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Wall Street Sell-Off Continues; NASA Addresses Problems with Astronauts, Alcohol

Aired July 27, 2007 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CO-HOST: NASA and the NYSE, two big stories this hour. And I wish I could say flying high, referring to Wall Street there. Stocks are still on the skids, but not so far on the scale we saw yesterday, certainly.
BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: That's true. Well, on the other side of your screen, NASA headquarters, where top brass are about to talk about astronauts and alcohol, and how they've been known to mix when they should not.

Slowing. It isn't over, though, even after the Dow's second worst point decline in the year. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with the damage report.

OK, lay it out for us, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the fact is, Betty, that we're still selling off. And then that is something of a disappointment, to put it mildly. When you have the kind of decisive decline that we saw yesterday, by just about any measure, whether it was point decline, volume, decliners versus advancers, 52-week lows.

We really had a dramatic sell-off yesterday. A lot of times, you'll see bargain hunters sticking their toes back in the water. And that's just not happening. And you know, I've been talking to traders...

NGUYEN: I'm going to have to break in. I'm sorry about that.

We want to take you straight to NASA, where they are talking about the situation there. And let's take you live as we listen.

SHANA DALE, NASA DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR: ... director of the agency's chief health and medical officer, Dr. Richard Williams, to conduct a review of the medical and behavioral health services available to NASA's astronauts at the Johnson Space Center.

The review committee, chaired by Air Force Colonel Richard Bachmann, commander of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, was comprised of eight representatives of other federal agencies.

Let me take a moment to acknowledge the important work done on such short notice with great dedication and time commitment by members of the Astronaut Health Care System Review Committee. You'll hear from Colonel Bachmann in just a minute. The first major issue is our need to revisit how to most effectively deliver medical and behavioral health care for NASA's astronauts. The Johnson Space Center internal review, led by JSC director Mike Coats, outlined and evaluated the Johnson Space Center's extensive health care programs for our astronauts, which include their behavioral health and recommended improvements to those programs which we are going to implement.

A more extensive behavioral health assessment will be added to annual flight physical examinations for all astronauts.

We also are emphasizing the importance of behavioral health support to shuttle crew members, and offering time with behavioral health providers before, during, and after flights. And we are committed to improving the quality and usefulness of our psychological testing and assessment during the astronaut selection process.

These enhancements are aimed at improving the psychological care and testing procedures for astronauts, which was the key focus of JSC's internal review.

We thank Mike Coats and the team of experts who worked on this review, and we believe the resulting modifications will be good for the astronaut corps and for NASA.

NASA's medical policy board, consisting of senior government medical experts from inside and outside NASA, will further assess the medical and behavioral findings and recommendations in the JSC internal review, as well as the report of the external review committee.

The board will provide advice on policy changes that will improve the NASA health care system and will provide oversight of the implementation of those policies.

The second major area of NASA's focus is undertaken with the recognition that the members of our astronaut corps, civilian and military, represent a group of America's most extraordinary and talented individuals by any standard.

We take the recommendation of developing an astronaut code of conduct very seriously. It actually has been under discussion at NASA before this report.

For almost the entire history of the astronaut corps, our experience has been that NASA's astronauts conduct themselves with integrity, professionalism, and a desire to bring honor to America and America's space program. A written code of conduct, one that is initiated by the astronauts themselves, will only strengthen this commitment. We are looking at how such a process will be collaboratively implemented.

Third, we will examine the structure of the astronaut office as the review committee report recommends. With a renewed interest in establishing what are referred to as enduring supervisor relationships, we plan to develop an anonymous survey to be completed by members of the astronaut corps and flight surgeons to initiate even more feedback on the findings and recommendations of the report, in order to optimize supervisory relationships, health care delivery and mission success.

There may be other issues that astronauts and flight surgeons are interested in resolving or clarifying with this approach.

Fourth, we will act immediately on the more troubling aspects of this report with respect to alcohol use and the anecdotal references of resistance by agency leadership to accepting advice or criticisms about the fitness and readiness of individuals for space flight.

I must emphasize that this report does not provide specific information about alcohol-related incidents, and the review committee has left it to NASA to determine the scope of these alleged incidents.

Let me bring you up to date on this fourth category and share with you what has been done since the draft report was briefed to NASA senior management.

The administrator and I have directed NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance to undertake an internal safety review. He will gather information, conduct necessary analyses and determine the facts of the reported alcohol-related incidents. If any incidents occurred, he will determine the causes and recommend corrective actions.

He also will review all existing policies and procedures related to alcohol use and space flight crew medical fitness during the immediate pre-flight preparation period to ensure that any risks to flight safety are dealt with by appropriate medical authorities and flight crew management and, if necessary, elevated through a transparent system of senior management review and accountability.

In the meantime, NASA's existing T-38 Aircraft Alcohol Use Policy that historically has been applied to space flight has been explicitly extended as an interim policy to flight on any spacecraft. This interim policy prohibits alcohol use for 12 hours prior to flight and further states that astronauts will neither be under the influence nor the affects of alcohol at the time of launch.

A comprehensive -- a comprehensive review of alcohol use policy prior to aircraft use or space flight is already underway. Mike Griffin and I will closely monitor progress on these issues. After the review is completed, it is our intention to share the findings of this review with the American public to the maximum extent possible.

One final thought: much of the information contained in this report is or comes from anecdotal material. Whatever specific information the Astronaut Health Care System Review Committee obtained in the course of its study, if it is of a health nature, it is subject to rules of medical record privacy. Therefore, the review committee has stated it cannot disclose this information.

Having said that, we do intend to apply the lessons learned from this exercise and to use this as an opportunity to move our culture closer to the optimism in responsiveness, care, professionalism and performance integrity that we all expect.

With that, I thank you, and I would like to turn it over to Dr. Bachmann for his remarks.

NGUYEN: All right. We have been listening to the different officials there at NASA. Specifically, Shana Dale, who's the NASA deputy administrator, talking about the new report that has been released and dealing with the protocol there when it comes to alcohol and astronauts, as well as the psychological evaluations there.

And we will be getting more information on this; in fact, speaking with the editor of NASA Watch to put this all in perspective, and that will be happening very shortly.

In the meantime, though, want to tell you about this. Getting blasted ahead of blastoff. Yes, a new report has allocated (ph) intoxicated astronauts to fly? Ahead in the NEWSROOM, as I mentioned, we will speak with long-time NASA watchdog if Houston really does have a problem.

LEMON: And also, we're going to talk about this story that everyone is talking about: a superstar, a super scandal. Are football fans standing by Michael Vick? That's a question. We'll hear from a sports radio show host who's been taking their calls. That's next.

We're also following the markets right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Twelve past the hour. Three of the stories we're working on for you, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. NASA has a new policy against drinking within 12 hours of a flight. That follows a report citing two instances where astronauts were allowed to fly even though they were allegedly drunk.

And the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down again today, after a 300-point plunge yesterday.

And Nicole Richie is going to jail. The 25-year-old actress got a four-day sentence for driving under the influence. She also got three years probation. She was arrested in December going the wrong way on a freeway. The judge says she's lucky no one was killed.

NGUYEN: Want to take you straight now to the NEWSROOM. And CNN's Fredricka Whitfield with details on a developing story involving a crash.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Betty, this involving a very ugly, dangerous crash on I-40 outside of the Raleigh-Durham area near the airport there in North Carolina.

You're looking at the results of a collision between a tractor- trailer and a vehicle. We don't know anything more about the circumstances of this collision, how it happened. But you're seeing the remnants of, it looks of a pretty burned out vehicle, of the tractor-trailer. And then we understand that they are cutting at least one person from the smaller vehicle that crashed into or was crashed into by the tractor-trailer there. And you see in the video the firefighters putting out what was a burning tractor-trailer.

Again, we don't know the circumstances of how this happened. But it has resulted in a real mess there on I-40, where traffic is closed in both directions near the airport there.

And, again, when we get any more information about the people involved in this tractor-trailer and vehicle collision, we'll be able to bring that to you.

NGUYEN: That's quite an accident. Fred, thank you so much.

Want to take you back to our top story right now, the troubling reports of heavy drinking by unidentified NASA astronauts just before flights. Now just a short time ago, you saw NASA said it has launched a comprehensive review of alleged incidents cited by a special health panel.

Well, joining us now from Washington is NASA watchdog Keith Cowing. He edits the web site NASA Watch. In fact, he used to work for NASA for about ten years.

Let's just break this down so we can understand it a little bit better. How much of a problem is alcohol when it comes to astronauts?

KEITH COWING, EDITOR, NASAWATCH.COM: Not that much, and I have to say with this report, I've read the report. It's very vague. It doesn't say what space flight, when. Two years ago, 10 years ago. Was it a Soyuz? Was it a jet trainer? So, you know, it's sort of been blown a little bit out of proportion.

But I have to say that, if this happened, some people should be fired. But for this to happen with a space shuttle crew these days, somebody would have to be guzzling the stuff in front of their crewmates for, you know, the period of time they're isolated before a flight. So...

NGUYEN: How readily available is it, then? Because we read in the report that -- it was saying that it's freely used in crew quarters.

COWING: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I mean, you know, before the flight, they have a glass of wine or whatever.

But the issue is not that it isn't available. It's just that they're in isolation with a small number of people, and they'd have to be really imbibing the stuff. And I just can't fathom fellow crew members allowing somebody openly drunk to fly. Now is it impossible? No. Is it improbable? I think we're bordering on improbable, but not impossible.

NGUYEN: And we're still monitoring that news conference there from NASA. And as soon as they take questions, we'll go right back to it.

I think in the meantime, I think you really hit something at the top, when you said that they didn't specify any details of these actual events that may or may not have occurred. They're still looking into it. But those details are going to be critical.

And as we look into this, just explain to us how being under the influence of alcohol can impair an astronaut and the mission.

COWING: Well, it almost, you know, doesn't matter if they're flying or not. Because clearly -- well, it does, if you're flying, you're going to have some problems. But when you're an astronaut, you could be asked at a moment's notice to escape the spacecraft on the pad, shortly after launch, on orbit and so forth.

But the other issue is if this is was T-38s. This could be a couple people hopping in a jet and flying over people's houses. There is no good side to any of this.

But again, the issues is the report doesn't say what sort of flight, when it happened, and we have no indication of what mission, how bad it was and what the consequences were afterward. So this report really -- they really should have thought about the fact that you put in, yes, astronauts have drinking before a flight, that we'd all be on TV talking about it. They really should have put a little more detail into it.

NGUYEN: And as we're waiting for that detail, we're looking over this report, and it does say in there that astronauts are not required to report illnesses, injuries, or medications, unless they're determined to be significant. Does that surprise you? And do you expect that to change?

COWING: No. It doesn't surprise me. And I was involved with NASA 20 years ago with life sciences, and this report is about more than just drinking. It's about the whole issue of medical and psychological issues.

And there's some problems down there. You can go to different doctors. One doctor may not know what the other doctor knows about you. And you rely on the astronauts to report on the health issues. And 99 percent of the time they're responsible people that do that. But you're leaving it up to their discretion.

And if you've got a drinking issue, you might not want to come forward with it. So that -- somewhere in there it has got to change.

NGUYEN: Well, and just very briefly, when we talk about the Lisa Nowak case, you know, it says here, also in a report, that once selected as a NASA candidate, that you don't have to undergo any more mental evaluations or anything like that.

COWING: Yes.

NGUYEN: And in light of the rules and what we're hearing today about the drinking and the Lisa Nowak case, quickly, is NASA losing its credibility?

COWING: I don't know that it's losing its credibility as an agency. But clearly, the issue of flying people in space and just saying, "Well, I picked somebody as an astronaut when they're 29 years old." If they wait ten years to fly that nothing has changed about that person, I think that's naive and irresponsible, to say the least.

NGUYEN: All right. Keith Cowing, editor of NASAWatch.com.

And again, I do want to let our viewers know that we are monitoring that news conference that's taking place right now, as NASA officials are speaking. And as soon as they get to the question and answer portion of that, of course, we'll go back to that live so that you can hear it.

LEMON: We're also monitoring, Betty, the markets on Wall Street, as well as this story: a superstar, a super scandal. Are football fans standing by Michael Vick? We'll hear from a sports radio host who's been taking their calls. Straight ahead, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: Also, a frantic rescue effort. Bystanders -- look at this -- jump into action to save children trapped inside an overturned truck as floodwaters just rage around them. We have those dramatic details ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And we're watching the markets, as we said. Our Susan Lisovicz is standing by with a little bit more later on in the NEWSROOM. Yesterday, the Dow down, or the markets down, as much as 400 points. Will it be a repeat? We'll see, coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: NASA suffering some image problems as of late, including possible drinking by astronauts. Let's take a listen. They're holding a press conference.

DALE: ... and figure out what our course of action is going to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

DALE: No, I wouldn't say that.

ELLEN OCHOA, DIRECTOR, FLIGHT CREW OPS, NASA HOUSTON: What I'd like to say -- is this mic on? -- is that I joined the astronaut corps 17 years ago, and the absolute best part of my job is the people I work with, in the corps and the people that support us, the flight controllers, the trainers, the flight surgeons.

It's an incredible group of people. They're intelligent. They're bright, dedicated, enthusiastic, and they're really focused on making sure that we carry off our mission safely and successfully.

So there have been events in which isolated cases have happened, which I think baffle us. In this case I really don't even have the details and don't fully understand it. But it really shouldn't paint a picture of the astronaut corps or of how we carry out human space flight at NASA.

DALE: Well, I would just like to emphasize again that at this point what we're dealing with are allegations, and we have to find out what the ground truth is. That's our job.

ALISON SMITH, CBC CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alison Smith with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Perhaps I could direct this question to you, then. When you talk about the best and the brightest and the work that you do, the report identifies a culture where, whether it's alcohol abuse or other so- called risky behaviors, when they're reported up the line are apparently disregarded.

What is it in the culture that exists there now and as -- was suggested here earlier has existed for some time that prevents that kind of awareness and those kinds of incident from being acted upon?

OCHOA: Well, all the information I have is what's in the report, and so what -- so I don't know what they're referring to in the report. Because in my experience, people all the time are talking about safety issues, safety issues they've found, that they've seen. We spend a lot of time in our training, saying how do we protect for errors on orbit as we're preparing for flight? How do we back each other up when we're tired and not feeling well, when you may be distracted doing one task and not another?

So that's -- that's totally ingrained in everything we do. So in order to understand exactly what might be being referred to in the report, what I would like to do, what's going to happen at Johnson Space Center, is that we're going to survey the astronaut office and the flight surgeons. And we're going to do a systematic, comprehensive look and ask them questions about the topics that are specifically addressed in this report.

I think that's the only way I can get a better feel for what might actually be going on, what the concerns of people are, what barriers there might exist or that people perceive exist and then understand how to try to address them.

We do have lots of procedures, policies and just general practice in place. And we are constantly emphasizing to people that they need to address anything that affects flight safety or mission success. Many pathways to do that, and we need to understand better what might be preventing people from using those pathways.

DALE: I would just like to make a couple of points here. There are several recommendations of the report, in particular, recommendations related to behavioral health that we are already prepared to accept. Several other medical policy board.

But in particular, one of the recommendations that we're accepting today is ensuring that other astronauts, flight surgeons, and trainers feel free, willing, and able to raise any safety-related concerns.

As I mentioned, we have initiated a -- an internal safety review to be headed by Brian O'Connor, the chief of safety and mission assurance (ph). He is at Johnson Space Center today in Texas.

He has already had discussions with the crew commander of SGS 118, our next shuttle mission that is to be launched on August 7, as well as that mission's flight surgeon and other people that are associated with this flight.

And his goal was to communicate not only the allegations that are contained in this report, but our expectations at NASA in terms of alcohol use and getting into a spacecraft.

And that, ensuring that the flight surgeon and the crew commander know that they are expected and they are empowered to raise any flight safety issue that they have. That's our expectation. And we want people to feel that this is an open culture where they can do so without fear of retaliation.

And, in fact, the culture of NASA is actually already starting to change. And that has been shown in the shuttle flight readiness review. For those of you who are not familiar with the flight readiness review, an FRR, that is the intensive technical review that occurs before any shuttle launches.

Previously, there were complaints about it being a closed system and people being fearful of raising technical issues. I can tell you that that has changed under the leadership of Mike Griffin, the administrator of this agency. I have seen it with my own eyes when I have attended FRRs.

People are very willing to raise any technical or safety-related issue that they have. They do that, it is an open and robust discussion. And Mike Griffin and I are committed to that type of open environment being pervasive throughout this entire agency. That's what we're committed to.

TOM FITZGERALD, WTTG CORRESPONDENT: Tom Fitzgerald from FOX Television, WTTG here in Washington.

Several times these have been referred to as allegations in regards to the alcohol. This committee was impaneled, though, to seek out information on astronaut readiness and mental health.

Why didn't NASA ask this committee for the specifics? Have you asked them for the specifics? And now that you're going to have to launch your own investigation, how long is it now before another investigation is mounted and you get to the bottom of this?

DALE: We did ask the committee for more specific information in regards to these allegations. And I won't speak for the committee. I'll turn this over to Dr. Bachmann. But they felt comfortable not sharing specific information in regards to these allegations.

Dr. Bachmann, would you like to handle the rest of this question? DR. RICHARD BACHMANN, CHAIRMAN, NASA ASTRONAUT HEALTH CARE: As I said, in my opening remarks and in the first question, the specific -- the two specific incidents of alcohol use that were -- that we put into the report were specifically chosen to illustrate a larger problem of the -- to call attention to the larger issue, which is the role of the flight surgeon in protecting both the individual's health, flight safety and mission completion.

And the fact that the flight surgeons and other astronauts who describe their role in these incidents, and in others which we did not obtain further details on, use these to say that they felt concerned, that their professional input seemed to be disregarded, at least at the local level, and that they were demoralized by that disregard to the point that they felt like they would be less likely to report concerns of performance detriment in the future.

LEMON: OK, officials at NASA holding a press conference to talk about alleged use of alcohol while in flight, or at least pretty close to those flight missions for NASA. As we've been saying, NASA has suffered image problems as of late. They're talking about a new panel put together in the wake of the Lisa Nowak investigation.

Joining us now from the Kennedy Space Center is John Zarrella. And, John, one of the reporters mentioned that this panel was put together in the wake of that, so how come alcohol was not addressed when it came to these astronauts?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what have you here is that, you know, in the Lisa Nowak incident, I've been told, this is literally what is considered fallout from the Lisa Nowak incident, what we are learning today. What's the most striking part of all this, Don, is that these committee reports left out details. They did not follow up, they did not try to verify these allegations, which would seem to just about anybody to be basic that would you have to do that before you would go and publish these allegations.

But, instead, they put the allegations of alcohol abuse by astronauts, that alcohol was freely used in crew quarters, that on two incidents astronauts were so intoxicated that other astronauts and flight surgeons basically warned that it was a flight-safety risk, but it was ignored. No detail, but they are leaving that up to NASA to go back and try and find out the details.

But as we heard in that briefing, I'm not sure how much we will ever know because of the fact that these are medical issues. We may never get it down to the point where we know what flights these were, what timeframes these were, or what astronauts are involved. And in fact NASA officials right there, Shana Dell, the deputy administrator, saying in fact that they still don't even really know if these things happened -- Don.

LEMON: All right, CNN's John Zarrella. John, thank you.

NGUYEN: We have a lot more to tell you about today, including that fiery crash in Raleigh, North Carolina. We're going to bring you the latest on that. Plus, a frantic rescue effort. Not involving this right here, that was the crash. But this one, look at that. Bystanders jump into action to save children trapped inside an overturned truck as floodwaters rage around them. We have those dramatic details ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Yes, unbelievable pictures there. We're also watching the markets. Let's see how far they are down. Looks like they're heading south from the last time we checked. We're going to check in with our Susan Lisovicz who is keeping a close eye on Wall Street, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Welcome back. We do want to take you straight to the NEWSROOM now, and Fredricka Whitfield with the details on this awful crash.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Betty, more on this very bad crash right outside of the outside the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. On I-40 we're seeing that both the eastbound and westbound lanes are closed off because of this horrible accident. Emergency crews responding indicate that this tractor-trailer, which was already heading westbound, somehow, the driver may have lost control of the vehicle before it crossed over the median and then hit several cars on the eastbound side. You're looking at the area of the intersection that took place here on Google Earth. Not far from the airport exits there.

And if you really look closely, you can see that there are at least two vehicles that are sort of embedded underneath the debris of that tractor-trailer. We witnessed moments ago, at least one person was cut out of another vehicle just to the left of the tractor-trailer there. So we really don't know how many people were involved, how many people have been treated for injuries. Investigators are really just getting a handle on this, because you can see the tractor-trailer was on fire for some time. We witnessed firefighters kind of dousing the remaining flames and smoke of that tractor-trailer. Still uncertain exactly why this tractor-trailer lost control. But you can see It's a horrible situation there on i-40. Traffic closed down, both directions on i-40, and those who are sitting on the highway are being diverted to the nearby exits -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Fred. We appreciate that -- Don.

LEMON: Yes, and you really want to take a look at this video coming up Phoenix. Witnesses race to the rescue and a news crew catches it all on tape. Check that out. A pickup truck hydroplanes and flips into a flooded drainage ditch. Two teenagers and two toddlers are trapped inside. Bystanders jump into the water -- you see them there -- and after a few very terrifying moments, you see them they manage to pry the doors each and pull everyone out. There's one toddler. There's another one. Police say four kids, all from the same family, everybody is OK on that one. That is amazing.

LEMON: Today, Texas is bracing for the worst. More heavy rains and a whole lot more flooding. The governor already has ordered search-and-rescue teams to fan out across his soaked state.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Speaking of all that water, take a look at this. In Britain, Prince Charles, his wife Camilla, and Princess Anne met with families and volunteers just struggling with the worst flooding in 60 years. The cost of cleanup and recovery could run into the billions of dollars.

As England tries to dry out, southeastern Europe prays for rain. The second blistering heat wave of the summer is taking it's toll. Hundreds of people are dead. Around 500 in Hungary alone. Making matters worse, hundreds of fires, many deliberately set.

LEMON: For the first time in a year this TB patient can breathe outside air.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the best thing that ever I think happened to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: But his days in the sun may be numbered if he has to go back to jail. His story is coming up.

NGUYEN: Also, new fears over tainted canned meat. It's still turning up in stores and could lurk in your pantry as well. Health experts say the longer it sits, the more dangerous it gets. We have those details, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: And this just in to CNN, we have learned from the vice president's spokesperson that during a visit to the doctor in an annual physical exam in June, doctors discovered that the implanted defibrillator inside the vice president needs a new battery. And in fact, that is going to be replaced on Saturday morning. It's going to be a part of a scheduled visit with his doctor, and, of course, we'll continue to follow that.

LEMON: Absolutely. We'll try to get our medical correspondent up on that, Elizabeth Cohen up on that story in a moment. I was just getting from the producers, sorry. Didn't mean to cut you off.

Let's talk about the recall notice that went out. And now so are the repeat warnings happening. According to the Associated Press, the Food and Drug Administration has done spot checks and found that canned food, potentially contaminated with botulism, is still being sold in convenience stores and small grocery stores, despite last week's massive recall.

The Castleberry Food Company wants stores everywhere to pull about 90 varieties of potentially tainted canned meat. Chili sauce and other products, we are also hearing some cans are bursting open, swollen with the bacteria that causes botulism. Four people have been hospitalized so far, Betty.

NGUYEN: That paints a picture for you.

Let's talk about this now. A TB patient out of the hospital jail ward, but still facing challenges to his health and his freedom. CNN's Velma Gutierrez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When we first met Robert Daniels, he was locked in the jail ward of a Phoenix hospital for nearly a year. The doors under constant surveillance, the only windows were frosted. He had no fresh air, not even a mirror.

ROBERT DANIELS, TB PATIENT: I'm really mentally being killed here.

GUTIERREZ: All this, not because he committed a crime, but because he has a highly drug resistant strain of tuberculosis. Daniels went out in public repeatedly without a mask, so a court ordered him into forced isolation. Officials said the only place that was appropriate, was this jail ward of a county hospital.

DANIELS: Conditions are worse than a regular inmate.

GUTIERREZ: The American Civil Liberties Union sued Maricopa County officials seeking better conditions and treatment for Daniels. But before the case even went to court, the county transferred him to National Jewish Hospital in Denver for treatment.

DANIELS: This is the best thing, I think, that ever happened to me.

GUTIERREZ: For the first time in almost a year, Robert Daniels can see the world and feel the sun on his skin.

DANIELS: It's like raised from hell to heaven.

GUTIERREZ: We asked a hospital employee to shoot this exclusive look of Daniels' new living quarters, because Daniels is contagious, in isolation, and visitors are not allowed. Even so, he says, here he feels like a patient, not a prisoner.

DANIELS: It's a mirror, I can see myself. It's a ceramic bathroom, not a metal bathroom. As you can see, I'm in the shower. A whole shower all to myself.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): For almost a year, Robert Daniels wasn't even allowed to go outside. But here at National Jewish Hospital in Denver, he has a balcony. And because he's still contagious, we have to interview him from his balcony, just about 25 feet away. Hey, Robert, how are you doing?

DANIELS: Hi! GUTIERREZ (voice over): A strange way to interview him, but the only way county health officials here would allow us to in person. Daniel's is still under the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department. Even outside, he must wear a mask and a guard is posted outside his door.

(on camera): The last time we saw you, in order to talk to you we had to go through a jail ward.

DANIELS: It made a big, scar for the rest of my life being there. I'm afraid as hell going back to Phoenix.

GUTIERREZ (voice over): On top of his legal problems, Daniels faces major surgery.

DR. GWEN HUITT, NATL. JEWISH MEDICAL & RESEARCH CTR.: The surgery that is planned for him is to surgically remove the entire left lung.

GUTIERREZ: Daniels says here he has found support and encouragement, not only from the staff, but arguably, from the most famous TB patient, right next door.

DANIELS: I received a couple of presents from our friend, Andrew Speaker. He's my neighbor.

GUTIERREZ: Andrew Speaker who sparked national hysteria after traveling internationally, when he had been diagnosed with TB, says he can't fathom being locked up on top of being sick.

ANDREW SPEAKER, TUBERCULOSIS PATIENT: I told him, you know, I've been through a splinter of where he's been through. You can't go into an operation where you think somebody is going to take out your lung, and be so scared about tomorrow and being sent back into confinement.

GUTIERREZ: But that's the fate that could await Daniels if he's returned to Arizona after his surgery.

SHERRIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA CO. SHERRIFF'S OFFICE: I am investigating him. He may be back here in my jail, charged this time.

GUTITERREZ: It's that fear that gnaws at Robert Daniels.

PANELS: I'm sick! I'm not a murder!

GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Denver, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Right. We told you just moments ago some new information that was into the CNN NEWSROOM regarding the vice president's health. He's going to get a new battery in an implanted defibrilator. We'll get an update on it from our Medical Expert, Elizabeth Cohen, coming up after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: Well, a private funeral is being held today for three members of a Connecticut family brutally murdered in a home invasion robbery. Jennifer Hakwe-Petit and her two daughters were killed after two men invaded the family's home Monday in an upscale suburb of New Haven. William Petit, the husband and father, he actually survived. And we're learning more about the suspects in that case today.

Police say Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes were roommates at a halfway house in Hartford last year, and might have robbed two other homes in that area. Both were on parole at the time of the attack on the Petits. And CNN's Randi Kaye will join in the NEWSROOM, next hour, with much more on this case.

LEMON: A third person has died after an explosion in California's Mojave Desert. It happened yesterday at the Mojave Air and Space Port during a test involving nitrous oxide. The site is used by an aerospace firm that built the first private manned rocket sent into space. The blast killed two people at the scene, and critically injured four others, one of whom died later. All were employees of an aerospace company.

NGUYEN: And we do have some other video to show you. This awful crash in North Carolina, Raleigh to be exact. This is coming to us from our affiliate WTVD, look at that. Involving a tractor-trailer. We'll get much more on that right after the break with CNN's Fredricka Whitfield.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We do want to get you straight to the NEWSROOM now and CNN's Fredricka Whitfield with details on a developing story that we've been following for about an hour now. Fred?

FRERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Betty, and a very bad situation outside of the Raleigh-Durham airport on I-40. Traffic in both directions closed because of this horrific accident. We understand, and CNN has confirmed, that officials say this tractor- trailer was traveling on I-40 when it crossed the median.

Somehow the driver lost control, crossed the median into the oncoming traffic and when you look closely, you can see there are two vehicles that are stuck underneath that tractor-trailer. And this tractor-trailer was in flames. You can see the remnants of that. Firefighters put out the flames and the continuing smoke. This is from pictures a little bit earlier, less than an hour ago. We don't know how many people, however, have been involved or how many injuries there may be. Betty.

NGUYEN: Just looking at what's left of that crash, thought, it is definitely devastating. All right. Thank you, Fred. We appreciate it.

FIELD:: Yes.

LEMON: We are going to go now to another developing story. We told you about just moments ago. The vice president will undergo a procedure this weekend and to tell you specifically about it, why don't we just turn now to our Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. As we look at these pictures of the vice president.

He's getting, is this a new battery or new device that he's getting?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A new device, we've been told. The battery had run out, which happens. That's expected. And so he's getting a new device.

LEMON: A defibrillator.

COHEN: Right. A defibrillator, we're talking about his pacemaker now. It's not entirely clear why he's getting a whole new device when the apparently just the battery has run out. But I don't think that is so, so unusual.

So the device that vice president has, it is the size of a small pack of cigarettes and it a very low-risk procedure to have this done. He doesn't even spend the night in the hospital, a surgical incision is made over his chest, the leads that go from the defibrillator to his heart, those stay in place. And they swap out the device, and it's very -- again, it's very low risk.

Really not a big deal.

LEMON: OK.

COHEN: And it has to be done. Those batteries don't last forever.

LEMON: OK. And so then, at times, I think you were saying that new products come into the market and you have to change them out. This is just a new battery.

COHEN: Not clear why they are choosing to do the entire appliance at this time. But again, I don't that is so, so unusual.

LEMON: And not so risky, just to reiterate, this isn't a very risky procedure.

COHEN: Yes. Not at all. Not at all. I mean, anytime you have a surgical procedure, there is some risk. He's having local anesthesia, which of course is not very risky at all. Of course, there could be some bruising, or swelling or infection. You know, maybe some bleeding. But those are teeny, teeny tiny, teeny tiny chance that any of those things will happen.

LEMON: And obviously, we've been doing a lot of reporting on this. No secret, the vice president has heart problems, some health problems. So he had to have a defibrulator implanted. OK.

COHEN: Right.

LEMON: OK, Elizabeth Cohen. Thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

LEMON: Thank you so much for updating us on that. The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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