Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
F-16 Crashes in Iraq; Weather Satellite to Go Blind; Ruth Graham: 1920-2007; 'Life After Work'; Wild Ride for 3-Year-Old
Aired June 15, 2007 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Don lemon.
Tuck in, unplug, reboot, and cross your fingers, maybe throw a little prayer in there.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Space shuttle astronauts, space station cosmonauts and ground crews in two countries urgently working on two repair jobs high above Earth.
PHILLIPS: And it may come to -- news to these guys, but the exiled leader of Hamas says he has got no quarrel with Fatah, and still wants to work with the Palestinian president.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: We want to start this hour by getting right over to the Weather Center and Chad Myers.
Tornado on the ground in Texas; is that right, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, exactly.
We don't expect a lot of severe weather today, T.J., but we will get some storms that could begin to spin right here. Now, just to south of Anahuac, right there, southeast, had a spotter, have this storm on the ground, seeing the tornado touch down kind of in an open field.
But it's headed just to the south of Winnie, kind of a populated area right here along the I-10 corridor. So, if you get down toward Stowell, you probably could maybe see this storm coming to you in the next 15 minutes. You may want to take cover there, not a hugely populated area.
This is not downtown Houston. This is Chambers County we're talking about, off to the east of Houston, between Houston and Lake Charles.
But look at the area of strong weather, at least, maybe not all severe, but some strong weather here all the way from Shreveport, back to Baton Rouge, all the way back even into Tyler, Texas, seeing some scattered showers and storms. Some of them could be severe today, just so you know -- guys, back to you.
HOLMES: All right, we appreciate the update. Thanks so much.
PHILLIPS: And, about a half-an-hour ago, we reported the downing of an F-16 in Iraq. According to sources, it doesn't look like hostile fire brought that aircraft down. At the same time, we reported that Secretary of Defense Gates is also visiting in Iraq -- two developing stories right now out of that country.
Our Jamie McIntyre in the Washington bureau today, what are you hearing on both of those, Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pentagon sources tells CNN that it appears the pilot of that F-16 did die in the crash, which initially appears to have been an accident.
According to a release from the U.S. Air Force, the F-16 was part of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. It crashed just after midnight, early this morning, Friday time, in Iraq. And, according to what sources tell us, it appears the F-16 was on takeoff from an undisclosed location in Iraq when the plane crashed.
And, again, it's still under investigation. But, at this point, Pentagon officials tell us there's no indication of hostile fire. It's unusual for these F-16s to crash. Don't forget -- although there was an F-16 that went down about six months ago, don't forget the U.S. patrolled the no-fly zones over Iraq for -- for years, over a decade, without losing a single plane -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Gates also in Iraq. A lot of times, we don't know about these trips, for the sake of security.
Jamie, why is he there now?
MCINTYRE: Yes, that's exactly the case. They don't announce these ahead of time because of -- for security reasons.
But he did arrive Friday night, Baghdad time, for consultations with U.S. commanders. It's his fourth trip to Iraq. Gates wants to get a firsthand view of how things are going, talk to General David Petraeus.
And, by the way, on the way over flying to Iraq, Secretary Gates told reporters traveling with him that he has a lot of confidence that General Petraeus is going to be a straight shooter when it comes to filing his report in September about how things are going.
You know that Senator Harry Reid apparently made some comments, suggested that maybe Petraeus didn't have a good handle on what was going on over there because of some positive comments he made -- but, again, Secretary Gates coming to his commander's defense, saying that he has a lot of confidence that General Petraeus will be able to -- to tell the straight scoop when he's called on to say how things are going in September.
PHILLIPS: All right, Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- thanks, Jamie.
HOLMES: New fears about the future of Palestinians the day after the Hamas takeover of Gaza -- from Damascus, a top Hamas leader says his faction still recognize Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian president.
But Hamas gunmen stormed the Abbas' Gaza office today and stomped on his picture.
CNN's Atika Shubert following developments from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hamas in charge -- photos show Hamas gunmen inside the Gaza residence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, posing at his desk, making a mock phone call, saying, according to Reuters: "Hello, Condoleezza Rice. You have to deal with me now."
But perhaps this is the most poignant photo for Palestinians: Hamas gunmen trampling on the portraits, not just of President Abbas, but the late and revered Yasser Arafat, father of the Palestinian national movement.
Hamas is in charge of Gaza. But can it govern? Even as mass gunmen trumpeted their authority to the media, looters had taken over the streets of Gaza, stripping down the empty homes of Fatah leaders.
Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh insists that he is still prime minister of the Palestinian government. But Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has dissolved the Hamas-led government and installed an emergency cabinet, under the leadership of former Finance Minister Salam Fayyad.
So, who is in charge? Depends on where you're at. In Gaza, Islamic militant group Hamas is the undisputed power. In the West Bank, the Western-backed Fatah is still in control -- the dream of a united Palestinian state torn in two.
(on camera): This is not just about a fight for power. It's also about what kind of a state Palestinians want, the Islamist militancy of Hamas in Gaza or the weakened secular authority of Fatah in the West Bank, a stark choice for those who hoped for a united Palestinian state.
Atika Shubert, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: A fix-it day a world away from the nearest home improvement store.
Two astronauts are outside right now patching up the space shuttle. They plan to staple down a section of the thermal blanket that peeled up during launch. That blanket protects the spacecraft from the fierce heat of reentry.
They also have a new assignment, unplug a cable on the new solar panel. Computers on board the International Space Station went to the blink after the panel powered up. They still won't reboot, and no one seems to know why.
Mission controls in both Houston and Moscow insist the crew is not in danger. Backup systems are in place. New parts might be needed, in which case they could arrive next month.
Let's get right to Miles O'Brien.
OK, Miles, we tried to talked a little bit over those live pictures, but not nearly as good as you do it. I'm sorry.
OK. Miles doesn't hear us.
Miles, do you have your IFB in?
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Oh, wow.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: If you -- if you could only see this picture.
Can we just see a quick shot of Miles?
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Because -- there he is. You're not going to do it.
All right. We're going to be safe, because he can't hear us. But he's got his glasses on. He's hunched over his computer. And he's in total geek mode right now. So, as soon as we can get coms to our NASA expert, we will bring that live, in addition to the live pictures of NASA, and talk more about that space walk happening right now.
HOLMES: All right. Right now. Miles doesn't have an IFB in yet. So, we will move on.
PHILLIPS: He's multitasking.
HOLMES: He is right now.
PHILLIPS: Miles is multitasking.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Well, meanwhile, got a long, long-ago civil rights murder case to tell you about. It's now closed. A reputed Klansman could spend the rest of his life in prison. A federal jury in Mississippi has convicted James Ford Seale of kidnapping and conspiracy. Two black teenagers, Charles Moore and Henry Dee, disappeared in Franklin County, Mississippi, in 1964. Their bodies were found later, found, and weighted down in the Mississippi River.
Here's how Moore's brother saw the verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS MOORE, BOTHER OF CHARLES MOORE: But I want the world to know that Mississippi spoke this night. The jury are from Mississippi. David is from Canada. I'm from Colorado Springs. The jury is from Mississippi.
And I hope every citizen of Mississippi, Franklin County, can rest tonight, with the veil of shame off of their eyes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, Seale is now 71 years old. He has denied any involvement in the killings or any involvement in the Klan -- his sentencing set for August 24.
PHILLIPS: Well, a weather satellite crucial to predicting hurricanes is about to go blind. Does the National Hurricane Center have a plan B? We're going to find out -- straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: And friends and family mourning Ruth Graham. She was the wife of evangelist Billy Graham. We will take a look back at her extraordinary life. That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, a follow-up to a story we followed here not too long ago: David Hasselhoff and that custody fight over his two daughters, very bitter and public custody battle. Well, he has been awarded sole legal custody of his two daughters and primary physical custody of them.
Now, to some who haven't followed this case that closely, and have just picked it up the last couple of months, it might come as a surprise, because we were covering this not long ago, video released of him that was made public, one of his daughters actually shooting video of him in a -- appeared to be in a drunken state and a mess.
He was on the floor, shirt off, trying to eat a hamburger off the floor. That video was made public. There were questions. He was not allowed to see his daughters for a couple of weeks after that. But, in fact, yes, he now has been given sole custody of his 16- and 14- year-old girls -- so, a wrap-up to that very public and very bitter custody battle -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Did he enjoy the hamburger? HOLMES: It appeared to be a pretty good hamburger. And he was desperate to eat it. He appeared to be very hungry.
PHILLIPS: Outstanding. All right.
Well, a fix-it day a world from the nearest home improvement store.
Let's get straight to Miles O'Brien, who is following the space walk.
Miles, sorry about that. We lost contact with you.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Houston, we had a problem.
O'BRIEN: We did have a little problem there.
PHILLIPS: Now you're back with us.
O'BRIEN: It's funny. I heard you, and then...
PHILLIPS: I'm going to just...
O'BRIEN: ... you went away. But...
PHILLIPS: OK.
O'BRIEN: ... I'm going to take NASA out of my ear for just a moment.
So far, so good. Of course, just as you come to me, we got a picture of mission control in Houston. You don't really want to see that.
What you want to see is Danny Olivas, his gloves, doing the job. Let's take a look at some of the pictures that have been feeding down over the past couple of hours.
Just to give you a sense of -- of where you are, that's -- this is his helmet camera. And he's got his checklist right there. He's ready to go. And he has with him some pins and a surgical stapler.
And -- and his -- his quarry is this right here. That's a little gash in the, well, really peeled-away blanket in the thermal protection system near Atlantis' tail. It's about four inches by six inches.
NASA engineers never felt this was a real crew or vehicle- threatening type of thing. There you see it up close, and you really get a sense of how it got kind of pushed by the supersonic airflow during launch.
In any case, it would cause, however, some charring to the graphite beneath there. That's -- that was the concern. So, they wanted to avoid that damage, if they could.
And, so, what they did was, Danny Olivas -- I don't know. Do you have some stuff showing the staples? Maybe we haven't gotten that into the system yet. But he went out there. And this is the blanket material. And there you see him pushing it in. You get a sense of that.
As he pushed it in, he started putting these staples in from a -- they actually had surgical staplers on the space shuttle, in case an astronaut cuts him or her self -- and started doing this, you know, just started stapling it, one after another. And, so far, it looks pretty good. As a matter of fact, he probably could work as a surgeon. He did a pretty good job.
So, that appears to be going very well, Kyra. And that heat shield, then, you can take that off your list of worries for space. But there are a whole set of other worries up there, as you know.
PHILLIPS: Now, let me ask you this. We have talked about the backup plans. And we have talked about the fact that this might be unmanned. But I just want to double up on the fact that, at this point, it doesn't look like any of the astronauts are in danger, right?
O'BRIEN: No.
This is -- this is a -- an astronaut told me once, when you're on the space station, you know, once you get through the launch and landing part of space, almost everything happens in slow-motion. This is a slow-motion, big-time problem that we have here.
The Russian -- the brains of the Russian side of this space station are inoperative right now. It happened, it all began when they put that new solar array on, on Monday. They made -- they made one particular connection, and, right after that connection, things just started cascading in failures, blue-screen-of-death kind of stuff.
They -- they couldn't get the thing to reboot. And this is the system that controls everything from the temperature, to the humidity, to the carbon dioxide removal, to the potty, to the attitude control of the space station in general. So, it's a big deal.
Now, so, what they did overnight was, they went through and looked at all the cables. They put all kinds of sensors on there. They tried to analyze the kind of voltage which this new system was introducing into the power grid there to see if there's something in these squiggly lines which is -- has upset those computers, which are, on the one hand, kind of robust, but, apparently, pretty sensitive to voltage problems.
So -- but they didn't find a thing, no smoking gun. Not only that -- they took those computers, they took them away from the American power. They were running strictly on the Russian power to see if that was the problem, and they still wouldn't reboot. So... PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, the Russians, right, Matthew Chance is reporting from Moscow that they are sending up, I -- what -- Am I saying it right? -- a freighter or some sort of backup plan to get -- to get those...
O'BRIEN: Yes. No, NASA just confirmed that, that they're...
PHILLIPS: ... cosmonauts out of there?
O'BRIEN: They're looking -- well, no, no, no, no, no, it's not to get people out.
First of all, they always have a lifeboat there. They can always leave any minute.
PHILLIPS: OK.
O'BRIEN: They always have that.
PHILLIPS: OK.
O'BRIEN: So, they're -- they're -- don't worry about them. If things do get in a situation where they can't sustain life there -- and they have got plenty of oxygen -- they have got lots of work- arounds -- they can just get in the Soyuz capsule and go home. That's no problem.
But the -- they are talking about bringing a freighter up a little bit earlier. It's supposed to be in August. Might be the third week in July. They think they can do that perhaps to bring up some parts. They might very well take some parts back on the shuttle, which they can analyze, and see if there's a way to fix this.
But it's not like the Russians can call Dell and have them build a new computer. These were...
PHILLIPS: Get the Geek Squad?
O'BRIEN: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: These are one-off...
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: These are one-off machines built by Daimler-Benz in Germany. And they are just not on a shelf waiting to put a new one in.
PHILLIPS: Got it.
O'BRIEN: So, they have to figure this out.
And, in the meantime, the crew will stay. The -- the shuttle will go. The crew will stay. It's just a question of how long they can keep the thing going.
PHILLIPS: Thank you, Miles O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: You're welcome. You're welcome.
HOLMES: Well, a weather satellite crucial to predicting hurricanes is about to go blind. Does the National Weather Center have a plan B? We will find out here in the NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: When you think of the word addiction, you probably think drugs. But, with obesity on the rise in America, Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us about another addiction that some people must battle. That's coming up.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, for eight years, forecasters have relied on it to warn us about hurricanes, but this storm tracker is getting old. And it's in danger of failing. So, what is that going to mean for Chad Myers and his forecasting? -- Chad.
MYERS: Well, we use it every day in hurricane season to find out whether the storm has actually closed off or not, whether the wind is going in a circle or just maybe in a loop. It's called QuikScat. It's a big-time, important satellite that is well past its prime. And there's no plans to replace it any time soon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have liftoff, liftoff.
MYERS (voice-over): The QuikScat weather satellite was launched in 1999. With its rotating antenna, it sweeps the world's oceans and takes 400,000 wind measurements every day.
The system is one of several used by the National Hurricane Center in forecasting hurricanes. But QuikScat is five years past its life expectancy. The aging weather satellite could fail at any moment.
REP. RON KLEIN (D), FLORIDA: I'm very concerned that a satellite that provides a lot of our major information for our weather forecasters at the National Hurricane Center, as we have found just recently, is beyond its useful life, which means that it may last a week. It may last a month. It may last a year. But my question, of course, is, how did we get to this point? And what is plan B?
MYERS: The National Weather Service plans to spend about $20 billion during the next 20 years on the next generation of technology.
In the meantime, acting director Mary Glackin says there's no reason to worry.
MARY GLACKIN, ACTING DIRECTOR, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: And I would really like to reinforce to the American public that we're prepared to provide hurricane services this season.
We have, again, our geostationary satellites up there watching those storms all the time. We have our hurricane hunter aircraft. We have put new buoys in the water to be able to figure out what's going on at that level. We are ready.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MYERS: So, let's say it fails. Let's say it fails tomorrow. What happens? How bad does it get?
They went back to 19 -- or went back to 2003, and they ran all the computers without this satellite in its memory, in its process. They have tricked it into thinking it had already died, and the computers, the programs were off by about 10 percent.
Error -- you should be about 150 miles in two days, was about 165, so, yes, maybe a little bit of a difference, but probably not enough that anybody is going to notice -- 17 named storms, probably, this year, seven to 10 hurricanes, and three to five majors, which means Category 3, 4, or 5.
We will be ready right here at CNN -- guys, back to you.
HOLMES: We will be ready, but we really hope you're not that busy. All right.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: I hope I sit right there and drink coffee the whole -- whole season.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: That's not your typical day. We want to everybody to know, that is not what he normally does.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: But, thanks, Chad.
MYERS: All right. You bet.
PHILLIPS: Well, we are a heavy nation, and we're getting heavier. The number of obese adult Americans increased more than 50 percent between 1980 and 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What's causing this increase? Well, some doctors say that we are becoming addicted to food.
Senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has today's "Fit Nation" report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: For Jessie Roth-Cross, weight control is a vicious cycle.
JESSICA ROTH-CROSS, DIETER: I feel bad. So, I eat. So, I feel bad. So, I eat.
GUPTA: A year ago, she lost 50 pounds, but the stress of a new job and her wedding took its toll.
ROTH-CROSS: You know, I have had a bad day and I really want something, you know, say, chocolate.
GUPTA: But does food bring comfort, or is it more of an addiction that certain people can't control? Obesity was once treated as a condition of the gastrointestinal track. Now research is pointing to the brain.
DR. PETER MARTIN, VANDERBILT ADDICTION CENTER: That is fundamental for all addiction, how you turn drives, motivations, feelings and emotions into activity.
GUPTA: And, for obese people, that activity is eating.
MARTIN: What we are trying to determine in neuroscience research is how these different food agents modify the way the brain works.
GUPTA: Studies have also shown that certain people who undergo bariatric surgery turn to other addictive habits after their operation, trading one addiction for another.
DR. GARY FOSTER, TEMPLE CENTER FOR OBESITY RESEARCH AND EDUCATION: I think that people who turn to other addictions after successfully treating their obesity would suggest to me that they may have -- quote -- "an addictive personality." But to say all overweight people do or that's the driving force for the cause of obesity, again, just isn't supported by the data.
GUPTA: Doctors like Foster believe that behavior modification is the way to fight obesity, and that people like Jessie need to really think about what they're eating.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Hamas' grip on Gaza, how will it affect the rest of the region? How will it affect the U.S.?
That's ahead here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: New questions about the future of the Palestinians and the entire Middle East -- the Hamas faction strengthens its control over Gaza today, after defeating fighters from the rival Fatah faction.
Earlier, we spoke with professor Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland.
Despite the savage violence of the past few days, Telhami says it's unlikely Hamas fighters will get the last say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIBLEY TELHAMI, ANWAR SADAT PROFESSOR FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: I think, in the end, they're not the ones who are making the decision.
You have got all sorts of people in this emotional environment, after many years of -- of competition with Fatah forces, and many of them feeling under the thumb of these forces, feeling in control now. And that's -- they reveal it. In the end, it's going to be the political leadership that will make a decision. And clearly, they're sending a signal that they want to play. They don't see this as an isolated operation.
I think from the American point of view, though, it really is going to raise some very challenging questions. Not only about how did we get here. Clearly, American policy hasn't worked. It's been a failure on this score.
But the takeover of Gaza happened so rapidly, that it changes the environment radically. I think for -- not just for American interests, but for the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the regional players, the Israelis, and certainly for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. And so the U.S. is going to have to re-examine all of these options on the table.
HOLMES: You say re-examine some of the U.S. policies. Let's go to one here that a lot of people would point at, at least the policy on Iraq.
Iraq was supposed to be this beacon of democracy, and democracy was supposed to spread throughout the region. It appears that in some cases the opposite is happening.
How do you, or do you directly connect what we see happening in Iraq to what we see now happening in the Palestinian territory?
TELHAMI: Well, first, you know, some of it obviously isn't related to Iraq. Clearly, there's been a -- the policy on the Israeli front has been a troubled front, and lot of the dynamics were not related to Iraq.
And the difference between Hamas and Fatah has been strong for a long time. But a lot of the patterns, the spread, the priorities, the shift, empowerment of militant groups, all of that is somewhat related to Iraq. I mean, after all, the administration itself said, look, you've been a -- domino effect. Of course, they expected to be a domino effect -- they expected Iraq to influence events in the region positively. And Iraq has influenced events in the region, but negatively.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, in Washington today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States still supports Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who remains in control of the West Bank.
PHILLIPS: "Ruth was my life partner. We were called by God as a team." That's how Billy Graham is remembering his wife of more than 60 years.
Ruth Graham passed away yesterday at their North Carolina home. Her husband and children right there by her side. She was 87 years old.
I spoke with the Graham children recently about their parents' relationship, and it was clear that those two were still very much in love.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUTH GRAHAM, DAUGHTER: "Dear God," I prayed, all unafraid, as we are inclined to do, "I do not need a handsome man, but let him be like you."
PHILLIPS (voice over): The desires of a teenage girl growing up in rural China. Ruth Graham's daughter, her namesake, reads a poem her mother wrote.
GRAHAM: "And let his face of character, a ruggedness of soul, and let his whole life show, dear God, a singleness of goal."
PHILLIPS: Little did 13-year-old Ruth know a few years later she would meet that man of her girlhood dreams. A young man she would help become the most famous evangelist of the 20th century.
GRAHAM: She has been his closest advisor and confidante.
ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ, DAUGHTER: And she's an incredible woman. You wouldn't have Billy Graham without Ruth Graham, and I know that. And he knows that, too.
PHILLIPS: The daughter of medical missionaries, Ruth McCue Bell was born in China in 1920.
R. GRAHAM: And it was a very happy childhood, although outside the walls were bandits and warlords, and overhead were Japanese bombers flying.
PHILLIPS: China and Japan were at war. Ruth dreamed of becoming a missionary in Tibet, but her parents said she was going to college. So, dressed in hand-me-downs and size 7 saddle shoes, Ruth headed to Wheaton College in Illinois. That's where she met and later married Billy Graham. WILLIAM MARTIN, BIOGRAPHER: Their courtship was humorous, in a way. He would ask her for a date, then not be in contact with her for six weeks. Ask her again, and then wonder, was he asking her -- was he pressing her too much? And then finally, she dated some other people, and he said, "You're going to date only me or everybody but me." So she said, "OK, we'll do that."
PHILLIPS: Trading Tibet for the mountains of North Carolina, Ruth was not your typical preacher's wife. She had no problems speaking her mind, even in front of the president of the United States.
R. GRAHAM: Mr. Johnson was asking him for advice, some sort of political advice. And my mother kicked him under the table. And my daddy, being my father, said, "Why did you kick me under the table?" And Mr. Johnson looked at Daddy and said, "Billy, she's right. You stick to preaching and I'll stick to politicking."
PHILLIPS: Billy not only felt her influence, but so did her five rambunctious children: Gigi, Anne, Ruth, nicknamed "Bunny," Franklin and Ned.
LOTZ: There was lots of love, and we had lots of fun. There was lots of fighting because all -- there are five children -- all of us very strong-willed.
Franklin was sort of the catalyst. Franklin and my older sister Gigi were probably the catalyst for a lot of the fighting.
PHILLIPS: Ruth did whatever it took to keep her kids in line.
FRANKLIN GRAHAM, SON: I was misbehaving. I was picking on my sisters, and I was in the back seat of the car. She had warned me once to quit picking on my sisters, and I continued.
And then she pulled the car over and grabbed me by my neck, and jerked me out of the car, and opened up the trunk and put me in the trunk and closed the trunk. And away we went to town. So, my mother always -- she was a disciplinarian. If she told us to do something, we had better do it.
PHILLIPS: While Ruth was home raising the children, Billy was on the road, often months at a time. And his success meant sacrifice.
R. GRAHAM: He really tried to stay in touch with us and be the kind of father that he wanted to be. He has said that he's frustrated that he wasn't home for us when we were little.
MARTIN: Ruth, she got lonely, of course. And different points she would sleep with a sport coat of his just to have the sense that he was near. But she has said, "I would rather have Billy Graham 50 percent of the time than any other man 100 percent of the time."
GRAHAM: Now listen carefully...
PHILLIPS: While Billy lived out his faith for his children largely from afar...
GRAHAM: Many people are following Christ today.
PHILLIPS: Ruth lived out her faith in front of her kids every day.
LOTZ: It wasn't just something acted out on a platform or pulpit. And I would catch my mother on her knees in prayer.
R. GRAHAM: I have wonderful letters from my father. And we heard of lives being changed.
GRAHAM: If you are willing to make the kind of a commitment I talked about tonight, you're willing to come openly in front of everybody.
R. GRAHAM: Wonderful stories of what was going on. So he kept us in the loop, as it were.
PHILLIPS (on camera): Did you ever realize your dad was famous?
R. GRAHAM: I did not. It wasn't until I was older that I realized my father was famous. My parents made very sure we stayed grounded.
PHILLIPS (voice over): A discipline that came from Ruth and Billy's commitment, not just to their kids, but to each other.
R. GRAHAM: There is a light in my mother's eyes when she looks at him. And there's a light in his eyes, when he looks at her.
PHILLIPS (on camera): Your mom and dad still madly in love?
R. GRAHAM: Very much so. Very much so.
It's so cute when you're with them now. He will sort of toddle over to her and lean into her to kiss her. Of course, you're afraid he's going to fall, but she's watching her movie in the -- she's sitting in a chair.
He will lay across her bed and hold her hand while watching the movie. They look at each other with such love and tenderness. It's very sweet. And he says that this is the best time of their lives.
BILLY GRAHAM, EVANGELIST: I love her more now and we have more romance now than we did when we were young.
PHILLIPS (voice over): A romance Ruth Graham put in a poem, and a prayer, more than 70 years ago.
R. GRAHAM: "And when he comes, as he will come, with quiet eyes aglow, I'll understand that he's the man I prayed for long ago." And her prayer was answered.
You know, my father is strong and straight and focused. And the Lord answered that 13-year-old's prayer. (END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Actress Angelina Jolie in the spotlight with her new film "A Mighty Heart". She plays Mariane Pearl, widow of "Wall Street Journal's" Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan.
Excuse me here, my microphone is not working.
But Jolie talked with our Larry King about the film and how it has affected her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: I believe in the message of this movie. And I think people can interpret it many different ways. But to me, the most important thing was that you -- the idea of this story, a lot of people see it as a story about the division between our cultures and faiths, and hate and anger and violence. And when I read her book and started to work on this, it was very clear that it was a story about rising above all of the fear and the anger and actually coming to a place of dialogue and tolerance. And about this group of people from different backgrounds, from different faiths who came together.
So it was -- it was a positive story. And I thought that was necessary today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And you can tune in to "LARRY KING LIVE". Tonight, his guest will be Al Pacino, a man who has bared his soul on screen but hardly bares his soul in any interviews because he hardly ever gives them. He talks with our Larry tonight at 9:00 Eastern.
Again, that's only here on CNN.
PHILLIPS: Weekday mornings and early afternoons will never be the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now, here is the star of "The Price is Right," Bob Barker!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Hard to believe, but you won't hear that again, except in reruns. Bob Barker's final episode of "The Price is Right" aired today.
The celebration almost brought the legendary game show host to tears. Barker has been host of this show since its debut in 1972, back when Rice-a-Roni was a lot cheaper.
No word yet on a replacement. CBS will rerun the finale tonight right before the Emmys.
HOLMES: Well, you ever think about quitting your current job to start up your own business? Well, let us introduce you, then, to a lawyer in the nation's capital who took that risk. And yes, it's paying off now.
Our Betty Nguyen has his story in this week's "Life After Work".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the aptly named bakery born out of owner Warren Brown's fervor for cake.
WARREN BROWN, OWNER & FOUNDER, CAKELOVE: Making cakes from scratch was something that I started after I began practicing law.
NGUYEN: The health care litigator was disenchanted with his day job. So, he started thinking about his future.
BROWN: I don't want to have a midlife crisis that I can predict. I know that I don't want to continue practicing law for the rest of my life. And I know that I love food.
I didn't grow up, like, making cookies and cakes with my mom. So, baking, for me, was something that was very new. And I had a fear of flour. I put myself through the Warren Brown culinary school.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: I just marched through different recipes, experimenting and trying. The thing that made me say to myself, OK, you have got to get out of this law by day and baking by night was that I physically ran out of gas. I had to go to the emergency room. The doctor said, "Listen, you have got to slow down. "
NYUGEN: So, Brown turned his full attention to making a career out of cake. A year-and-a-half after Brown quit practicing law, his first CakeLove store opened. There are now three in the Washington area, but it's not the only outlet for his passion.
BROWN: I have got a show called "Sugar Rush" on Food Network. Here is a guy who is on a quest to learn more about baking. For me, it's a total dream. When I'm baking, I'm happy. And I didn't have that practicing law. And, with cake, I finally got to this place where I -- I have always wanted to be.
NYUGEN: Betty Nguyen, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And this is coming in to us from our affiliate in Los Angeles, KABC. New video just brought in by them, actually.
A motorist shot on the 710 freeway. That's in Alhambra, the San Gabriel Valley, outside of Los Angeles. We're told that one person has been shot and killed on the freeway here. It happened at about 11:20 this morning, L.A. time.
Apparently, the victim was shot by random gunfire. He then lost control of the car, careened into the center divider and struck a Caltrans worker.
The worker's injuries unknown at this time. It happened not far from where another freeway shooting took place earlier in the week, we are told.
Police aren't saying if the two incidents are related or not. The freeway has been shut down right there in the area of the 710 freeway in Alhambra for an investigation.
We'll stay on top of details as we get it.
HOLMES: And a wild, wild ride for that little girl there. She didn't take that ride in her daddy's truck. She took that wild ride on top of her daddy's truck.
Her amazing story coming up next here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, it was like an amusement park ride, minus the amusement. This 3-year-old Georgia girl survived a ride on top of her father's pickup truck. And it wasn't a slow ride, trust me.
Catherine Kim of CNN affiliate WXIA explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHERINE KIM, REPORTER, WXIA (voice over): By most accounts, 3- year-old Krista Whitlow (ph) shouldn't be alive. Instead, she happily eats her strawberry cake seemingly unaware of the pain.
But Carey Whitlow watches his baby girl with a great deal of pain. The sight of her wounds wounds him deeply.
CAREY WHITLOW, FATHER: You know, I'm thinking -- I'm thinking, what if? And people, they don't think about that. But we do.
KIM: Carey had a quick errand to run Tuesday afternoon.
COLLEEN WHITLOW, MOTHER: And he circled the vehicle and realized he forgot his phone.
KIM: That's when Krista (ph) climbed on top of her dad's camper, wanting to ride along. Carey drove off unaware of his precious cargo.
(on camera): Krista apparently was gripping on to the top of her dad's camper for five whole miles. Now, police say this is where they found her, off of Jim Hood Road, where she apparently let go of her grip. A passing driver says he saw her fall. But daddy's little girl got back up and chased after her dad.
CAREY WHITLOW: She said she got tired and wanted to step off and fell. I didn't know.
KIM (voice over): It wasn't long after that Colleen called Carey frantic. Krista (ph) was missing. No one could find her at home.
COLLEEN WHITLOW: You know, you feel like as a parent, your job is to love and to protect your kids. And, you know, we -- of course, we feel like we let her down.
KIM: They soon found their miracle, Krista (ph), cozy in her hospital bed, feeling a little guilty herself.
CAREY WHITLOW: She smiled. And I bent down to kiss her, and she licks my face, like, sorry, dad. And she thought she was in trouble. All she wanted to know if she was still a good girl or not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Oh, boy this story just gets us all choked up every time we watch it.
Well, Carey Whitlow, the little girl's father, spoke to John Roberts about his daughter's wild ride on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING". He says he had no clue she was on that truck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAREY WHITLOW: I knew she was in the living room, because I had just seen her there. But apparently she wasn't.
And once I left the -- you know, once you leave a driveway, you don't think to look around for your kids on your vehicle. I was actually a suspect, because a witness thought that someone had thrown her from a moving car when she fell off.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Somebody saw her fall off the truck and they called 911?
CAREY WHITLOW: That's correct.
ROBERTS: Oh.
CAREY WHITLOW: They were coming the opposite way and stopped and picked her up. And they told us that she ran after me with all her scrapes and bruising that was going on. And that -- that's what makes me feel terrible, because I was oblivious to what was going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, little Krista (ph) skinned her face, her arms and her legs, but all things considered, she's in pretty good shape. Doctors expect to send her home today.
HOLMES: We've got the closing bell and a wrap of the action on Wall Street coming up right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: We've got some information just in about that gentleman. The Duke lacrosse district lacrosse district attorney said he plans to resign no matter what the outcome of his current ethics trial is.
Right now he's going through an ethics trial. The folks there could disbar him, couldn't practice -- he might not be able to practice law anymore. But, yes, he has admitted wrongdoing, admitted that he might have crossed the line during that whole Duke lacrosse case.
But he is saying now, or he has said during his ethics trial that's going on now, that he will resign no matter what the outcome of it is. So, no matter what happens, he will no longer, according to him, at least, be the district attorney there in Durham County.
And of course came under fire for the way that he handled that case. And the charges all ended up being dropped against those three Duke lacrosse players.
But Mike Nifong saying he will resign as Durham County D.A.
PHILLIPS: The closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Now we take it to Wolf Blitzer.
HOLMES: And "THE SITUATION ROOM".
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
