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Investigators Search for Cause of Bridge Collapse; Rescue Effort for Trapped Miners Continues; Florida State Legislator in Trouble with Law; Giuliani's Daughter Expresses Support for Obama; Girl, 7, Chases after Thief in Convenience Store Robbery; Newark Shootings: $50,000 Reward Offered For Information; Heat Wave Poses Threat To Elderly, Sick
Aired August 07, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Newark's mayor under fire for out of control crime. Four young adults shot in the head, execution style.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: A supermarket chain now offering some prescription drugs for free. The price is right, isn't it? In the CNN NEWSROOM.
Unfolding this hour, racing time and long odds. Rescue crews frantically trying to reach six trapped miners. An official update, live this hour in Utah. Right now we want to go to CNN's Dan Simon. He is near Huntington.
Dan, tell us what the progress is so far this morning.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, we're supposed to get news conference in about 30 minutes. Hopefully we will have fresh information then.
But from what we have been led to believe crews have not been able to make significant progress yet. They had a bit of a setback yesterday. They thought they would get in to the mine by going through a dormant mint shaft. But it was too dangerous. There was too much debris. So, they had to pull back.
Now they are using drills to go into the mine. This is a very arduous task. You are talking about heavy machinery and the miners are very deep into the mine; 1,500 feet below surface. About three miles from the entrance to the mine. The owner said it could take a few days to reach them. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT MURRAY, PRESIDENT, CEO, MURRAY ENERGY: We will be here on our feet until we get these men out one way or the other. But I have got to tell you, it could be two or three days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Let's talk about the conditions that these miners are facing. Very tough conditions, they really can't see. They have some flashlights but they have to be very mindful about conserving the batteries. Also, no ability to communicate with the outside world. No cell phones, no walkie-talkies. If you are a loved one, or relatives are down there, obviously, very stressful.
Meanwhile, the mayor talked about what kind of individuals these particular miners are. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR HILARY GORDON, HUNTINGTON, UTAH: These miners come from all different towns. Several people from Huntington, lot of people from Huntington probably work at mines in East Carbon (ph). These weren't necessarily all Huntington men. They are from the small towns. And all of these people just kind of group together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Heidi, one encouraging piece of news, if these miners are alive it is believed they would have enough air and water to last several days. Again, we're expecting a news conference in 30 minutes from now.
Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Boy, Dan, just so agonizing for the family. And fellow members that work for that company as well. I know they are just scrambling to really help out. I read about 200 people from the mining company are trying to help rescue their fellow employees.
Any idea, though, how much equipment on the scene, and how many rescue crews in general, you are seeing around you?
SIMON: We have been told that there are about 200 rescue crews, several teams. They are taking teams and going in various shifts. In term of the equipment, obviously a lot of equipment. We are told that a bulldozer came in to make way for a very large drill. There's going to be a helicopter coming perhaps as early as this morning to deliver another drill by the air. A tremendous amount of equipment. A lot of resources to find these miners -- Heidi.
COLLINS: We certainly hope that this one ends well. We will be watching it closely. Thanks so much. Dan Simon from Huntington, Utah.
We will have live coverage this hour when a mine official will be coming to the microphones and updating us on the rescue efforts. That briefing is now scheduled for 9:30 Eastern., just a half-hour from now. You will see it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: New this morning. A big reward but no arrests in Newark. Four friends shot execution style. Three killed. The latest from John Backey (ph), of affiliate News 12 New Jersey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES HARVEY, FATHER OF SLAIN YOUTH: Good student, college student. I just picked him up last week. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): James Harvey is preparing to bury the son he proudly sent off to college. Twenty year old, Dashon Harvey, among the three Delaware State University students shot dead execution-style Saturday night behind Mt. Vernon Elementary School.
HARVEY: They are out here hurting innocent kids, innocent people are dying, needlessly, unnecessarily -- and for what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Condolences are coming in over Myspace.com not only for Harvey but also Iofemi Hightower, Terrance Aeriel and the only survivor, his sister, Natasha Ariel, shot in the head, but stable who is now the key witness.
GARRY MCCARTHY, NEWARK POLICE DIRECTOR: She's heavily medicated and has been through surgery. At this point, there are times when we can speak to her, and times we can't. We're getting the story piecemeal, as we move along, from her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police Director Gary McCarthy says the victims did not know the killers and this looks like a robbery attempt that escalated into one of the city's most gruesome killings.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: A $50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest. Coming up in a bit. We will update the investigation when we discuss the case with the county's top prosecutor.
COLLINS: A court appearance, next 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 and then set their house on fire. Investigators say Jennifer Hoff- Petite was raped and strangled. Her two daughters tied to 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: A new focus this morning for investigators in that Minnesota bridge collapse. Teams of FBI and Navy divers part of the search for victims. They brought a small unmanned submarine to navigate all the wreckage. Eight people are missing.
Rebuilding efforts also moving ahead this morning. Designers and builders up against a real deadline here. They must show by tomorrow that they are qualified to bid on the reconstruction projects. State officials hoping the new bridge can be built by the end of next year. Seems ambitious.
They are getting some help. President Bush signing a bill to waive a limit on federal relief funds it provides $250 million for the work in Minneapolis.
Tonight, a moment of silence for the victims at 6:05 p.m. The exact time the bridge collapsed last Wednesday.
COLLINS: In case you haven't noticed, temperatures so hot it is just plain dangerous to be outside. Much of the Central and Eastern U.S. now in the grips of a brutal heat wave. Look at the red on the map. St. Louis, Atlanta, Washington, New York, some of the major cities in the danger zone.
And -- this is the worst part, probably -- it could be days before there is any relief in sight.
Jacqui? Jacqui?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Tony said it all, whew!
COLLINS: My mother is here from Minnesota. Staying confined in the home. She is afraid to go out. The air quality is terrible.
JERAS: Well, it is, yeah. Atlanta, Code Red for the second day in a row. It is unhealthy. I saw my neighbor out jogging at 6 o'clock yesterday. I scolded him.
HARRIS: Oh!
COLLINS: At 6:00 in the evening?
JERAS: Yes, 6:00 in the evening. Can you believe it? Seriously. It is like a sunburn on your lungs. It damages you. You don't want to be outside. You know, even afternoon today it is probably going to be unhealthy for sensitive groups and unhealthy for everybody in Atlanta between, say, 3 and 8 o'clock.
Look at all of the red on the map, guys. This is covering a lot of cities. This covers probably a good chunk, a third plus of the U.S. And we're putting a distance around this from west to east; 1,200 miles from north to south. Look at that, over 750 miles. That's a lot of real estate that this heat wave is covering, thanks to Sean Morris, our weather producer this morning. For an unscientific estimate of the distance.
All the temperatures still well into the 80s at this hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Ouch. All right, Jacqui, thanks so much. I'm going swimming.
HARRIS: Enjoy.
COLLINS: No, I'm really now.
HARRIS: I didn't think so.
COLLINS: Look at this. A tough job for a Maryland woman. Challenging the system and trying to prove the obvious. She is alive. Here now Doug Buchanan of WUSA.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHYLLIS ORR, MISTAKENLY LISTED AS DECEASED: Well, it made me very nervous being dead. That's almost funny.
DOUG BUCHANAN, WUSA TV (voice over): Contrary to what was common belief, Phyllis is very much alive.
BUCHANAN (On camera): This is my first interview with the deceased.
(LAUGHTER)
ORR: Yeah? That's my first time with being deceased.
BUCHANAN: 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 would go to the mailbox. I think, oh, here we go. Here comes another one, somebody saying oh, we canceled this for you, because you are no longer alive.
BUCHANAN: It is still not clear where or how the news of her untimely death first surfaced. Although a computer, somewhere, is suspected. The aftermath quickly led to the end of Social Security and Medicaid benefits and canceled credit cards.
ORR: They address it to me. Then they tell me that they are sorry that I'm dead. Go figure that one.
BUCHANAN: All the paperwork she has collected indicates that Miss Orr passed away April 9th. But she actually didn't find out until a full three months later when the pharmacist here called her at home and informed her that she was dead.
ORR: She said, "Miss Orr, I really hate to tell you this, but you are listed as dead. I said "I'm what?"
BUCHANAN: Alive and kicking from Annapolis, Doug Buchanan, Nine News Now. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Still ahead, in the NEWSROOM, a Florida state representative accused of offering money for sex. He says he's innocent. Just wait until you hear his explanation. Hard to believe, he actually believes it.
COLLINS: Also, underground and out of reach. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming up on the dangers and injuries those people trapped inside could be facing right now.
MARCIANO: I'm Rob Marciano in St. Louis, Missouri, where the heat is on. And it could last for quite some type. A live report coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Take a look at this. A holdup in a convenience store. OK? Did you see the little girl jumping over the counter? She goes after the bad guy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, "Hey, come back here!" I was thinking I'm going catch him. I'm going get that little feller.
HARRIS: OK. Standing up to a robber and sticking up for her mom, the cashier. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Six trapped miners. No word on how many may be alive or what shape they may be in. We are joined by CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Sanjay, we have been here before, different scenario, with Quecreek and Sago mine. Let's talk for a moment with this incident. What type of injuries could these miners be facing?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There is a lot we don't know about this. As of right now, one of the biggest concerns are what were the primary injuries at the time of this cave- in, or whatever happened, that caused this in the first place.
Were there specific injuries the people sustained as a result of the falling debris? The reason that is so important is because it changes the dynamics of everything else. In terms of whatever resources are necessary and how much resources.
Heidi, you're quite right, we have certainly learned from past experiences. Is there a concern, for example, about volatile gases accumulating here and possibly causing an explosion? Less likely, we are hearing. That's a bit of good news because there appears to be some sources of air actually getting into these particular areas of the mine.
Also, we talked about carbon monoxide last time, with Randal McCloy.
COLLINS: Very much.
GUPTA: Also, less likely, again, because having some natural sources of air in there, make it less likely for the methane or carbon monoxide to build up. So, some good news and some bad news, the real question is oxygen and water. How much of it do they have? How much of it do they need?
COLLINS: We heard in a little bit in some of these very early press conferences, maybe they were phone calls, because we are going to have a press conference coming up in about 15 minutes, to get the first idea of what's going on down there. We have heard that it felt like there would be enough access to food and water.
GUPTA: Yeah, and oxygen and the air, which is probably the biggest weight (ph) limiting steps I've heard yet. Maybe they had some supplemental and maybe they have sources just coming in naturally, as well. Hard to say. Those are -- water and air are the biggest weight (ph) limiting steps. Supposedly they had stores of it around the mine that maybe they could access.
COLLINS: Right, but there's no way to know.
GUPTA: There's no communication. And there's no knowledge about these primary injuries, again. If someone has actually been injured, do they require more of the water, more air to actually just sustain life at that point?
COLLINS: So quickly. Let's say they have air, they have water, they have some type of food. How long are we talking about? There's the cardinal rule we talk about in survival skills.
GUPTA: Oxygen, then water, and then food, in terms of what you need. If you have all thee of those you could last for days. You can go on and on for quite some time. Especially with the food there as well. Remember, you know, when you talk about the other mine disasters, Randal McCloy, I think it was around 41 hours. That was with very limited resources. You can really extend that out much longer if they have some of the basic necessities.
COLLINS: We are certainly praying that that's the case. We will learn more at 9:30, again, today, on what that situation is. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, nice to see you back.
GUPTA: Thanks, good to be back.
COLLINS: Thanks so much.
COLLINS: Here now is a quick look at this mine safety record. Government inspectors issued 325 citations in three years. That is according to analysis from the Associated Press.
One former mine official is quoted as saying 325 violations is not unusual; 116 of the citations are labeled significant and substantial. Meaning they are likely to cause some type of injury. This year inspectors issued 32 citations against the mine. Last month, a citation that could be critical. Inspectors said the mine failed to designate at least two separate passageways for emergency escapes. I'm sure they'll be looking at that today.
Again, stay in the newsroom. We will have live coverage this hour when a mine official is going to be updating the rescue efforts. That briefing now scheduled for 9:30 Eastern. About 10 minutes away. You will see it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Sweating it out in the summer heat and then some. Triple-digit temperatures spreading misery from Midwest into the South and up the East Coast. Heat oppressive and dangerous. CNN's Rob Marciano is in St. Louis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Extreme heat and suffocating dusts. The job doesn't stop for construction workers in St. Louis when temperatures climb to 100 degrees. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just can't go, out here. Drink plenty of water. Lunch time, we have a roach coach that comes around. They usually sell fruit on his truck. Might get a tray of fruit, watermelon, cantaloupe. It helps me stay hydrated.
MARCIANO: Here they say if, "You don't feel great, rehydrate." Words to live by while building a hotel casino in a scorching heat wave.
And it is not going away. All this week, dangerous heat is building across the Midwest. Forecast highs in St. Louis will reach triple digits.
(on camera): Which jobs on the site are the worst when it comes to dealing with heat?
BOB HEER, CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGER: It's really gonna be on the exterior of the building, when you are do the exterior elevation work. That's where you get the heat reflecting off the building.
MARCIANO: Aside from the Mississippi River, St. Louis is a land locked city with lots of brick buildings, and like an oven, this city bakes.
Matt Gray's been driving a UPS truck for 26 years. And on a typical day he lifts and delivers over 500 packages.
MATT GRAY, UPS DRIVER: It's a free work out.
MARCIANO: Besides the workout, what can Brown do for you? Apparently not air conditioning.
GRAY: No, there's no air conditioning.
MARCIANO: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
GRAY: You got the doors open.
MARCIANO (voice over): Driving with the doors open is just one more way to try to stay cool.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Before we get to Rob Marciano, just want to bring you just an update on the situation we have been following in Utah. We had been telling you this morning that there's a news conference scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. We have just learned that that news conference has been pushed back by an hour. It is now scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. When we expect to learn more information about the rescue effort underway right now to save those six trapped miners.
Right now let's get to CNN Rob Marciano.
Rob is braving all of this heat in St. Louis. Rob, how are you, first of all? And beyond that, how hot is it usually at this time of year.
MARCIANO: I'm doing fine. Although I was working up a good lather at this construction project yesterday. I was carrying a microphone. Average high temperatures this time of year in St. Louis, are 90 degrees. Yesterday we hit 99. Today will be 100, or better. That does not include the humidity. We may or may not break records.
I think the most alarming factor about this particular heat wave in that it is not just going to last for two, three days, it started a couple of days ago. There are excessive heat warnings posted for the St. Louis area, right on through the rest of the week. This is a day after day after day thing. It is going to grind down a lot of people, including the elderly. They are the most us is susceptible to heat related illnesses, Tony.
HARRIS: Rob, we are looking at this. It is not just Missouri we are talking about with this oppressive heat. It is in much of the East as well?
MARCIANO: You are absolutely right about that. It started here and builds here. It is all sliding over to the East. There are a number of big-time cities that are going to be affected by this heat. Everywhere from New York to Philly, D.C., heat advisory, heat watch, or an excessive heat warning. A lot of those cities you have bad air quality, smog.
The sun goes to work on all that pollution, you get ozone at the surface. That's unhealthy, not because it is so hot, and you get heat- related illnesses, but because that air is unhealthy to breathe. So this is the time of year where heat waves happen. And we are just in the beginning of one now here in St. Louis.
HARRIS: Love the arch over your right shoulder. It is great. Rob, good to see you.
MARCIANO: Isn't it gorgeous? I don't want to touch it though.
HARRIS: IT is great. All right, Rob.
COLLINS: Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, beer, wine, or the hard stuff. New study takes a look at what binge drinkers prefer. You may be surprised by what they found out.
HARRIS: Treacherous terrain: We will hear from someone helping in the mine rescue effort in Utah. An update straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Updating our top story. A race against time to reach six miners some 1,500 feet below ground. Rocky Mountain Power runs a mine near Crandall Canyon. It has a team helping with the rescues. Spokesman David Eskelsen is on the phone with us from Salt Lake City.
David, good to talk to you and thanks for your time this morning.
DAVID ESKELSEN, ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWER: Good morning. HARRIS: David, give us a sense of what the rescue teams have been up against starting yesterday in the attempts to get at this from some entrances that have been sealed off since 2004. And what they are up against in terms of the terrain they are trying get through to get down to the level they believe the men are.
ESKELSEN: We had a crew participate in the attempted entry yesterday after they broke through the seals that were placed on the previously mined area. They were only able to get in about 600 feet before they encountered fallen conditions and instability and it just was not safe to continue. So, they had to come back out.
HARRIS: Give us a sense of -- we know it is a rocky -- it is rocky terrain and we know it is a mountain. Give us a sense of how difficult it is going to be to move forward with this rescue effort.
ESKELSEN: Any time you go in an area that is unstable in a mine, you have to proceed extremely carefully. Particularly because if you have had a fall, it may take a while for the area to stabilize. The rescue teams are going to have to be very careful and very deliberate and because the last thing you want to do is create more victims.
HARRIS: What are you hearing from people you are talking to about this, as to what might have happened here? I don't want you to get too far out on a speculative limb. What are you hearing from that you talked to? Was it a seismic event, an earthquake that may have triggered the collapse or was it the collapse that might have triggered the kind of seismic reaction we have seen?
ESKELSEN: I'm sorry. Our folks haven't made any judgments or determination on that. They are mostly concerned with helping the mine owner, assisting him with personnel trained in rescue techniques, and whatever equipment we might be able to provide. We are just at their disposal of whatever they need.
HARRIS: What kinds of techniques are we talking about? In a situation you described here where you are talking about a mine area that's still very much unable. What kinds of technique could we possibly be talking about that may be useful right now?
ESKELSEN: The first attempt, of course, is to find a way. and quickly, that you can get a rescue team in. They have training in navigating these areas. And first aid and monitoring the safety conditions in the mine, both the atmosphere and the physical conditions. And they practice these techniques all the time. And that's the first effort that is in these cases. If that's not successful, then you have to excavate your way in.
HARRIS: David, any concern that any more drilling might trigger additional collapses?
ESKELSEN: That really is the purview of the mine engineer, I can't speak to that.
HARRIS: David, I appreciate your time. Thanks for giving us the information you have and your perspective on what will be -- by your own assessment -- slow going over the days to come.
David, thank you.
Again, this morning's briefing on the rescue efforts has been pushed back by an hour. It is now scheduled for 10:30 Eastern Time and you can see it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
ANNOUNCER: Live, in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.
HARRIS: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. Good morning. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi, everybody, I'm Heidi Collins.
Another story we are watching very closely this morning, a big reward offered in Newark, New Jersey. Police certainly hope that it will spark leads. Three college friends killed execution style this weekend. A fourth was shot but did survive. 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: Still ahead, combing through chunks of concrete. How difficult a job is this? Investigators trying to find out why a bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River.
COLLINS: How hot can it get? Dangerous heat wave baking parts of the Midwest, the South, and the East Coast. We are going to check the thermometer coming up.
(BELL CLANGING)
HARRIS: Let's hear the bell. Let's get the business day started. Man, how about yesterday? How about that manic Monday. The stocks started out flat, up, flattened again, then took off, seeming with the assist of some rocket fuel.
The Dow begins the day at 13,468 after closing up 286 points, the best single day performance in five days. We are watching the great reality television that is the New York Stock Exchange today, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEIDI COLLINS, CO-HOST: Temperatures so hot it is just plain dangerous to be outside. Much of the central and eastern U.S. now in the grips of this brutal heat wave. If you look at it, you can see it, probably feel it, too.
St. Louis, Atlanta, Washington, New York, some of the major cities in the danger zone. And it could be days before there is any relief.
HARRIS: Are you kidding me?
COLLINS: It is so oppressive. Painful. And it's days? Like, are we talking through the weekend? A couple days?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Depends where you are.
COLLINS: Hi, Jacqui.
JERAS: Hey. Complainers.
COLLINS: I know. I hate the heat. I make no bones about it.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Boston, Boston. I'll go to Boston.
JERAS: Eight-two, you've got to love that. That's nice for August, hey?
HARRIS: Yes. That's not tough to take at all.
JERAS: Somebody likes it.
COLLINS: Jacqui, thank you, I think.
You know, it has been nearly a week, but the search for a reason still underway in Minneapolis. Investigators pouring over the wreckage of the 35W bridge today.
Here now, CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's like an autopsy, investigators examining every portion of the I-35W bridge, looking for what triggered its collapse. But a conclusive answer could take a year and a half.
MARK ROSENKER, NTSB CHAIRMAN: During our time on scene we have taken a look at a lot of -- a lot of debris. And, unfortunately, we have not come up with an answer. We're not going to come up with an answer overnight.
LAVANDERA: Crews are about to start hauling away large chunks of debris. The NTSB says it will reassemble portions of the bridge in a field downriver, a technique often used in plane crash investigations.
DICK STEHLY, CIVIL ENGINEERING: The troubling part here is you don't know why it collapsed. And the systems that are supposed to protect us didn't work.
LAVANDERA: Civil engineer Dick Stehly has spent recent days pouring over the bridge's inspection records.
There are reports some construction workers felt the bridge wobble, and federal investigators say the south edge of the bridge shifted 80 feet to the east when it fell. Stehly says unbalanced weight on a bridge that was already showing signs of cracking and wearing down could help explain the collapse.
STEHLY: The investigators are probably worried about how the loads would be distributed in this truss that spans the river. You know, this bridge wasn't fully loaded. It's eight lanes. Four of them were closed because they were doing construction. So they are only using four for traffic. Now, the other four were being repaired.
LAVANDERA: Teams of navy and FBI divers joined the search for missing victims. They brought a small unmanned submarine to navigate the wreckage.
SHERIFF RICH STANEK, HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA: We believe that a good possibility that there are additional vehicles under the tons and tons and tons of debris and rebar that's now standing across the river.
LAVANDERA: Divers can't reach these spots until heavy machinery moves the massive pieces of interstate. Until then, families of the missing can only sit and wait.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Minneapolis
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Now to Utah. Six men trapped underground. Hundreds of workers scrambling to reach them. Tons of rock and plenty of problems stand in the way.
CNN's Katharine Barrett is live just outside Huntington, Utah, with the very latest.
And Katharine, I've got to tell you, I guess we're getting a better sense now of how difficult and slow going this is going to be. We're learning just how unstable that area remains today.
KATHARINE BARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Tony. And now, more than 24 hours after the initial collapse, there has still been no contact, no word, no sign, no signal of the condition or fate of these miners deep underground.
Dawn is just breaking here after a long night of worry and desperate work, digging both above and below Crandall Canyon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARRETT (voice-over): Working in shifts, more than 200 people work feverishly to rescue six men trapped in a Utah coal mine. Rescue workers got within 1,700 feet of the miners' last known position, but fallen debris forced crews to turn back.
ROBERT MURRAY, PRESIDENT/CEO, MURRAY ENERGY: We don't know how long, obviously, it's going to take. We could get through the rubble in a matter of several hundred feet. The rubble may stand all the way up to where the men are. We have no way of knowing. BARRETT: Rescue teams are now bringing in machines to dig through the fallen debris. A drill rig was also flown in to try and bore into a chamber where the men are believed to be.
Mining company officials say that could take three days. But they vow they will not stop until they've exhausted every option.
MURRAY: We will be here on our feet until we get these men out, one way or the other.
BARRETT: That's what relatives of the trapped miners are hoping for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
BARRETT: Gathered nearby and away from the media spotlight, families of the miners are praying for good news.
MAYOR HILARY GORDON, HUNTINGTON, UTAH: The families all seem to be upbeat and very hopeful. The people of these communities pull together at times of hardship and when there's troubles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARRETT: But obviously, the longer this goes on, the harder it becomes to hold onto that hope. One former mining safety administrator told CNN earlier today time is the enemy here.
In about 45 minutes, we expect an update from mining officials on what progress, if any, was made overnight and what they plan to do as the day goes forward.
Tony, that's the latest from here.
HARRIS: Hey, Katharine, is that potentially -- I know I'm reaching here. But is that potentially a good sign, the fact that the news conference has been delayed by an hour?
BARRETT: Well, hard to tell whether it's a good sign or a bad sign or simply a logistical glitch that...
HARRIS: Yes.
BARRETT: ... they couldn't get everybody up here in time.
HARRIS: Let's wait and see.
BARRETT: It's really hard to tell. We'll just have to wait and see what they have to say.
HARRIS: All right. Just trying my best to be optimistic and keep our fingers crossed here, collectively. Katharine Barrett for us. Katharine, appreciate it. Thank you.
BARRETT: It's all we can do. COLLINS: Family politics. A possible P.R. problem for Rudy Giuliani. His daughter expresses her support for another presidential candidate.
HARRIS: How about this? A little girl chases a stick-up man. She was standing up for her mom, the cashier. Was she scared? You bet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I started crying, and I had my polka-dot blankey with me. That's my security blanket.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Aw. Are you kidding?
HARRIS: Wow. How good is this? More of Alicia's story coming up. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A Florida lawmaker in trouble today with the law, his accounts of events raising questions and outrage.
CNN's Carol Costello has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): State representative Bob Allen, the lawmaker voted representative of the year by a Florida police association, is now accused of offering $20 to perform a sex act on an undercover cop in a parked bathroom.
He's now telling Florida detectives it's all a huge misunderstanding.
BOB ALLEN, STATE REPRESENTATIVE, FLORIDA: This is something, this is my life on the line.
COSTELLO: What you're hearing is Allen's taped police interrogation. He tells the officers he'd walked into that park bathroom, not for sex but because he was afraid of the undercover cop, who was black.
ALLEN: There's a pretty stocky black guy, there is a lot of other black guys in the park, you know.
COSTELLO: Later, Allen adds...
ALLEN: I'm about to be a statistic here.
COSTELLO: Allen says he was so intimidated he would have said anything, including offering to pay sex with a stranger. A defense not exactly winning praise from civil rights attorney Richard Ugelow. RICHARD UGELOW, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: It's laughable. In this day and age, for somebody to suggest that they committed a crime because they saw a black person is just unbelievable and unimaginable. It's entirely racist, quite honestly.
COSTELLO: And police aren't buying Allen's defense, either, charging Allen was cruising for sex in Space View Park. According to their report, it was Allen who approached the undercover officer while he was inside of a bathroom stall and said, "This is kind of a public place, isn't it?"
Then, police say, Allen proceeded to engage the officer "in a conversation in which it was agreed he would pay me $20 in order to perform a sex act."
(on camera) A final note on this is Allen was being loaded into the police car after his arrest. According to the police report, he said, "I don't suppose it would help if I said I was a state legislator, would it?" It didn't.
Carol Costello, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: I could do ten minutes on that story.
COLLINS: I know. Don't do it. Don't do it.
HARRIS: Don't do it. All right. To politics now.
Senator Hillary Clinton pulling ahead. That from a new poll from "USA Today" and Gallup. Here are the numbers. Forty-eight percent of Democrats and Democratic leaning independents back Clinton. That is up 8 percent over last month. Senator Obama was second with 26 percent. Former senator John Edwards had 12 percent.
In a head-to-head race, Clinton was preferred over Obama, 59 percent to 36 percent.
On the Republican side now, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is out front with 33 percent. Former Tennessee senator, Fred Thompson, has 21 percent, even though he is not officially a candidate yet. Senator John McCain is at 16 percent. And former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, was fourth with 8 percent.
COLLINS: Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani stumping for votes in Iowa, but as CNN's Mary Snow reports, he may want to start closer to home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The message from the daughter of Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani to her father: "I'm supporting a Democratic rival."
The online magazine "Slate" reports 17-year-old Caroline Giuliani listed her support for Democrat Barack Obama on her FaceBook page. "Slate" says she withdrew her profile when they questioned her about it.
RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My daughter, I love very much. I have great respect for her. And I'm really proud of her. And I don't comment on children, because I want to give them the maximum degree of privacy.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I don't think that this overall will have a terrible effect on his campaign.
SNOW: When we asked about the FaceBook message, a spokeswoman for Caroline Giuliani said, "It was not intended as an indication of support in a presidential campaign and she has removed it. Caroline is not commenting on the 2008 election."
But Caroline's 21-year-old brother, Andrew, has commented. In March he told "The New York Times" his schedule as a professional golfer would prevent him from working on his father's campaign. He added he had problems with Giuliani's third wife, Judith Nathan.
Giuliani married Nathan after a messy divorce from Donna Hanover, the mother of his two children. Journalist and Giuliani critic Wayne Barrett says these personal relationships are a part of the presidential race.
WAYNE BARRETT, SENIOR EDITOR, "VILLAGE VOICE": I think a person's private life in any walk of life is some indication of how they will handle complex and difficult issues. Many complex and difficult issues do involve relationships.
SNOW: This spring, when questions were raised about Giuliani's relationship with his children, he said many blended families face challenges, and they were best worked out in private.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And this reminder now to send in your questions for the Republican candidates to CNN.com/YouTubeDebates. Remember, the YouTube debates with CNN, that event is coming your way this fall.
HARRIS: And still ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM this morning, a hold up at a convenience store. Take a look at little Alicia. She jumps the counter and goes after the bad guy carrying the very big gun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, "Hey, come back here!" I was thinking I'm going to catch him. I'm going to get that little feller.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Wow. Standing up to a robber and sticking up for her mom, the cashier. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Heidi, are you OK over there?
COLLINS: I'm good.
HARRIS: You're good? Get what you need?
COLLINS: Lots of food.
HARRIS: Lots. Oh, yes.
Hey, look, we're podcasting a little later today. You can see the teamwork working on it right now. You know, there are a lot of stories that we just don't have time for a three-hour NEWSROOM show, from 9 until noon. Hard to imagine but because of breaking news and show flow, we don't have time.
COLLINS: Press conferences.
HARRIS: Press conferences, oftentimes. There are a lot of the stories that come into the CNN NEWSROOM. That's where the podcast comes in so handy for us.
So what you do is you go to CNN.com. You download the CNN daily NEWSROOM podcast. It is available to you 24/7. Just download it today. No excuses. Right onto your iPod. There you go.
COLLINS: That was the longest promo yet.
HARRIS: We're getting longer.
COLLINS: All right. So here's an incredible story for you. A little girl, a big chase, taking on the robber who took aim at her mom. The story now from Justin Quesinberry with affiliate station WFMY.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUSTIN QUESINBERRY, WFMY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Regular customers drop in from time to time in this convenience store near Highway 29. But a familiar face turned an ordinary night into one Alicia won't forget any time soon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I was standing with Mommy. And this guy came in here. And he started pushing buttons on Mommy's cash register.
QUESINBERRY: Her mom is a cashier. She says she's seen the man before, but this time his shirt was covering his face. She says she thought he was joking around but realized he was serious when he came around the counter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got up and under, and I was pushing on him, telling him to back away. Like back away, man. Like that. I didn't want him to hurt Mommy. QUESINBERRY: After he got the money, he came back around to the front of the counter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He got some -- three packs of Newports. And he ran out the door, and I run behind him. And Mommy was calling the police.
QUESINBERRY: Alicia is just 7 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, "Hey, come back here!"
QUESINBERRY: But she must have felt seven feet tall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was thinking, "I'm going to catch him. I'm going to get that little feller."
QUESINBERRY: She chased the robber out of the store.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was trying to catch him to make him slow down. But I couldn't catch him. And then he pointed the gun at me. And I fell down on the ground, because I thought it would go above my head.
QUESINBERRY: At that moment...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was doing like this.
QUESINBERRY: ... she was finally scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I started crying. And I had my polka-dot blankey with me. That's my security blanket.
QUESINBERRY: He got away. Now her sadness turns to anger.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He should be locked up by his gills and towed to the police.
QUESINBERRY: She hopes far away from her, her mom and this store.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want him to come back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Oh, boy.
COLLINS: Unbelievable. And just as a reminder here -- I'm not sure we need to tell you this, but it's important, even though Alicia was brave little girl, police say she should not have chased a man with a gun. They say if you are ever in a similar situation, just comply.
HARRIS: In Utah, mining families cling to hope and each other. The latest on the rescue efforts.
COLLINS: A quiet community, a chilling crime. Today two suspects in a deadly home invasion go back to court.
JERAS: And the temperature just keeps going up, up, up. Find out when we'll finally peak out and cool on down a little bit. Your forecast is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL CASSIDY, DOG OWNER: It's Barry.
(DOG BARKS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phil Cassidy's beagle named Ollie likes to bark at Barry Bonds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were watching Friday night the San Diego- San Francisco game, and when Bonds was first at bat, we were just sitting there, and I just said, "Hey, Ollie, there's Barry." And he just went nuts.
I've always said that he can sniff out squirrels, raccoons, and now, apparently, he can sniff out the truth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And in Norway, I-Reporter Roy Humertson (ph) took these pictures of an automobile that crashed into a nightclub.
But no one was driving it. The owner forgot to put the parking brake on while he went into the bank. Maybe he took out enough money to pay for the damages. No one was hurt.
And don't forget to send us your images. Just look for the I- Report logo on our web site at CNN.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.
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