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Karl Rove Quits; 3 Killed in Missouri Church Shooting; Utah Mine Rescue Effort; Bridge Victims Remembered

Aired August 13, 2007 - 10:59   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off today.

Developments keep coming into the CNN NEWSROOM on Monday, August 13th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

The president's top political strategist quits. Live remarks from President Bush and Karl Rove this hour.

New developments in a Missouri church shooting. The suspected gunman in court today. A police briefing live, shortly.

NASA engineers making the call today -- fix a gash in the shuttle's belly or fly home as is? Decision time in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Political shocker. President Bush live in just a few minutes talking about the resignation of trusted adviser Karl Rove.

Right to the White House now and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

Suzanne, good morning to you.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Well, Heidi, I've been actually talking with Karl Rove this morning through an e-mail exchange. And we know that, of course, his last day is August 31st. He submitted his letter of resignation on Friday. And I confronted him with the issue, many people asking, of course, what about the timing of all of this?

I asked him point blank, "What do you say to those who say you're being run out of town?" To which Rove responded saying -- and I'm quoting here -- he says, "That sounds like the rooster claiming to have called up the sun."

He is characterizing this as something that clearly he was in charge of, that it was voluntarily. Recently, Chief of Staff Josh Bolten told senior aides that if you're not going to be here after Labor Day, then you should -- then you should decide to go. You should make alternative plans, because if you're here afterwards, you will stay for the remainder of the term, and that this was the time, Karl Rove said, that he expected was a good time to go. He's been discussing this with the president for about a year or so, when would be an appropriate time. Senior administration officials saying in some ways it was somewhat of a struggle for him and his family to come up with that timing of it all.

The White House responding, saying, "Obviously it's a big loss to us. He's a great colleague, a good friend and a brilliant mind. He'll be greatly missed, but we know he wouldn't be going if he wasn't sure this wasn't the right time to be giving more time to his family, his wife Darby and their son. He will continue to be one of the president's greatest friends."

We also heard from Karen Hughes this morning from the State Department, someone that he has known for a very long time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN HUGHES, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE: We'll definitely miss his -- the "Energizer Bunny of the West Wing" I used to call him. Karl is definitely a constant motion and action and a booming voice and presence, and a funny, witty voice and presence. Always upbeat. I never have seen -- I don't recall ever seeing him down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Heidi, there's a lot of questions and some skepticism when you look at the timing of all this, Democrats really want to get him before them to answer some questions about the firing of the U.S. attorneys, among various other investigations. But he can still claim executive privilege even when he leaves the White House.

Just look at former White House counsel Harriet Miers, who essentially left the White House and is doing the same thing. Still will be a moving target, if you will, for -- from the Democrats at least.

His tenure, as you know, has been mixed. He literally has had his hand in just about everything from the Bush White House, bringing the governor of Texas here to the White House, but also at the center of failed policy -- immigration reform, Social Security, as well as being found as one of the leakers in the CIA leak investigation.

Never formally charged. Not found of any legal wrongdoing, but at least at some point there were some White House officials who questioned whether or not he was more of a distraction -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Suzanne, as far as that executive privilege goes, so it is true that he still maintains that privilege regarding a time frame where anything may have happened or that he might be questioned about, where he owned that privilege. So when he walks away, he still has it?

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. I mean, it doesn't just simply go away because he steps out of his position and out of his job.

They still maintain -- I've been speaking with senior administration officials -- the principal here that, as one of his closest, top advisers, the president should be able to get free and unfettered access when it comes to advice from his senior members of his cabinet, of his administration, and that executive privilege applies. Clearly, that is not something that is going to go away. You're going to have that kind of political battle that is going to happen. So, we don't expect the spotlight to diminish in anyway from Karl Rove.

I should let you know as well, they haven't made a decision whether or not they're even going to replace him.

COLLINS: Right.

MALVEAUX: Josh Bolten, chief of staff, might just decide to partition his job and give it to various people, because a lot of people are saying they just don't think that there's somebody who can fill his shoes.

COLLINS: Well, that's flattering, five or six people maybe doing the job of one. Who knows? We'll have to be watching that one.

All right. Suzanne Malveaux, live, outside of the White House for us this morning.

And President Bush and Karl Rove do go back a long way. They first met in 1973, when both men were in their 20s. They were together as a political team since Mr. Bush first ran for governor of Texas in 1994.

Rove was born in 1950 in Denver, Colorado, went to several colleges but never graduated.

This hour, police set to reveal about a deadly church shoot in southwestern Missouri.

CNN's Sean Callebs is joining us now from Neosho, Missouri.

Sean, good morning to you.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

We're waiting for a news conference form local law enforcement officials. It's supposed to happen in about a half an hour or so. But here's what we do know.

One man, the suspected gunman in his 40s, is being held in the Newton County jail. Law enforcement officials tell us that yesterday, just before 2:00 Central Time, he burst into a local church, had three weapons, two small-caliber handguns and one .9-millimeter weapon.

He ordered the children out of the church, and then at one point apparently held a pistol to one of the members of the congregation and said, is anyone prepared to exchange their life for his? When no one came forward, the gunman allegedly fired.

In all, three people were killed, five more injured. At least two of those underwent surgery at local hospitals. And after holding the remaining members of the congregation hostage for about 10 minutes, he then surrendered, without further incident, to the police.

And Heidi, one interesting thing about this community, there's a large Micronesian population. Authorities tell us the gunman was from the Pacific islands, as well as members of the congregation. Each Sunday, a couple of hours in early afternoon set aside at that church for people in the Micronesian community to come there and worship -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Sean. Thanks so much. We know we are watching for that press conference coming up here in just a little bit, as are you in the room right now. We're going to bring that to our viewers just as soon as it happens.

Thank you, Sean.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: New Orleans, a city still struggling two years after Hurricane Katrina. Now a published report of a highly visible city official facing corruption charges.

The "Times-Picayune" says Councilman Oliver Thomas will enter a plea deal today. Sources telling the newspaper Thomas allegedly demanded illegal payments from a firm holding a parking lot contract. Thomas was planning to run for mayor in a couple of years. Now the paper reports he'll resign from his council post.

We are watching for a statement from federal authorities that could come a little bit later today.

A search for a suspect this morning. A man accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl.

Maryland authorities had him in custody then mistakenly released him. Police say John Palmont (ph) was hospitalized after being injured when he tried to escape arrest. On Friday, a corrections officer went to the hospital to release another inmate and Palmont (ph) was mistakenly freed.

An investigation into the incident is now under way.

Hostages freed in Afghanistan. Taliban militants have freed two female South Korean hostages.

The governor of Ghazni province tells CNN they've been handed over to the province's political offices. The two were among 23 volunteer South Korean workers kidnapped in mid-July. The militants have since killed two male hostages.

Nineteen other hostages are still being held. The Taliban had demanded nearly two dozen militant prisoners be released in exchange for the South Koreans' lives.

Republican presidential hopeful Tommy Thompson throws in the towel, apparently done in by this weekend's Iowa Straw Poll. He finished sixth in the GOP trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY THOMPSON (R), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I had my chance and it didn't come out the way I thought it was going to. But that's life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me make sure I'm hearing you correctly. You're out of the race?

THOMPSON: I'm out of the race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Mitt Romney easily won the Iowa Straw Poll. And former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee finished a surprising second. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain did not actively participate.

Scary moments for a woman in Grand Junction, Colorado. Check out what happened in Virginia Northrop's (ph) SUV.

Yikes. Police say she overran a stop sign and plunged into a canal. She was able to free herself from the nearly submerged vehicle and climb to safety.

Now, she's OK, but she is facing charges.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella at the Crandall Canyon Mine, where rescue teams are working against the clock to find six trapped miners.

I'll have the latest, coming up.

COLLINS: Also, more than just a number. An inspiration. The legacy of a Minnesota bridge victim.

Critical decision. NASA considering whether to fix gouges on Endeavor's belly or let her ride.

And "political genius," "Bush's brain," some of the labels put on Karl Rove. The White House strategist heading home to Texas. What does it mean for the president?

We're going to be hearing from them both, live, within just a few minutes, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Crews boring a third hole into a Utah mountain today. They are trying to reach six men trapped in a mine for one week now.

John Zarrella is joining us live from Huntington, Utah, with the very latest.

Hi there, John. ZARRELLA: Heidi, we just got word a few moments ago that efforts to bore that third hole had not begun yet. Federal mine safety officials telling us that it had not begun yet, the work on that third hole.

Now, what the plan was, was that in the overnight hours, they would be able to get the drill rig up to the spot where they were planning to dig that hole, and then to begin in these overnight hours to go down some 1,400 feet underground, into another portion of this cavity where they think these six miners might be holed up. The reason they're going over to this spot is because there are pockets within this cavity and there are escape routes within this cavity, and they think that perhaps the miners may have gone to another area of the mine undetected from where the first two drill holes were. So, that's the reason.

Now, because they are doing this, it is giving Bob Murray, the president of the company, at least some hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MURRAY, CEO & PRESIDENT, MURRAY ENERGY: They're some of the most difficult mining conditions in attempting to get access to these miners, and they're the most difficult conditions that I've ever seen in my 50 years of mining. As you know, I have been underground myself, about every other day, and have viewed the conditions. People are dedicated, every item that they would need has been committed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, these are some of the most difficult conditions that they've ever had to work in, the miners, the 40-odd miners working around the clock in the main tunnel, trying to dig that tunnel out to try to get to those miners. Initial estimates were maybe four to five days, but now they've backed off the estimate on time.

So, really, Heidi, no idea how long it's going to take to physically get rescuers into that cavity to try and find these miners -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's John Zarrella with the latest for us on the situation there in Utah.

Thank you, John.

Airport backlog ends. Today, plenty of questions about a computer crash. Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants an investigation.

More than 20,000 travelers stranded at Los Angeles International Airport this weekend. The trouble started when Customs' computers crashed. Many passengers were stuck on runways and others went into the airport but not the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We sat for three hours on a plane, and then we sat for two more hours in an aisle. And then we sat for another hour in another room, and then we sit in line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came over the microphone and they said that there would be a little bit of a delay. That little bit of a delay turned into four hours. They had two laptops that were running. So everybody had to go -- I think there was about 400 people that had to go through two laptops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: L.A.'s mayor wants homeland security changes that would speed passenger processing.

One of President Bush's most trusted advisers leaving the White House. Karl Rove decides it's the right time to call it quits. Hear from Rove and President Bush just minutes from now, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Meanwhile, another body found in the Mississippi River. The confirmed death toll rises from the Minnesota bridge collapse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A toy recall in the U.S. is being tied to the death of a businessman in China. The head of the company that painted those lead-tainted toys apparently has committed suicide. That's according to a state-run newspaper.

Last month, China executed the former chief of its Food and Drug Administration. That action was in response to a worldwide scandal involving tainted drug and food exports.

A ninth body recovered from the Mississippi River 11 days after that bridge collapse in Minnesota. The medical examiner has identified the remains of 20-year-old Richard Chit (ph). His mother is still missing, along with three other victims. Forty-four vehicles have been removed from the wreckage. Transportation officials say about 100 vehicles were on the bridge when it fell.

A double funeral in Minnesota over the weekend. Mother and daughter killed in the interstate bridge collapse.

CNN's Jeff Flock has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They came to America from their native war-torn Somalia to escape this very scene -- funerals in the wake of inexplicable and senseless tragedy.

IMAN HAMDY EL-SAWAF, MASJID ALL-IKHLAS: Sometimes we think we're away from death. We think we will escape death. But all of a sudden, we find death in front of us. Not to die in Somalia, not to die somewhere else, but to die in the United States of America, in Minnesota, in that tragedy of the collapse of the bridge.

FLOCK: Traveling across the W35 Bridge, Sadia Sahal, her daughter Hannah, strapped into the back seat. Sadia was also five months pregnant.

"We believe in destiny," her father tells me. "We must accept. It's part of a test for everyone." He explains that Sadia's husband is too distraught to watch the burial of his wife and daughter.

(on camera): Is there any part of you, sir, that wishes you did not come to America?

AHMED SAHAL, VICTIM'S FATHER (through translator): I believe part of tradition and belief system that we have, this will happen wherever I would go, it was -- or it were part of my faith and destiny created by god.

FLOCK (voice over): About 100 men gathered for a traditional Muslim funeral. Women kept at a distance, as is custom.

(on camera): Back in Somalia, she wouldn't even have been driving a car.

EL-SAWAF: Never, never, never, but here you see her driving the car by herself, being totally independent.

FLOCK (voice over): The imams who knew her tell us Sadia was also training to be a nurse. She taught at an Islamic center and volunteered to help Muslim women integrate into U.S. culture. The last anyone heard from her was shortly before the bridge gave way.

EL-SAWAF: Around 5:15...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Let's get directly now to the president of the United States and Karl Rove.

Let's listen in.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Karl Rove is moving on down the road. I have been talking to Karl for a while about his desire to spend more time with Darby and Andrea. This is a family that's made enormous sacrifices, not only for our beloved state of Texas, but for a country we both love.

Now, we've been friends for a long time. And we're still going to be friends. I would call Karl Rove a dear friend.

We've known each other as youngsters, interested in serving our state. We worked together so we could be in a position to serve this country.

And so I thank my friend.

I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit. I thank Darby and I thank Karl for making a tremendous sacrifice and wish you all the very best.

KARL ROVE, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: Today I submitted my resignation as deputy chief of staff and senior adviser, effective the end of the month.

Mr. President, I'm grateful for the opportunity you gave me to serve our nation and you. I'm grateful for being able to work with the extraordinary men and women that you've drawn into this administration. And I'm grateful to have been a witness to history. It has been the joy and the honor of a lifetime.

I've seen a man of farsighted courage put America on a war footing and protect us against a brutal enemy in a dangerous conflict that will shape this new century. I've seen a leader respond to an economy weakened by recession, corporate scandal and terrorist attacks by taking decisive action to strengthen the economy and create jobs. I'm seen a reformer who challenged his administration, the Congress and the country to make bold changes to important institutions in great need of repair.

Mr. President, the world's turned many times since our journey began. We've been at this a long time.

It was over 14 years ago that you began your run for governor and over 10 years ago that we started thinking and planning about a possible run for the presidency. And it's been an exhilarating and eventful time.

Through it all, you've remained the same man. Your integrity, character and decency have remained unchanged and inspiring.

Through all those years I've asked a lot of my family, and they've given all I've asked and more. And now it seems the right time to start thinking about the next chapter in our family's life.

It's not been an easy decision. As you know from our discussions, it started last summer. It always seemed there was a better time to leave somewhere out there in the future. But now is the time.

I will miss -- deeply miss my work here, my colleagues and the opportunity to serve you and our nation, Mr. President. But I look forward to continuing our friendship of 34 years, to being your fierce and committed advocate on the outside, and the next journey we might make together.

At month's end, I will join those whom you meet in your travels, the ordinary Americans who tell you they are praying for you. Like them, I will ask for god's continued gifts of strength and wisdom for you and your work, your vital work for our country and the world, and for the Almighty's continued blessing of our great country.

Thank you, again, for this extraordinary opportunity.

(APPLAUSE)

COLLINS: There you have a very emotional Karl Rove announcing that he has resigned as deputy chief of staff and adviser to President Bush. That will happen at the end of this month.

We'll get more information now on Rove's departure.

CNN Chief National Correspondent John King is at the White House for us this morning.

John, he was very emotional.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATL. CORRESPONDENT: It is very emotional, Heidi, because this is a unique relationship. These two men are bound not just by their political bond, they do have a personal friendship, and it goes back more than a decade, more than 15 years now into Texas. They both knew each other even when the former President Bush was in office and Karl Rove was making his way up through Republican politics.

So it is both a political and a policy relationship, but it is also a deep personal friendship, which is what makes it so interesting. Karl Rove, the last of the Texans, if you will, to leave the president's side in White House. Alberto Gonzales has gone on to the Justice Department. Karen Hughes is over at the State Department.

But the small, tight cadre that first came to office with President Bush back in 2001, those Texans that were his inner circle, Karl Rove the last to leave, and many thought he would never leave, that he would stay until the very end. But watch, Heidi, now Karl Rove may be leaving the White House, but his chapter is not yet finished.

COLLINS: Well, that's exactly what I was going to ask you as well. We've been talking here this morning on the show a little bit about where he might go next. We know that he's going to be spending some time with his family. But I wonder what your answer to that question might be. Is he going to show up behind one of the presidential candidates?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATL. CORRESPONDENT: I would not be surprised at all, and I would predict on this day that he will, indeed, have a voice in the '08 presidential election.

I spoke to two very close friends of Karl this morning as this news ws breaking, and they both say, first and foremost, that it's time to leave the White House. He does want to spend more time with his family. He wants to write a book. He wants to think about teaching down the road. He also said, and this is a quote from one of them, he very much wants to help the party steer its course in the '08 presidential election. Does that mean he already has a horse? His friends insist no.

But they do say once the Republican field clarifies itself, that Karl Rove would like to have some sort of a role, probably an informal role, in helping and advising the Republican campaign. He's only a phone call away. He has friends in every one of the major Republican campaigns, not just the presidential campaigns, but the pollsters and the strategists who are doing the House and Senate races.

Karl Rove is a very controversial figure, even in the Republican party now. But he still has a great number of friends, and they now know where to reach him, and they don't have to go through a government extension to get him. That gives him a lot more leeway to advise other campaigns and candidates because he will no longer be on the government payroll.

COLLINS: Right, John, and not only advising candidates and so forth, but he also, as a strategist, had a great deal of success getting people out to the voting booths that haven't really voted before.

KING: And one of the big challenges for the Republicans in '08 will be, can you get the conservative base to come out at a time there is some evidence of a demoralized base? Republicans think that their party has spent too much in Washington, and they blame, in part, Karl Rove and President Bush, be very clear about that. Republicans are demoralized, like many Americans, about the state of the war in Iraq. The White House would say they think things are beginning to take a turn for the better in Iraq.

But Karl Rove you are right, he is an expert in finding voters and then motivating those voters, especially in the very tight battleground states. It's been a controversial strategy in the past. And obviously the Republican Party followed his playbook in '06 and did not do well.

But they will go to Karl Rove for advice. Some in the party say it's time to break from his strategy and move on, go back to run more to the middle, not to the conservative base, which has been Karl Rove's trademark.

But you can be sure, Heidi, he has been involved in two successful presidential elections, one successful midterm election. They did take a bruising in the 2006 midterm elections, but there are many Republicans who will continue to say, maybe in the end, we want to seek other opinions, but we certainly would want Karl at the table. I would predict that he will very much be involved in some of the party's discussions about how to go from the George Bush era to the post-Bush era.

COLLINS: It will be very interesting to watch.

KING: IT sure will.

COLLINS: Senior national correspondent John King. Nice to see you, John. Thank you.

KING: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Some tough words from Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy about Karl Love. Leahy heads the Senate Judiciary Committee. He says this, quote, "There is a cloud over this White House and a gathering storm. A similar cloud envelopes Mr. Rove, even as he leaves the White House.

Leahy says there is evidence Rove played a key role in the mass firings of U.S. attorneys, and he has failed to comply with the committee's subpoena in this case. Leahy also says there's evidence that Rove played a key role in the CIA leak case. He says Rove has acted as if he were above the law.

Good morning to you once again, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris has the day off.

A small-town church service interrupted by gunfire. Today, the suspected shooter goes to court. A news conference under way right now. We are watching it. We'll bring you the live, latest information in the CNN NEWSROOM.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Miles O'Brien.

Also in the NEWSROOM, take a look at what Rick Mastracchio was looking at right now. Those are some of the tools he'll be using in his space walk which just began, while he and Dave Williams are outside today doing some important work. NASA mission managers will be trying to decide whether to repair a big gouge in the Space Shuttle Endeavour. I'll bring you up to date, after a break, on the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Charges expected to filed today in a fatal church shooting in Missouri. Police say a gunman killed two worshipers and an assistant pastor. Five other people wounded. No word on a specific motive, but police say the gunmen is related to some of the victims, and one law enforcement source tells CNN on Saturday, the suspect was accused in an assault on a 14-year-old girl. The church is in the town of Neosho, near Joplin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAVE MCCKRAKEN, NEOSHO POLICE: This is something that normally doesn't happen in Neosho, or Missouri for that matter. And we've worked through the case. We have the person in custody. It's a tragedy that people were killed and injured, but it could have been a lot worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The gunman held between 25 and 50 people hostage before finally surrendering.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Rescue teams drilling a third hole today at a collapsed mine in Utah. Six men trapped underground for a week now. A camera lowered into the mine shows what the crews call survivable space. So far, though, no sign of the men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOB MURRAY PRES. & CEO, MURRAY ENERGY: I've said from the beginning, if the initial earthquake or seismic activity did not kill them with a concussion outright immediately, there are numerous scenarios by which they could still be alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The trapped men are said to be nearly three miles from the mine entrance. It could be several more days before crews reach them.

NASA right now trying to figure out if a repair job is need on the Endeavour. Live pictures for you there. The problem, damaged tiles.

CNN's space correspondent Miles O'Brien joining us now to tell us a little bit more about this. So I guess the big question would be, how deep do these gouges go?

O'BRIEN: In a word, deep, Heidi. We're going to get to that in just a moment. I want to bring you up to date with what's going on in space as we speak. Live pictures coming down from the space station and shuttle, which of course are joined up.

And take a look over in this portion of your screen here. That's the quest airlock, and you see the legs of Rick Mastracchio. That's his spacewalking partner, Dave Williams. They are just beginning a six hour-plus spacewalk. Their primary goal will be to swap out a spinning gyro, a controlled-moment gyro on the space station, which allows the station to be controlled and navigated without rocket propulsion. It failed last fall. They'll put a new one on, bring it up to the complement of four that they need. So we're watching that.

They've done a gyroscope swap in the past. Take a look at some pictures of that, if you will, and you'll see exactly what goes on. These are big -- just like a top. If you've spun a top, you understand how it works, a spinning gyro, which allows the space station to make a rotation, without firing off rocket fuels. It's a renewable resource, because of course the space station is solar powered.

Now let's talk about the damage. We want to go back to Wednesday, and the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour; 58 seconds after launch a piece of foam fell off the external fuel tank, ricocheted around a strut, and then hit the base of the Space Shuttle Endeavour's belly, scraping it and causing a series of dings, four of them in all. One of them pretty serious. We'll take a look -- also, this is from the solid rocket boosters. You see along here how it's highlighted, that piece of foam coming off, ricocheting and causing the damage to this area down in here.

In any case, yesterday the astronauts got busy with a focused inspection on that particular area, using laser beams and a special camera to really get a three-dimensional look at what was going on there. This is all based on what they discovered as the space shuttle approached the International Space Station for a docking and did a belly flip.

But take a look at this. Right there, Heidi, that is a gouge which apparently goes down to the aluminum skin of Endeavour and potentially -- well, certainly has caught their attention. So what can they do? They have three types of repairs in their toolbox. They may order them up to do one, either fill it in, or paint it over or put a plate on it.

But in the meantime NASA Is telling us that they have landed with bigger gouges in the past. So they may decide to do nothing at all. We'll let you know as the day progresses -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Quickly, before I let you go, Miles, I'm wondering, I'm reading a little bit here about the redesign of the external tanks. It's going to start next year, so that they don't have more incidents similar to this.

O'BRIEN: Well, this particular portion of it is slated for a redesign, or as part of the whole redesign effort. The question is, though, they've had a series of foam events in this particular area.

COLLINS: Right.

O'BRIEN: And it may be a bigger problem than they had recognized in the past.

COLLINS: All right, so we'll be watching for that. I know that you will know all about it, if and when it happens. Miles O'Brien, nice to see you. Thanks so much.

I just want to remind everybody, it's always really cool be able to look at these pictures from space, so if you would like to see more, you can go to CNN.com and see more of the live spacewalk happening right now.

Miles, thanks for that.

Meanwhile, sexy seniors putting on the moves. But are they putting on protection?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They want to go to bed with you right away. So you've got to be very careful, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Really? Never too old to learn about HIV and AIDS. We'll tell you about that, after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: In our Daily Dose today, Mammograms versus MRI. Well, which test is best?

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen talked earlier with T.J. Holmes right here in the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This was a study in a British journal called "The Lancet." And when they looked at the breast cancers that they were studying, MRIs picked up tumors in 92 percent of the cases, compared to 56 percent for mammograms. So when you think about it, you think, gosh, 92 versus 56 percent. I want to be in that 92% percent. I want to be getting the imagine that catches more of these tumors.

But there are several important things to remember. First of all, MRIs, while they might catch more of these kinds of tumors, they catch also a lot of things that are OK. In other words, there's a lot of false-positives. So women get worried for nothing. They have biopsies for nothing. More money is spent. So that's one thing to keep in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind is that mammograms are much less expensive than MRIs. MRIs are about $1,500, $1,000 a pop. American Cancer Society says that's ten times more expensive than mammograms. So if all of a sudden, you were going to tell all women to get an MRI instead of a mammogram, there's a huge financial issue there.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: OK. How are they supposed to reconcile this? It's kind of confusing, but are There at least some women that an MRI would be better for than the mammogram? Are there some cases, where, hey, maybe you should get that, and maybe it doesn't work for this lady. I mean, what do you do.

COHEN: Yes, absolutely. There are some women who should be getting mammograms and MRIs every year, and I'll explain. Those are women who are at a high risk for breast cancer, women, for example, who have a close relative who had breast cancer, or who carries a certain genetic mutation. And there are other women in this group as well. They're considered high risk and experts say get an MRI and a mammogram. The reason for that, is that mammograms also will catch some tumors that MRIs will miss. So the advice there is for that group to get both.

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COLLINS: And a reminder to healthy women, once you turn 40 you should get screened for breast cancer once a year.

Also to get your daily dose of health news online, you can log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. That address, CNN.com/health.

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Sexy seniors putting on the moves, but are they putting on protection? Never too old to learn about HIV and AIDS, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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COLLINS: Talking with your teen about unprotected sex? you may want to have a chat with grandma, too. CNN's Allan Chernoff explains.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A slice a day. Very good bread.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Along with a nutritious lunch at a senior center in Flushing, New York are free condoms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I take it all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know. You need it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not with me, baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?

CHERNOFF: Courtesy of city hall, official NYC subway logo condoms.

FRANK GARCIA, SENIOR CITIZEN: I look at on the logo here and it says "NYC." Is it limited to the city limits?

CHERNOFF: A joke to some, but it's more than a laughing matter for women and men who are frisky well past their 50s.

CRESCENZO: And if they ask you to dance, they want to go to bed with you right away.

So you've to be very careful, you know?

CHERNOFF: New York City is spending $1 million for seniors AIDS education this fiscal year, partly because drug cocktails mean those already infected are living longer and because drugs like Viagra increase sexual options for many seniors.

CARYN RESNICK, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT FOR AGING: We are now at a point where 32 percent of those infected with HIV or AIDS are people over the age of 50. And so we wanted to raise awareness among the senior population.

CHERNOFF: The educators are seniors who are HIV positive, like 66-year-old Myron Gold, a regular speaker at retirement centers.

MYRON GOLD, AIDS EDUCATOR: When I presented them with a bowl of condoms, they were grabbing the condoms and saying to me, "Well, it's not for me. It's for my son, or grandson."

But the director told me that they're having unprotected sex -- that people in their 80s, men and women, were having sex.

CHERNOFF: Gold and Brenda Lee Curry, who has had AIDS for eight years, say their message needs to be reinforced by physicians.

(on camera): When a senior goes to see their doctor, this is not really something that comes up.

BRENDA LEE CURRY, HIV/AIDS EDUCATOR: No. He's too embarrassed to ask her.

This is like asking your mother or your Aunt Sarah, ma, are you having sex?

No. He's not going to ask an older woman that, when he should.

CHERNOFF: The Centers for Disease Control says seniors aged over 65 accounted for just 2 percent of HIV diagnoses in 2005, the latest year on record. But researchers say as people with HIV/AIDS, sexually active seniors face a growing risk of infection.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

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