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Utah's Biggest Blaze; Night Assault; Out With The Old?; White House Refuses Log; Power Grid Pressure

Aired July 09, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody, on this Monday. I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown this hour.

The president, Congress, and the fired federal prosecutors. An important deadline right now. One the White House will ignore.

NGUYEN: Flames. They've scorched hundreds of square miles in Utah brush land. It is the biggest wildfire in state history and it is still burning out of control.

HARRIS: Smothering heat settling in over the Northeast. Can the power grid stand up to the brutal temps.

It is Monday, July 9th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Imagine for a moment the entire city of Los Angeles in flames? That's about the size of the big wildfire in western Utah. The biggest in state history. Our Kara Finnstrom is live this morning.

And, Kara, we spoke with Rowdy Muir (ph) last hour with the Bureau of Land Management. And I can tell you this, listening to his voice, you got an indication that this is going to be a long and difficult fight.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really is. I mean, this thing is massive. Something that firefighters here, veteran firefighters who have been on the force for 40 years, say they just have never seen anything like it.

And today there is both good news and bad news for those firefighters out on the front line. The good news is, help is on the way. Today this goes from being a state operation to being a federal one. So we've had just about 100 firefighters here dealing with this massive blaze. And they've got six other fires that they're dealing with across the state.

Well, today they're getting some help. About 500 firefighters from across the country coming in. Also a lot of other resources, like big air tankers to really douse these flames. The bad news, however, is that this is a red flag warning day, and that means some strong wind gusts expected this afternoon and that could continue to fuel this fire. Now so far, one home destroyed by this blaze and a number of other out structures. We took some video take of that one home, and it gives you an idea of the intensity of this fire when it does strike a home. This home now nothing more than piles of ash and just twisted metal. And, fortunately, for this area, this fire has been burning largely in a wilderness area.

So the devastation here, not the homes you might expect, but just acre after acre of charred forest. And that will be a concern, they tell us, for the wildlife here are for the livestock, because there's lots of ranches, because the feed for these animals has just been incinerated.

HARRIS: Yes.

Hey, Kara, very quickly. Do we know how this fire got started?

FINNSTROM: Yes, it got started with a lightning strike. They tell us that the land here was really ripe for it, though, you know, very dry, little rainfall, little snowpack this year, and that lightning strike struck and the fire just took off.

HARRIS: CNN's Kara Finnstrom for us this morning.

Kara, thank you.

NGUYEN: All right. Let's put this in perspective now because wildfires, they are burning in more than a dozen states. Here are some of the hot spots for you.

Mandatory evacuations are in effect in the areas of two separate wildfires in California. The largest has destroyed 34,000 acres. Now several structures in that area have been destroyed as well.

Fires killed one person in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Twenty-seven homes have been destroyed there. Authorities say the person who died had gone back into his home to retrieve some personal possessions.

And in southern Arizona, fires are threatening a major mountain observatory, but officials are hopeful that they can head off the advancing flames.

HARRIS: Betty, as we go to Chad Myers in the Severe Weather Center, you can explain all of this by just considering the drought conditions, just how dry it's been out West and other parts of the country as well, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: The debate over Iran faces new milestones this week in Congress. Senate Democrats will mount a new challenge to the White House's war strategy. They will make their proposals as the Senate considers a Pentagon spending bill. One Democratic amendment is likely to call for most U.S. troops to be out of Iraq before spring. The challenge comes as the White House faces more Republican defections.

Over the two weeks, at least three Republicans have broken ranks with the Bush administration. In fact, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has canceled a planned trip to Latin America. He will focus, instead, on a much anticipated progress report on the war. That report is to be given to Congress by this weekend.

NGUYEN: Well, the heated debate over the Iraq War reportedly is now simmering inside the White House. "The New York Times" reports that inside the administration, debate is intensifying over a gradual troop withdrawal. The paper says some insiders believe pulling troops from high casualty areas could curb more Republican defections. And according to "The Times," some administration officials believe narrowing the U.S. mission would allowed for a staged pull-back. As recently as December, Mr. Bush denounced any such move, saying it was a recipe for defeat.

HARRIS: Iraqi's prime minister facing a test that could doom his government and some say his country. Iraq's parliament could hold a no-confidence vote this week on Nuri al-Maliki. If lawmakers vote against him, it would topple his government. Many insiders say that would shatter any progress that's been made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I can tell you one thing, that after Maliki, there's going to be the hurricane in Iraq. This is extremely important point to make across to the western audience and to the Arab audience, as well as the larger Muslim audience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Just a short time ago, Iraq's Sunni vice president told CNN that there are no plans for a no-confidence vote.

NGUYEN: Well, a showdown between Congress and the White House this morning. It's over the firing of federal prosecutors and the White House's refusal to hand over subpoenaed documents related to the matter claiming executive privilege. This hour, the White House faces a deadline of provide Congress with a log of what documents it is withholding and fully explain why it is exerting executive privilege. Instead, a senior administration official tells CNN, the White House counsel will send Congress a letter restating its refusal to comply.

HARRIS: A sightseers nightmare. Chopper down. Eight people on a charter helicopter rescued from New York's Hudson River. Man. Passengers say the chopper seemed to have engine trouble before making the emergency landing on Saturday. Those yellow pontoons you see there, on the chopper, they actually kept it afloat and two boats rescued the pilots and passengers. No injuries, but as one family member on the chopper told CNN's "American Morning," there was plenty of fear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN SULLIVAN, CHOPPER CRASH SURVIVOR: It was very scary. We at first were shocked that we didn't realize what was going to happen just happened. And before we know it, we were getting lower and lower and we got really scared that we were going to crash.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

NGUYEN: Will the neon lights stay bright on Broadway? That's what some people are asking, especially as the temperatures rise, so do those concerns about power outages.

HARRIS: Fighting insurgents. It is 24/7. U.S. troops go on a night assault and we are with them. Exclusive report, straight ahead.

NGUYEN: Also, safe at home and back in the arms of her mother and father. A kidnapping comes to an end.

HARRIS: And look closely. A bank robbery suspect branches out and comes up with a novel disguise.

NGUYEN: With duct tape, no less.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At Citizen's Bank on Elm Street with tree branches duck taped to his head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: That's an actual quote from police. Are you ready. This is it right here. This guy really went out on a limb.

NGUYEN: Oh, stop it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back. I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Scrub lands, wow, burning fast and furious in the Utah outback. An update on the state's largest wildfire in history, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And this just in to the CNN NEWSROOM. No real surprise here. We understand that the administration, the White House has invoked executive privilege to block two White House advisers from testifying before Congress. Again, this is all about the fired federal prosecutors. And we also understand this hour White House Counsel Fred Fielding will be sending a letter to Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative John Conyers reiterating the White House's refusal to comply with the subpoena for documents related to the U.S. attorney's controversy. Our Ed Henry is working on this story for us and we will be talking to Ed shortly for the very latest on this story.

NGUYEN: A series of attacks ushers in a new week in Iraq. Two roadside bombs exploded near a crowded bus station in central Baghdad this morning. Four people were killed. Nearly two dozen wounded. Look at what's left after that explosion.

I want to tell you about this. Also today, at least four Iraqis were killed in a bombing elsewhere in the city. Another four were shot to death in a separate attack. And this latest violence comes after a deadly weekend.

Since Saturday, nearly 200 Iraqis have been killed in a series of attacks. And the U.S. death toll in Iraq, is climbing as well. A suicide bomber struck a military patrol yesterday outside the capital. One U.S. soldier was killed, three others wounded. The U.S. death toll for July -- July alone, is only nine days into this month -- the death toll stands at 29 for this month alone.

Meanwhile, Iraq's embattled prime minister may be facing his toughest political test. Sometime this week, Iraqi lawmakers could hold a no-confidence vote on Nuri al-Maliki. Iraq's national security adviser, though, says if the vote triggers a collapse of the government, the fallout would just be disastrous.

HARRIS: Dangerous detail in the dark of night. U.S. troops looking for insurgents suspected of killing Americans. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen now with an exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Hovering into the target area, U.S. troops on a nighttime air assault south of Baghdad. Their mission? Capturing suspected insurgents. People the soldiers say they know were involved in killing American military personnel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go. Move it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A one Romeo, black five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A one Romeo, bulldog 5 roger. Let me get those names again, over.

PLEITGEN: First Lieutenant Matt Sheftic is a squad leader. The key to fighting insurgent leaders, he says, is finding enough evidence to put them behind bars.

1ST LT. MATT SHEFTIC, U.S. ARMY: You know, these guys are like the mafia. They don't keep anything in their house, for the most part, so we have to look real hard to find different components and what did the not.

PLEITGEN: Searching the property, they find what they're looking for, ladders, pickets and barbed wire from an American patrol base. A base insurgents blew up three months ago, killing two soldiers, and that was later looted.

SHEFTIC: This tells a lot. This is good evidence here. I would say this is a big (INAUDIBLE) big success. If we don't find anything else, then this here is enough to bust this guy.

PLEITGEN: A success the soldiers say is made possible by the U.S. troop increase in Iraq. The so-called surge. More boots on the ground means troops can increase the pressure on insurgents. This unit alone has conducted 14 operations in just three weeks.

The soldiers detained 12 people in all. They say since the beginning of the troop surge, they've been able to conducted a lot more raids like this one, disrupting the insurgency and making it harder for them to plan attacks.

SHEFTIC: The added troops are helping to focus the insurgents in different areas where they previously had safe haven and we're allowed to go and basically resupply and rearm. And now they're now being followed there.

PLEITGEN: However, the soldiers say disrupting the insurgency is not enough. The question they tell us is whether the gains they're making now will last.

Frederik Pleitgen, CNN, Radhwaniya, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Want you to take a look. OK. So they're going, going, oh, gone. In fact, actually hurt, flying, crashing over the edge in Texas. We'll tell you much more about this.

HARRIS: Fans cry out, save "Harry Potter." And just making J.K. Rowling is listening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. Looking at the big board today, the Dow is up 36 points and changing, staying in positive territory so far. Also the Nasdaq, that is up, too, up four points on this Monday morning. We'll see where it goes today.

HARRIS: Steep drop ahead. Take a look at this video here. A couple out for a fast ride, right, on a jet ski?

NGUYEN: Looks like fun, until.

HARRIS: Lewisville Lake in Texas . . .

NGUYEN: Boom.

HARRIS: Oh, this is a 20 to 25-foot plunge from the spillway.

NGUYEN: My goodness. I can't believe they stayed on for as long as they did. HARRIS: Right. Right. Man and a woman rescued. OK. But she had to actually cling to a tree limb for about an hour before rescuers could get to her. The man had some serious injuries. The woman's condition, we don't know.

NGUYEN: Well, the past pitted against some progress now. Colorful, old Hong Kong in the way of new Hong Kong. CNN's James McDonald (ph) reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES MCDONALD, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Hong Kong Panty Hose Tea. The name may not tickle your tastebuds, but it is a favorite local flavor, mixed with milk and filtered through cloth. More than 50 years ago, Lun Chung Yips (ph) father opened his teahouse in this century-old market. A neighborhood now under threat.

"Since we have been here for decades," he says, "we wish to save our shop. We hope to preserve local Hong Kong culture."

Nestled in the heart of the financial district, what this neighborhood lacks in beauty, it makes up for in character.

Just a couple of blocks from Hong Kong's most modern, gleaming sky scrapers, you can buy your groceries from a street vendor. These markets are where old Hong Kong meets new, and they may not be around for much longer.

There are plans to demolish many of these buildings, making way for more sky scrapers. Something this district already has an abundance. The markets will be a thing of the past.

"I feel helpless," this stall owner says. "The government wants to change the surroundings here. But for people like us living this kind of lifestyle, it changes a lot."

In Hong Kong, it's out with the old. This lane is known as wedding card street. Once filled with print shops, it's already deserted, ready for demolition. Developers have their eye on a number of older buildings.

JOHN BATTEN, RESIDENT AND ACTIVIST: This is what sort of thing we don't want, this tower block here.

MCDONALD: Resident and activist John Batten says Hong Kong is sacrificing its past.

BATTEN: A city that shows its history is really interesting. A shopping mall is not interesting.

MCDONALD: Government planners say many structures are dilapidated and conditions need to improve. Some shop owners agree.

"Tearing down the markets will improve the area, since it will be cleaner," he says. "There won't be as many mosquitos and rats." But opponents say the area should be refurbished, not replaced. They're getting more vocal. Protesters demonstrated against the demolition of the historic Star Ferry Pier, unsuccessfully as it turns out. Even so, Batten believes old Hong Kong is worth fighting for.

BATTEN: If you put a shopping mall in, then all this is gone. That flavor, that nuance is lost.

MCDONALD: But preserving it, he says, is far from a lost cause.

James McDonald, CNN. Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Battle lines are drawn between the White House and Congress. It is all about those fired federal prosecutors and the deadline. Live to White House correspondent Ed Henry now.

Ed, some news in the last 10 minutes or so.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, good morning, Tony.

Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, saying a few moments ago to reporters that that letter we spoke about last hour from the White House counsel, Fred Fielding, has officially gone up to Capitol Hill, saying, once again, that the White House will invoke executive privilege and that they will not provide a log of what documents they are withholding.

That was a deadline Democrats had set for 10:00 a.m. this morning. They wanted the White House to provide some sort of a sheet of paper laying out, at least broadly speaking, what documents they are not turning over. Tony Snow saying they will not do that because the president believes there is an important principle at stake, executive privilege being the candid advice from his White House aides, and that he cannot comply with this subpoena.

On another important matter, this "New York Times" story everyone has been talking about this morning, claiming there's a high-level debate going on in the White House right now about whether or not the president should call for withdrawal -- large withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Tony Snow insisting that article is not accurate. Adding that it's, "way ahead of the facts" and "there's no debate right now on withdrawing forces from Iraq."

I pressed Tony Snow and said why is there no debate going on like that in the White House right now, especially given the fact such senior Republicans, like Richard Lugar, have said that, in fact, the White House should start withdrawing U.S. forces. Snow insisted he believe Republicans like Lugar are not necessarily opposing the White House right now. Obviously that seems to not necessarily square with the facts as we know it. A lot of senior Republicans, like Lugar, like Pete Domenici, now saying that the White House needs to change course and the president can't wait until September to do it.

Tony. HARRIS: That's strange reasoning, that they're not opposing the administration, when that seems to be exactly what they're doing.

HENRY: Certainly when you hear the remarks, it sounds like they're opposing this White House.

Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. OK. Our White House correspondent Ed Henry.

Ed, thanks.

HENRY: Thank you.

HARRIS: Charting the course of war. Lawmakers stoke the debate on Capitol Hill. Will the White House feel the heat?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's getting hot in the Northeast, but the power companies seem to be saying everything is cool. I'm Jim Acosta in Times Square. This story coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And coming up on the bottom of the hour.

Hi, Betty.

NGUYEN: Good morning.

Did you have a nice weekend?

HARRIS: Thank you, Betty. Thank you for asking. I appreciate the question.

I did. How about you? Great weekend?

NGUYEN: I worked.

HARRIS: Yes, you did. Fabulous job.

NGUYEN: Still working.

HARRIS: Welcome back.

NGUYEN: But it was still a fabulous weekend. I'm sure a lot of you getting back into the swing of things after that holiday week, July 4th extended on in through the weekend.

We do want to tell you about a staggering amount of smoke, though, that's in the air out West. Some of you may have seen it, smelled it. Hundreds of wildfires burning across more than a dozen states. This is the map from the forest service. Take a look at that. Here's what it looks like on the ground, though. Police dash- cam video of nearly 300,000 acre Milford Flat Fire that just jumps the highway, making it nearly impossible to see. The fire is blamed for two traffic-related fatalities, Tony.

And a wildfire is also blamed for one death in South Dakota. At least 27 homes were destroyed in the Black Hills there. Mandatory evacuations ahead of a pair of growing wildfires in southern California. A firefighter helicopters crashed. No one was seriously injured.

HARRIS: Well, the heat's has turned up on the East Coast today, and that means new pressure on power grids. CNN's Jim Acosta covering this story in New York, looking cool as ever.

Jim, good morning top you.

ACOSTA: Hey, good morning, Tony.

Yes, it seems every year in the Northeast, as the mercury rises, so do worries about the power supply. But the energy companies are all but guaranteeing the lights will not go out on Broadway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA, (voice over): Even though temperatures are predicted to hit the 90s in the Northeast this week, another big blackout is not just around the corner. So say the big energy companies who insist they can take the heat.

FRANK KOZA, EXEC. DIR. OF SYSTEMS OPS., PJM: We think we're in good shape for this coming summer and we don't expect to have problems in serving all of our customers.

ACOSTA: PJM overseas a power grid for 13 East Coast states. Just one of the grids that took a nosedive in the country's worst-ever blackout of 2003. Leaving 40 million Americans in the dark, it caused a staggers $6 billion in economic losses. ConEdison is also optimistic. But, just last summer, 175,000 people in the Queens area of New York sweltered without air conditioning for nine days, leading to protests and complaints of mishandling the outage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CLENDENIN, CON EDISON SPOKESMAN: We have a lot of new equipment in place, a lot of new cable that's in place since last summer, to hopefully minimize and prevent what happened last summer.

STAN JOHNSON, N. AMERICAN ELECTRIC RELIABILITY COUNCIL: We learned a lot of lessons from what happened in 2003. We applied those lessons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Stan Johnson works for the non-profit watch dog over the nation's engergy supply that just last month gained the authority to fine power companies that violate industry standards. Johnson says that overall U.S. grids fared well last summer. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: If you use this last summer as an indicator, we had over 14, 15 sustained days of over 90 degrees in the northeast, and the system held together very well. So, we believe that we can survive 14 or 15 days, and the system is a bit stronger this summer than it was last summer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But the next crisis is looming, unless the nation starts building new power plants within five to seven years, energy analysts fear the return of the blackout of '03. And power company officials say there's no magic bullet for this region's energy needs. It may sound old-fashioned, but they say it's up to consumers to use less by conserving energy, which sounds a little strange coming from Times Square.

HARRIS: How about that. All right, CNN's Jim Acosta for us this morning, Jim thank you.

NGUYEN: It is summer, and we're used to this kind of heat, right? Except Chad Myers has been watching and in some places Chad this is extreme heart.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: We'll take it.

NGUYEN: Bring it any way you can, Chad. Thank you. The debate over Iraq -- well, it's facing some new milestones this week in Congress. Senate Democrats will mount a new challenge to the White House's war strategy, will make their proposals as the Senate considers a Pentagon spending bill. One Democratic amendment is likely to call for most U.S. troops to be out of Iraq before spring.

The challenge though comes as the White House faces more Republican defections. Over the past two weeks, at least three Republicans have broken ranks with the Bush administration. In fact, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has canceled a planned trip to Latin America. He's going to focus instead on a much anticipated progress report on the war, and that report is to be given to Congress by this weekend.

HARRIS: Battle for air supremacy, Boeing and Airbus squaring off in the skies, trying to change the way you travel. CNN's Jim Boulden has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At the most recent Paris air show, Airbus made the most noise.

LOUIS GALLOIS, CEO, AIRBUS: I can tell you with full confidence that Airbus is back. BOULDEN: After a tough 2006 of production delays with its super jumbo A380, Airbus now has 154 firm orders for its futuristic wide- body jet known as the A350 XWB its answer to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Airlines are demanding Airbus gets this one right.

AKBAR AL BAKER, CEO, QATAR AIRWAYS: You know, it is their reputation on line. And, they really cannot screw up with this project.

BOULDEN: Airbus says it's banked 680 plane orders this year. Up to July 3rd, Boeing says its booked 540. Last year Boeing blew past Airbus with more than 1,000 orders, a record for Boeing. Thanks to the A380 delays, Airbus had a terrible year, compared to record orders in 2005.

Despite whispers of supply hiccups, Boeing has booked record orders for the Dreamliner. The production schedule is full through 2013.

SCOTT CARLSON, PRESIDENT, BOEING: The question we often get asked is, are you going to increase production rates so you can take more orders? And, that's a complex issue that has to do with the durability of the demand of the marketplace, the ability to supply base to support, and the implications for our other business.

BOULDEN: Ironically the success of the 787 may have helped rival Airbus. U.S. Airways for one is buying the A350 since it will be available starting in 2013.

ANDREW NOCELLA, U.S. AIRWAYS: The 787 looks like a great airplane, but from our perspective, it didn't have material time advantage in terms of deliberating.

BOULDEN: And since the A350 has yet to be built, Airbus says in the next decade, it will be the most advanced plane on the market.

JOHN LEAHY, AIRBUS: We have no intention of having a me-too airplane. It has to be a generation beyond. It will be in the size of the fuselage, it will be in the fuel consumption, in the range, the payload, and it must also be in the engine.

BOULDEN: Airlines finally have an option in the next generation long range jet.

JOHN KUTLER, AEROSPACE INVESTOR: What they want to do is they want to maintain competition. The 787 has been tremendously successful and it has its order book filled for a number of years anyway. So what airlines are trying to do is support both in a way not to have a Boeing monopoly.

BOULDEN: Boeing can't make planes fast enough, Airbus says its worst days are behind it, just as airlines are hungry for a newer, lighter, quieter and more fuel efficient fleet.

Jim Boulden, CNN London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: A new book, a new movie, now new hope for thousands of frenzied "Harry Potter" fans. This online save "Harry Potter" petition is grabbing the attention of author J.K. Rowling. This series was to end with book seven, "The Deathly Hallows", now Rowling hints she might revisit Hogwarts School of Magic, still it's not clear if that will be with or without Harry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to survive in the next book? Are you going to survive?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE, ACTOR, "HARRY POTTER": I don't know, and if I did, I couldn't possibly tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Rowling says the seventh book in the series brings Harry's story to a clear end. But adds, never say never.

NGUYEN: Yes, just stringing us along. Well, "Harry Potter" fans, set your calenders because actor Daniel Radcliffe joins LARRY KING LIVE. That is Wednesday night at 9:00 eastern right here on CNN. In the meantime, you have to see this. They were simply trapped under tarp, and some of them actually took off with it. Colorado Rockies -- see right there. He was just dragged across that field.

OK. So, a Colorado Rockies groundskeeper had not way out when a big gust of wind took control of that tarp. Members of the visiting Philadelphia Phillies actually had to come and rescue him and help secure the tarp. Only a couple umpires and a -- singular -- Rockies player pitched in. The rest of the team was already back in the clubhouse, they said forget about it.

HARRIS: Yes, take a look at this. A guy dressed like a tree, in a second here.

NGUYEN: Is he going hunting? What is that?

HARRIS: Hello? Oh, man. The bizarre story of an alleged bank bandit who really went out on a limb for his heist.

NGUYEN: Stop it, Tony.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

NGUYEN: All right, tony, you know the song, right, hot town, summer in the city.

HARRIS: Yes!

NGUYEN: Well, the nation's capital heading toward 100 today, and everybody's got an idea on how to stay cool. Here's CNN Gary Nurenberg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NURENBERG (voice over): A hot day to be pregnant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We made sure I had water so I wouldn't de hydrate and get over exhausted.

NURENBERG: At 12:17, Sunday afternoon, in Washington, the sign read 93, in the shade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Real bad. Real hot, humid.

NURENBERG: She was in Baltimore where the city opened some cooling centers to offer protection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to stay as cool as it gets. Going to a cooling center over there. I'm glad that's close by, with the ice water.

NURENBERG: Washington's housing authority opened cooling centers, too. Signs led the way. The temperature set below 55. At the National Zoo, tourists had suggestions for dealing with the heat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get some water, and stay in the shade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring a fan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Light clothing; don't wear long sleeves.

NURENBERG: Does a hat help?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, definitely. Definitely. A little bit of water along with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drink a lot of water, or I go to the pool.

NURENBERG: Lots of tourists said drink lots of liquids. But coffee?

(On camera): Hot coffee?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it's iced coffee. I don't think I could handle hot coffee today. It's really hot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you spray this. From this bottle, and this fan will spray it, and it cools you down.

NURENBERG (on camera): Let me have it. It works! Thank you.

What do you think people should do to stay cool?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dump water on them.

NURENBERG (voice over): Think nobody would take that advice. He was on the National Mall at mid-afternoon. So was he.

(On camera): What are you doing with a map on your head?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keeping the sun off my gourd.

NURENBERG: Does it work?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: NASA gets ready for another big trip to Mars. The Phoenix rises soon, right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Betty, people are getting their news in so many different ways these days. We just want to be there on every possible platform.

NGUYEN: We want to be there when they want it.

HARRIS: Exactly, which is why we have put together the podcast for you. It's available to you 24/7 on your iPod. You know to catch us weekday mornings here 9:00 until noon, in bigger and bigger numbers. Thank you very much. But you can take us anywhere on your iPod. Again, just download the CNN NEWSROOM podcast. It is available to you 24/7, right there on your iPod. Come see us this afternoon.

NGUYEN: And if I'm not mistaken, it's one of the most popular podcasts here at CNN.

HARRIS: Thank you for that, Betty. Thank you.

NGUYEN: Just wanted to throw that out there.

HARRIS: Just about everyone is trying to go green these days, even bank robbers, believe it or not.

Yes, here's Josh Davis of affiliate WMUR.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH DAVIS, WMUR-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 9:00 a.m. The Citizens Bank on Elm Street opened for just moments. Then, this man walks in, tree branches duct-taped to his body.

SGT. ERNIE GOODNO, MANCHESTER POLICE DEPT.: It happened very quickly. We have a few witnesses who couldn't believe how fast it happened.

DAVIS: Police say he walked right up to one of the tellers and demanded money. It was no joke. The teller handing over cash. The suspect walking out. He's described as white, 5'8", a thin build with dark hair. He was wearing thick eye glasses, a blue T-shirt with red trim and tree branches with green leaves.

One officer told us that the first thing he did when he got here was look up. That's because with such an unusual disguise, this suspect could be hiding anywhere.

GOODNO: My guess is that he dressed like this an attempt to elude us at some point.

DAVIS: Saturday, as police canine sniffed through the parking lot, yellow police tape blocking the entrance, word spread to those walking by. Some grabbing the cell phones to tell others.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone just robbed Citizens Bank on Elm Street with tree branches duct taped to his head.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never heard of anything like that before.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crazy.

DAVIS: We are told the tellers were unhurt, still baffled by this unusual crime but a crime no less -- a felony. This suspect facing years in prison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: New Hampshire police say the suspect is in custody and due in court today.

HARRIS: American GIs on the front lines of Iraq and on the front burner of Washington politics. Congress weighs new withdrawal options this week. President Bush may make a preemptive strike.

NGUYEN: The West, it is on fire, folks, yes, wildfire just raging across almost every Western state. One blaze already the size of the city of Los Angeles.

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