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American Morning
Central Texas 'Rain Bomb'; Tahoe Burning; Tainted Toothpaste; Cheerleaders Killed; The Paris Interview; Caught In The Act
Aired June 28, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: A nation of extreme weather.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A wave literally came in the restaurant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: High water and power outages in New York.
New fires in California. And destructive flooding in the Plains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My car is gone. My house is gone. And (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Right now, new storms are again on the move on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning to you. Thanks for being with us on this Thursday, June 28th. I'm Kiran Chetry, along with John Roberts.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you.
CHETRY: Did you see the big interview last night?
ROBERTS: Oh, I saw little bits and pieces of it. But I didn't see it live. I saw it in the replay.
CHETRY: Larry King interviewing Paris Hilton. It was an exclusive interview. There she is arriving at Larry King's studios in Los Angeles. They covered everything from the nightmare she had in jail, to allegations of drug use, to whether Paris really will change her ways. Will she? Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PARIS HILTON, HEIRESS/REALITY TV STAR: I've definitely matured and grown a lot from this experience. So I just -- I don't know. I just want to be -- I'm 26-years-old. I'm an adult and I have to just grow up and I have to be a more responsible role model.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: Role model. That's a first.
ROBERTS: Also she says she wants to get married and have a family.
CHETRY: Well, we're also getting a look at Paris' jailhouse journals. Apparently, because she had 23 hours in solitary, she spent a lot of time writing. And then I talked to Larry about what Paris was really like behind the scenes.
ROBERTS: All right.
Hey, something else "On Our Radar" this morning. You may want to check your toothpaste tube this morning. Warnings that toothpaste tainted with deadly antifreeze made in China not just sold in discount stores in the United States. There's almost a million tubes out there, multiple states. The FDA is now saying check the label and get rid of all Chinese made toothpaste. In this particular case, "made in China" could be a warning label. So make sure you take a look at that.
It's going to be a real cliff hanger. That's what Senator Jeff Sessions says about this morning's vote on the immigration reform bill. The Senate convenes at 9:30 to vote on whether to cut off debate. If that cloture vote passes, the immigration bill then goes to a final vote as early as tomorrow. If not, the bill could be dead yet again.
The White House says it's going to respond appropriately to a Senate committee's subpoena for documents related to the public eavesdropping program. The subpoena's went to offices for President Bush and Vice President Cheney, as well as the Department of Justice. The White House has got until mid-July to respond.
CHETRY: At least 22 people are dead this morning in a car bombing that took place in Iraq. The bomb went off at a bus station in a mostly Shiite neighborhood. Forty cars and six shops were damaged.
U.N. inspectors are visiting a key nuclear facility in North Korea today. The first visit since they were kicked out of North Korea five years ago. North Korea has agreed to close the reactor in return for economic aid, but has yet to follow through on that promise.
ROBERTS: There's new details out this morning in the deaths of pro wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and their seven-year-old son. Prosecutors say bruises show that Nancy Benoit was strangled by her husband while he kneeled on her back. And that Benoit's son, Daniel, may have been killed by a wrestling choke hold. A lawyer with the World Wrestling Entertainment says the Benoit's had argued over Daniel's care. The lawyer says Daniel had Fragile X Syndrome, which is a form of mental retardation.
CHETRY: Folks in New York City are hoping that their morning commute goes a bit smoother today after a power outage disrupted the evening rush for almost an hour on one of the hottest days of the year. Subway service suspended. Traffic lights were knocked out. People trapped in elevators. Then severe thunderstorms moved in. Here are some pictures from Albany. A 17-year-old boy was killed by lightning. Up to 45,000 customers lost power.
CHETRY: Central Texas is waking up from a day-long deluge. A flooding situation there that caused people to describe it as a rain bomb. A foot and a half of rain led to flash flooding that wiped out bridges and homes. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is in Marble Falls, Texas, this morning. It's an area that was hit hardest.
What's it looking like today, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's looking better, Kiran. They really needed some good news today, and by golly they got it. In fact, overnight, we didn't have any rainfall in Marble Falls. That's one bit of good news. The second bit of big news, great news, is the river's dropped considerably.
That's the Colorado River right behind me. I'm standing on a boat ramp. And just to give you an idea of how high the water was at one point, take a look at the debris. This shows you where the water was at its maximum height just less than 24 hours ago. As I drop back, I'm walking through silt. You can see all the mud that I'm walking through.
Also, off in the distance you see a picnic table with a covered roof. Yesterday at this point, that was completely under water. If you were sitting at that picnic table, that water would be at least chest high. But since then, as we made our way to the afternoon hours, your water was dropped down to about that point where you see that bag of chips and where you see that -- I don't know what kind of bottle that is, but it's there, and then all the way down to its present level.
The reason why the water has dropped significantly is because the Lower Colorado River Authority, the group that actually handles the flow of this river and all these hydroelectric dams, opened four flood gates on Mansfield Dam, which is just right down river. And by releasing that water, we were able to lower the levels of the water, which has certainly made a tremendous difference. But, still, there are many people in Marble Falls that are without water this morning. There are many issues, many businesses have been suffering. We're hoping to talk to the mayor within the hour to give us the very latest on that.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Reynolds Wolf. All right, we'll check back in with you then. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Four minutes after the hour now. Progress to report on the Lake Tahoe fire overnight. It is now 55 percent contained, but high winds are in the forecast again today. CNN's Dan Simon is live in South Lake Tahoe, California.
And, Dan, you're in an area that could be next to be threatened by the fire.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, John, and that's why we're standing here. Good morning to you.
If the winds pick up, there is a concern that the embers could go over Highway 89, just in front of me, and go into an area called Emerald Bay where there are as many as 750 homes. Be that as it may, there is a growing sense that crews are getting the upper hand on this blaze. As you said, this fire is now said to be about 55 percent contained.
Meanwhile, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was in Europe when this fire broke out, he got a chance to tour the area for the first time yesterday. He went into some of those devastated areas. At one point, the ex-body builder picked up a dumbbell and seemed to marvel that it was the of the few thing to survive. Indeed, anytime you have a wildfire, it's always sort of amazing to see what survives and what doesn't.
Bottom line, John, crews are getting the upper hand on this place, but the x factor remains the wind. Red flag warnings remain in effect until Saturday. If the winds remain calm, crews hope to have this fire contained by early next week.
John.
ROBERTS: All right. Dan Simon for us live in South Lake Tahoe.
Thanks, Dan. We'll keep checking back in with you this morning.
CHETRY: Right now it's time for us to check in on some of our other big stories. Our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents standing by right now for us.
ROBERTS: Let's get right to Chad Myers with the outlook for extreme weather this morning. He's in the Weather Center in Atlanta.
Good morning, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Right now, Ali Velshi is watching the expanding toothpaste recall.
Ali, we're hearing nearly a million tubes. It's not just counterfeit Colgate people have to worry about.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. In fact, the FDA is now saying that Americans should discard any toothpaste that shows that it's made in China. The issue isn't just counterfeit, as you said. It seems that there's an ingredient that's been put into this toothpaste that Chinese officials say is absolutely fine, diethylene glycol, which the FDA is describing as sort of a syrupy poison that just shouldn't be in toothpaste at all. You can see it's the second ingredient there, diethylene glycol. So the answer now, says the FDA, is don't use any toothpaste that says it's made in China or any toothpaste that has diethylene glycol on it. They're trying to get a handle on how many places have had this toothpaste. It seems to have been limited to sort of institutional use in a couple of southern states. But The FDA is on this. If you have toothpaste that's made in China or has diethylene glycol, get rid of it.
You also want to take a look at some tires if you have them. If you have van, SUV or truck tires made by West Lake, Telluride, Compass or YKS. Those are the tires that were distributed by a new Jersey firm, made in China, that didn't have an adhesive to keep the tread attached to it. The company in New Jersey says it will issue recall notices for all of these things. They only have enough money to replace about 10 percent of the nearly half a million tires that were sold.
So tires and toothpaste this morning. Check out which ones you have.
CHETRY: Ali, thank you.
ROBERTS: A small town is feeling a huge loss this morning. Five young women, just graduated from high school, all cheerleaders, killed in a head-on crash. Alina Cho is following this story.
God, this is just such a terrible story, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just an awful story, John. It happened just five days after graduation. Four of the five were varsity cheerleaders and they were headed for a summer vacation before another round of graduation parties. Some of their friends saw it all. We're going to tell you what happened and how others tried in vein to help, coming up in the next few minutes.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Alina. We'll see you soon.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, we have Jacki Schechner watching the blogs this morning.
People certainly weighing in about Paris Hilton's interview on Larry King last night. I see the halo there.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, they're dishing out a huge dose of sarcasm to go with your morning coffee this morning. A lot of people didn't believe that Miss Paris Hilton was telling the truth and the whole truth last night on Larry King. A lot of people say, she says she's been through a lot. I don't think she's learned all that much. But there are people who say, pointing specifically to when she talks about her favorite Bible passage, they don't believe that she's necessarily read the Bible or has a favorite passage.
But if you go to her MySpace page, that's where the support is coming in. We saw when she was in jail that people were on MySpace giving her support and now they're weighing in saying, good job on Larry King. We've been behind you all along. Kiran. John.
CHETRY: All right, Jacki, we'll check back in with you a bit later as well. All of our AMERICAN MORNING correspondents. The team following all of these stories for us with the latest developments.
But in the meantime we're going to hear from Paris Hilton herself right now. In an exclusive interview last night, she told Larry King what prison was like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PARIS HILTON, RECENTLY RELEASED FROM JAIL: It was pretty difficult. Just the cell is like eight by 12, so I was alone the entire time.
LARRY KING, "LARRY KING LIVE": Do you have television in the cell?
HILTON: No.
KING: Radio?
HILTON: Nothing but . . .
KING: Describe what's in the cell.
HILTON: Basically it's a small room with a metal bunk bed, a toilet right next to the bed connected to the sink and a little metal desk. So just a very small area. The whole idea of being in jail is really scary. I've -- I hate to be alone, so that was really, you know, hard for me in the beginning, just to be so alone. And I'd have nightmares have night, you know, of someone breaking into my cell and hurt me and just scary times like that.
I have definitely matured and grown a lot from this experience. So I just -- I don't know. I just want to be -- I'm 26 years old. I'm an adult and I have to just grow up and I have to be a more responsible role models. Because I've gotten a lot of letters from mothers and their daughters look up to me . . .
KING: We'll know it.
HILTON: And I want to be a good role model for these girls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: I wonder if after getting to listen to Paris Hilton for an hour, some of the mystique will be shattered a little bit. I mean people follow this girl around 24/7. Why?
ROBERTS: I'm wondering if a grown up Paris Hilton is as marketable as the one that we've seen for the past few years?
CHETRY: Well, you know, when I asked Larry about all of this, actually, I had a chance to turn the tales on him and ask him what she was like behind the scenes and his impressions, we're going to show you that in just a couple of minutes.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that.
An emergency appeal tops your "Quick Hits" now. A lawyer for Genarlow Wilson says she will file an appeal today after a judge denied bond. Wilson is serving a 10-year sentence for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old. He was 17 at the time. A ruling had set him free, but the state of Georgia is appealing that and is keeping Wilson in jail.
A piece of history is about to return to the catholic church. Pope Benedict XVI has just signed an order that would allow individual churches to practice mass in Latin. The church restricted the use of Latin back in the 1960s, favoring local languages. It was a way to make the church more accessible to people. Now they want to go back to the tradition.
Video of a rough and tumble arrest shows up on YouTube and a police officers gets suspended. A fitting punishment or do these pictures not tell the whole story? That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Some political "Quick Hits" now. Hillary Clinton leads as long as Al Gore stays out of the race. There's a new New Hampshire state poll out showing voters prefer Gore to any of the declared candidates. Candidate Gore leads the pack with 32 percent. Now without him in the mix, Hillary leads by a near two to one margin.
Also New Hampshire Republicans, they're going to be getting a good look at the candidate who's not a candidate today, and that's Fred Thompson. He is scheduled to speak at a Republican dinner there tonight. Thompson headlined a fund-raiser in South Carolina last night.
And eight Democrats running for president will debate tonight at Howard University in Washington. It will air on PBS, 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Tavis Smiley moderating. We're going to be talking with CNN contributor Roland Martin about that debate coming up in our next hour.
John.
ROBERTS: Coming up to 15 minutes after the hour. A small community in western New York is mourning (ph) the loss of five young women today. They were killed this past week in a car crash just days after graduating high school together. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho has got more on this tragic story.
This is just one of those horrible things.
CHO: It's really gut wrenching.
ROBERTS: That you seem to hear it every year.
CHO: You do and it's just awful.
John, you know, four of these five girls were high school cheerleaders. They were headed for a few days of fun to a summer cottage before pursuing their dreams. Exams and the prom behind them, they had their whole lives ahead of them until Tuesday night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO, (voice over): This morning, family and friends are remembering five young women whose lives were tragically cut short less than a week after graduating high school. Bailey Goodman, Meredith McClure, Hannah Congdon, Katie Shirley and Sara Monnat were killed Tuesday night when their SUV crashed head on with a tractor- trailer near Rochester, New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The flames resulting from the collision easily reached 50 feet in height, if not greater, singeing electrical lines and burning through cable television and telephone lines.
CHO: They were among a group of nine Fairport High School graduates, most of them varsity cheerleaders, traveling to a summer vacation home. Their friends, driving right behind, saw the crash and the fire.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The flames were just flying up and the friends of the girls were in our neighbor's yard and they were just screaming and really upset. And that was like the most heart- wrenching thing I've ever experienced.
CHO: Police say the Chevy Trailblazer had just passed a van when it swerved back across the two-lane road into the oncoming tractor- trailer. The truck driver wasn't hurt. He and others tried in vain to rescue the teams trapped in the burning vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I heard the girls yelling oh, my God, you know, we're watching -- you know, they can't get out. They can't get out.
SHERIFF PHIL PROVERO, ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK: This was a -- as I'm sure you're all aware, a horrific accident. Rivaling very few that we have seen in our years here at the Ontario County Sheriff's Office.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Imagine being the girls who saw it all happened. This accident has devastated the tight-knit community of Fairport, New York, population 6,000. There was a candlelight vigil at the high school and the principal there, John, called this a community nightmare.
ROBERTS: It's just the sort of thing that makes you sick to your stomach.
So you say that they had passed a van. Had they done that successfully? How did they swerve back into traffic? CHO: They did. And, in fact, the friends who saw it all happen said they were next to the van for quite some time. Some were asking, did the van actually speed up so as to avoid not being passed. It appears at this point, according to investigators, that didn't happen. But for some reason, the girls in the SUV successfully passed the van and somehow swerved back into oncoming traffic. Why they did that is still an open question.
John.
ROBERTS: And there's nothing left of the vehicle to try to figure out why.
CHO: No.
ROBERTS: Alina, what a terrible story.
CHO: It really is.
ROBERTS: Thanks for bringing it to us.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Remembering the fallen at the scene of a tragedy. The mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, announced yesterday that the city will buy the site where the fire gutted a furniture store and ended up killing nine firefighters. The plan is to put up a park, as well as a memorial.
And New York City Council approving a modernized building code for the city. It's been a subject of debate and a lot of fighting since the World Trade Center collapsed on 9/11. The new code will affect the construction of homes, apartments, skyscrapers and other buildings throughout the city for decades to come.
And a rough arrest caught on tape. It was a hit on YouTube and it got a police officer suspended. But wait until you hear what apparently happened off camera. A reminder about the risks of snap judgment, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-two minutes now after the hour and the search for Bigfoot tops our "Quick Hits." Yes, we don't make this stuff up. Researchers are going to be hitting the woods of upper Michigan. The group's leader, a guy named Matthew Moneymaker, we kid you not, says that he hopes to prove that Bigfoot does, in fact, exist.
Louisiana becomes the last state to ban cock fighting. Lawmakers approved a new bill yesterday outlawing the blood sport where spectators wager on which specially bread rooster will win a fight to the death. That ban goes into effect next year.
And an uplifting story for you this morning. Today, the Bald Eagle will be removed from the endangered species list. Once designated by the pesticide DDT and nearly extinct, there are now 10,000 mating pairs of Bald Eagles in the lower 48.
CHETRY: And we're going to have one right on our show coming up a little bit later.
A police confrontation was videotaped. It then turned up on YouTube, sparked a big controversy there. But this video may not be telling the whole story. CNN's Rusty Dornin takes a look at how YouTube may be changing the way police do their jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Have camera, will YouTube. Snippets like these, when launched on the Internet, often spark controversy. What you see may or may not be the entire picture. But it often comes off as virtual truth. The latest . . .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was ride a skateboard.
DORNIN: Hot Springs, Arkansas. Here, teenagers videotape an encounter with police. Skateboarders were skating where it was illegal. There was a scuffle. Two youngsters, one reportedly 13, were grabbed by a policeman and wrestled to the ground. It became an instant hit on YouTube and sparked a controversy on the streets of Hot Springs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden an officer came out of the store beside me and ran up to the kid in front of me and started choking him.
OFFICER MCCRARY MEANS, SPOKESMAN, HOT SPRINGS PD: If the subject becomes confrontational, an officer does have the right to defend himself.
DORNIN: A different scuffle got a million hits on YouTube. A student at UCLA, tasered by police over an argument over his refusal to show officers his I.D. card.
Videotaping is nothing new. But now, amateur shots can go worldwide in the blink of an eye. Experts say that buzz surrounding YouTube videos often means millions have already made up their minds before there is any rational discussions of the incident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't wait for the full color, the full facts to develop. It's, I saw it, that has to be what happened. They didn't see what happened before. They didn't see what happened after.
DORNIN: What wasn't caught on tape here in Hot Springs, says eyewitness Barbara Golden (ph), was one skater jumping on the back of the police officer.
BARBARA GOLDEN: The kids most definitely were out of line. They should have not been skating with that many people down here.
DORNIN: Still, the officer has been put on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. But none of those details have made it on to YouTube, nor are they likely to. Rusty Dornin, CNN, Atlanta,
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And this isn't the first time that these skaters have been in trouble with the law. Because of that, two of them are now under house arrest.
ROBERTS: One of the top stories on cnn.com right now. Police, 20 decapitated bodies found near Baghdad. Iraq security and coalition forces were being sent to the location to investigate.
The passing of a fashion legend is one of the most popular stories on cnn.com. Liz Claiborne, the first woman to start a Fortune 500 company, had been suffering from cancer for many years. She's credited with making clothes for a new generation of working woman. She died at the age of 78.
We're watching a big story out of Texas right now. New storms moving into towns devastated by flooding less than 24 hours ago. We'll have Chad's latest forecast and a live report from our team on the ground, including the mayor of one of those towns in the cross hairs, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Oh, there you have a shot of morning breaking over Boston Harbor. Our thanks to our affiliate WCVB. Going to be another hot one there again today, I would expect. Gosh, it was so hot here in New York City yesterday.
CHETRY: Yes, what a bad day for a blackout.
ROBERTS: Yes, exactly.
CHETRY: And especially at the height of evening rush hour leaving about a half a million people in the dark yesterday.
ROBERTS: Never a good time to lose power in New York, but yesterday was about the worst time.
Good morning to you. It's Thursday, the 28th of June. I'm John Roberts, along with Kiran Chetry.
CHETRY: Good to see you this morning.
Some stories "On Our Radar." We are getting in new pictures from Texas right now. Just the devastation of this flooding. There you see people carrying their belongings on boats. Campers, trailers submerged. There are some pictures where all you can literally see is the windshield of the car. They got 18 inches of rain in some parts of central Texas. And there are new storms, unfortunately, moving right into the areas where they do not need another drop. We're going to be checking in with Chad Myers, who's tracking this for us, and Reynolds Wolf, who is live in Texas this morning. ROBERTS: The world may change, but we'll always have Paris, right? Paris Hilton's exclusive interview with Larry King. She talked about changing her ways. Maybe getting married, having a family and what it was like in jail.
But what was Paris like behind the scenes? Larry King fills us in coming up here on AMERICAN MORNING.
A do or die vote this morning on the immigration reform bill. The Senate convenes at 9:30 to vote on whether to cut off debate. If the bill attracts 60 votes, it goes to a final vote as early as tomorrow. If not, it could be headed for the scrap heap yet again.
The White House has until mid-July to respond to a Senate committee's subpoena for documents related to the public eaves dropping program. That warrantless wiretapping. The subpoenas went to offices for President Bush and Vice President Cheney, as well as the Department of Justice.
CHETRY: Some more violence in Iraq this morning. At least 22 people were killed after people set off a car bomb in Baghdad. It went off at a bus station in a mostly Shiite neighborhood. Forty cars and six shops also damaged.
U.N. inspectors visiting a key nuclear facility in North Korea today. It's the first visit since they were kicked out of North Korea five years ago. North Korea is agreeing, at least, to close the reactor in return for economic aid, but has yet to follow through with that promise.
ROBERTS: The rain just keeps on coming in central Texas. Parts of the area could see another inch or two of rain this morning on top of the 18 that they saw yesterday.
A storm dropped a foot and a half of rain on the city of Marble Falls. That was in just nine hours. So you can imagine what happened there. Floodwaters have receded this morning, but there's plenty left to clean up.
Joining me now is the mayor of Marble Falls. Raymond Whitman.
Mayor Whitman, thanks for being with us.
Do you have any reports of casualties there this morning? As of last night, you didn't.
MAYOR RAYMOND WHITMAN, MARBLE FALLS, TEXAS: Good morning. No, we still do not have any casualties at this time.
ROBERTS: Right. What was it like there yesterday? We heard reports of 32 high-water rescues.
WHITMAN: The first three or four hours was pretty tense. It's always different when you're trying to do fast-water rescue in the dark. But as the day progressed, sun came up and things panned out, it quit raining. We have not had any rain since then. So things are looking fairly -- looking fairly good.
ROBERTS: We're seeing all of these pictures of houses where all you see is the roof and maybe a little flag sticking up from it. How much damage has this flooding left behind?
WHITMAN: The damage here is fairly extensive. We have two areas that were very hard hit. But the majority of the city escaped major damage.
ROBERTS: You've seen 47 summers there in Marble Falls. Have you ever seen anything like this?
WHITMAN: No, sir.
ROBERTS: So what's expected to be the weather today? There's more risk of thunderstorms. If there's any more water that falls on your town, can you take it?
WHITMAN: Well, as long as we don't get five or six inches an hour, we should be OK. Right now, the creeks and the river are down. They're down fairly dramatically. So right now, we have somewhere for it to go as long as we don't get 18 or 19 inches in four or five hours.
ROBERTS: Right. All right. And I guess the major problem that you're experiencing right now as well is trying to get that city water plant back on line?
WHITMAN: Yes, sir. The crews have worked through the night on that. We still do not have our water plant up. But I am confident that that will happen sometime this morning.
ROBERTS: All right.
Mayor ray Whitman of Marble Falls, Texas.
Mayor, thanks for joining us. Best of luck to you today as you initiate the cleanup from what happened yesterday.
WHITMAN: Thank you.
CHETRY: Well, they're talking about the water receding, yet they're expecting more rain today, upwards of 10 inches.
Chad Myers has been following this storm in Texas and has a look at all of the extreme weather for us.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, the Democratic presidential candidates are going to be debating tonight, and here is a look at the political day ahead.
"AC 360's" Tom Foreman has our "Raw Politics" report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The campaign held hostage day 100. Or at least that's how long it feels like we have been talking about Fred Thompson may be getting into the Republican race.
(voice over): He's at it again in South Carolina, talking low taxes, a strong military, security.
FRED THOMPSON (R), FMR. SENATOR: This is going to be not a war of bombs. This is going to be a war of will, a war of will that we have to win.
FOREMAN: Conservatives want him, so why is he being coy? The raw politics read? The "Law & Order" man is getting free press, rising in the polls, and he does not have to reveal how much money he has to campaign with until he is in the running.
President Bush treading lightly at a mosque. He talked about America's long history of religious tolerance and announced that he's appointing the first ever U.S. envoy to reach out to moderate Muslims in the Middle East.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America offers you its hand in friendship.
FOREMAN: The Obama-Clinton slap fight. The Obamarama says he's the guy to lead on health care, energy reform, not his divisive opponent.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The only person who would probably be prepared to be president on day one would be Bill Clinton, not Hillary Clinton.
FOREMAN: Bring in the wife support. Bill says the Hill is ready to end the war in Iraq and restore America's standing in the world. Republicans loving every minute of it.
Not so lovely. Conservative commentator Ann Coulter jokes about Democratic contender John Edwards being killed by terrorists. His wife sees her on TV, makes a call.
ELIZABETH EDWARDS, JOHN EDWARDS' WIFE: These young people behind you are the age of my children. You're asking them to participate in a dialogue that's based on hatefulness and ugliness instead of on the issues. And I don't -- I don't think that's serving them or this country very well.
FOREMAN (on camera): Coulter says Edwards just wants her to shut up completely, but camp Edwards may get the last laugh on this. They put the Coulter crack on their Web site, hoping that outraged supporters will pour money into the campaign.
We'll see. We'll also see about the Democrats debating tonight. We'll have the complete skinny on "AC 360," Raw Politics".
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Sounds good. And, of course, all the day's political news available anytime, day or night, at cnn.com/ticker.
By the way, we want to let you know that coming up in our 8:00 hour we're going to be speaking with Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John Edwards, asking her about that call she made to Ann Coulter. And we're also going to be talking in the 7:00 hour with our own Roland Martin about whether or not Ann's comments were taken out of context.
We're going to hear the whole thing and let you decide.
ROBERTS: Yes. She was parodying something that Bill Maher had said about Dick Cheney, right?
CHETRY: When you hear the whole thing, that is what she's doing. But Elizabeth Edwards is just saying her past comments as well have been a little bit tough.
ROBERTS: Right.
CHETRY: So we're going to hear from her.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll get deeper into that coming up.
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ROBERTS: Forty-two minutes after the hour.
CNN is hosting a first-of-its-kind presidential debate next month, but you're the ones who are in charge. You can submit your questions for the candidates on YouTube. The submissions are already coming in, and our Internet reporter, Jacki Schechner, joins us now with a look at some of them.
How many of these are coming in? By the dozens, the hundreds, the thousands?
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: We're close to 300 by now, and there is still plenty of time. The debate is not until July 23rd in Charleston, South Carolina.
So you have up until the 22nd to send in your video. Thirty seconds. Be clear, be concise, have a personal point of view.
It's very easy to find -- youtube.com/debates.
I want to show you some of the good ones that are coming in so far. We've got Rachel from Oregon who has a question coming in about education.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I was applying to colleges this past fall, I was really surprised at how little I was able to receive financial aid, and I realized I was going to have to take out a lot of loans to help pay for college. What I'm wondering is if anyone feels there needs to be reforms on current education policies so that people are more easily able to afford college without graduating in significant debt?
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SCHECHNER: See, John, she did it right. It was clear, it was short, it was to the point. And you can either do one to the general Democratic field or you can do one to a specific candidate.
ROBERTS: You know, it's interesting. Taking a look at some of the questions that we've gotten, they all seem to be very issue- oriented about things that affect people themselves, as opposed to sometimes in these debates we see these questions like, your position on this was that, what would you do if, or how have you changed?
SCHECHNER: No, this is really interesting though. We're seeing the issue-oriented ones, and people have specific questions. We're also seeing some really creative entries.
I really like this one from Joseph, who himself is in Charleston, South Carolina. Listen to what he asks.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you were not running for president of the United States, which of your fellow Democrats would you place your support behind?
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SCHECHNER: See, I like that because it was the angle on the positive versus the negative campaigning. So I thought it was really interesting, John.
Again, plenty of time to send them in. You've got until July 22nd. Go online, youtube.com/debates.
ROBERTS: It's a good question, but it's one of those ones that's very easy to duck. It's like, you know...
SCHECHNER: Yes, they won't answer it.
ROBERTS: ... "I appreciate all my colleagues up here on the stage, but let me tell you what I'm going to do."
SCHECHNER: Well, maybe Anderson will be tough and he'll push it.
ROBERTS: All right. I'm sure he will.
Jacki Schechner, thanks. We'll see you soon.
A reminder, too, that CNN is going to host the YouTube debate. Democrats on July 23rd from Charleston, South Carolina; Republicans September 17th from Florida. (NEWSBREAK)
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CHETRY: Well, last night, Paris Hilton gave her first TV interview since she got out of jail. Larry King got the exclusive, and afterward I had a chance to talk to him about how he thought it went.
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LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": She was very, very nervous, said so right off the -- said it a few times before we started. And that's apparent in the first two questions. She answers rather awkwardly.
And then I think she was contrite but also perplexing. And I say that in that she's sorry she did what she did, but she doesn't think what she did was criminal. And she doesn't think the court treats her fairly, but she learned a lot from the prison experience.
PARIS HILTON, RELEASED FROM JAIL: I was told that I had my license. My lawyer told me, "Your license is suspended for 30 days, no driving, then 90 days thereafter that. You can drive to and from work."
So, for 30 days, I never drove once. Then after that it was for work-related purposes.
KING: Do you think you got a raw deal? Do you?
HILTON: Yes, I do.
KING: What were you afraid of?
HILTON: Just the whole idea of being in jail is really scary. I hate to be alone, so that was really, you know, hard for me in the beginning, just to be so alone. And I'd have nightmares at night that, you know, someone would break into my cell and hurt me, and just scary times like that.
CHETRY: Do you think you have any clearer picture of why there seems to be such a fascination with Paris Hilton? Because there clearly is one.
KING: That's a great question. The answer is, she doesn't know it and I don't know it.
HILTON: I have no idea. I just -- I'm just living my life.
KING: I mean, you don't call him up and say, "I'm going down to 3rd Street tomorrow. Be there"?
HILTON: No. Actually, from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, they're outside my house following me all day long.
KING: When did that start?
HILTON: I moved to New York when I was 16 and I started modeling. And ever since then.
KING: So you have now become used to the fact that you have no privacy?
HILTON: Yes. I think it definitely comes with the territory.
KING: What is -- pop culture of the year 2007 is Paris Hilton. Now, pop culture of the '60s were the Beatles, who I had on on Tuesday night. Look at the difference.
But she's the pop culture of 2007. The Beatles are explainable, Paris Hilton is not.
CHETRY: I think you really summed it up. That's the best way to put it.
Larry, it's great to talk to you, as always.
KING: Thanks. See you in New York.
CHETRY: Take care.
KING: Bye, Kiran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: You can be guaranteed of one thing, though. The day that the paparazzi stop showing up is the day she stops making money.
CHETRY: You think so, with her clothing line and her acting and all that? Perfumes? It could go on forever.
Well, anyway, we're going to hear what Paris said in her journal. She was doing a lot of writing. She was stuck, in prison. There's some of it.
ROBERTS: It's in pencil.
CHETRY: Well, the -- hey, you know what? She doesn't get her choice of writing utensils in the pokey. You know what I mean?
ROBERTS: Oh, that's...
CHETRY: I'm sure otherwise it would have been pink.
Well, anyway, if you missed a second of the Paris Hilton interview, you can see it again tomorrow as part of "LARRY KING LIVE" special night, 7:00 -- Paul, Ringo, Yoko and Olivia Harrison with Larry King for the year anniversary of the Beatles "LOVE".
Also, at 8:00, it's a special second date with Paris. At 9:00, Michael Moore taking your calls and e-mails live.
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CHETRY: All right. Three minutes until the top of the hour. Ali Velshi joins us now, "Minding Your Business".
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, the thing about the -- Southwest Airlines is planning their cancellations. Northwest, it's not planned. It's been going on for a week now. We're waiting to see what the airlines are doing about that.
CHETRY: Even if you just knew when you logged on or called...
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VELSHI: Yes, that's right. You make a plan. Make a plan and not show up at the airport and wait for a plane that isn't going anywhere.
Power outages is another unplanned thing. We had a bunch of them around the Northeast yesterday. Some of them were because of weather.
But around the New York area, as you reported, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, parts of New Jersey -- southern New Jersey, western New Jersey -- without power for different reasons. In some cases, it was -- it was, you know, weather, but in New York, it wasn't. Some subway lines were shut down yesterday right around rush hour.
It's not all back. There are still a few people without power, but by and large, the city is moving this morning.
This, of course, just brings out that whole issue of, it's summer, can our transmissions systems handle all of the draw on electricity? Con Ed, the New York power system, says this wasn't to do with the weather. It was a transformer problem. But you know...
ROBERTS: With all of those people buying iPhones, as well, and needing to charge them, is the power grid going to be able to deal with it?
VELSHI: That's right. On Friday night, when everybody gets their iPhones, it's going to be tough. I will tell you about that a little later.
But, so it all seems to be OK. But we are going to see. I mean, it's a hot summer, hot day, and let's see where we go with power this summer.
I'll keep an eye on that and the iPhone.
ROBERTS: See you soon.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.
In the meantime, Ali, I know the Spice Girls are getting back together!
VELSHI: I am.
CHETRY: Scary Spice, Posh, Sporty, Baby Spice and even Ginger making an announcement in the next hour that they're going to have a reunion tour to promote their greatest hits album.
How long is the tour going to be, 15 minutes?
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CHETRY: Yes, greatest hits. Of course, it's more than just "I'll tell you what you want, what you really, really want."
ROBERTS: Tell me.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
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