Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Justice Roberts' Health; Oregon Rescue; Corruption Probe; Mysteries Of Autism; Home Invasion Deaths
Aired July 31, 2007 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: What was he thinking just before the deadly home invasion in Connecticut? It is Tuesday, July 31st. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Unfolding this hour in Maine, Chief Justice John Roberts recovering from a seizure and making a call to the president. Senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is live in Rockport, Maine, for us this morning.
Allan, any update on when the chief justice might be leaving the hospital and the phone call to the president?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, we can tell you that the hospital spokesperson here has said he expects the chief justice to be leaving later today. I spoke with the attending physician, Dr. Judd Jenson (ph), a neurologist. He wouldn't answer any questions. He wouldn't even confirm that the chief justice is actually going to be released. And essentially the hospital is saying anything further is going to have to come from the Supreme Court. Thus far we have no word from them.
What they have said is that yesterday the chief justice did have a seizure about 2:00 in the afternoon. It happened on a boat dock, actually on an island off the coast, where the chief justice has a home. He fell five to 10 feet. Apparently suffered some scrapes, bruises. Some EMS folks came out, picked him up, brought him all the way back here. And then over here in the hospital he had a neurological exam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER BURKE, PENOBSCOT BAY MEDICAL CENTER SPOKESMAN: He suffered what doctors described as a benign idiopathic seizure. He experienced some minor scrapes and cuts from his fall, but he is expected -- he is fully recovered from the incident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: Idiopathic, meaning that there is no known cause for that seizure, which apparently is fairly common as seizures go. We do know that the chief justice actually did have a prior seizure back in 1993.
Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: So, Allan, he did speak with the president? CHERNOFF: Yes, that's our understanding. I do not have any detail of that thus far.
COLLINS: OK, Allan, we do understand, though, that you have new details about what happened right after the chief justice fell.
CHERNOFF: That's right. I spoke to the fire chief here and he said that it was four EMS experts who went out to the island to actually pick up the chief justice. They put him on a stretcher and they brought him back actually on a small barge about 30 feet long. They did put a cervical collar on. They also treated his scrapes and bruises, bandaged him, brought him back. The trip about just five minutes on the water and then a 25-mile drive in the ambulance over here. So the volunteer firefighters who are also EMTs, they certainly did a good job. They got him here about an hour after they got the call, just after 2:00 yesterday.
COLLINS: OK. Allan Chernoff, thanks so much for that.
Quickly want to let everyone know about that call from the president. The president did call Chief Justice John Roberts this morning and the chief justice did tell the president that he felt like he was going to be OK. That happened just a few moments ago in what we call the gaggle this morning with White House Press Secretary Tony Snow.
A stunning announcement this morning. Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABC's "Good Morning America" told viewers she has breast cancer. She says she'll have surgery Friday. Roberts says she found a lump during a self exam. Ironically, the same day that she did a piece on her colleague Joel Siegle's cancer battle. Roberts says she has no family history of breast cancer. She is stressing the important of cancer screening.
We want to take a moment now to get over to T.J. Holmes in the news room working on this story of these hikers that have been found in Oregon. They've been missing since Sunday, I think it is, right, T.J.?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Since Sunday. Folks got concerned when they didn't show up for work. And there was more concern, just in a strange twist of fate here, that their car was found in a parking lot that had been broken into. So some concern there.
But there they are. They were found or located or spotted, at least, we could say, by KPTV. The helicopter pilot who was out there, of course, covering the story and caught something, a little shiny and a little -- somebody waving down there and they found the two hikers. Don't exactly know what the problem was. Don't know if they just got turned around and got lost or if someone was actually injured and needed some medical help. But they were able to write 911 on a rock down there, and then you can see them -- this helicopter pilot was flying through, again, covering the story and was able to stop them.
But these two had been missing since Sunday. They didn't show up for work on Monday. And that was a concern.
But there's the picture right there. A pretty good view of them. They seem to be doing all right. But two folks said to be in their 20s had gone hiking on Sunday in this area in Troutdale, Oregon, in the northwest part of the state there. And they had some issues, but there they are.
The helicopter pilot spotted them an they -- just an interesting and I guess a happy -- a joyous picture there to be able to see them and see that they're doing all right. But the helicopter pilot was able to phone this in to the rescue crews and were able to pluck them out. So not exactly sure yet what the problem was. But good news, we can report that they are OK and are being rescued and taken out of there as we speak.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Oh, yes, love it when these stories end this way.
T.J. Holmes, thanks so much for watching that one for us.
Meanwhile, a gruesome discovery leads to a grisly search in Maryland. Right now police are searching in Ocean City where the bodies of four pre-term babies were found. They're looking for more human remains. Christy Freeman was charged after the discovery of the first body last week. Police are trying to determine if all four babies are hers. We spoke with the police chief just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF BERNADETTE DIPINO, OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND, POLICE: All the evidence that we have right now leads us to believe that they all belong to Ms. Freeman. But we aren't ruling out anything and we'll wait for a DNA analysis and get a final determination. So we're working in cooperation with the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And it will take at least several months, if not up to a year, to be able to determine a lot of this information. But we're going to be aggressively investigating this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Freeman faces first and second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the first baby's death. She is now being held without bail.
Good morning, Rob Marciano. Waiting to hear more good news. Although every time we come to you, it's a severe weather animation, so that tells me it ain't so good.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: The military says a U.S. helicopter made a precautionary landing after coming under fire in Baghdad today. Both crew members said to have evacuated safely. Meanwhile, the military says a Marine was killed in fighting in the volatile Anbar Province yesterday. It is the 73rd U.S. troop death in Iraq this month. More than 3,600 American troops have died since the war began.
Looking to shore up support for Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, today. They are asking Arab countries to do more to help stabilize Iraq and counter the rise of Iran. The visit comes after a big announcement, the U.S. is working on tens of billions of dollars worth of military aid to the region.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States is determined to assure or allies that we are going to be reliable in helping them to meet their security needs. We have a lot of interest in common in this region, in the fight against terrorism and extremism, in protecting the gains of peace processes of the past and in extending those gains to peace processes of the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Next up for Rice and Gates is Saudi Arabia.
A powerful senator's home searched by FBI and IRS agents. A corruption probe. But Senator Ted Stevens urging his constituents not to jump to conclusions.
And mourning the victims of a deadly home invasion. A suspect's friend speaks for the first time and shares new insight. Details on that just ahead.
Finding a cause for autism. Is there a pesticide link? What doctors are saying about it now in a new study.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate now caught up in a federal corruption probe. Senator Ted Stevens' Alaska home searched by FBI and IRS agents. CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash is with us now from Capitol Hill.
Dana, what is this search of the senators home all about?
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, first, for those who may not know very much about Senator Ted Stevens, they should know that he is one of the most influential senators here on Capitol Hill and has been for nearly a quarter of a century, especially when it comes to how your government money is spent. And he is very proud about the fact that he brings home the bacon to Alaska. Remember that bridge to nowhere? That was his.
Well, what has been going on in his home state of Alaska is there's been a huge public corruption probe going on for quite a while. And recently an Alaska oil executive, and a big contributor to Senator Ted Stevens, pleaded guilty to bribing local officials in the state of Alaska.
And here's how this search the Senator Stevens' house fits into all of that. The person, the donor, actually oversaw a huge renovation project on the house that you're looking at. The one that was raided just outside of anchorage yesterday. So what the feds are apparently trying to figure out is if that donor, a man by the name of Bill Allen, if he actually foot the bill for the renovation that nearly doubled the side of Senator Stevens' house, you're looking at there.
Now Senator Stevens recently told reporters that he paid for the renovation of his own house. But now, Heidi, he is really not saying much at all, except that he's asking his constituents not to jump to conclusions. I'll read you part of his statement.
He said, "I know Alaskans are interested in my views on the investigation. While I understand this interest and would like to discuss these issues in great detail, the interests of justice and our state are best served if I make my comments after federal officials complete their work."
Heidi.
COLLINS: There are quite a few, though, Dana, former and current congressional members who are basically under investigation right now. It's really got people talking.
BASH: It certainly has. And if you look at the polls coming out of the last election, it is corruption that really topped the list of voters' concerns on the home front, what they wanted congress to deal with. Because it's been about a dozen current and former lawmakers who have even been under investigation, indicted, even convicted in corruption issues.
And as a matter of fact, maybe ironically, in the next hour, Heidi, the House is going to take up a bill that Congress actually hopes to send to the president by the end of this week to deal with ethics and lobbying reform. Essentially to answer voters concerns about this. And it would do several things. But it would force disclosure for how lobbyists give or donate to members of Congress and it also would force members of Congress to disclose those pet projects that they send back home.
Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Dana Bash, live this morning from Capitol Hill. We appreciate that, Dana. Thank you.
BASH: Thank you.
COLLINS: The mysteries of autism. A new study may provide a clue into one possible cause. CNN's Mary Snow has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Health officials say it could provide hope in unraveling the mystery behind the rising cases of autism. The California Department of Public Health found pregnant women who lived closest to fields where certain pesticides were used had a greater risk of having a child with a neurological disorder.
DR. MARK HORTON, CALIFORNIA HEALTH DEPARTMENT: Their likelihood of having a child with autism seemed to be six times what it would have been expected in the general population.
SNOW: Health officials caution, though, they can't make a definite link between pesticides and autism because the study was too small. But, they say, with an estimated one in 150 children diagnosed with autism, the possibility of a link is worth exploring.
HORTON: We're at a very early stage. But once again, we have a substantive hypothesis on which to base further research.
SNOW: The pesticides in question are organochlorine pesticides. They're used to control mites, particularly in cotton crops. Officials say their use has been dwindling in recent years. Some autism experts are taking note, even though the research is preliminary.
DR. MARTHA HERBERT, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: Every time we get a little bit more information, we're groping less in the dark and we're getting a little bit more light at the end of the tunnel.
SNOW: And some experts say the final answer may reveal that there is a combination of factors leading to autism. Many experts point to genetics and the environment as the possible culprits. And, they say, with so many parents desperate for answers, there is no stone worth leaving unturned.
Other factors that have been looked at as possible culprits include vaccinations and exposures to chemicals and viruses. Some doctors say, though, they don't expect one smoking gun, so to speak, to be the cause of autism.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Still ahead this morning, inside the mind of a murder suspect. Letters from prison revealing new information in the Connecticut home invasion killings. A friend speaks out.
And "If I Did It." O.J. Simpson's book and publishing rights. Simpson won't cash in on the sale.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: All right. Let's go ahead and check out the big board right now. Hey, look at that. The Dow Jones Industrial averages up 102 points, or 100 points, or something, or 99 points or something like that. Resting now at 13,458. This is some good news after a couple of days of some real doozies, wouldn't you say? But yesterday the average was actually up -- I think I read that wrong earlier, I apologize for that. -- 45 points. It closed at 13,403. So it's a comparison from yesterday to today. We will watch it for you and bring you all of your business stories coming up just a little bit later in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Remembering a murdered family. A memorial service for the mother and two daughters killed in a Connecticut home invasion. Two men are charged. Suspect Joshua Komisarjevky has not yet entered a plea. One of his closest friends spoke with our Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): This woman says she and suspect Joshua Komisarjevky have been close friends for seven years. They met through his ex-girlfriend. She asked us to protect her identity, but agreed to share these letters she says she received from him during his last few years in prison, exclusively with "360."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Prison was a hard pill for me to swallow. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't get angry. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel the pain of being taken from my daughter. I use that anger and emotion to keep myself in check and stay disciplined so that I can get where I want to be."
KAYE: The letters include a great deal about Komisarjevky's dislike for police, his love for his daughter, and his anger at her mother, his ex-girlfriend. He also writes about politics, taxes, the Constitution, and a desire to make an honest living.
A lot of people would be surprised that an alleged would-be killer would be discussing things like that in letters to you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It is surprising, you know. I mean he obviously wasn't a stupid person.
KAYE: Komisarjevky shares his dreams. When he's released, he writing, he'd like to become a real estate developer. There is no hint of violence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I'll be playing nice though when I'm released. I can't afford mindless indulgences or lack of discipline to attention to detail. My daughter needs me and I can't accomplish my goals when I am locked up."
KAYE: But it seems those plans were side tracked. Komisarjevky and fellow suspect Steven Hayes are charged with taking the Petit family hostage in their own home, strangling Mrs. Petit, and leaving her daughters to die in the fire police say they set. Komisarjevky is also accused of sexually assaulting 11-year-old Michaela. Mr. Petit survived. On these pages, a disturbing hint of what Komisarjevky seemed to fear would come.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I need someone like you who knows a little about my past to keep me grounded in the future when my criminal demons start to wonder." KAYE: The last time this woman spoke to Komisarjevky was just five days before the murders. He was under pressure, she says, to win custody of his daughter and distraught over a breakup.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was really, really depressed. He wasn't talking back to me. I said, Josh, you know, you want to go do something. You want to get out of the house? No, no, no.
KAYE: She describes her friend as quiet, giving and a master burglar. Able to get in and out of homes in a matter of seconds. She says if he did attack the Petit family then something inside him must have gone terribly wrong.
How hard has this been for you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been really hard. You know, I'm not sleeping at night. I keep waking up. I think that, you know, he put the terror into these poor girls' hearts. That he was the person that they spent their last hours in fear for their lives. And he left them to burn. That's not fair.
KAYE: When Komisarjevky was in prison, she visited him numerous times. Now haunted by the charges against him, she has no plans to see her friend again.
This woman also tells us Komisarjevky had been wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. A condition of his parole. She says that condition had been fulfilled and the bracelet removed just three days before the murders. We tried to talk to police about this, but they didn't return or calls.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Cheshire, Connecticut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Developing this hour, the chief justice sidelined by a seizure. Doctors say it was benign. But what does that mean. We're going to be talking with an expert coming up.
Also four pre-term babies found on a property in Maryland. Now a mother is charged. Investigators searching again this morning looking for more human remains.
And in the hot seat. He's the president's pick to become the nation's top military officer. Iraq War policy in the spotlight this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off today.
Among our top stories this hour, a get well soon message from the president. President Bush calling Chief Justice John Roberts this morning. Roberts is now in a Maine hospital. Doctors say he suffered a benign idiopathic seizure yesterday. That means they couldn't find any underlying physical cause for the seizures. Doctors ran a series of neurological tests. They kept Roberts overnight just to be sure he's OK.
The White House says Roberts told the president in the phone call this morning that he is doing just fine. Chief Justice John Roberts is the youngest member of the Supreme Court. He was sworn in as chief justice of the United States in September of 2005. President Bush originally nominated him to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, but Roberts became Chief Justice instead when William Rehnquist (ph) died.
Roberts had earlier served on the Federal Appeals Court for the District of Columbia. He is the father of two young children. In 2001, he described his health as, "excellent." He suffered a similar seizure back in 1993. So, doctors say he suffered a benign idiopathic seizure.
Chief Justice John Roberts told President Bush this morning as we said he's doing fine, so what does it all mean? A little confusing, certainly if you've never heard that term before, much like myself.
Doctor Wendy Wright is here now to talk more about what's happening in this story. She is a neurologist at Emory University right here in Atlanta.
This is not, Dr. Wright, a -- sort of a familiar term for most Americans. It basically just means they don't know what caused the seizure?
DR. WENDY WRIGHT, NEUROLOGIST: That's right, we don't know what caused the seizure. It's not something very worrisome like a brain tumor, a stroke, a ruptured aneurysm, or a head injury. So, we don't know what caused the seizure. So there are other certain things like salt imbalance, or endocrinologic problems that can cause seizures as well. But we just don't know at this point.
COLLINS: Well, I imagine there's an array of things ...
WRIGHT: Absolutely.
COLLINS: ...that could cause a seizure. And of course, when we hear seizure, I think many of us immediately think of epilepsy. What about that? How hard is it really to diagnose?
WRIGHT: Yes. Well, epilepsy is just another word for seizure disorder. And epilepsy by the strictest of definitions means recurrent seizures of unknown cause. And so, some people might say that after two seizures of unknown cause, a person may have epilepsy, so it's certainly possible that the Chief Justice may go on to be diagnosed with epilepsy.
COLLINS: So, we also know at this point that he will be going on some medications. Not sure what they are, but is it likely they would be seizure medications?
WRIGHT: It is likely, and I would not dare comment, because I'm not the Chief Justice's doctor ...
COLLINS: Sure.
WRIGHT: ...but as a neurologist, if I had a patient who had two seizures of unknown cause, I would recommend that that patient would go on an anti-seizure medicine for some treatment course of time. Usually about six months is fairly standard, then most patients go on to have another EEG or brainwave test. And if that's normalized and there's not some other type of underlying cause like a head injury or brain tumor, then the doctor and patient can decide if it's time to come off of that medication.
COLLINS: OK, wow, I can't imagine how scary for him and his family.
WRIGHT: Yes, very scary.
COLLINS: We also know that the Supreme Court said yesterday that the Chief Justice went through, "underwent a thorough neurological evaluation which revealed no cause for concern." Is it really possible to determine that so quickly after a seizure event?
WRIGHT: Yes, it is, because most seizures are actually what we call self-limited, which means that they stop within about minute to even 90 seconds.
COLLINS: Yes.
WRIGHT: The -- like I said, the very life-threatening problems would include infection, or perhaps even brain tumor, things that would be very, very frightening and very life-threatening. So, we can actually, as neurologists can determine that very, very quickly from simple things like cat scans will show bleeding into the head, lumbar (ph) punctures would show an infection.
Now, the Chief Justice seems to be in very excellent health, so he might not have needed to undergo a lumbar puncture, but then most people who do have seizures would undergo MRI scans at some point ...
COLLINS: Sure.
WRIGHT: ...and also brain wave tests. A lot of times those are not done in the hospital. That would be left up to the Chief Justice himself and to his doctors.
COLLINS: And so, I just wonder, again, being very clear that you are not the Chief Justice's doctor, but you are a neurologist. When you have patients who have suffered more than two seizures -- well, this is two for him, obviously -- how do you feel coming out of that? Do you feel weak, disoriented? Is it like fainting?
WRIGHT: No, well -- patients who have had seizures tell me that they feel very fatigued, sometimes they can even be confused coming out of the seizure, but it's most common to be fully recovered from a seizure within several minutes, although the effects of the seizure, the fatigue and the drained feeling can last for several hours. It's more worrisome for a neurologist, but much more rare for the effects of the seizure to last for several hours to several days.
But it's overwhelmingly likely that most people with seizures will be fully recovered very, very quickly. So the fact that we're hearing this about the Chief Justice is very common ...
COLLINS: OK.
WRIGHT: ...that he has fully recovered from the seizure, and will be back to full mental capacity, fully have the ability to work very, very quickly. So, the fact that we're hearing this is very normal and very common after a seizure.
COLLINS: All right, hopefully this won't happen again.
WRIGHT: Hopefully not.
COLLINS: It's got to be unnerving, I'm sure for everyone.
Dr. Wendy Wright, a neurologist with Emory University. Thanks so much for your time today.
WRIGHT: Thank you, thank you.
COLLINS: And a grim search now to tell you about in Maryland this hour. Police investigating after the bodies of four pre-term babies were found.
We want to go live now to CNN's Kathleen Koch with the very latest.
Good morning to you, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
And yes, the search of the property of 37-year-old Christy Freeman (ph) and also of a vacant lot just to the east of her property continues here in Ocean City, Maryland, searching basically dawn to dusk. Officers with the Ocean City police department have pulled up really every bit of shrubbery, every tree, every plant on both properties and they have gone through them with -- really, with a fine-toothed comb. Police officers lined up this morning with prods, poking them into the ground.
And what they're looking for is, of course, any evidence in the case and the possibility of any remaining bodies. Now, the only thing they have found this morning was the remains of a dog, a pet that was apparently buried in the yard.
Now, all this stemming from the horrific discovery last week, Thursday and Friday, as you mentioned, of the remains of four pre-term babies, one of them that police do believe that Freeman gave birth to on Thursday. Now, the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office has come back with some preliminary results, showing that that fetus was 26 weeks old, that it was stillborn.
But we spoke to the police chief this morning. She gave more information about the search, the investigation that's going on now to determine just whose babies those are, those were, and how old they were when they died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF BERNADETTE DIPINO, OCEAN CITY POLICE: All the evidence that we have right now leads us to believe that they all belong to Miss Freeman. But we aren't ruling out anything, and we'll wait for a DNA analysis to get a final determination. But we're working in cooperation with the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And it will take at least several months if not up to a year to be able to determine a lot of this information, but we're going to be aggressively investigating this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now police say that the search here at this home on Sunset Drive in Ocean City will continue at least through tomorrow. The search of the property, again, as the police chief indicated, the investigation will go on much longer than that. For right now, Ms. Freeman is being held in the county jail on charges of first degree, second degree murder and also manslaughter -- Heidi?
COLLINS: This story is just devastating.
All right, Kathleen Koch, thanks for staying on top of it for us in Ocean City, Maryland.
KOCH: Thank you (ph).
COLLINS: A powerful senator's home searched by FBI and IRS agents. A corruption probe, as Senator Ted Stevens (ph) urging his constituents not to jump to conclusions.
BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, watching Capitol Hill, where two big military jobs are on the line. We'll have that story next in the NEWSROOM.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange where the bulls are 2 for 2, and GM is 3 for 3. Why its shares are in overdrive, next.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: On Capitol Hill this hour, the president's nominee to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff testifying before a Senate panel. Iraq, a key focus. Live now to Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with more.
Good morning to you, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, Admiral Mike Mullen, who has been the chief of Naval operations, at his confirmation hearings this morning, nominated to become the next chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, if confirmed, and he is expected to be. He will be in office, of course, when the next president of the United States takes over after the next election and become the senior military adviser to whomever the next president may be.
Admiral Mullen, of course, taking a lot of tough questions from the panel this morning on the situation in Iraq, on the political progress, and the security situation. Admiral Mullen talking very candidly about his view, if the situation doesn't improve, if the political situation doesn't improve, there aren't enough troops in the world to make it better. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. MICHAEL MULLEN, JOINT CHIEFS NOMINEE: Security is critical to providing the government of Iraq the breathing space it needs to work toward political national reconciliation and economic growth, which themselves are critical to a stable Iraq.
Barring that, no amount of troops in no amount of time will make much of a difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Admiral Mullen and the senators all going on talk about this question of political progress, and expressing a lot of concern that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki simply isn't able to get that process generated. Of course the Iraqi government now out on summer holiday, something Congress is about to do as well -- Heidi.
COLLINS: That's right. Pentagon correspondence Barbara Starr for us this morning. Barbara, thank you.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
COLLINS: The U.S. Senate's longest-serving Republican now urging his constituents not to rush to judgment. Federal agents have searched the Alaska home of Senator Ted Stevens. This comes amid a bribery and corruption investigation, involving an oil-services company. Investigators reviewing a renovation project at Stevens' home. That project overseen by a contractor who has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state lawmakers. In a statement, Stevens says the legal process should be allowed to run its course so the truth can come out.
Intensifying off the East Coast now, Tropical Storm Chantal, what will it mean for your weather?
Also, a grim discovery in Afghanistan. What's next for a group of South Korean hostages? An update straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
And "If I Did It," O.J. Simpson's book and publishing rights -- Simpson won't cash in on the sale.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: We always want to get information out to you just as soon as we get it here in the CNN NEWSROOM, but sometimes it is not very good. T.J. Holmes is working this story, a horrible one out of South Carolina, about two children. T.J., what have you learned here?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Two toddlers, a one and four-year-old found dead in garbage bags under the sink at their home. This was in Hanahan, South Carolina; pictures of the scene last night where they were found. This is Hanahan, this is a little north of Charleston, but a one-year-old girl, four-year-old boy found dead in garbage bags under the sink.
Their mother taken to the hospital for an evaluation. What police say happened is that yesterday the mother went to work in Charleston and left the children in the car all day while she was at work. It was 90 degrees in Charleston yesterday, and as we've seen these stories before, it does not take long for the temperature in those cars to get up to 120, 130-plus degrees.
These children were left in the car all day. And, there's a domestic disturbance call to the home. That's why police came there last night, where the discovered the one and four-year-old in garbage bags under the sink. The mother, according to police was distraught, there was some talk she was making comments about her hurting herself. So she is under evaluation.
Her attorney is now involved and the police have not yet been able to talk to her and interview her, but again just a story that will make your stomach turn to hear about the one and a four-year-old dead, found in garbage bags, because apparently they were left in a car all dang day while the mother went to work. Again, 90 degrees in Charleston yesterday.
We've seen these stories, we've done these stories, these little experiments where we see it go to 120, 130-plus degrees in those cars, and the kids apparently were in there all day. Heidi a -- just disgusting story that will make you sick in your stomach, but a lot more details to come on that I'm sure.
COLLINS: Yes, I guess it can only help, that it wasn't a painful death. I don't know -- it's just awful to hear and infuriating. T.J. Holmes, thanks so much for the update on that.
O.J. Simpson's controversial book and the money that could come along with it. A court decides who will actually go ahead paid if the book is published.
CNN's Susan Candiotti with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Choking back tears, Fred Goldman called it a turning point in his seemingly endless legal batting against O.J. Simpson, the man he believes murdered his son Ron and Simpson's estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.
FRED GOLDMAN, FATHER OF RONALD GOLDMAN: After 13 years of trying to get some justice for Ron, today is probably the first time that we had any sense of seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.
CANDIOTTI: A bankruptcy court awarded to Ron Goldman's estate a whopping 90 percent of the gross proceeds if and when it sells the rights to O.J.'s book called "If I Did It," Simpson's self-described fictional account of how he would have pulled off the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman if he had killed them.
The other 10 percent of the book's proceeds would go to a trustee handling claims against a now bankrupt Florida company held in the name of O.J. Simpson's eldest daughter, Arnelle. That company's only asset was the book rights. And a judge has described it as a shell for the benefit of O.J. Simpson.
Fred Goldman's attorney predict publishers will be chomping at the bit for the book, now that Goldman supports the project.
DAVID COOK, ATTORNEY FOR FRED GOLDMAN: We have reached out to a lot of people in the community. And we think we are going to be able to sell this and I think we're going to be able to make good money.
CANDIOTTI: Nicole Brown Simpson's family opposed the deal, arguing the Goldmans were getting too big a percentage. Nicole's sister, Denise, told CNN recently she's against the book, period.
DENISE BROWN, SISTER OF NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON: Fred, this book should not be published.
I have said this over and over and over. It's a manual to commit murder, and it just shouldn't be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As far as we're concerned, the only person that we're fighting against is the man that killed my brother and Nicole. And the rest of it, it is what it is. It's unfortunate. Our -- we are two families grieving.
CANDIOTTI: The bankruptcy judge ordered an 18-month limit on trying to sell the book rights or he might nix the deal.
After his legal victory, Fred Goldman was asked if he had a message for O.J.
GOLDMAN: I have nothing to say to that piece of garbage.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): At the end of the day assuming a publisher is found, the real question may be, will more people buy the book, knowing that O.J. Simpson isn't the one directly getting the proceeds? Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Still ahead, a self-described pedophile on the web and in the open. Parents now being warned to watch out. And reassessing a popular diabetes drug, a government panel issues its recommendation. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUDY FORTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Regular and diet soft drinks may increase a person's risk for developing metabolic syndrome. According to a new study metabolic syndrome can lead to heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Well, the beverage industry refutes the study. Researchers say soda drinkers tend to drink more calories, consume more fat, east less fiber and live more sedentary lifestyles which can lead to metabolic syndrome.
And a study finds people who take statins to lower bad cholesterol have a slightly higher cancer risk. These findings come after researchers studied medical records of over 40,000 patients, but the American College of Cardiology insists the benefits of statins outweigh the slight cancer risk. They encourage patients to discuss the possible risk with their doctor.
Another risk to consider, your friends could be making you fat. Researchers from Harvard and the University of California studied the records of more than 12,000 adults, and they found if they were obese, their close friends had a 171 percent chance of becoming obese as well. Interestingly, spouses and families had a lower risk, closer to 40 percent.
A research team in North Carolina claims it's developed a process of removing allergens from peanuts. Their tests on human serum of people severely allergic to peanuts showed no reaction. Their findings have not been F.D.A. evaluated, and more research needs to be done to verify if the peanuts are in fact allergy-free.
But if correct, it could bring relief to the 3 million Americans who suffer from peanuts allergies.
Judy Fortin, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
You're with CNN, I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off today. Developments keep coming into the CNN NEWSROOM on this Tuesday, July 31st. Here's what's on the rundown.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
