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Frank Talk About Frustrations Over Iraq; Iraq War Funding; Blair Stepping Down

Aired May 10, 2007 - 11:00   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're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins. Hi, everybody.

Developments keep coming in to the NEWSROOM on this Thursday, May 10th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

House Republicans cautioning the president on the Iraq war. House Democrats setting a vote today on a second war funding bill. I talk Iraq with the Army vice chief of staff.

HARRIS: Boulder, Colorado, high school students locked out this morning. Police trying to find out who's inside. Men dressed in camouflage and ski masks.

The maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin admits what some already know -- the drug is highly addictive. And the company wasn't up front about it.

Plea deal in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Want to go ahead and take a moment to get you up to speed on the story we've been following all morning long out of Boulder, Colorado. The high school there, about 1,900 kids, is on lockout. We say that because school had not yet begun, or else it would have been a lockdown situation with students inside. We do believe that the high school has been closed for the day because of a suspicious incident that happened earlier this morning.

Let's go ahead and go now to some sound from the press conference moments ago -- Police Chief Mark Beckner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MARK BECKNER, BOULDER POLICE: Obviously, given the times that we live in and recent events that we've had, we have to take all precautions. You know, we don't know if this is a prank. We don't know if this is a burglary. We don't know if this is something more than that. But we're going to take every precaution we can.

So with that, we obviously did a lockdown on the school. We set up a perimeter, as you can see here. Got officers on exit points.

And now we do have a rather large team of officers inside the building doing a room-by-room, closet-by-closet search. We also have a bomb dog in the building that is also checking for any potential bombs.

Again, we don't know if we have anything at all. This could have been a spring end of school year prank. It could be a burglary. It could be kids goofing around. Or it could be something more serious. We just don't know right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Again, Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner there.

We will continue to stay on top of that story for you, bring you any new developments should they arise.

HARRIS: Frank talk about frustrations over Iraq. Republican lawmakers laying it on the line in a meeting with President Bush. The discussion described as blunt and candid, but this morning the administration is downplaying Republican anxieties.

White House Correspondent Ed Henry joins us live.

Ed, we'll get to the meeting of the minds in a moment here, but President Bush is heading to the Pentagon, I understand.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

HARRIS: What does he hope to learn?

HENRY: Well, he's there this hour, in fact, at the Pentagon, just across the river into northern Virginia. He's getting high-level briefings from Defense Secretary Gates, as well as General Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, focusing on both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of course, both theaters open right now. Both wars high-level briefings here. And the president, we're expected about 12:05 Eastern Time, is going to making remarks, brief remarks, we are told, about that briefing, but undoubtedly he'll also weigh into this funding fight over the war funding.

The Democrats trying to do it in sort of a short-term basis. The White House yesterday, once again, issuing a veto threat over that. It would be the second veto of a war funding bill because of this ongoing dispute.

And that meeting of the minds you mentioned Tuesday afternoon certainly on the minds of the White House right now collectively. About 11 House Republicans concerned about the war here, meeting with the president behind closed doors, along with other top officials.

One of those lawmakers, Congressman Ray LaHood of Illinois, told CNN this morning that essentially lawmakers took the bark off. Really, their unvarnished opinion and versions of what their constituents are telling them all around the country about how they believe constituents are losing patience for the war in Iraq. Congressman LaHood saying that he thought the president saw it as a very sobering -- that sort of assessment he was getting from these lawmakers.

I think the bottom line is this shows there's kind of a Republican earthquake building, if you will. And the question is, where's it going to be on the political Richter scale? At this point, it looks like it's relatively small, like this is almost an early warning sign to the president that Republicans are restless.

When it will get really serious, where that Richter scale will get ratcheted up, will be late summer, early fall, in September, when General Petraeus is saying he'll give a progress report. These Republican lawmakers are saying if there hasn't been major progress by then, there's going to need to be a serious policy change, and that's when support for the president could collapse -- Tony.

HARRIS: CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry for us this morning.

Ed, thanks.

HENRY: Thank you.

COLLINS: The front lines in Iraq, the bottom line in Washington. House Democrats pushing a new measure today that would divide the war budget into two votes. The first would fund the war only through July.

CNN's Brianna Keilar is in Washington.

What exactly, Brianna, is happening today in the House?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, the House actually -- the House Democratic Caucus just wrapped up a meeting on the Hill on the two votes that we're watching for today. The first vote, that one you mentioned, on a bill that would take $96 billion to fund the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan through September and split it in two.

House Democratic leaders were at the mics last hour talking about this, after caucusing, saying that it's really about accountability. The Democrats' plan is to OK about $43 billion of that money for the war, but it also would force President Bush to come back to them in July and then report on where Iraq stands on certain benchmarks to get the rest of that money, which is about $53 billion more.

Now, Republicans like Minority Leader John Boehner are lambasting this move. He says it's pretty much just like dolling out allowance to a kid.

Before this vote on this installment plan for war funding, there is going to be another vote. This one a largely symbolic vote in order to satisfy members who are very much opposed to funding this war. Democrats are allowing this vote on a measure to completely withdraw troops from Iraq within 180 days -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Quickly, Brianna, I want to ask you about this, you know, okaying of the second chunk of money when it comes time. It sounds pretty subjective. How will they decide? What are they looking at as to whether or not they're going to give that second half of the money?

KEILAR: Well, there's going to be a number of benchmarks on the progress that obviously Iraq is making. And you know, the big question, too, is whether or not this is going to pass.

And at this point, Democratic leaders say they expect it to in the House, but President Bush has issued a veto to threaten it. This probably is not what's going to make it to his desk, so don't expect to be seeing this -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. We'll continue to follow this story, as always.

Brianna Keilar from Washington today.

Thanks, Brianna.

HARRIS: Roadways becoming waterways. Well, don't take my word for it. See it for yourself.

CNN's Sean Callebs is in the middle of the Midwest floods.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, standing here on Highway 111, right in the heart of Big Lake, Missouri, and really living up to its name. Want to pull out and give you a wide shot just to show you the graphic image of just how far, how widespread this flooding is.

Fertile farmland to my left just under water. Actually, irrigation equipment out that is just almost a joke if you think about the amount of water that is out here.

Residents we talked to in this community say they lived through this back in 1993. They were hopeful it wouldn't happen again, but it did.

They blame the levee system near the Missouri River that is supposed to protect this area. Many say it's simply, in their words, a joke.

We talked to one gentleman who said on his front porch he could see where the levee gave way a couple of miles down the road. He could actually see the water roll toward his house.

Now, the entire town has been evacuated, and no one's going to be allowed in for the near future. They want this water to go down.

Back in '93, it took just about a month for all of the floodwater to go back to the Missouri, wash its way down south. No one knows how long it's going to take this time. They hope -- they hope it begins receding by the weekend.

What's at stake here? Well, just all this cropland. There was corn planted over there. Hundreds of acres more to the north of us. There's also an important rail line that carves its way right through the middle of this community.

Now, for the past couple of days or so, crews have been out there with a lot of heavy equipment, doing what they can to shore up that elevated rail system. It's only a few feet above the flood stage, so they're doing what they can to make sure it doesn't give way. They want to keep that vital link open.

And when this begins to recede, we know residents are going to be allowed to come back. What they're going to come back to, they just don't know.

Sean Callebs, CNN, Big Lake, Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And that's the tough part, too, isn't it? Reynolds Wolf joining us now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Taking the Army's pulse. Troops levels and deployment, recruitment goals, medical treatment for the injured. The Army's vice chief of staff answering questions live here in the studio in the NEWSROOM.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Newton here in London.

An end of an era for Tony Blair, but what does it hold for the British troops in Iraq?

HARRIS: Ice cream recall. Peanuts are in the mix, but not on the label, and that's a big problem.

Details in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Highly addicted, easily abused. The maker of OxyContin in a painful admission. A judge hits them where it hurts -- in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The beginning of the end. British Prime Minister Tony Blair announcing plans to step down as head of his party and his country after a decade at Number 10.

Live now to London and CNN's Paula Newton.

Paula, I'm looking at some figures here. Ten years ago, Tony Blair's trust rating was at 70 percent, and now it's down to 22 percent. What went wrong?

NEWTON: Well, again, it's that word, Tony -- Iraq. You know, I don't want to paint it as that being the only thing.

In 2002-2003, before the Iraqi invasion, Tony Blair was really taking it on the chin for a lot of domestic issues here, but on foreign policy, Tony, he was solid. People here in this country appreciating what he had done in the Balkans.

Iraq happened, Tony. Not only were there certainly protests afterwards, but even before. I remember one of the largest protests in post-war history here in the middle of London. People saying, don't go to war

Tony Blair, he did. He went to war with George W. Bush in Iraq. And now, more than 70 percent of Britons say that will be his legacy, and it isn't a good one as far as they are concerned.

You know, when you look at the tape of him in 2003, waltzing into Iraq, believing, just as George W. Bush did, that it was mission accomplished, he thought that he had put a lot of this behind him, that he could move on, that his legacy would move on and that it would not define him.

Tony, it's done completely the opposite. Iraq now defines his 10 years in office.

HARRIS: Let's talk about moving forward. Gordon Brown, should he be the successor here, who is he? We know he loves Cape Cod. And what does this change portend for the U.S.-British relationship?

NEWTON: The key thing here, Gordon Brown, chancellor of the Exchequer, is the money man. He is the guy who's handled the economy here. The economy is broadly seen as quite a success story as far as the Blair government is concerned.

What's important there, Tony, when it comes to Iraq is that he doesn't have the baggage that Tony Blair has. He can continue to stay pat with that Blair plan, troops in the area of Basra in Iraq. There is no plan for any kind of hasty withdrawal at this point.

On the other hand, given what happened to his predecessor, he is not going to be in a hurry to be committing more troops in Iraq, that's for sure.

HARRIS: And we'll leave it there.

CNN's Paula Newton for us in London.

Paula, thank you.

Taking the Army's pulse -- troop levels and deployments, recruitment goals, medical treatment for the injured. The Army's vice chief of staff answering questions live with Heidi next in the NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Longer deployments in the war zone, no shortage of anguish at home. Let's talk morale, troop levels, recruitment, and making things better at Walter Reed.

General Richard Cody is vice chief of staff for the Army. He is joining us now live in the studio.

Welcome to you, General.

GEN. RICHARD CODY, VICE CHIEF OF STAFF, U.S. ARMY: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Thank you for being here.

I want to make it really clear to everybody in case they're not very familiar with the office that you hold and what you do, what you look over every day, day-to-day running of the Army, that would mean manning, training, equipping and resourcing the Army. So, you are not in charge of tactics on the ground, let's say, in Iraq or Afghanistan. Just want to make that clear to people at home before we begin with you.

Instead, let's talk about troop levels. Tell me your feelings as we listen to this comment from Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker from last December.

Just one moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. PETER SCHOOMAKER, ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF: Over the last five years, the sustained strategic demand for deployed combat brigades and other supporting units is placing a strain on the Army's all-volunteer force. At this pace, without recurrent access to reserve components for remobilization, we will break the active component.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Are troops stretched too thin?

CODY: Well, I believe so. I agree with our former chief. And I've said this myself several times.

What keeps me awake at night in many -- in many forms is how we can hold on to this wonderful gift we call the all-volunteer force. The American people, I think, forget sometimes that this is the first time we have taken an all-volunteer Army and an all-volunteer force, Marines and Air Force and Navy, to a protracted war, six years.

COLLINS: A long war.

CODY: It's a long war. And we started the war with an Army that was too small, a Marine Corps that was too small, and the successive deployments are taking a toll on our families and on our soldiers. The remarkable thing, though, through all of this is we still have great young men and women signing up to basically tell America, in your time of need, send me. I'll defend you. And our retention rates right now are holding pretty -- pretty well.

But this plus-up bears watching. The additional months that we have had to ask our soldiers and their families -- I mean, there's another side to this. And we talk about this all-volunteer force. You have a family also that has volunteered to stay with their soldier...

COLLINS: No question about that.

CODY: ... and they're great heroes in their own right.

COLLINS: Well, we can't say enough about the men and women and their families serving the country. No question about that.

But I do wonder, back in 2003, when General Shinseki talked about this first deployment and there needing to be hundreds of thousands, why was that issue not pressed further? Not to spend time looking back, but it's worth talking about now, it would seem, as we go into this plus-up.

Why not more pressure on Defense Secretary Rumsfeld at that time?

CODY: I can't answer that. That was General Shinseki's operations officer at the time. I had just come from the 101st, and I was running -- getting our troops ready for mobilization and training and all that.

A lot of discussion about what size of force to put in there. I agree with General Shinseki that you always err on the side of more is better, because there's so many unknowns and variables in combat.

Mass has a quality all of its own, we like to say, in terms of mass versus efficiency. But I think we are where we are now in this war. And to go back and kind of look at who should have made what kind of decisions I don't think is helpful.

I think what we need to do is understand that this is an important fight we are in. Baghdad, Afghanistan, those are two battlefields on what I consider a long struggle as I look at this with my 35 years in the military. This may be the calling of our time for our young men and women in terms of defending forward our country.

COLLINS: How are we looking on the training grounds? You handle a lot of those issues. Are the men and women getting enough training as we go into these deployments? And also, maybe enough down time in between.

CODY: One of the reasons why we made the decision to stay with 15 months for this plus-up was so that we could protect the 12 months back at home, because it's vital. I think you know I've got two son that is have just come back from combat. My oldest son is now training his company to go back for his fourth tour. He tells me, as do a lot of the other young men and women that are out there, 12 months is the minimum time to assure that we have the team put together, the equipment put together, the resetting of the family, the resetting of the soldier. The decompression, if you will. Plus, the fact that we can get the leaders and train the soldiers for the rigors of combat.

And so, we're watching that very, very closely. But we will not send troops into combat that aren't trained. We just won't do it.

COLLINS: What do they tell you when you talk to them? I know that you have conversations. I know that you are able to visit with these men and women.

How are they feeling about these repeat tours of duty? We see so many who have done two, three, four tours now. What are they telling you about their morale, their loneliness, possibly, and missing their families?

CODY: Well, I just came back about three months ago, and the troops, when I was talking to them at several formations, the question -- I always go into a question and answer. Everything that was on their minds is, "General, are we going to get extended? And if we are, just tell us now so we can prepare our families. We are making a difference over here."

Much of what they feed back to me is they are making a difference. They want to know why America doesn't see some of the positive things they're doing. And they also say, "We're in this to win."

This Army that we have grown, this all-volunteer force, wants to win. They don't want a stalemate, they don't want a standoff. They absolutely want to win this fight and keep America safe. And what they want from America is to appreciate their service, and while they're deployed to take care of the families at home.

COLLINS: Understood.

We are going to be talking more with Vice Chief of Staff General Richard Cody in just a moment. We're going to get to the issue of Walter Reed and some of the changes that have already taken place and more that will be going on right after the break.

Stay right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We are back now with the vice chief of staff of the Army, General Richard Cody, joining us here live in the studio.

Thank you again for being here with us at the CNN NEWSROOM.

I want to talk a little bit about Walter Reed and the incidents that happened.

You had said that "The senior Army leadership takes full responsibility, and we're going to fix it."

What changes have already been made, General?

GENERAL RICHARD CODY, VICE CHIEF OF STAFF, U.S. ARMY: What we have did immediately at Walter Reed, one, the American people need to know that the medical care at Walter Reed was never in question. You've seen our patients. You have seen the wonderful miracles they perform every day. What we weren't doing a good job at, Heidi, was taking care of the young men and women that were recuperating, waiting for decisions on whether they're going to be discharged, what type of discharge they were going to be given and quite frankly, the system got overloaded.

So what we have done is I have put the right leadership in there. We have put a deputy commanding general of Walter Reed who's not a medical officer, Brigadier General Mike Tucker. He is our bureaucracy buster and the other piece that we're doing is we're working with the VA to help our soldiers so they don't have to fight a bureaucracy after going - fighting an enemy down range. They shouldn't have to come back here and fight a bureaucracy on taking care of them as a transition back to their lives. So a lot of changes, the biggest one is we changed a lot of leadership and we're trying to lower the bureaucracy that our soldiers have to encounter.

COLLINS: There were a lot of heads that rolled, if you will, in the wake of that. There was a secretary of the army who was let go, hospital commander, the army surgeon general. Are they going to name a new secretary of the army?

CODY: That's above my pay grade, Heidi.

COLLINS: Is it going to be you?

CODY: No, I don't think so. But we have a great acting secretary of the army, Secretary Pete Garrin (ph). He's stepped in after Dr. Harvey left and he is doing a great job. We'll just have to wait and see. But that's well above my pay grade.

COLLINS: All right. Let's talk about something that you have a little bit more to do with then and that would be Pat Tillman. You know, the hearings that have been going on, so-called cover-up of the death over the last few weeks. I wonder how a situation like that this could have evolved in what we know to be a value-driven army.

CODY: Combat is very, very complex. And the missions that our rangers, our special forces and rangers are put in are very, very complex. I'm absolutely devastated that the Tillman family would think that the rangers with their great ethos would try to do anything but honor Pat Tillman. Not only was he an inspiration to our younger rangers, he was an inspiration to a whole country, to me, myself. And that's not who we are. That's not what type of institution we are. Mistakes were made. Mistakes were made at the lowest level and then at some of the mid levels. I wish they hadn't been made. Right now, we -- I appointed a four-star general. He is looking into the DOD investigation. He will report out to myself and the secretary of the army here probably in the next couple of weeks. But as we told the cameras when the DOD investigation came out, I apologize to the Tillman family. Pat Tillman was a great soldier. He was a great American. And we should have done this better.

COLLINS: How do you make sure it will never, ever happen again this way?

CODY: We have done an awful lot of things since this. One is, we're making sure that every death on the battlefield, every injury on the battlefield is thoroughly looked at. We have instructed our commanders at every level of platoon, company and battalion that when you have a complex fight that you have to ask the question, how did it happen? But more importantly, how do we tell the family most accurately what happened? And then, if we don't know, we just need to tell the family we don't know just yet. And we'll follow up with you. And so, we've done a lot of training in that aspect.

COLLINS: I want to move on quickly, if we could, to another topic. We rarely get the opportunity to talk with someone, certainly, of your high level of command about this relationship between the media and the military. And certainly, over the second Iraq war with the imbedding. There's so much talk about whether or not the media is covering this war and the successes of this war. I want to read you something if I could about an article, from an article that we found in "The Army Times" is coming to us from a lieutenant colonel who was actually stationed in west Baghdad and here's what he says. Because the American military fears so deeply the loss of support of the American people over Iraq as an outgrowth of the Vietnam, it tends wrongly, to allay these fears by blaming the American press for not reporting enough of its successes in Iraq. Is the United States' media covering this war as accurately as possible?

CODY: I believe so. I think, one, we can all give ourselves different types of grades in terms of how effective we've been. This is a very complex war. It's an emotional war on many fronts. But I've looked at the media. I watch it. You know, our soldiers wish that more of their positive stories came out. But I believe the media, especially those that are imbedded with our soldiers are telling -- telling the story. For the military, though, I'll just speak for the army in particular. We want the soldiers' story to be told to the American people, truthfully, so that they understand the horrors of war. They also understand the great humanity of our soldiers. There's no more moral combatant on the battlefield than the American soldier. And I believe as long as those stories are told, the American people will continue to support their soldiers in their military.

COLLINS: How do we most effectively and safely do that? Because if we're talking about Baghdad and certainly areas of Afghanistan, as well. We are constantly criticized by saying, well you know, you guys only cover small pockets. You can't get out because of the security situations. How do we get out and cover some of those possible success stories that could be taking place in areas, for example, outside of Baghdad?

CODY: Well, we've got to help. And clearly the leadership over there of General Oriano (ph) and his commanders and Bill Caldwell, who's doing a great job there, we've got to help you. You know, clearly we don't want any of our media getting hurt in these combat zones and I think by and large, that's why we went to the imbeds to tell that story. Listen, this war should not be lost back here in America. This is too important. Our soldiers know it. That's why they have stayed with us. What we all have to do is watch our rhetoric and just tell the truth. And do it in such a way that we can convey to the American people what our soldiers are doing, why they're doing it and how well they're doing it. I think the rest will take care of itself.

COLLINS: General Richard Cody, vice chief of staff of the army, we appreciate your time here today.

CODY: Thank you.

COLLINS: Thanks so much.

CODY: Thank you.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: And still to come this morning in the NEWSROOM, praying for rain and hoping the fire lines hold. The firefighters battling stubborn blazes from the south to the west. Details ahead in the NEWSROOM.

Seventy years old and about to be a lawyer. School at that age has its funny moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of my assignments was to interview older people, if you can imagine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A grandmother spreads her wings, legal eagle, in the NEWSROOM.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. When NEWSROOM returns, I'll tell you about a true power lunch to the tune of $600,000. The juicy details next. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A new development in the battle against wildfires in the southeast. Authorities say two teenagers have been arrested on arson charges in connection can with some of those blazes in Georgia. Just a short while, an investigator told us one of the juveniles confessed. More than 100,000 acres have been scorched in southeast Georgia. There have been mandatory evacuations. Meanwhile, they're praying for rain in the sunshine state. Florida's governor says he hopes a storm churning in the Atlantic will help douse raging wildfires there. Right now, more than 200 fires are burning across the state. Some 80,000 acres up in flames and in Los Angeles, firefighters say they're getting the upper hand on the blaze in the city's famed Griffith Park. The fire has burned more than 800 acres. It's 75 percent contained. Firefighters hope to have it fully contained by tonight.

COLLINS: Check your freezer. Mayfield dairy farm is recalling 7,000 cartons of turtle tracks ice cream. The company says it was mixed with chocolate covered peanuts instead of pecans. That could cause an allergic reaction in some people. The ice cream was distributed in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Kentucky. You should look for this code, 4-11-08.

HARRIS: Cigalosis (ph). It is a word that pre-schoolers probably can't pronounce. It sounds like something for a spelling bee, but it is making them sick. Nearly 500 people in the St. Louis area have come down cigalosis since November, most of them in day care centers. It is a bacterial infection. Its symptoms include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joined us earlier in the NEWSROOM to talk about prevention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Several questions to follow up with when people hear about this, especially parents. They can get concerned for their kids. How do you keep it from spreading? What can be done before it might possibly get worse?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. This is one of those classic person to person transmissions and you have kids, I have kids. Kids can be little Petrie dishes of germs and bacteria and this is not the greatest morning show topic, but it is about dirty diapers and dirty hands and that sort of thing and that's how it's typically spread. There are things you can do. It means keeping diligent about your kids washing their hands, making sure they do it in the morning after each restroom visit. What we find is that typically in schools, they really got to be - in day care centers - they really got to be diligent about it over. I mean watching lots of different kids, certainly before they go home. What was interesting here from an epidemiology standpoint, is kids would go home. They might give it to an older sibling who would go to a different school district, give to another kid. That's why you get 60 day care centers suddenly involved in this.

CHETRY: Quickly, how is it treated?

GUPTA: Typically, antibiotics. That is a bacteria. So you can give antibiotics but what they found with this particular one, it's 100 percent resistant to ampicillan (ph), which is the first line.

CHETRY: Anything or just this (ph)?

GUPTA: The ampicillan s the one that they tested but typically what it means is that it's a few miserable days. It's going to go away on its own. Make sure your kid stays hydrated. Don't give anti- diarrheal medications. You want this bacteria to flush out of the system if you will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Just to let you know, none of the people who've gotten sick from cigalosis in the St. Louis area have died.

HARRIS: And to get your daily dose of health news online, log on to our website. You will find the latest medical news, health library and information on diet and fitness. The address is cnn.com/health.

COLLINS: And coming up in 15 minutes from now, the one, the only, Jim Clancy and "Your World Today." Hi there Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Heidi, hello Tony. This is a big day and CNN international is going to be bringing you extensive, live coverage from London as Prime Minister Tony Blair announces the date that he is going to be stepping down. What will be his legacy? How will it be overshadowed by the war in Iraq? Now, we are also expecting a statement from U.S. President George W. Bush. He is going to be at the Pentagon. We'll bring it to you live as it happens. He, too, concerned about the situation in Iraq. Even as the military putting more troops on notice that they're heading into the battle zone.

Plus, today, the battle zone in Iraq very well might have been inside this parliament. One of the lawmakers becoming very angry, demanding the government shoulder its responsibilities to end the violence and called on the U.S. to maintain its presence until it, too, does what it takes to restore calm and security to the country. All that and much more coming at the top of the hour. "Your World Today" on CNN.

HARRIS: Jim, thanks.

COLLINS: The Federal Reserve says inflation is a greater concern than the economic slow down. Warren Buffett has a different view of the twin risks to the economy. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us what the oracle of Omaha has to say. I know you spent quite a bit of time with him.

LISOVICZ: We were out in Nebraska over the weekend and Mr. Buffett was in New York yesterday so who knew we'd get two chances at the oracle himself? He says the American consumer has been resilient despite sharply higher energy prices and in comments to CNN yesterday, he says he's more concerned about the slump in housing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN BUFFETT, CHAIRMAN & CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: Well, the housing market is going to be an immediate problem. And in some areas of the country, it could be quite sustained. I mean, there are places that look to me like it will take at least a couple of years to clear through the oversupply that's there. So and we've sort of gotten used to these gas prices now. They're sort of built in now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LISOVICZ: Buffett runs Berkshire Hathaway, an investment company that buys other companies or big stakes in companies. His astute picks have resulted in average annual gains of 23.5 percent over the last 42 years. It's really extraordinary Heidi. COLLINS: No question about that. I know Buffett was in New York when he made those comments hosting a lunch that was expensive, even by New York standards.

LISOVICZ: That's right. Not the kind of lunch you and I are used to at the satellite.

COLLINS: I could get used to it.

LISOVICZ: Those three-hour lunches. Buffett is not only one of the world's richest people. He is one of the most generous. Last year he pledged nearly his entire $44 billion fortune to charity. The corn-fed capitalist yesterday hosted a lunch at New York steak house Smith and Wilensky's (ph) that benefitted the Glide (ph) foundation. Buffett annually auctions off a lunch to the winning bidder. This year that sum exceeded $600,000. Buffett said the deep pocketed businessman who made the bid is not among the more than 700 people who have applied to succeed him as Berkshire's chief investment officer. CNN asked him if he's been approached for a new reality show based on the Buffett talent search.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUFFETT: No. But it might be a good idea. Maybe I could beat all these guys off on an island, keeps throwing them off here and there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LISOVICZ: Buffett had previously said he would model the talent search on "American Idol" and says he would be most like Simon in the judging, no surprise there. Investors judging today's economic data harshly. Stocks reversing yesterday's gains, hurt by a weak round of sales numbers from the nation's retailers. The Dow down 88 points. The Nasdaq down 20 points. We've had a good run, folks. Tony and Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: Not giving up, either. So glad that Warren Buffett' said Simon and not Sanjaya.

LISOVICZ: He's not either Paula or Randy.

COLLINS: No. Them either. All right. Very good. Susan Lisovicz, thank you.

HARRIS: Still to come, opening night at the pops or Wednesday night at the fights? Tough crowd in symphony hall. Lose your shirt and your seat. Hey, now in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Speaking of a couple years, the last two years have shown a troubling spike in violent crime in a number of American cities. One of them is Miami. You're about to meet a woman there who knows firsthand what it's like to lose a child to gun violence. What makes her unique is what she decided to do about it. Queen Brown is today's CNN hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEEN BROWN: My name is Queen Brown. I'm a mother of four. I lost my youngest son Eviton to gun violence. Eviton's shooting was a random act. He was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I moved my kids here from the inner city to provide a safer community for them. They all graduated from high school and all college educated. It was a devastating blow to me to lose my son. I felt so helpless and I wanted to do something. I wanted to get people involved.

Good afternoon, south Florida and thank you so much once again for tuning in to what's going on, the violence intervention program. We can stop the violence in the community. There is something you can do about. You can teach your kid what to do. But as you and I both know, your kid can be a victim to someone else. My children and I we all chip in and we pay for the radio air time. We have a caller online number one. You are on the air.

CALLER: I have three sons and one of my every day fears is that I will go through what you have gone through.

BROWN: It's very therapeutic. I always feel like I have helped someone. We're going to give you that information regarding how you can get your sons involved in this program. The community has been very supportive. They want the show to stay on the air. I want the students. I want the parents. I want the community leaders. I think collectively, we have to deal with the core of what's causing the violence. My son's death was a call to service. You know, I saw so many areas where I was needed. And I felt that I had just what it took to get in there and do it. It's because of Eviton that I'm doing this. His life is going to save other lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: There's a lot more about Queen Brown on our website where you can also nominate your hero for a special recognition later this year. Just go to that address, cnn.com/heros.

Opening night at the pops. Who would have thought? Tough crowd in symphony hall, lose your shirt and your seat. Tell you about it. It's coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Pope Benedict XVI on the first visit to Latin America. He is in Brazil and in the middle of the abortion debate. Upon his arrival he spoke out strongly against the practice. Abortion is illegal in Brazil in most cases, but legalizing it is now under discussion. The issue not expected to come up today during a meeting between the pope and the Brazilian president. The Vatican says the pope will focus on a number of issues during his five-day visit including the church's declining influence in Brazil. Latin America is home to half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics. HARRIS: Music and melodies, sophistication and finery and a fistfight breaks out. Unusual opening night at symphony hall. Reporter Ryan Shultis (ph) has the story and he is with Boston affiliate WHDH.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN SHULTIS, WHDH CORRESPONDENT: It was the Boston pops' biggest night. Everyone dressed in the fanciest outfits, excited to be a part of all the glitz and glamour of opening night, when about a third way into the program, it all came to a screeching halt.

JUNE MACINDOE, WITNESS: First time there was a scream, Keith looked up that way, but it kept going and then about maybe a minute and a half later, then there was a big scream and then you could hear chairs falling over and then you could see them up there fists going.

SHULTIS: Our cameras are rolling as two people duke it out. You can see one guy here loses his shirt and he's escorted out. Dr. Keith Lockhart (ph) actually stopped the program.

MACINDOE: He just stood there, you know, quiet. That was probably, what about two minutes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

SHULTIS: The knock down drag out fight catching everyone off guard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard a thump and a scream. And we thought somebody might have fallen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't classy for a beautiful performance like this but things like that happen and, you know, no one has control over that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Music critics. Police took the fighters out of the building. No charges filed and we don't even know what the fight was all about.

COLLINS: OK. So looking for cheaper gas? You may have to go to Texas. The statehouse has approved legislation reducing the gas tax by drum roll -- $0.20 per gallon.

HARRIS: What am I doing here?

COLLINS: Excellent (ph) on the desk there. But don't start your engines just yet. The measure still must be approved by the Senate and then the governor. Right now the Senate's presiding officer is casting doubts on the proposal. If approved, the reduction would be good only during the summer months, still probably not a bad deal.

CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now. HARRIS: "Your World Today" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins, have a great day everybody.

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