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Wildfires in Florida; Three U.S. Troops Missing in Iraq

Aired May 12, 2007 - 22:00   ET

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

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Florida's sun and fun turns to smoke and trouble.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're asking everyone that is currently in their homes to stay in their homes. We have virtually zero visibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Evacuations, highways shut down, birds falling from the sky, and the wildfires are all over the country. Three U.S. troops have gone missing in Iraq. And there's a desperate search to find them.

A mother screaming at the man who killed her son, his own child. Why is he a free man? This and more next from the CNN NEWSROOM.

And hello, again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. We're going to get things started here in "B" control tonight because we're expecting, again, some pictures of what is a breaking story. Still major wildfires burning in three regions of the country tonight.

It's turning into a dire situation. In drought-ravaged Florida, crews are battling 217 fires. Poor visibility has forced sections of two major interstates to close, one of them just tonight before we went on the air. And tonight, hundreds more people are being evacuated, we understand.

Same situation or certainly a very similar situation is taking place in northern Minnesota. Fire there has destroyed dozens of structures near the U.S.-Canadian border, the boundary waters as they are often called. 52,000 acres are gone. And in California, this is some good weather, cooler, foggy weather is rolling in along the Catalina Island area we've been telling you about. Well, that's a good thing. However, there are still flare-ups that we're hearing tonight. And that's still a big worry for officials.

Let's do this. Before we do anything else, I want to show you a map of Florida. Look at this. Take a look at this map. I mean, it shows you the fires that are burning. I mean, the West coast from Naples up, all the way up to the upper part of the state around Jacksonville, take a look, going on the panhandle, all the way up to like Pensacola, down to the West coast in Tampa. I mean, and now let's take you down to the ground in the northern section of the state. We've seen pictures like this. There's ash, smoke. There's a smell of charred wood that's filling the air. That's a problem for people trying to drive and people just trying to live in their homes there.

Lake City is getting the brunt of it tonight. The haze has traveled more than 300 miles and is now showing up in parts of Miami down in the southern part of the state.

Now let's take you to the Georgia state border with Florida. This is right around the state line. Visibility is down to a quarter mile, we understand. Police say that caused at least four accidents today. So they said, forget about it, we're going to close it down.

A 35-mile stretch of I-75 had to be shut down about an hour and a half two, hours ago. It's still shut down when last we checked. We're going to be checking on that for you. We're going to try and take you live there first chance we get.

By the way, a 40-mile stretch of I-10 that intersects with I-75 here in the northern part of the state, that's also been shut down.

Here's Baker County now. Let's take you there. That's where the -- you know, the famous Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the big large alligators and lots of wildlife, well, that's what it looks like now. This was one of the first fires to ignite. And we understand this week, it's doubled in size.

Well, here's something none of us in the newsroom tonight can ever remember seeing. This smoke is so bad that birds around south Florida are turning up dead. Hundreds of them. Look at them, they're dropping out of the sky. We've seen several reports filed on this in parts of northern Florida through Miami-Dade. We've got more tape on this coming up, by the way, later on in this newscast.

Wildlife experts say there's just so much thick, dense smoke, that the birds are disoriented. And they're flying into windows, flying into buildings, other objects. And there's no way to know just yet what type of toll the fires are going to be taking on other wildlife.

For the latest now, let's do this. Let's go to John Zarrella. We've been in contact with him all night long. Moments ago, he sent us this videotape, this report from Lake City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A break in the weather gave forestry teams time to move in more heavy equipment to widen fire breaks. Ashley Spillers got back nine months ago from Afghanistan now is on another frontline, working 12-hour shifts, driving a heavy dozer.

ASHLEY SPILLERS, FIREFIGHTER: It's looking good today. It's settled down a little bit last area last night. Humidities came up. And this area that we're working right now is looking pretty good. Hopefully, we don't get any wind shifts.

ZARRELLA: So far, this fire has remained, for the most part, in thick stands of pine forest, away from heavily populated areas.

(on camera): Where I'm standing looks like it could be the aftermath of a volcanic eruption. But in fact, this entire area had been a tree farm. And it had been cleared. And the fire racing through the trees way in the background there actually sent some burning embers into what had already been a cleared area and set off these fires here. These are the kinds of things that the firefighters are dealing with right now, hot spots like this.

(voice-over): A thick blanket of smoke hung over Lake City and the surrounding area. The sun barely shown through. Interstate 10 east and westbound was shut down, as was Interstate 75 north and south into Florida and Georgia. Traffic was backed up for miles.

RICK CARPENTER, MAJ., FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL: Traveling is tough with all of the diversion routes that we've had to take to get people off the major arteries, to avoid crashes is we're having to adapt to each one of those detours. We're opening a detour and we're shutting a detour down because it becomes inundated with smoke.

ZARRELLA: Forestry officials say they need to build 80 to 100 miles of fire breaks. It will take days, if the weather holds. And they have no idea how long it will be before they can say this wildfire is under control.

John Zarrella, CNN Columbia County, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: You know, as you look at these reports, it makes you shake your head and wonder what's going on, not just in Florida, but in different parts of the country, because there's fiery, smoky situations out on the West coast, too.

Within view of Los Angeles, Catalina Island has been on fire. This is since Thursday. Already more than 4,000 acres have burned there. Yes, that's what they're having to do.

You know, they're good at it out there because they've dealt with these type of fires in the past. So so far, the wind, we're told, is cooperating. And that's a good thing. It's keeping the fire away from the city of Avalon. You know, in many of these fires, they let it burn as long as it's contained. That's what they're trying to do. That could change, though. Firefighters say the blaze is more than 40 percent contained right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD WILSON, HOMEOWNER: We were evacuated at 2:30 yesterday afternoon. And we could see the fire come, you know, back behind this ridgeline. And we knew at that point in time that, you know, there was a chance. But you know, you're sitting here. It's a beautiful day like it is today. You drive your car up. And they say, well, you need to get out of here. And OK, so we load our, you know, what valuables we had. We really needed to take, pictures and those kinds of things. You never really think that you're going to come back to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Jacqui Jeras has been one busy beaver today. Boy, I'll tell you what, there is a lot going on out there. By the way, you -- earlier this week, you were in Florida. You were you in some of those fires. Give us a sense of what's going on down there.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I just got back last night like. It was like nothing I've seen before. You know, I've been to wildfires before, but nothing this huge. And that was one of the things that just struck me was it just went on forever.

You know, we drove down I-10. We were in the town of Taylor on Thursday night and then we went to Lake City on Friday. And the whole way along I-10, it just seemed to go forever where there was smoke and the visibility was just so poor. And even the people who weren't directly affected where they were evacuated from their homes, it affected everybody. All the businesses were shutting down. You know, nobody wanted to be outdoors because the smoke was so thick.

I still have a sore throat actually tonight because, you know, from the smoke that was in there. So, just a huge part of this area being affected. Dense smoke advisory. They want you to stay in your homes because of this.

Now there has been some relief with the inversions that have been taking place in the overnight hours, providing more moisture in the morning, some very calm winds. There is going to be a little bit of rain possibly moving into the area by late tomorrow.

There you can see a very weak front's going to drop down into the area. Maybe a 40 percent chance. So hopefully, we'll get a little bit of moisture in there.

But I think it would be fair to say that there's not a single person that lives in the state of Florida that hasn't been affected by this. We talked about the Miami area. One of our i-reporters sent us a great picture, where you can just see the smoke and haze in the air. This is from Sam Lapidus from Miami. He said he took this about 3:15 this afternoon from his balcony.

And another thing that I learned while I was there, the fire wreck that we didn't talk about too much on the air was the birds. You talked about the birds in Miami. Well, forestry officials tell us that there is a endangered species of woodpeckers that live in the Ocela forest there. And they are very worried with 100 colonies in that area, they're worried about the wildlife there.

SANCHEZ: Good. Have you got those birds again, Roger? Look at this. I mean, we were amazed when these pictures first came in today. They're dropping by the hundreds in parts of Florida and they haven't really been able to explain it yet. They think part of it might be the smoke, part of it might be that they're just totally disoriented. And that's the situation. So...

JERAS: Yes, I'll admit, I got a little dizzy being out there for so long yesterday. So I imagine those birds are feeling the impact of that, too. I also saw...

SANCHEZ: And you weren't flying.

JERAS: And I wasn't flying. I know. But I didn't have a lot of sleep, either. But wildlife officials tell you, you know, don't pick them up. Don't do anything with them.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

JERAS: Maybe put them in a box if they're still alive and maybe bring it to a shelter or veterinarian if you can possibly help them.

SANCHEZ: Jacqui Jeras following things for us tonight. We'll be checking you an awful lot because we're planning to do a lot of things with these fires. We're going to be able take you live to the Florida state, Georgia border.

We're also trying to hook up with officials in Florida, hopefully the governor's office to get reaction from them. If all of this comes in, we'll just bring it to you as we often do.

Also, drivers have been turned away from major interstates. And that's the latest problem that folks are developing there. That's what we hope to bring you in one of our live reports as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no fissures in our conference. We had a group of members that went to the White House to talk to the president about the war on terror, to talk about Iraq. It was a very healthy meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: More fallout on the gang of 11 and their visit with the president. Now we hear Karl Rove getting testy. We're going to have that for you.

First, though, this family feud gets going in court and going and spills out into the hallway. And we'll have it for you. It's loud and crazy. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

Want to bring you to the epic center. This is our state-of-the- art center where we bring in hot videos and hot stories from all over the world. Few hotter than this one. This is in Jackson, Mississippi. A man accused of killing a one-year-old baby. The people whose baby it was are there in court. And they are mad about it. In fact, just how mad? Here, let's take this sound up. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me go! Let me go! Let me go! Now, let me go!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: You can see she's saying 'let me go.' It goes not only in the courtroom, by the way, but out in the hallway. The guards are trying to restrain them. A 22-year-old man charged with murder. We're going to keep tabs on that story.

Then this. Now as you look at this picture that's coming out of San Antonio. It's I-37 and I-35. There's actually an SUV that's wedged between two parts of the highway. Can't really make it out real good there, but look at that. Can you imagine how that happened? Police are baffled as well, but they did show up on the scene. And they were eventually able to extricate the driver. He was taken to the hospital. All things considered, he's in good condition considering what you look at in these pictures.

And now let's go over here. It's a warning for all of us as parents really about what we shouldn't do with our cars. The person in this car allowed their four-year-old child to stay in the car for a long period of time, while they had to go back in the house. There's the four-year-old. The car rolls into the water. Thank goodness, they were able to get her out. Really something maybe we should all take heed about.

And then there's this story about a wayward penguin, a wayward Peruvian penguin may be a better way of saying it. Take a look at the penguin. He ends up here in Peru, but he's not supposed to be there in Peru. And eventually someone comes along, as you're going to see in these pictures now and picks him up. And they take him to the place where he is supposed to be.

So where is he supposed to be, you may be asking? I'll show you. We've got a map that we can show you. This is basically Antarctica. It's around the Straits of Magellan. That's where he's supposed to be with all of his friends. That's where he's ended up. Obviously, he had a little bit of a problem. They're trying to fix him up and take him back there. Good end to that story.

Meanwhile, we're hoping there's a good ending to the fire stories that we've been telling you about. But we're now learning, as well, that they are closing freeways in Florida. We'll bring you that story, as well, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: This is one of the most important stories we've been following today. U.S. forces in Iraq are looking for three soldiers. They're officially classified as duty status, "whereabouts unknown". That's another way of essentially saying that they're missing in action. Five of their comrades were killed in an insurgent ambush this morning. And now there's a desperate search that's underway. Let's go to this report now. It just came in, in fact, a little while ago from Iraq. Here's CNN's Arwa Damon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These fields and farm lands interlaced with canals are a labyrinth of ambush sites, where the enemy often waits for the opportunities to strike. This is the region south of Baghdad where Saturday's ambush took place.

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ: This morning at 4:44 a.m. in Iraq, a coalition force team of eight soldiers, seven Americans, and an Iraqi Army interpreter were attacked 12 miles west of Montagia (ph). As a result of this attack, five soldiers were killed in action. And three are currently missing.

DAMON: Something here went horribly wrong.

CALDWELL: At the time of the attack, a nearby unit heard explosions and attempted to establish communications, but without success. At 4:59 a.m., an unmanned aerial vehicle observed two burning vehicles. Coalition forces arrived within an hour, secured the site, and immediately initiated a search.

DAMON: Iraqi troops joined that search. It's not the first time that this area, also known as the Triangle of Death, has been the scene for a complex attack. Last June in the same area, two U.S. soldiers were kidnapped and killed, their mutilated bodies found three days later.

A group affiliated with al Qaeda claimed responsibility for that gruesome act and images that America cannot forget. The U.S. military doesn't want to see this happen again.

CALDWELL: Helicopter, unmanned aerial vehicle, and fixed-wing assets are being used to search in the vicinity. Checkpoints have been established throughout the area. And a concerted effort to focus the search and prevent potential movement of missing soldiers out of that area.

DAMON (on camera): As the military tries to find its missing and figure out what went wrong, the first questions that come to mind are, why was it such a small contingent of Americans? And why did it take an hour for other forces to respond?

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Look, this is a tough story for military officials to even talk about, because of what could happen to these soldiers, God forbid. I got a chance to talk to one of our military analysts. Major General Don Shepperd is telling us that with each passing hour, the odds for these troops gets worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: We can expect the worst here. When we can't find these guys, they're in somebody else's control. And we can expect the worst here. Now we're going to hope for the best. You know, not throw in the towel, but this triangle of death -- I've been down there. It's one of these areas where the hair stands up on the back of your neck. It's a Sunni area. There's al Qaeda is down there. Everybody looks at you menacingly and this simply cannot be good news with three people.

SANCHEZ: Well, and you know, heaven forbid what they might do or want to do with these guys. And that's why we all certainly, you know, are going to say our prayers and have our fingers crossed as well. But -- can you give us any indication as a soldier or as a Marine what you're supposed to do? What might they be preparing to do right now?

SHEPPERD: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Is there first idea to try and get away, escape?

SHEPPERD: The first idea is always to escape, but not to lose your life in doing so. The second idea is try to stay alive, but not do anything that embarrasses you, that endangers yourself or your comrades there. And don't make any statements for them, about them. You know you're going to be tried - they're going to try to exploit you, but do the best you can to stay alive, not embarrass yourself, and take care of yourself and your buddies -- all the while trying to escape, but it's really tough. These people that we're up against are masters at keeping people captive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Obviously, we're going to be keeping tabs with our military analyst, Don Shepperd, as well as our Pentagon correspondents and our correspondents in Iraq to get the latest on that story. If we get anything else, we'll bring it to you right away.

Meanwhile, I want you to hear now from somebody else, somebody who has spent a lot of time in Iraq. CNN's Michael Holmes has prepared this Iraq special "Months of Mayhem." Here's a taste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ...my name and blood type in Arabic and English on my Helmet. And I have it also on a piece of tape. The soldiers still do dog tags. And the interesting thing with soldiers, a lot of them will wear one dog tag around their neck. And you'll see one in the laces of their boots. And the reason for that is because of the bombs, you can have your head blown off, or you can have your leg blown off. And well, you've got a tag at either end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It is a one-hour special, "Month of Mayhem". It's on right after this newscast in fact at 11:00 p.m. Eastern. And you can see it again Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern. Also, tune in for an in- depth conversation that I have with Michael about the war and reporting the war. That's tomorrow night at 7:00 and 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Mayhem could soon be the situation in Pakistan as well, because look at these pictures. It's from Karachi today. It's a huge city. It's being thrown into pure pandemonium. All the fighting is between supporters of the government and opponents of the government.

Now most of them are armed. All of them are angry. At least 33 people were killed today. And remember, remember, this was the government, the government of Perez Musharraf that backed the U.S. war on terror at the outset, and has taken a lot of heat for it, frankly, internally. So we're going to be watching that for you as well.

Here's another story that we're going to be watching.

A woman confronts her child's killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You ask me what I was looking for and what would say? My son? And you were just give me this smirk, knowing all the time, you didn't have him. You had killed him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That's just the beginning of this sad tale. We're going to tell you what she's really, really angry about. But first, graduation ceremonies at Virginia Tech this weekend. We're going to introduce you to one student who is being called a hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

I want to bring you something special now, something new we're doing here at CNN, finding people who have made a difference, gone beyond the call.

This weekend's commencement ceremony at Virginia Tech included special tributes to the 32 people killed in last month's massacre. Well, one of those who picked up his diploma was a quick thinking math major, who very likely prevented more deaths on April 16th. I want you to meet somebody now. His name is Zach Petkewicz. He's today's CNN hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZACH PETKEWICZ: After the initial gunshots, I heard a scream. I didn't know what the gunshot -- I didn't know if it was gunshots at first until I heard that scream. And it all kind of sunk in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unbelievable pictures.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: 911 emergency call.

Gunfire at Virginia Tech.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Multiple shooting victims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gunman loose on campus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did we hear you correctly, 20 fatalities?

PETKEWICZ: Two of the girls in my class peeked out in the hall and saw a gunner come out of the classroom with his gun pointed down. They immediately slammed the door shut. Told us. Everybody kind of went into a frenzy, a panic. I hid behind the podium and then just kind of looked up at the door like. There's like - there's nothing stopping this guy from just coming in.

And so I said we need to barricade this door. We had a long rectangular shaped table that me and another one of my classmates had on either side of the door. The gunner tried the handle. He couldn't get it in because we were pushing up against it. Tried to force his way in. Got the door to open up about six inches. And then we just lunged at it and closed it back up.

He backed up and shot twice into the middle of the door. Thankfully, we weren't in front of it when he did shoot. He just turned and kept firing down the hall and didn't try to get back in.

BLITZER: The worst mass shooting in U.S. history, ever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your quick thinking may have saved so many lives. What do you say when people are calling you a hero today?

PETKEWICZ: I'm just glad I could be here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: If you know somebody who goes above and beyond the call of duty in your community, we encourage you to nominate them to be a CNN hero and receive the CNN hero award. You're going to find all the details on our website, CNN.com/heroes.

11 GOP leaders meet with the president. You know, it's being called now the gang of 11 because of the -- well, terse message they brought. Their apparent message was our constituents are fed up over Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearly, there was an aftermath or there was a report that Karl Rove was actually yelling at one of the members present for leaking the details.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes, we've got the inside scoop on this, on what really happened behind closed doors involving Mr. Bush and Mr. Rove.

Also, a bittersweet return to the skies for the blue angels. We've got highlights from their first show since the team lost one of its own, a newscast we brought you here several weeks ago.

And then, wildfires are burning hundreds of thousands of acres in several states. Will the weather help firefighters try and get this thing under control? Let's go back in a little bit to Jacqui Jeras. She's going to be fill us in on that, as she gathers all her information. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. Developments tonight in our top story. Firefighters in northern Florida are working through the night to try and get a handle on these furious wildfires, which are plentiful as well, as we've been showing you throughout the course of the night.

We got a chance now, though, to take you right now to Lake City, Florida. That's around the central-northern part of the state.

Laura Mazzeo is standing by. She's with our affiliate WJXT. We thank you for being there for us. Maybe you can bring us up to date on some of the things that have been going on there.

First of all, talk to us a little bit about what's going on with traffic, because we've heard that they were closing a lot of roads, including a couple of interstates. What do you know about that?

LAURA MAZZEO, WJXT NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, I-75 and interstate I-10, they're shut down right now officially. But what they are doing is, when they can, they're allowing some traffic to get on there just to clear things up.

Earlier today, they had to completely shut down the area, which created quite a bit of backups on route 90, which is where they were detouring people. And it was really a big mess. But - so right now, they have let some people on there, but the fear is that tonight, the smoke and increasing fog will become a problem.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and route 90, I've traveled route 90 an awful lot. It's like one lane in some places. And it goes right through little towns with lots of red lights.

MAZZEO: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: So that's got to be backing the situation up even more.

Final question I got to ask you tonight about the smoke and whether they're evacuating people from homes because of it. And if so, can they get out on the roads, which are also smoke-filled?

MAZZEO: Well, really if you live here in Lake City, there is no escaping from the smoke. It was so bad today, that some people did tell us that they were just going to stay home.

But tonight, it actually does look a little better than it did at about 10:00 a.m. this morning. That's when people said they walked outside and it was almost disorienting because the smoke combined with fog just created a really dangerous situation on the roads. And earlier, Florida Highway Patrol told us that they had reports where people said they were driving along, and that they could hear traffic but they couldn't see it. It was that bad of a situation. So right now, we still have about 520 people who have been evacuated. About 20 of those people are staying in shelters. But really, the smoke, it's a blanket. It's just everywhere in this area.

SANCHEZ: Wow. Laura's with WJXT. And we thank you, Laura, for bringing us up to date on that.

Obviously what they really need is a whole lot of rain. And the question is, when are they going to get it? I mean, folks have been praying for rain in Florida for quite a while now, as they have in southern Georgia. What have you got on this Jacqui?

JERAS: Well, maybe. You know, they could get some rain into the area. And as you take a look at our radar picture here, it's close but this is what we call Virga. It's moisture in the mid levels of the atmosphere that evaporates before it ever gets to the surface. So none of the blue stuff that you see in that area is actually touching the ground, but the good news with it is that there's at least a little bit of moisture, a little bit more humidity in the area.

The best chance of rain, I think, will be tomorrow afternoon and evening with maybe a 30 percent chance of rain showers on Monday. But how much rain do these people really need to help fight this fire? Well, to make up for the drought conditions, we're talking between 18 and 26 inches of rain is needed. Where you see red on the map here, that's where we have what we call extreme drought conditions. You also see it where the fire areas are here in southern California. And you also see it up there in the arrowhead of Minnesota, where a fire is going on also.

Groundwater levels are extremely low, but not quite at the record levels that they had in north Florida and south Georgia back in 2000 and 2002. We're also getting word that some farmers are delaying their planting because of it. Rick?

SANCHEZ: All right, thanks so much, Jacqui, for bringing us up to date on that. In Franconia, New Hampshire, police say that one of their own, a 12-year veteran was fatally shot and run down by a man who assaulted him four years earlier. We're told that the shooter was then killed by a passerby, who grabbed the officer's gun. Authorities say the officer had prior dealings with his killer, who was convicted of assaulting him, and resisting arrest back in 2003.

Now police say the shooter was a cousin, by the way, of skiing champion Body Miller.

Also, a pastor in North Carolina allowed a sign to go up outside of his church. And one of the sides of the sign reads this, "the message of Islam is submit, convert, or die." The other side says, "when is the last time you heard a Jew or a Christian with a bomb strapped to their body?"

The Islamic community says the sign is offensive, but the pastor says it's not a sign of hate. By the way, if you look closely, it appears that the word "Christian" was misspelled on this sign.

Blue Angels get their wings back. Today was their first show since one of their pilots was killed in a crash in a South Carolina air show last month. The Blue Angels typically fly their jets six days a week, but they stayed on the ground for nine days after the crash. Today's show in North Carolina went off without a hitch, we're happy to report. Meanwhile, the cause of the deadly crash still under investigation.

Greensburg, Kansas was torn apart by last weekend's deadly tornado, as you know. But there was at least one reason to celebrate. Friday marked one week 90-year-old John Yon had been staying in a shelter, but it was also his 90th birthday. His family members threw him a party. And believe me, people there were happy for the distraction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of a nice break to look forward to something for a change, instead of having to get up and go, you know, either dig through things or go, you know, ask for help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yon's family had already planned a party for him. They mailed out their invitations, in fact, the day that the tornado struck. Oh, my God. Look, he's breaking down there.

Coming up, a story that in many ways tells itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now what do I have? What I do have to ease the pain? Nothing! And you stand there, you can't say nothing, you can't shed a tear because you're so cold-hearted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We're going to tell you what she wants from the suspect.

And then, remember the astronaut who drove hundreds of miles to confront a rival in a love triangle? Take a look at this video. New video has been coming in of what's being called a real-life stalking. We're going to be right back. Stay with us.

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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. You know, we always check on CNN.com to see what people are clicking on the most, what stories they're most interested in.

Story 1, remember the NASA astronaut love triangle? Well, now airport surveillance video sort of connects the dots on what happened the day before Lisa Nowak allegedly assaulted fellow astronaut Colleen Shipman. You see them there. That's astronaut one coming out. And you're about to see in this video, that's Shipman. Nowak follows closely behind. There she is.

Also, believe it or not, an average of 15 million people are allowed to enter the United States without a visa. It's all because of a legal loophole. A law passed before 9-11 makes it legal. Some lawmakers are trying to get that loophole closed.

Story 3, a look at this plus-sized baby. 14 pounds, 5 ounces. Whoa, Nelly, the doctor predicted that he' be around 11 pounds. I hope he didn't bet on it, because he lost. For more on these and other stories all you got to do is log on to CNN.com.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then there was a big scream. And then you could hear chairs falling over.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: This is the crazy story of the week. Coming up, a black-tie affair that ends up with a black-eye affair. And the band played on. We're back in 90 seconds.

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SANCHEZ: We welcome you back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez.

Throughout this hour, we've been showing you - we're dipping in from time to time into that dramatic video of this woman just outraged. And she's screaming at the top of her lungs in court at somebody. Well, that's because the man who killed her child is that man in court that she's screaming at. And he's now a free man. Well, how could that happen, you ask. Two words -- plea deal.

CNN's Allen Chernoff has this story.

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ALLEN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The suffering of La Shawn McCoy, whose 2-year-old boy was murdered at the hands of his father, seems unbearable.

LA SHAWN MCCOY, CURTIS MCCOY'S MOTHER: I don't know how to get rid of this pain I have. And I pray, I do I pray, that one day I'll be able to think about my baby and not feel this pain, that I can just feel happiness.

CHERNOFF: For 16 years, the murder of 2-year-old Curtis Mccoy was an unsolved mystery. In 1989, the young boy was visiting with his father, Curtis Williams, who lived apart from the boy's mother.

(on camera): Williams told police that he had lost his son while shopping here in downtown Newark. When he reached back to grab the boy's hand, he said little Curtis was gone.

(voice-over): Curtis's mother couldn't believe it. She kept pressuring police. And finally, two years ago, Williams was charged with murder. But prosecutors saw they had little evidence. And La Shawn had to know where her son's body was. So a plea deal was struck. Williams would reveal the burial site in return for a deal that could gain his freedom from prison.

But days of digging and sifting dirt here under the New Jersey Turnpike in Jersey City yielded nothing. Experts said the small body had probably decomposed. In court Friday morning, La Shawn begged the judge to overturn the plea bargain to which she had agreed.

MCCOY: I need justice served, your honor. I need some kind of closure. Curtis walking out of here won't be justice served.

CHERNOFF: Then she turned to Curtis Williams.

MCCOY: Now what do I have? What do I have to ease the pain? Nothing! And you stand there, you can't say nothing, you can't shed a tear because you're so cold-hearted.

CHERNOFF: Prosecutor Deborah Simon said she'd done the best she could under the circumstances.

DEBORAH SIMON, ASSISTANT PROSECUTOR: Sometimes the strengths and weaknesses of your case require you to make a deal with the devil. And unfortunately, that was the position we were in.

CHERNOFF: Judge Peter Vazquez signed off.

PETER VAZQUEZ, JUDGE, NEW JERSEY SUPERIOR COURT: Suffice it to say that a plea arrangement such as this would never, never be reached without the consent and the understanding of the victim's family. I would never have accepted this plea if that had not been represented to me.

CHERNOFF: La Shawn Mccoy was distraught. The plea bargain, do you feel that justice has been done?

JEFFREY JABLONSKI, WILLIAMS' DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I do. Taking into account everything that has been -- that has transpired in this case, absolutely.

CHERNOFF: But La Shawn Mccoy says her 18-year search for justice has been fruitless because, today, Curtis Williams, who confessed to killing his 2-year-old son, is a free man after having spent just 20 months behind bars.

Allen Chernoff, CNN, Jersey City, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: A deal with the devil, he says.

Well, coming up, 11 top Republicans, they go to the White House this week and are not happy. One insider's view next from the NEWSROOM.

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SANCHEZ: As we continue to bring you the news, here's part of the gang of 11. Are they playing politics? Are they really upset about Iraq? Or is it a case where they really want to know something from the president? What really happened at the White House?

Well, here's politico.com's Patrick O'Connor.

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SANCHEZ: Patrick, how significant is it that these Republicans, accent on Republicans, of course, would go and literally get in the president's face and say, you're killing us?

PATRICK O'CONNOR, POLITICO.COM: Well, I think it's very significant. There's been a lot of discontent up on Capitol Hill among Congressional Republicans with how not only the White House or rather the administration has handled the war, but also how the president has been handling the negotiations with Congressional Democrats.

Whenever you can get members in a room, a small group with the president and they're speaking off the cuff and speaking their mind, it's a remarkable situation. But I think that the White House knew where these members' concerns had been for the weeks leading up to this.

SANCHEZ: Does it appear to you as an insider who watches this that they're truly concerned about what's going on in Iraq, or that they're more concerned about what the fallout from the situation in Iraq will do to them politically?

O'CONNOR: Clearly they have political concerns for their reelection in 2008. At the same time, I think there's a richness to this decision that separates it, say, from a farm bill or any other legislation pending in either the House or the Senate. I think that a lot of these members raise political concerns, but I think their concerns for the war go much deeper than just whether or not they're going to be reelected in November 2008.

These are guys that have genuinely frustrated with the war, have been genuinely frustrated with the administration thus far, and were really growing frustrated with the president himself and how this debate is playing out.

I mean, we've got this legislative dance going on over how we're going to fund the troops. And I think a lot of these members have been concerned that the president is drawing too hard a line. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, is obviously drawing a hard line, but she's doing that for her antiwar Democrats.

The question always was when is the moderates in either party, when were the moderates in either party going to be making an appeal to their leader? So this looks like we've got some Congressional Republicans telling the president, as they have told their leaders, hey, you know, enough is enough. We really need to negotiate a deal and get something signed into law.

SANCHEZ: This conversation was neither on the record nor was it on tape or video in any form or fashion.

O'CONNOR: No, it wasn't.

SANCHEZ: So we're really going third person here as to what happened in that room. What are your sources telling you that happened in that room? How stern were they with the president, as some have reported?

O'CONNOR: I think it varied. There clearly were a few emotional outbursts in the meeting. The president himself seemed to make an appeal to the members there why he was doing what he was doing, where he wanted to go.

I haven't heard a lot of the specific details that he may have laid out to those members. Clearly, there was an aftermath. Or there was a report that Karl Rove was actually yelling at one of the members present for leaking the details.

I don't know how the initial stories got out, but I do think that there was a lot of sensitivity in the meeting. But if you get, you know, 11, 12, 13 members of Congress in a room with the president, it would be naive to think that that meeting itself isn't going to get out into the press.

SANCHEZ: What is the fallout or the expected fallout of a former general, who was in Iraq, retired, of course, coming out and directly criticizing the administration like this?

O'CONNOR: What it does is it weakens the administration's argument whenever they come up to Capitol Hill to say, you know, we either need more money, or when Robert Gates comes and testifies and says progress is good. Well, there's going to be a lot more skepticism up on the Hill about what the administration officials are actually saying because they've had so many people in the Pentagon come out and criticize the effort of some of the top brass.

SANCHEZ: We'll see how it plays out.

O'CONNOR: We will.

SANCHEZ: Patrick O'Connor, congressional reporter for politico.com.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And by the way, join me tomorrow as I welcome Republican Tommy Thompson to our Sunday spotlight. You know, he was a big part of the Bush administration's first term back when the approval ratings were pretty good. We're going to talk about what's happened and why he wants to be your next president. Sunday spotlight every weekend right here on CNN at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Up next, the prim and proper get down and dirty. A brawl at the symphony. We're going to show you what's popping at the Boston Pops, so to speak, straight ahead. We'll be back.

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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. More mayhem than melody, more roughhousing than rhapsody. A little night music turns into a fight night at the Boston Pops. You've heard not the way Jeanne Moos tells us.

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JEANNIE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Boston Pops didn't need a conductor. It needed a referee. By now, you've probably seen this over and over. But now, you get to hear what happened from the guy buried in the middle of the brawl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got cold cocked at the Pops.

MOOS (on camera): It was the "shh" heard around the world. Before there was a "shhh" there was this.

(voice-over): Graphic artist Matthew Ellinger was attending the Boston Pops for the first time with his girlfriend, the woman in the white dress. Ellinger says the guy in the row in front of them in the blue shirt wouldn't stop talking.

MATTHEW ELLINGER, BRAWL PARTICIPANT: They keep talking through the second piece. I tap the guy on the shoulder with my program to give him the shush.

MOOS: But Ellinger says that didn't work. So he again told the man to be quiet.

ELLINGER: Turns around and tells me if you (bleep) at me again, I'm going to throw you over the balcony.

MOOS: That's when Ellinger went to get an usher, then came back and told the man someone would be coming, at which point Ellinger says the guy stood up...

ELLINGER: Cold cocks me with a right hand and at the same time, grabbed my hair with his left and just pulled me down.

MOOS: The man in the blue shirt got escorted out. Ellinger had a bloody lip and he eventually got escorted out, too. The guy with his shirt half off is already getting fashion advice on the web. Always wear an undershirt because there is nothing worse seeing grainy footage of your un-manscaped chest on CNN.

But hey, things could have been worse. This was the parliament in Taiwan Tuesday, where lawmakers from rival parties brawled over an electoral reform bill. Apparently, this was the week for undignified fights in dignified places. At least Ellinger can count on his girlfriend come to his defense that he is pressing charges against the other guy, who has not publicly told his side of the story.

The music stopped for a few minutes when the fight broke out. And when it was all over, Ellinger was still clutching the program he'd used to tap the guy. Talk about a souvenir.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: So he gets popped at the Pops. Thanks so much for being with us. I'm Rick Sanchez. See you again tomorrow, right here, 10:00 p.

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