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Utah Mine Rescue; New Jersey Murders; Bridge Collapse; Going Too Far?; Unrest In Congress

Aired August 07, 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: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.

Six coal miners trapped for more than 24 hours. In a few minutes now, a live briefing from searchers in Utah.

COLLINS: Home invasion in suburbia. Three dead in a brutal attack. This hour, two suspects in court to face capital felony charges.

HARRIS: And a father distraught over his son's murder comes unglued. These images will absolutely break your heart.

It is Tuesday, August 7th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Unfolding this hour, a race against time and long odds. Rescue teams frantically trying to reach six trapped miners. An official update live this hour in Utah. CNN's Dan Simon is near Huntington.

And, Dan, good morning to you. Where do things stand this morning?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Tony.

We're expected to have a news conference here in about 30 minutes. It's about an hour later than it was originally scheduled, but we're hoping that crews are going to brief us exactly on how things are going. Last we heard, crews were using heavy machinery, some big drills, to drill through this solid coal.

Crews had a bit of a setback yesterday. They thought they were going to be able to reach the miners perhaps through an empty mine shaft, but those efforts were thwarted. The debris was just to think. There was a concern that the ceiling might cave in on those rescuers.

So at this point the miners are believed to be about 1,500 feet below the surface, about three or four miles from the entrance to the mine. In terms of when crews can reach them, we were told that it might take as long as two or three days. And again, we're expecting this news conference in about 30 minutes from now.

Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, Dan, if you would, talk to us about the spotty kind of safety history for this mine. Talk to us about the violations.

SIMON: Well, CNN is reporting that this particular mine has received 30 violations in 2007 alone. Ten of those violations resulted in fines. We're not quite sure of the severity of these particular violations, but no question, this company is going under the microscope.

The owner has said that this particular mine is safe. He says that his company has never experienced anything of this magnitude. And , again, we're going to be hearing from that gentleman in about 30 minutes.

HARRIS: OK. CNN's Dan Simon following events for us.

Dan, appreciate it.

Another reminder for you, this morning's briefing on the rescue efforts has been pushed back by an hour. It is now scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. And, of course, you will see it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: A court appearance this hour for two suspects in a gruesome home invasion. Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, each facing six capital felony charges. Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty. Police say the pair held a Connecticut family hostage for hours, then set their house on fire. Investigators say Jennifer Petit was raped and then strangled. Her two daughters were tied to their beds. They died of smoke inhalation. The father was beaten, but managed to escape. Stay with us for more on what happens in court this morning.

HARRIS: And we are following developments out of Newark, New Jersey, this morning. Four friends shot execution style, three killed. Now word of a big reward, but no arrests. Our Allan Chernoff is in New York with the very latest.

And, Allan, this is just a horrible story. And as we just mentioned, the killers are still at large.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most definitely. And police now are relying on the only surviving victim, 19-year-old Natasha Aeriel, for clues to find out who killed her brother and two friends execution style in a Newark schoolyard.

Natasha now is at University Hospital in Newark after surviving a shot to the face. She was upgraded to fair condition yesterday and has been able to provided some detail to the police, though she remains heavily medicated. There is now a $52,000 reward to information that could solve this brutal crime.

It was Saturday night. Four friends, three of them college students at Delaware State University, were hanging out in a school yard. Natasha was shot in the face, the other three, Terrance Aeriel, Dashon Harvey and Iofemi Hightower were lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head. Police suspect the students were being robbed and they put up a fight because there were knife wounds on Hightower's body and broken jewelry was found at the scene. As the police investigate, Newark is filled with mourning and outrage over three promising lives that were cut short. The father of victim Dashon Harvey is pleading, stop the killing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES HARVEY, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: They are here hurting innocent kids. Innocent people are dying needlessly, unnecessarily. And for what?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Indeed, Newark has been suffering from an epidemic of killings. Just a few hours after the three students were killed, another person was murdered in Newark early Sunday morning. So far 60 people this year have been killed in that city.

Tony.

HARRIS: Boy, so many questions. But, you know what, maybe we just should leave it there for now. Allan Chernoff for us in New York.

Allan, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Baking in the summer heat. Parts of the Midwest, the south and the northeast coping with dangerous triple-digit temperatures today. In some areas, it will feel like 115 degrees. Not much choice for these workers, though, in St. Louis. They are having to brave the muggy, stifling air. Temperatures there expected to stay at our above the century mark for at least the next three days. Drinking water, a big demand today in Little Rock, Arkansas. That city also baking in the heat. The hot, stagnant air also responsible for another problem -- smog. These scenes, not Los Angeles, but right here in Atlanta. That city under smog alert this week. We looked outside and saw that yesterday a little bit too with Jacqui Jeras. And I had said, I really hadn't seen it like that much before.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: This next story, so disturbing. Courtroom fury to show you. The father of a murder victim loses it during victim impact statements at a sentencing. Take a listen and a look.

All right. Here's the back story here. Defendant Antonio Clifford had just pleaded guilty to murder. The dad, Mike Sweat, said he wanted to show Clifford a picture of his son. Instead, he attacked him. Clifford got a sentence of 33 years to life in prison. His plea deal kept him from being eligible for the death penalty.

COLLINS: Still ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, 12 years old. Already she's had a tummy tuck, liposuction, and now stomach surgery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BROOKE BATES, HAD WEIGHT-LOSS SURGERY AT 12: Why would you be getting the surgery? That's crazy. I've had so many people tell me this. But my desire to want to fix this problem, like, I would do anything for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: When is an obese child too young for medical intervention? A debate rages.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Roesgen at the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Coming up, you're going to hear from a woman who tried to warn her boyfriend that the bridge was out and he was already on it. What happened next, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Beer, wine or the hard stuff. A new study takes a look at what binge drinkers prefer. And you may be surprised by the results.

COLLINS: And Fort Lauderdale's mayor comes out firing. Controversial remarks about public restrooms and the spread of AIDS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

So you wake up one morning and you're told you're dead. In fact, you've been dead for quite a while.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's my first time of being deceased.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Proof of life. You know, sometimes it's pretty obvious.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: New tensions this morning between Moscow an the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Georgia accuses Russian fighter jets of violating its airspace and dropping a bomb near a village north of the capital of Tbilisi. But it didn't explode, according to Georgian officials. Video from the site show wreckage with Russian writing on it. But Russia's air force denies any involvement. Relations between the two neighbors have been increasingly tense since Georgia has been seeking to join NATO and courting western alliances.

COLLINS: A new focus this morning for investigators in that Minnesota bridge collapse. Navy and Army divers are now on the scene and they have some special equipment now. We want to go live to our Susan Roesgen who is in Minneapolis for us this morning.

Good morning to you there, Susan. What is this equipment all about? ROESGEN: It's an unmanned submarine, Heidi. A small, mini submarine that's robotically controlled. It lets the divers, the FBI divers, get a good look under water with very powerful lights and super-sophisticated sonar.

Now I'm standing less than 25 years away from the bridge right now and people have started to come from Minneapolis to get closer and closer and look at what happened. So I want you to picture this. There was a woman driving in her car last Wednesday at about 6:00. She's in a different part of the city. And she hears on the radio that the bridge has gone out. The I-35 bridge has gone out.

So she gets on her cell phone, she calls her boyfriend and she says, look out, the bridge has collapsed. And he says, I'm on it right now. I want to introduce you to Heather Henning. She's here with her son, Adam.

Heather, your boyfriend's Jeep is over there . . .

HEATHER HENNING, SURVIVOR's GIRLFRIEND: It's Adam's (ph) Jeep, yes, right over there.

ROESGEN: What did he tell you? You're on the cell phone with him. He says, I'm on it. What happened? What did he feel when the bridge collapsed?

HENNING: He said that he heard a big boom and his friend of him looked at each other and they said, what was this? And he said he saw the 35W bridge sign that says Hiwasa (ph) and Washington Avenue fall down like an elevator. He looked at his friend and all of a sudden they felt the bridge collapse and the cars go into the river. And his friend said, get out of the car. The bridge started shaking. His friend jumped out of car. Adam stayed in the car in shock. And the bridge collapsed, dropped 20 feet.

ROESGEN: And you told me now that he doesn't want to see the wreckage.

HENNING: He doesn't want to see it.

ROESGEN: That your boyfriend doesn't want to come see the wreckage, so you've come to see it, because he's too traumatized?

HENNING: Yes. He doesn't know how to deal with it. He just finally hit reality yesterday about really what's going on and doesn't want to be down there yet.

ROESGEN: How did your son take it?

HENNING: He took it fine. He was a little nervous at first, but I reassured him that his dad was OK and that his dad was a super hero because he saved two people's lives and survived it himself.

ROESGEN: Well, I'm glad that he's OK. Thanks, heather. It's another first-hand account of what was going on, on that bridge. It's still incredible, Heidi, as you look at it, when you still see the cars up there, that anybody made it out alive. It's really been a tricky situation for the divers now searching for the eight missing people. But again, so many people survived. It could have been so much worse.

COLLINS: It definitely could have been so much worse. And I think it's one of everybody's fears as you're going over bridges. You just kind of think, you know, what if. And as you get over that and then live through it, it's just absolutely incredible. We wish those investigators luck, of course, in finding the eight missing eight bodies.

Susan Roesgen, thanks so much.

HARRIS: And still ahead in the NEWSROOM, congressional battles. What is this, the house of commons here? What's going on? Allegations of cheating and vote stealing. The ruckus before summer recess.

COLLINS: And pulling away from the pack. Hillary Clinton, the presidential race and new poll numbers. We'll tell you about it after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Just want to quickly remind you that we had a little bit of a change on this press conference that we've been watching, the briefing on the rescue efforts. It's been pushed back by an hour, so it is now scheduled for 10:30 Eastern. And you will see that right here, an update on the Utah mine collapse, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: So, Heidi, it still remains kind of the best reality show on television right now, what is happening with the markets. The New York Stock Exchange yesterday up 280 some odd points.

COLLINS: Yes, but we -- you know, there were doubts in the beginning and everybody was saying the Heidi index is going to be impossible to (INAUDIBLE).

HARRIS: And remind everyone at home what the Heidi index is once again.

COLLINS: I didn't term that, by the way. That was Stephanie Elam.

HARRIS: Yes. Sure. OK.

COLLINS: Fifteen thousand by Christmas.

HARRIS: Fifteen thousand by Christmas, right? OK. So here we go. An hour into the trading day and the Dow is down 41 points. The Nasdaq essentially flat. Susan Lisovicz has the best seat in the house for all of this and she joins us in just a couple of minutes right here in the NEWSROOM. COLLINS: Weight-loss surgery, for a 12-year-old? She's already had liposuction and a tummy tuck, but she and her mom say that really wasn't enough. Erin Ochoa of our affiliate KVUE has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN OCHOA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): This is video of then 12-year-old Brooke Bates back in October. She weighed almost 200 pounds when she got liposuction and a tummy tuck. She lost about 60 pounds, but has since regained about half of it.

CINDY BATES, BROOKE'S MOTHER: But, of course, we didn't -- I didn't blame her, because it's not her fault. You know, she has -- she's a compulsive eater.

OCHOA: Despite her efforts to lose weight, Brooke says she has always struggled.

BROOKE BATES, HAD WEIGHT-LOSS SURGERY AT 12: Unless you've been through it and had people make fun of you your whole life, you don't know how you feel.

OCHOA: So her mother, Cindy Bates, took her to Monterrey, Mexico, to have doctors surgically implant a lap band. This is home video from the family.

C. BATES: It's so much paperwork you have to go through. So much red tape is what I call it. I mean, they want you to get psychological testing. They want you to do, you know, get sleep apnea testing. And all those things I'm sure are very important, but it's just -- it's money.

OCHOA: A lap band works by limiting how much food a patient can eat.

C. BATES: To me, the root of the problem is the stomach and the hunger, you know, and also the compulsiveness. But this lap band will only let her eat so much. And then after that, it comes back up.

OCHOA: Most doctors in the U.S. wouldn't consider a lap band for a patient as young as Brooke unless it was deemed medically necessary. Brooke says she has no regrets.

B. BATES: You think, why would you be getting the surgery? That's crazy. I've had so many people tell me this. But my desire to want to fix this problem is -- I mean, I can't even explain. Like I would do anything for it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Most doctors don't think gastric bypass surgery is right for someone so young. Some say in cases of extreme obesity it may be an appropriate choice.

HARRIS: Senator Hillary Clinton pulling away. That from a new poll from the "USA Today" and Gallop. Here are the numbers. And be patient with me here as we sort through them all. Forty-eight percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents back Clinton. That is up 8 percent over last month. Senator Barack Obama was second with 26 percent. Former senator, John Edwards, had 12 percent. Now in a head to head race, Clinton was preferred over Obama 59 percent to 36 percent.

Now to the Republican side. Former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is out front with 33 percent. Former Tennessee senator, Fred Thompson, has 21 percent and he's not even officially a candidate yet.

COLLINS: When is that going to change?

HARRIS: Well, it was July and now it's September.

Senator John McCain is at 16 percent. And former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, was fourth with 8 percent.

OK. I think that covers it.

COLLINS: And you did very well.

HARRIS: Was that OK?

COLLINS: Yes.

HARRIS: I always worry about that. A lot of numbers there.

Don't forget to send in your questions for the Republican candidates to cnn.com/youtubedebate. That event is coming your way this fall.

COLLINS: Unrest in Congress. Now time off to cool off as public approval slides. Here now, CNN congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It was a partisan meltdown on the House floor. Just before recessing for the summer, Republicans rebelled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell the truth!

YELLIN: Charging Democrats with stealing a vote. So they walked out. It didn't help when a technical glitch halted voting the next day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the engineers are working on the problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the mics don't even work.

YELLIN: And both sides lobbed bitter attacks against their colleagues. REP. STENY HOYER, (D) MAJORITY LEADER: Enough is enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Parliamentary crimes, speaker. Parliamentary crimes.

YELLIN: It could be worse. No one's emulated Taiwan's legislature. Not yet.

Now Republicans are charging the Democrats with running a do- nothing Congress.

THOMAS MANN, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Take with a grain of salt both the claims of enormous achievements by the majority Democrats and the claim of do nothing by the minority Republicans.

YELLIN: As promised, the Democrats have delivered bills implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations, enacting lobbying and ethics reform, increasing the minimum wage, and funding embryonic stem cell research, those this measure was vetoed. Still, they have not made good on all their problems. Crucially, no progress on the key issue for the Democrats -- changing U.S. policy in Iraq.

Perhaps their biggest challenge when they return in September will be making headway in changing the president's policy in Iraq. Public opinion of Congress has dropped since the Democrats took office and experts say that's largely because people are dissatisfied they have not forced a change of course in Iraq.

Jessica Yellin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And in Utah, mining families cling to hope and each other. We'll have the latest on the rescue efforts coming up in a live news conversation where we expect to hear from Bob Murray, president of the company operating the mine, Murray Energy Corporation. And, of course, we expect to hear from other officials as well.

COLLINS: Trapped in a mine. Would-be rescuers prepare for life- and-death situations just like these. We're going to take you to their training ground.

HARRIS: And three teens killed execution style in Newark. The chief prosecutor gives us an update on the investigation. That's coming up for you in just minutes in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And welcome back everyone to the CNN NEWSROOM. Bottom of the hour. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins.

We want to update you on our top story now this hour. It's a race against time and long odds. Rescue crews frantically trying to reach six trapped coal miners. An official update is coming our way live this hour in Utah, and CNN's Dan Simon is near Huntington now. It's a couple miles away from the mine entrance.

Dan, tell us what you know at this point this morning.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, we're expecting this news conference to happen any time now, but this accident happened 30 hours ago, so you have 30 hours of total agony for these family members who don't know the fate of these six miners.

This accident happened deep into the mine, about 1,500 feet below the surface, about three or four miles from the entrance to the mine. Crews yesterday had a bit of a setback. They thought they might be able to rescue the miners by going through an empty mine shaft, but that proved to be too dangerous. There was too much debris. There was a concern that the ceiling might cave in on these rescuers. So the rescuers pulled back.

At this time they were using heavy drills, big, big drills, to reach these miners. You've got to go way into the coal mine. They're going vertically and horizontally. It's not clear why them might reach the miners. We were told by the company official yesterday that it might take as long as two or three days. Again, we are waiting for this press conference to get an update -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Dan. Quickly we had reported a little bit here as we continue to watch those microphones -- and if someone should step to the microphone we'll go straight to them -- but a lot of violations in the past for this mining company. We had heard something like 360, and then we'd also heard, you know, that's really not that unusual.

SIMON: Well, CNN is reporting that this particular mine has been cited some 30 times in the year 2007, 10 of which resulted in fines. We're not quite sure of the severity of these particular citations. We can tell you the owner of the mine says he operates a very safe business, a very safe mine, and that he's never experienced anything of this magnitude.

Heidi, we're still not sure exactly what caused the mine to collapse. You'll remember yesterday there was a thought that perhaps a small earthquake in the area may have triggered the collapse. At this point scientists seem to be distancing themselves from that notion. They're saying that the seismic activity that was generated may have been a result of the actual collapse. The owner seems to think that there was an earthquake, so we're still trying to sort all that out.

COLLINS: And just quickly, Dan, I'm going to keep you here while we watch those microphones, if that's OK.

I wonder -- I know after the Quecreek (ph) mine disaster, which was -- actually didn't end in a disaster, it ended very well, and that one didn't, it was five years ago where those miners were rescued and brought up from down below. A lot of discussion after that event about mine maps. Has anyone talked to you on the scene there about whether or not that situation has improved so as to be able to possibly get to these guys a little bit easier?

SIMON: Haven't really heard much about that. But one thing we can tell you is that the way in which they go about retrieving the coal from this mine, it's a very difficult process called retreating. It's said to be very dangerous. This is when they go through the mine, and they leave various pillars in place to keep the ceiling from collapsing. And when they go back, they actually remove the pillars, and it causes the ceiling to collapse. We're not quite sure if that's what caused the accident, but nonetheless, we are told that's a very dangerous procedure, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, it sounds incredibly dangerous. I think a lot of people knew that, sort of a controlled collapse at every step, it sounds like.

Dan Simon, thanks so much, live there on the scene for us as we continue to watch that scene for you.

We're going to be hearing from Bob Murray, you've heard a little bit from him over the past day or so. He's the president and CEO of Murray Energy Company, also the sheriff of Emery County, Utah. So, once they come available to us, which should be any minute now, we of course will bring it straight to you.

HARRIS: So, as you just heard in Dan's report and kind of know intuitively yourself, a mine rescue can be dangerous work.

CNN's Gary Tuchman takes us down into a mine for a few lessons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For 60 years, this was an active mine in the Rocky Mountains. Now, the deer ramble above one of the entrances of a mine that's now part of the Colorado School of Mines. The Edgar Mine is used for training for the Colorado School of Mines and esteemed institution in Golden, Colorado, and right now, we are going down the shaft, hundreds of feet into the mine, one of the shafts that go into this mine.

And I'm being followed by a student here at the Colorado School of Mines, Bracken Spencer (ph) is coming down, he's a senior who is majoring in mining engineering. We wear safety gear because this is still a mine, where you have to take the proper precautions, helmets, glasses, boots, we have these devices that convert carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide.

What are these called?

BRACKEN SPENCER, STUDENT AT COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES: They're the W-65 self-rescue, so in case of a fire or a build-up in carbon monoxide, a miner will be able to get themselves out safely.

TUCHMAN: With us is Bob Ferriter. Bob, your title? BOB FERRITER, DIR., MINE SAFETY PROGRAM: I'm the director of the Mine Safety Training Program here at the Colorado School of Mining.

TUCHMAN: Because you train mine rescuers, not just the students, but who else do you train?

FERRITER: We train adults, we train mine rescue teams from (ph) coal mines, metal mines. Here in the west, we train DOD personnel, and the fire department.

TUCHMAN: OK, now this is smoke that is set up for your students to give you an idea of what rescuers go through when they're trying to rescue. You can't see anything, so how are you supposed to find people who are trapped inside a mine?

FERRITER: Well, the first thing we do is we provide the rescue team a map of where they're going in the mine, so they have a general idea. Secondly, you can follow the rail here. You can see into the smoke a little bit. You can take a walk along that so you can follow that, you can grab that compressed airline or waterline along the rib. That also gives you some guidance as to where you're going in the mine. And then, if you really have to, you can get down on the floor and crawl.

TUCHMAN: Ventilation, what do you teach your rescuers ...

FERRITER: Ventilation is a very important topic for a mine rescue team. You have to know how to change the ventilation in the mine so you can sweep out the contaminated air, the smoke, and the contaminants and bring fresh air in so you can proceed with the rescue.

TUCHMAN: We're also here with administrators, with the director of the mine. How do you communicate? Radios don't work down here, how -- I mean, that's a big issue, obviously, with this situation, communication.

FERRITER: Yes, most of the time, it's hand signals and voice communication. Of course, that's hampered by the fact that you're wearing protective devices, SCBAs, so communication is a problem. It always is a problem.

TUCHMAN: What are SCBAs?

FERRITER: Self-contained breathing apparatus with oxygen in the apparatus.

TUCHMAN: They're all things I'm learning today. You're talking of going into another room if you're a miner to get away from the gases.

FERRITER: That's correct.

TUCHMAN: You can get an idea of how heavy this door is. Look out, I don't want to hurt you. Let's go check it out, I mean this door -- this is a place where miners should go if something happened down here.

FERRITER: This could be used as a refuge chamber, yes.

TUCHMAN: Right. You've set up, though, an obstacle course to simulate for rescuers who come in here, students, what it's like to rescue. It's dark in here, it's smoky in here, you see this tunnel, it's very narrow, and you're wearing this bulky gear. And I went through here a little while ago, and took a long time to go through because you can barely fit. Imagine if you're a much bigger person than I am. It would be very hard to do.

This gives you an idea of what the students come to. They climb through here, they go through an obstacle course, and it gives you an idea of when people are trapped, what they go through in the dark and the smoke.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for talking with us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're welcome.

TUCHMAN: This mine primarily was used from the late 1800s into the middle of the 20th century to mine gold, to mine silver, to mine copper, but it's very similar what happened to these mines to coal mines, but right now, it is just a training facility to train the rescuers of today and tomorrow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Oh boy, it is going to be tough, slow work, but it continues today. And we're standing by waiting for the news conference to begin, so that we can get an update on the effort to rescue those six miners trapped there at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Huntington, Utah. We are standing by, as soon as that news conference begins, we will, of course, bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Another top story of ours today, a big reward offered in Newark, New Jersey, $52,000 in fact. Police hope it will spark leads. Three college friends killed execution style this weekend. A fourth was shot but survived. Some people want Mayor Cory Booker to resign. He was just elected last year. Booker campaigned on crime- fighting promises and challenged residents to hold him accountable. The mayor says shootings and other crimes are down in the city, but Newark's murder rate is still high.

HARRIS: How high? Already, there have been 60 murders in Newark this year. There were 106 last year and 97 in 2005. The figure's almost doubled the 57 murders in Newark 10 years ago, but that number, a dramatic drop from the 102 murders and manslaughters in 1995.

COLLINS: Missing in Iraq, weapons meant for Iraqi troops now possibly being used against Americans.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange where the DOW has made five triple-digit moves in both directions over the past five days. Today could see more volatility because today is decision day on interest rates. I'll have a preview next.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Just a quick reminder here, we are watching the scene here in Emery County, Utah. We are awaiting a press conference, the very latest on the six trapped coal miners near Huntington, Utah. Wondering what they may have learned overnight in these rescue attempts at Crandall Canyon Mine, operated by Genwall (ph).

We're going to be hearing from, we know for sure right now, the CEO of Murray Energy, that's Robert Murray, and also the sheriff in that county, so hoping to get a little bit better sense of what exactly is going on there now as everyone really waits for some good news here.

HARRIS: How about this? New studies out today on binge drinking, the adult beverage of choice? Beer. Seventy-five percent of adult binge drinkers saying they prefer it.

COLLINS: Gluten-free.

HARRIS: That's your thing (ph).

COLLINS: No, that wasn't on there.

HARRIS: OK. Seventeen percent choose the hard stuff, and nine percent go for wine. The study looked at adults who had five or more drinks at a time. How about this? In a separate study on teens, beer finishes second behind liquor. Researchers believe they actually swipe it from their parents' liquor cabinets.

COLLINS: On Wall Street, there is little doubt that the Fed will leave interest rates alone at today's meeting, but some are starting to wonder whether it should be wake-up time for the Central Bank.

Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange now with details.

Good morning to you, Susan.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: Sweating out a heat wave, you'll be doing just that. In days to come now, a blanket of hot air wrapped over a third of the country. Who needs a heating blanket, in the middle of summer? Live to the CNN weather center in just a moment.

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GERRI WILLIS, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Credit card offers, they're everywhere, in the mail, online and on TV. And they usually come with incentives ranging from cash back to hotel points and airline miles. But, before you get wooed by all those incentives, read the fine print. Rewards cards typically carry higher interest rates, and that could negate any benefit of the so-called incentives. So, look for a card with a low APR, some even offer 0 interest for six months to a year. Also, watch out for hidden fees, such as late fees and overcharge fees. They can add up quickly. Another catch, restrictions, for instance, if you have a travel reward card, see if it has blackout dates, dates where you aren't allowed to use points for travel. And check on expiration dates. You don't want to save up miles or rewards points for something special and then find out you can't use them.

That's this week's "Saving Money Now." For more on saving money, watch "OPEN HOUSE" every Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, right here on CNN. And you can catch us on Headline News every Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time.

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HARRIS: In Utah, a new rescue effort gets underway. The goal, reaching six miners trapped in yesterday's cave-in. The new strategy: using a helicopter to drill straight down. There would be some drilling from the side as well. The men are believed to be about 1,500 feet underground. But there has been no contact with them since the collapse. The initial rescue effort was brought to a halt last night by falling rocks.

And we're expecting -- waiting anxiously for the latest update on the rescue efforts. Everyone is hoping for some good news. The briefing to begin any moment now in Emery County. We will, of course, bring it to you hopefully in minutes.

COLLINS: Twenty Americans killed in Iraq during the first week of August. The military today announcing new casualties. Three U.S. troops killed in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad on Saturday, another killed in western Baghdad combat operations. There have been 3,678 U.S. military deaths since the war began.

HARRIS: Weapons missing in Iraq, meant for Iraqi forces, but now possibly in the hands of insurgents.

CNN's Joe Johns has more.

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JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Training and equipping the security forces of a fledgling democracy is no joke, and if you don't keep track of who's getting the guns, the consequences can be deadly.

The Pentagon is waking up to that reality. They can't find at least 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols issued to Iraqis, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

JOSEPH CHRISTOFF, GOVT. ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE: For the first 18 months of the program to train and equip Iraqi security forces, there was little accountability over the equipment.

JOHNS: The weapons the U.S. handed over to the Iraqi forces are virtually untraceable, no serial numbers, no accountability, nobody knows where they are, and one frightening possibility looms large.

JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: You have to imagine that at least some of these weapons have wound up in the hands of the enemy.

JOHNS: That's security expert John Pike.

PIKE: One of the things that you worry about is that these weapons that American taxpayers paid for are winding up shooting at American soldiers. The Defense Department really doesn't have a good excuse here.

JOHNS: So why didn't the Defense Department keep track of the weapons? Well, according to the report, in the rush to train and equip the Iraqi forces, the Pentagon just didn't have the manpower to do the paperwork.

We asked the author of the report whether this is something you hear often when things fall through the cracks in Iraq.

CHRISTOFF: Often times, it's been expediency in trying to do things quickly because we wanted to make a difference, but not fully thinking through the consequences, the long-term consequences of some of these decisions.

JOHNS: The Pentagon doesn't dispute the findings of the GAO report. Officials say they're reviewing accountability procedures. In the meantime, the U.S. has spent at least $2.8 billion arming the Iraqi forces, and the administration's asking for $2 billion more.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

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HARRIS: And again, we are standing by waiting for the news conference to begin from Emery County in Utah, and we are anxiously awaiting, hoping for some good news on the condition of the six miners stuck in that mine after the collapse, the cave-in. We're expecting to hear from mining safety officials at the national level, Bob Murray, the president and CEO of Murray Energy Group. That is the group that actually operates the mine, and from the Emery County sheriff as well, standing by.

It was scheduled to begin any moment now, scheduled earlier to begin at about 9:30 Eastern time. Now, about an hour, 90 minutes delayed. We will bring you that news conference as soon as it begins right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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JUDY FORTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Military deployment increases the risk of parental stress and child abuse in some enlisted families. A recent study of more than 1,700 military families that have a history of child mal-treatment finds children are 42 percent more likely to experience neglect and physical and emotional abuse when enlisted parents are deployed. Officers suggest more support services will help care-givers cope with long deployments.

Women with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, suffer more than men, a study by the American Thoracic Society finds women experience more breathlessness, less lung function, and decreased exercise capacity, as well as poor, overall mental health when compared to men. COPD is a condition diagnosed more frequently in women, which obstructs airflow and interferes with breathing. It's the fourth leading cause of death in America.

The mortality gap between rich and poor children is widening, a trend researchers feel will lead to more demands on the healthcare system in the future. When compared to the rich, America's poorest children are 52 percent more likely to die from birth defects, unintentional injury and homicide. This is despite consistent decreases in child mortality overall.

Judy Fortin, CNN.

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COLLINS: A tough (ph) job for a Maryland woman, challenging the system, trying to prove the obvious. She's alive.

Here now, Doug Buchanan of our affiliate WUSA.

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PHYLLIS ORR, MISTAKENLY LISTED AS DECEASED: It made me very nervous being dead. That's almost funny.

DOUG BUCHANAN, WUSA REPORTER (voice-over): Contrary to what was common belief, Phyllis Orr is very much alive.

(on camera): This is my first interview with the deceased.

ORR: Yes, it's my first time with being deceased.

BUCHANAN (voice-over): But until just last week, the 81-year-old Annapolis woman had a hard time convincing anyone willing to listen that she was not dead.

ORR: Every time I go to the mailbox, I think oh, here we go, here comes another one. Somebody saying oh, we've canceled this for you because you're no longer alive.

BUCHANAN: It's still not clear where or how the news of her untimely death first surfaced, although a computer somewhere is suspected. But the aftermath quickly led to the end of Social Security and Medicaid benefits and canceled credit cards.

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