Mr. Montgomery can confirm, both he and I endeavored diligently for five months, from October of last year until early March, to maintain the confidentiality of the client records, including those of Mr. Tobias, Mr. Harlan K. Ullman and various other individuals yet to be named. It was only when the government's assistant U.S. A's Catherine Hanaway, Daniel Butler, and William Coulden (ph) refused every reasonable offer Mr. Sibley and I extended their way to reconcile the civil matter fairly and upon the government's decision to indict me criminally in early March, expressly at the time stating to us that they did not care whether or not the identities of the clients were revealed did Mr. Sibley and I make the determination to utilize the records for my defense.

Initially, thought was given to raising the requisite funds need to mount an expensive criminal defense by selling the records. Within a short time this option was quickly abandoned for fear the records would end up in the possession of an unscrupulous person or persons. It should be noted the assessment here not to sell the 46 pounds of telephone invoices was made irrespective of the court's order prohibiting me from doing so, but was made independently as an ethically conscientious choice by Mr. Sibley and me.

Nonetheless the decision was ultimately made to hand over the records to a responsible media outlet, in this case ABC News of New York, without compensation and/or promises or guarantees of any sort. Even though ABC News is under no obligation whatsoever to me, I do expect their reporting to help identify potential witnesses for my defense. For me, this is an absolute necessity, since the government has placed me in the untenable position, whereby I do not have sufficient monies to undertake this extraordinarily expensive task on my own.

My hope, defense witnesses could be found by combing through the information indeed is being realized. Friday's admission by Mr. Tobias that he engaged in legal activity while a customer of my firm supports my position all along that I operated a sexual, albeit legal, business for 13 years, from 1993 to 2006.

I am very dismayed, however, by Mr. Tobias' refusal to come forward until now with this extremely valuable exculpatory evidence. Had he done so earlier, along with the many, many others who have used my company's services throughout the years I most likely would not be in my current predicament.

As for those, however, who disobeyed my directives, and those individuals who had signed contracts with me and participated in illegal behavior, be they a client or a subcontractor, I would expect the government as a matter of fairness and to avoid any hint of selective prosecution, to charge each and every individual with the crimes of money laundering, conspiracy and racketeering as well. After all, racketeering and conspiracy offenses in particular require two or more parties, and very ironically to date I appear to be a very single party of one. Allow me to leave you with this thought, if I may. Surely most people have established by now that mine is a very bizarre and rather unusual case. In fact, those few truly familiar with the actual details and nuances can attest without equivocation accordingly to this and much more.

Even my now dismissed federal public defender, Mr. A.J. Cramer (ph) has remarked in his 16 years as chief federal public defender for the District of Columbia, he has never seen a case quite like mine.

Consequently, I would ask the press and the media to put aside the titillation of the who's who list, at least in part, and instead investigate the disturbing genesis, the confounding evolution and the equally alarming continuation of this matter. I believe there is something very, very rotten at the core of my circumstance, and without money to hire my own investigators I must rely upon your acumen and talent, here, the press and the media, to uncover the truth. I thank you for your professionalism in this regard, and good day.

QUESTION: Mr. Blair, do you really expect Mr. Tobias or anybody else on that list to be a witness for Ms. Palfrey?

SIBLEY: When they are serve with a subpoena to appear and testify under oath, we expect them to tell the truth and we expect them to show up, because nobody is above the law in this country, as this case is rapidly pointing out.

QUESTION: Mr. Blair, I mean, how can this be described as anything else but blackmail, that you're willing to destroy the lives of public officials in order to help your client's case?

SIBLEY: Well, I don't know why that's blackmail. I call that due process of law, sir. And why didn't we start in October if we were trying to blackmail people for money? We tried to work this out, and that wasn't an option. We don't have any option left.

Anybody on the right? QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) that this is witness intimidation. I haven't heard you guys address that since the judge raised those questions. She argued that the suit against Ms. Snebble (ph) was basically naming somebody and threatening the name of their clients and other contractors. What do you guys say to that? And I'd like to hear Jean on that as well.

SIBLEY: Everyone would like to hear Jeane and none of you will.

But my point -- my answer to that is today the judge ruled that there was irreconcilable differences between Ms. Palfrey and her counsel, up to and including today. That fact alone draws into question every order entered in this case as to whether due process was followed when those orders were entered, that being giving Jeane a chance to be here and a notice of what was going on here before those orders were entered. I think they're all suspect and likely to be vacated so we can go forward with legitimate counsel here.

Neal (ph),please.

QUESTION: Thank you.

Every single person who used Ms. Palfrey's service over the years expect some sort of privacy. And now you seem willing to drop names in front of those microphones of people who are not charge with any crimes. At this point, will you continue to name anyone if it will help your case. regardless of whether they may or may not be a client?

SIBLEY: Well, Neil, Jeane is facing federal criminal charges of a felony grade. She has the obligation and indeed the right under the Sixth Amendment to compel witnesses on her behalf. You cannot compel witnesses unless you can identify them. Jeane never keep a black book, she kept telephone records. And from those records significant resources are required to call the identities of the individuals who are making the phone calls. ABC News has the integrity and the resources to do that for the four-year period we've given them. 1994 through 2002 hasn't been culled yet, but we are in negotiations to get that done in fairly short order. We're looking for witnesses.

Like, I'm sorry -- there's a bank robber; you want to see who is at the scene of the crime so they can testify to the identity of the bank robbers. It's no different -- sir.

QUESTION: Do you have a rough estimate, without naming names,how many witnesses you expect to come out of this process with ABC? (INAUDIBLE).

SIBLEY: You know, we don't know what ABC does any more than you do. You have to go to their Webs sites and their statements. and I can't speak for them.

I'll take two or three more quick questions.

QUESTION: If I were the counsel...

COLLINS: OK. So there we have it. Montgomery Blair Sibley? HARRIS: Sibley, Sibley, yes.

COLLINS: Or is it Sibley Blair? I don't know.

HARRIS: Esquire.

COLLINS: Talking for Jeane Palfrey there, as you see behind him, and her giving her statement.

I mean, she asked us not to care about the names. What do you think? We just won't ask the names anymore.

HARRIS: This is going to get so ugly. This is going to go court, and what she's saying is that she wants these witnesses, these clients of the service to come in and testify on her behalf, to tell the truth, to be witnesses for the defense. We will see where that goes.

COLLINS: yes. We'll be watching it.

All right. Meanwhile to another story. Terrible scenes from a mall in Kansas city. Several people shot. Three dead, including the gunman. We'll have the latest ahead in the NEWSROOM.

And on the mend to going home -- the latest on the New Jersey governor's recovery from a terrible traffic crash. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: A road to nowhere -- a traffic nightmare today and images all too familiar from the 1989 earthquake. Lessons learned then, the daunting challenges today. A closer look in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And emerging from bankruptcy and sporting a new image. The new Delta Airlines, changes ahead for passengers, too? We'll tell you about that, coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.

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