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North Korea's Nukes; Typhoon Man-Yi Expected to Brush by Tokyo; Terror in Britain; McCain Campaign Challenges; Genarlow Wilson Rally; New Orleans: Chasing Recovery
Aired July 14, 2007 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Rest easy. A new study says it is possible to make up for lost sleep.
A little wine, a little cheese, and a little guilt? A would-be robber reconsiders after stealing a moment at a dinner party.
And powering down. North Korea says its mothballs the centerpiece of its controversial nuclear program.
Hello. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
An apparent step today toward keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of rogue nations. Reclusive North Korea is claiming it shut down the reactor that made enough fuel to build a dozen or more nukes. United Nations inspectors are traveling to the plant to verify the claim.
With the story live from New York now, U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth.
And how soon, Richard, before we get that kind of confirmation from those U.N. inspectors?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, it could take at least a month, says the IAEA. They have a lot of equipment to set up and the director general of the agency says it's going to take some time. And this is overall a first step, and we've had some false first steps before in the relationship between North Korea and the West.
North Korea and other nations worked out this recent agreement, send (ph) some fuel and start resuming diplomatic relations if only North Korea would dismantle and disarm its nuclear program. But a lot of verification has to take place.
The State Department is pleased with what's happened so far with North Korea saying its shut down this major reactor at Pyongyang, but still, the verification has to come. On the political track, though, things are a lot cooler than they were last year at this time -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So what do we think provoked this? Because this has been on and off again for years now.
ROTH: Well, a couple of months ago, an agreement was reached between North Korea, the U.S., China, Japan. You may remember a year ago at this time I was on the air with you after North Korea launch many missiles.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
ROTH: And then a few months later, set off some type of nuclear device. So they got the West's attention again, and now we're back on a carrot-and-stick-type approach in which the carrots seem to be boiling. But there's still a lot more work to be done, and everyone will tell you that.
Critics such as former U.N. ambassador John Bolton say North Korea is being rewarded without doing anything and that we'll never know for sure where its nuclear weapons might be hidden.
WHITFIELD: Yes. And I also remember us talking about the snub that the North Koreans gave to the U.N. when those sanctions were voted upon to be imposed. So it's an amazing about-face.
ROTH: That's right. The North Korean ambassador, I believe, walked out and called the tactics "gangster-like" by the U.S.
WHITFIELD: Yes. All right.
Richard Roth, thanks so much.
Meantime, still international news, but something very different. A videotape showing Osama bin Laden has surfaced in public today.
The 40-minute tape includes a minute-long sound bite from the terrorist leader. He purportedly stresses the importance of martyrdom. The date is unclear and some are suggesting it might have been recorded before 9/11.
Next hour, we'll discuss the status on the war on terror with analyst Jim Walsh.
Typhoon Man-Yi is expected to brush by Tokyo tomorrow as it lashes coastal Japan. The powerful storm is blamed for the death of a young boy after battering Okinawa, then striking the main island of Kyushu.
CNN's Gary Tuchman felt the storm in the town of Kyoto.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The rains have been coming down for about 38 hours now, to be exact. We've had minor flooding in this city. But I will tell you one thing that's just totally amazing to me, is that we see very little in the way of preparation whatsoever.
There's still people out in the streets. Stores are still opened. The 24-hour stores are still opened.
And what's very important to note, Fredricka, is the storm in the next 12 hours will pass some of the biggest cities in Japan -- Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya. And then Tokyo by tomorrow afternoon. We're talking about a city, metropolitan area, with 30 million people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And Kyoto being the seventh largest city in Japan. The storm is expected to dump up to 40 inches of rain and possibly trigger mountain slides.
Let's check in with Jacqui Jeras, who's in the severe weather center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Meantime, two more men have been charged in connection with the recent terror plots in Britain that included the attack on Glasgow International Airport and failed bombings in London.
From London here now is CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Metropolitan police in London are charging Sabeel Ahmed, a 26-year-old Indian doctor, under the U.K. Terrorism Act of 2000. That's in connection with the failed car bomb attacks in London and at Glasgow International Airport.
Now, the charges in part accuse Ahmed of having information "... who you know or believed may be of material assistance in preventing the commission by another of an act of terrorism." In essence, they're accusing him having information that could have prevented a terror attack.
The 26-year-old Ahmed was picked up in Liverpool following the failed car bomb attacks, and he is understood to have studied at the same medical institution as another suspect, Mohammed Haneef, who was arrested in Australia and who has been charged with providing support to a terrorist organization. We also understand from our sources that the two may be distant cousins.
Ahmed is scheduled to appear in a London court possibly as soon as Monday.
Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The second suspect charged today is an Indian doctor arrested in Brisbane, Australia, two days after the Glasgow attack. Mohammed Haneef is a distant cousin of the brothers being held and is charged with supporting a terrorist group. Haneef had share a home with his brothers before leaving Britain a year ago. His attorney says Haneef was an unwitting dupe.
A curious message today from Iraq's prime minister, speaking in Baghdad. Nuri al-Maliki said U.S. troops can leave his country any time they want and that the Iraqi army and police can keep the country secure.
He said the troops need to leave behind, however, some weapons and first need to train more Iraqis. Those comments aside, President Bush said again today the troops are not leaving. At least not yet. Mr. Bush made Iraq the subject of his weekly radio address.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're starting to take the initiative away from al Qaeda and aiding the rise of an Iraqi government that can protect its people, deliver basic services, and be an ally in the war against extremists and radicals. By doing this, we're creating the conditions that will allow our troops to begin coming home.
When America starts drawing down our forces in Iraq, it will be because our military commanders say the conditions on the ground are right, not because pollsters say it would be good politics.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Mr. Bush spoke in the midst of the latest Iraq debate in Congress. It is set to resume next week.
Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, so how do you stop an armed robber? Well, how about a glass of wine? Some self-defense served in a glass?
We'll uncork the details straight ahead.
Plus, some call it a sinking ship, but residential candidate John McCain says he's got other plans.
And a live picture right now of a funeral taking place for one of the most beloved first ladies of her time.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A couple of months ago -- now about three months ago -- I got an e-mail from a guy that said, "As a former drunken sailor..."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. Presidential hopeful John McCain mincing no words as he stumps today in the key battle state of New Hampshire.
The Arizona Republican acknowledged his campaign is running low on funds, but McCain told a town hall crowd today that money was never part of his plan to win the state. He says instead he will rely on his message delivered directly to voters.
Well, it's not just McCain's campaign coffers that are shrinking. His staff is also getting smaller, and some critical supporters from previous campaigns may be noticeably absent this time around.
Reporting from Concord, New Hampshire, CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He is broke. His staff is skeletal. His poll numbers are sagging. But John McCain is standing.
MCCAIN: We go to the town hall meetings. We fix our financial difficulties. And we win.
CROWLEY: In New Hampshire, on his first campaign trip since the departure of top advisors, McCain signaled his presidential bid will go back to the future, the template of 2000, when his maverick campaign stunned the political world and he beat George Bush in the New Hampshire primary.
Even close friends wonder if anything can save this campaign, but McCain says he's hard-pressed to think of anything that will stop him.
MCCAIN: Contracting a fatal disease.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anything short of that?
MCCAIN: Not that I know of.
CROWLEY: Even as he spoke, other top aides in the McCain campaign were preparing to leave. And the details of second-quarter fundraising and spending are about to be made public. McCain is down to his last $250,000, a campaign pittance.
MCCAIN: Well, we're going to have to do a better job. That's all. I mean, it wasn't the money we got. It was the way the money was spent.
CROWLEY: Of all the changes that have and will take place in camp McCain, the one thing that has not changed is the candidate. Not his position on immigration or campaign finance reform, both of which cost him conservatives. And not his hawkish approach to Iraq which cost him Independents.
McCain was in New Hampshire to deliver a tough speech on Iraq, criticizing what he called defeatism, asking voters to give the surge a chance, asking them to give him one, too.
MCCAIN: I will stand where I stand today and trust you to give me a fair hearing. There's too much at stake in this election for any candidate to do less.
CROWLEY: John McCain will play the hand he dealt himself.
(on camera): McCain and those around him still hope that voters, even if they disagree with the candidate on certain issues, will nonetheless stay with him because he is willing to stick with positions regardless of the political winds.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Concord, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: So, what would you ask the presidential candidates if you could? Well, here is your chance.
CNN is teeming up with YouTube for the next presidential debate. To submit your videotape taped questions, just go to cnn.com/youtubedebates. The first debate airs July 23rd only on your home for politics, CNN.
Funeral services in Austin, Texas, this afternoon for former first lady, Lady Bird Johnson. Former presidents Clinton and Carter are attending, along with first ladies Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, and Rosalynn Carter. Mrs. Johnson will be buried next to her husband at the LBJ ranch tomorrow.
Lady Bird Johnson died this week at the age of 94. She had been a widow for 34 years.
Tomorrow night in the Sunday spotlight, a heated exchange with former New York mayor Ed Koch. Sunday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, the mayor defends his Democratic label while siding with most Republicans when it comes to the war in Iraq. That's tomorrow night in the NEWSROOM in our Sunday spotlight.
And Jacqui, what are you watching?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're watching a bunch of lightning strikes, unfortunately, across parts of the West.
Concerned about that fire threat? We'll tell you just how bad it's going to be with the rest of your weekend forecast.
That's coming up in a little bit.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.
Also coming up, could the wildfires we've seen in places like Tahoe have been avoided, or at least less severe perhaps? Some environmentalists seem to think so.
That story straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Well, we know seconds do count when it comes to fighting fire, but 911 tapes related to last month's huge fire around Lake Tahoe suggest emergency dispatchers dismissed the first calls for help that came in and squandered precious time. Two hundred fifty-four homes in all were destroyed.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can see smoke coming off the mountain to the west of us.
DISPATCHER: Yes, they're just doing a control burn there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Up the Hill?
DISPATCHER: Yes, that's a control burn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're coming down Echo Summit, and I'm seeing White smoke on the side of...
DISPATCHER: By the airport? That's a control burn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw a lot of smoke.
DISPATCHER: It's a control burn, I'm pretty sure, so we're checking on it now.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Pretty sure? Well, the two dispatchers in question have been reassigned as the California Highway Patrol now investigates.
The Lake Tahoe fire was re-ignited and -- it has reignited, rather, a long-burning debate between environmentalists and the U.S. Forest Service on how to prevent future tragedies.
CNN's Kara Finnstrom is on the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Walls of fire, the ashy graveyards of more than 250 homes. Lake Tahoe, Nevada, one of the latest cities ravaged by a new type of fire monster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's no longer burning at low intensity like it did historically for thousands of years here. It's now burning with raging intensity. Catastrophic intensity.
FINNSTROM: Rex Norman (ph) with the U.S. Forest Service says 100 years ago, people started living in forest communities. They suppressed and escaped small wildfires, but set the stage for devastating infernos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Much of our forest areas here are four, six, and in some cases up to 10 times the density that they were naturally.
FINNSTROM: Now the Forest Service is clearing and burning trees around Lake Tahoe neighborhoods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those defense zone treatments, in our estimation, probably ended up saving about 500 homes.
FINNSTROM: But some homeowners say the Forest Service should have done more. Bundles they had chopped but not yet burned were stacked above Jeff Risser's neighborhood.
JEFF RISSER, HOMEOWNER: I hike up there all of the time and there's been piles set up there for the last two and a half, three years that I've been here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of these sections over here were safe.
FINNSTROM: The Forest Service says it's working as quickly as possible. Operations are expensive and must be balanced with not harming Lake Tahoe's fragile soil.
(on camera): The concern is that soil erosion could lead to a clouding of these crystal clear waters, and that wouldn't only be harmful to the lake, but also to the tourism that this community depends on.
(voice over): The other big debate, whether communities are doing all they can.
VAN MARSHALL, HOMEOWNER: It's totally dry.
FINNSTROM: That's dust (ph), which prevents soil erosion. Van Marshall was required to put it around the dream home he was building.
MARSHALL: It's like pouring a fuel all around your house.
This yard has grass, green grass. The house is standing. The coals hit the grass. They didn't continue onward.
My house, just 30 feet apart, maybe 40 feet apart is gone.
FINNSTROM: Marshall wants local leaders to reconsider strict building regulations.
CRAIG THOMAS, ENVIRONMENTALIST: With all the compassion...
FINNSTROM: Environmentalist Craig Thomas says many homeowners want seclusion and don't clear what regulations do allow.
THOMAS: There is a fairly low level of compliance in a lot of these communities.
FINNSTROM: What everyone agrees upon? The need to act. And that was not always so.
A few years ago, homeowners here protested small burns to thin (ph) forests.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They went from saying, "Not in my back yard," to overwhelmingly saying, "When are you going to get to my back yard?"
FINNSTROM: Kara Finnstrom for CNN, South Lake Tahoe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: A judge expected to make a major ruling next week in a controversial teen sex case. Anticipation over the decision sparked an emotional rally today on the streets of Atlanta.
That story next in the NEWSROOM. Plus, how you can turn back time and get back some of those lost hours of sleep. Is it possible, really?
You can find out by staying away long enough to catch Dr. Lloyd right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Half past the hour, and here's what's happening.
(NEWSBREAK)
WHITFIELD: Genarlow Wilson supporters took to the streets under cloudy skies today. Clouding their mood, the release by a local D.A. of the sex tape at the center of Wilson's case. Wilson, of course, is serving a 10-year sentence for having consensual oral sex with another teen.
Tara Jones of affiliate WSB has more on today's march.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want justice!
CROWD: We want justice!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to free Wilson now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's always justice.
CROWD: Always justice!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That needs to be the message -- free Genarlow Wilson now.
TARA JONES, REPORTER, WSB (voice over): More than a thousand people stepped out in Douglas County, all marching in support of convicted child molester Genarlow Wilson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everyone understands that he did something wrong. The question is, did it rise to the level of 10 years?
JONES: Wilson, who has received national attention, is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. Supporters fear the Douglas County D.A. took the sex offender law too literally.
I think the original intent for the law was to provide for people that prey on our young children, which I'm assuming which would be another adult. I don't consider a child interacting with another child...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Having sex with another child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, having sex with another child as a criminal intent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's an injustice. I have two sons myself. And I feel that it could be them.
JONES: Carrie Brown (ph) brought her two sons to the march hoping to teach them a legal lesson in life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want them to learn that sometimes justice is good, sometimes it's not. We do have to pay for our consequences, our -- things that we do wrong and bad. But it's important to stand up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And now from the D.C. Crime Blotter, an attempted robbery ends in a group hug. The turn of events coming up in about 20 minutes from now.
And new research shows you might be able to make up for those lost Zs.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: So it has been the conventional wisdom for quite a while now. If you lose sleep, you can't make it up later. Those Zs are forever gone. Well, now a new study that's a dream come true for the sleep-deprived.
Our Dr. Bill Lloyd joins us with some of the details.
So now an about-face on this whole notion on catching up on your sleep?
DR. BILL LLOYD, SURGEON: I think so, Fredricka. Yes, you know, it's been a long time since I've spoken with you.
WHITFIELD: I know.
LLOYD: And you've been traveling a lot. I'm sure you're way behind on your sleep.
WHITFIELD: I know what sleep deprivation is, believe me.
LLOYD: When we talk about sleep deprivation, we're not talking about insomnia. We're talking about people who are making conscious decisions, I'm not going to bed, I am going to write my blog, I'm going it take care of the baby. I'm going to prepare for tomorrow's newscast. So these are the people who fall behind.
And Fredricka, sleep is a vital life activity, just like nutrition and hydration. We know what to do when we fall behind on our calories, and we know what to do when we're thirsty.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LLOYD: Well, Harvard researchers now say there's things that we can do when we fall behind on our sleep.
WHITFIELD: How? What? LLOYD: Well, when you have a sleep debt, you have to determine, is this a short-term sleep debt or a long-term sleep debt. If you were talking about banking, are you talking about your monthly ATM statement, or are we talking about a mortgage here?
If you have a short-term sleep debt, you might be able to make it up in just one weekend. We call it short term if it's only 10 hours or less. And so many of us cheat when it comes to getting sleep during the week. You know they say you're supposed to get seven to nine hours.
WHITFIELD: Right.
LLOYD: All in favor, anybody here who has got seven to nine hours a night sleep, please go ahead and raise your hand. There's not many of us. So when the weekend comes along, the first thing you want to do is turn off that alarm clock and get up when your body says it's time to get up.
WHITFIELD: Oh, that feels so good.
LLOYD: It might take both Saturday morning and Sunday morning. But so many of us fill our schedules and our children's schedules with so many things to do.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LLOYD: The weekends actually can be more frenetic than the work day.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LLOYD: And that accumulates over weeks and months, and then you get that long-term sleep debt.
WHITFIELD: Yes, and that long-term sleep debt, I'm telling you, I know plenty of people who, you are so sleep-deprived for so long, that you almost don't even realize it.
LLOYD: You're right.
WHITFIELD: So you don't know really what it is to catch up on sleep.
LLOYD: You get used to it. And when you lose out on that sleep, you know, think about the things that happen. Your memory goes kerplunk.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LLOYD: You have very difficult time functioning. You have difficulty maintaining proper weight, trouble with concentration and attitude.
We know what it's like to work with people who don't get enough sleep. There's alterations in your stress hormones which can also affect your health. People with diabetes and high blood pressure, much harder to control when they're sleep-deprived.
And there's also trouble with your immunity. Your immunity becomes weaker when you don't get enough sleep.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LLOYD: So let's get back to that long-term sleep debt. And Harvard recommends, get ready for this, a vacation.
WHITFIELD: Shoot. After a vacation, I'm pooped.
LLOYD: That's right. You start booking tours, you...
(CROSSTALK)
LLOYD: But no, no, no. This is a sleep vacation. You go someplace that's boring.
You go someplace where you can just stay in the hotel...
WHITFIELD: Interesting.
LLOYD: ... draw the curtains and get caught up on the sleep. Same routine. Every day, turn the alarm clock off, get up when you want to get up.
WHITFIELD: I like that.
LLOYD: And get a nap during the day as well, and over a period of day, to weeks, depending on how -- how much of a sleep debt you have, you'll be able to recover and there will be enormous benefits to your health and your attitude if you catch up and kind of restore the balance to your sleep account.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, I'm feeling much more relaxed right now already. Thanks a lot.
LLOYD: All right. We'll talk again soon.
WHITFIELD: All right.
I can't wait to go to sleep and just not even use the alarm clock. I like Dr. Bill Lloyd's advice.
Are you sleep-deprived.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I got great, great sleep last night.
WHITFIELD: Did you? Just last night?
SANCHEZ: Yes. I went to the dentist and he had to put in a crown.
WHITFIELD: You always have these funny stories.
SANCHEZ: See?
WHITFIELD: Oh, yes. It looks good.
SANCHEZ: I got a new one. And he gave me this stuff. You know what I mean by stuff?
WHITFIELD: OK. All right.
SANCHEZ: The kind of stuff only dentists have. You know?
WHITFIELD: Once again, that TMI. Too much information.
SANCHEZ: It's that painkiller.
WHITFIELD: But hey, I'm glad you got a good night's rest.
SANCHEZ: My wife said, "What are you doing? It's 8:00." I said, "I'm going to bed."
(NEWSBREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, nearly two years after Katrina, the Essence Music Festival has returned to New Orleans. Last week's event brought a couple hundred thousand people to the recovering city. It drew media attention and much-needed money, but it was a missed opportunity for many African-American business owners, they say, who still are not back on their feet.
CNN Gulf Coast Correspondent Susan Roesgen reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Like much of the neighborhood around it, this New Orleans' landmark is still closed. For more than six decades, Dooky Chase restaurant has been serving red beans, stuffed shrimp and gumbo. But nearly two years after the hurricane, the doors to this world-famous Creole restaurant are still not open.
LEAH CHASE, RESTAURANT OWNER: I feel like I'm missing out on the dollars.
ROESGEN: Eighty-four-year-old Leah Chase had hoped to be up and running in time for the thousands of people expected to visit New Orleans for the Essence Festival, but one of the big hurdles after Katrina is finding enough staff to deliver good service.
CHASE: It is a big loss. I'm going to lose a lot. But I couldn't in my right mind do that to people. I think it's an injustice to people. It's not right.
ROESGEN: She's also faced problems with construction delays and issues over insurance and recovery money that hasn't arrived.
CHASE: The water in here might have been a foot.
ROESGEN: Nearly everything in the kitchen was lost. And had it not been for an outpouring of donations, Chase says her days of cooking would be over.
CHASE: Now, my stove was gone. So this is my beauty right here that I truly love. I love it.
ROESGEN: The road to reopening has been a long one for many minority- owned businesses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You left a cart on our truck at the airport a while back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure did.
ROESGEN: Arnold Baker also lost everything in the flood, but he's been able to get his cement mixing company rolling again. Baker is the president of the New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce. And he says many minority-owned businesses didn't survive, partly because the flood wiped out so many African-American neighborhoods.
ARNOLD BAKER, BUSINESS OWNER: More black businesses had a lot more to overcome than the non-black businesses. And so, from that aspect, it has been a greater challenge. All businesses in this region suffered tremendously. We all had to go through, you know, trying to start businesses with new market dynamics.
ROESGEN: Still, Baker thinks business is about to get an economic boost as the city rebuilds with a lot of government contracts.
BAKER: We have that amount of money creating that amount of opportunity. I mean, it's -- I think you're really going to see a rebirth of the area, but also a renaissance of black businesses.
ROESGEN: Back in her neighborhood, Leah Chase is still waiting for that renaissance, but she has an unending supply of determination and faith.
CHASE: If this business doesn't come back in this community, you would be 20 years before you'd have a community again.
ROESGEN: The hope is that one day the empty homes here, like the empty chairs in her restaurant, will be full of life again.
Susan Roesgen, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Mass murderers, serial killers -- after they're caught, people always say they saw warning signs, but can you recognize red flags and intervene before there is a body count? CNN's Soledad O'Brien investigates. That's just minutes away right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, so often, mentally-ill patients who have committed heinous crimes end up in jail as opposed to into treatment facilities. Well, in Miami there is an innovative program that helps address that.
Soledad O'Brien joins us now with an investigation that you have conducted over a number of months to get to the bottom of people who are accused of, convicted of heinous crimes.
So, Soledad, tell me a little bit about this program and why it is so innovative.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred.
The program's called Passageway. And what we have found are mentally- ill people who have committed felonies, been convicted of a felony charge. And yet, instead of going off to jail or going to prison, they actually go into treatment.
That's actually pretty rare. And we tell the story in our documentary of one woman, Mimi. And she described for us what happened to her when she stopped taking her medication and her mental illness became very, very severe.
Listen to what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice over): Diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder, Mimi -- her name's been changed -- was off her medications when her serious mental illness led her to commit a dangerous felony.
"MIMI," MENTAL HEALTH PATIENT: There was a neighborhood boy, and he was walking his sisters to school, but he happened to have his Halloween mask on. And it was enough for me to start having, like, religious delusions. I had the idea that he was taking these girls to be sacrificed or something like that.
O'BRIEN (on camera): So what did you do?
MIMI: So I ran outside. My brother had left a gas container outside on the porch. I shook it at them. I didn't light them.
O'BRIEN: But you poured gas on the kids?
MIMI: Yes. And I ended up getting charged with some pretty heavy charges.
O'BRIEN (voice over): Specifically, attempted murder and aggravated child abuse.
She was one of the lucky ones. Because doctors determined that Mimi wasn't capable of knowing right from wrong, a judge ordered her admitted to a unique program called Passageway, a halfway house for people with serious mental illnesses who've committed major felonies, like murder or arson.
The goal? To eventually return them to their communities.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could be a threat if I weren't taking my medications. I don't want to have a relapse. But if I do, as long as I'm being monitored, they're going to catch it.
O'BRIEN (on camera): A person who's now at Passageway, getting that intensive case management, and boy, they look like they're great. But remember, they committed this serious offense.
Are they safe to be out?
JUDGE STEVEN LEIFMAN, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: Yes, as long they're case- managed and stay on their medication. You go to any community, say you have a murder rate of a hundred. What percentage of those do you think were committed by people with mental illness? Ten percent, less? It's usually, you know, two to five percent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: So, Soledad, how effective is this program?
O'BRIEN: Well, they would claim that they're pretty effective. They say that fewer than 10 of the 350 patients they've had, specifically at Passageway, have gone back to commit other crimes, which would be a pretty good success story.
But the numbers alone are a problem. Only 350 patients. They just physically cannot handle more than that because you're doing this intensive case management. You have to be on top of each and every patient/convicted criminal.
And so it's tough, because there are some huge number of the people who come through the criminal justice system, like 30 percent, have mental problems, mentally ill. And so the numbers are not really keeping up, but it's been a big problem, certainly in Miami-Dade.
WHITFIELD: So that means Miami can't be the only city that is trying to address this problem by having a program, but it is in a minority, isn't it, across the country?
O'BRIEN: Yes. It's certainly not the only -- I mean, a lot of cities are realizing -- frankly, as you know, Fred, it often comes down to dollars. It is not worth the money.
It is so expensive to have people cycle through the prison system. You pay for them every day. And if these are people who are going to keep coming back and keep coming back and keep coming back, it's a problem. It costs the city. It costs the community, any community, a lot of money.
WHITFIELD: In the meantime, this is all part of a one-hour special, a Special Investigations Unit documentary that you have put together, addressing various levels of heinous crimes and those who are accused of carrying it out.
Among those, you also profile the Kaczynski, the Unabomber case, and you managed to talk to the brother who actually is the one who turned him in, in the first place.
How difficult was it for them to participate, to convince him to talk?
O'BRIEN: Yes. You know, he actually has now become an advocate for people who are mentally ill and also against the death penalty. So in a lot of ways, I think he is willing to share his story because he understands that his story can make a difference.
When you talk to him about how hard it was to turn his own brother in, his wife started noticing similarities between the manifesto that was printed in "The Washington Post," I know you'll remember, Fred, and letters that brother had been sending back to them. She said to him, "I see similarities here." It took a long time to convince him, but he said turning his own brother in was the toughest thing he ever had to do. The toughest thing.
He did not want to believe that his brother was the Unabomber. And he said when they found and arrested Ted Kaczynski, there was another bomb under his bed that he had made that was being prepared to be shipped to someone.
WHITFIELD: Wow.
O'BRIEN: So I guess what gave him comfort was that pretty clearly, he felt a life had been saved.
WHITFIELD: Extraordinary case, as are the other cases that you profile in this one-hour special.
Soledad, thanks so much. Great job.
O'BRIEN: My pleasure, Fred. Nice to talk to you, as always.
WHITFIELD: And you can watch more of Soledad's investigation into the criminally insane this weekend on CNN. It airs tonight and Sunday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
And coming up in about three minutes from now, a glass of wine and a burglar with a change of heart. A story of grapes and graft straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: And now a would-be robber with a taste for fine wine and great food and good company. It's a story right out of a screenplay, and it's not. This tale is actually true.
Here to tell it, CNN's Zain Verjee.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Xavier Cervera took his dog out for a walk as his guests were winding down a dinner party last month on his patio, sipping French wine and nibbling cheese. Almost as soon as Xavier left, his party was crashed by an armed, hooded gunman who'd burst through an opened patio door.
XAVIER CERVERA, HOMEOWNER: I usually latch it when I leave. That evening, I did not. And so they were all sitting, spread out in the courtyard, and he just kicked the gate in.
VERJEE: The intruder pressed his gun against a 14-year-old's head, saying, "Give me your money or I'll start shooting." Then Xavier's guests did something extraordinary.
CERVERA: They offered him some food and wine, which he accepted, which I assumes really helped.
VERJEE (on camera): The wine or the cheese?
CERVERA: Probably both. But maybe the wine more so.
VERJEE (voice over): Then someone hits a sore spot.
CERVERA: One of them said to him, "Your mother would be ashamed of you." And apparently, that really toned him down. He became a little morose upon hearing that, and he said his mother was no longer alive.
VERJEE (on camera): The attacker took down his hood, had a little bit more wine, helped himself to some cheese. Then he tucked away his gun and looked around and said, "Maybe I've come to the wrong place."
(voice over): William Chambliss is a professor of sociology at George Washington University, and says that's comment by the gunman was revealing.
WILLIAM CHAMBLISS, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: "I think I came to the wrong place." He came to the wrong place because these people were so nice and because they treated him like a human being. He couldn't really go through with the robbery.
VERJEE: Chambliss says treating the gunman with dignity was the key. And for the intruder, getting hugs was important, too. First, he wanted individual hugs. Then, a group hug.
(on camera): And after the group hug, he just turned around and left. Just the same way that he came.
CERVERA: Yes, thanked them again and apologized again. And went on his way.
VERJEE (voice over): Police told "The Washington Post" it was strange but true. The suspect still hasn't been found. Only the crystal glass he left with.
Zain Verjee, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Wow. That's a change of heart.
Well, we will actually hear more from the family saved by the wine. They'll recount their story live Monday morning on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.
And from the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
The next hour of the NEWSROOM with Rick Sanchez begins right now.
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