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Hot Air Balloon catches Fire; Southern Greece Inferno in; Chicago Floods; Michigan Cleanup; Arizona Police Seize Rapper's Pit Bulls; NFL Star Admits Dogfighting Ring; Minnesota Bridge Collapse 911 Audiotapes; Astronaut Faces Romantic Rival
Aired August 25, 2007 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All right, straight ahead, this hour, a hot air balloon ride turns into a disaster, midair. We'll show you the dramatic video.
From fire to floods, much of Illinois still under water this morning. We're live from one waterlogged neighborhood. And have you caught fireball fever just yet? Well, how about a multimillion dollar jackpot up for grabs tonight? Would you know what to do with all of that sudden money?
Hello everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Up first, a dramatic and terrifying scene in western Canada. The basket of a hot air balloon caught fire just after liftoff and crashed at an RV park and campground. As many as 11 people were injured; two others are still unaccounted for.
Authorities say the injured are being treated for burns and broken bones. For witnesses, a horrifying scene, earlier in the newsroom, one of those witnesses told us what he saw and heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my mind, I was thinking somebody is dying, right now, right this minute, right near me which is, you know, a rather scary thought. So, you have feelings of excitement, of seeing something you've never seen before, but you have also morbid feelings that there is death going on right now and you don't know to what magnitude that death is occurring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Another witness says the balloon's basket was like a fireball dropping to the ground like a stone.
A deadly inferno in southern Greece, now. Right now, the country is under a state of emergency as firefighters battle huge forest fires there on a dozen different fronts. Those fires blamed for dozens of deaths, the latest from reporter Anthee Carassavas in the Greek capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANTHEE CARASSAVAS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Greeks are calling it a national tragedy. More than 150 forest fires racing through thousands of acres and pine and olive trees in southern Greece, destroying scores of hamlets, killing dozens of people and including a pair of French tourists.
Trapped in the highlands of the western Peloponnese, scores of people, mainly elderly and disabled, have been phoning in to local radio and television stations crying for help. Emergency services say they are overstretched. But on Saturday, rescue crews moved to evacuate nine villages around the worst-hit region near the town of Zaharo where at least 10 people were burned to death while trying to flee ferocious flames that surrounded them, among the victims, three firefighters and a mother of four children.
"My house in Zaharo," says this man, "was burnt to the ground. I lost everything. Three houses next to me were also destroyed. This is a big disaster."
Further south, near the seaside village of Areopolis, rescue teams trying to assess the damage, found the charred bodies of the French pair of tourists who were caught in an inferno during an afternoon hike. Their bodies, said officials, were found clutched together.
Scores of hotels andvilleables in that area have also been evacuated as dozens of people were seen speeding to local hospitals for treatment of severe burns and respiratory problems.
Counting more than 3,000 brush fires this year alone, Greece is grappling with the worst season of fires in decades. Urgent help has been requested from the European Union and Athens' beleaguered government has pledged more than one million Euros in aid for the flame hit regions of the Peloponnese. Even so, public outrage has mounted over the government's handling of the deadly spade of forest fires and pundits now question whether the prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, will proceed with elections next month after suspending campaigning this weekend.
Anthee Carassavas for CNN, Athens.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And now an update on those explosions in India. Authorities in India are on the scene of two blasts in the southern city of Hyderabad. "Reuters" now reporting at least 20 people are dead. CNN has confirmed at least nine deaths. The explosions happened just minutes apart, on of them at Lumbini Park, a popular spot for families. Still no word on what caused the explosion explosions. Hyderabad and New Delhi remain on high alert, now.
Severe weather causing a lot of headaches for millions of Americans this weekend, as well. Right now, floodwaters and power outages are a major concern around Chicago. Tens of thousands of people there are in the dark. And there's a threat of even more flooding. In Michigan, cleanup is underway after some ferocious winds in the town of Fenton. A tornado flattened several homes and barns and experts are also trying to verify if tornadoes actually touched down in several other counties in that state.
Antioch, Illinois, one of the areas slammed by this week's violent storms. CNN's Jim Acosta is following the flooding situation in that city, just northwest of Chicago.
And it looks like you've got some pretty good currents behind you, as well.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Fredricka. I mean, this just tells the story right here. We're standing on the sidewalk right outside of this pub in Antioch, Illinois. And if just look down behind us here, the current of the Fox River is just right behind our heels, right on our heels, here. So, we have to be very careful where we stand. No wading in the water, here or I'll be down river in about 20 seconds.
But, the sun is out right now and that is good news for people in this waterlogged area because they have just been drenched with rain recently, so badly that we're seeing flood levels that haven't been seen in this area in 20, 30, some people are saying 50 years. But, it seems like there is reason for optimism, reason for hope. And I'm joined now by the Emergency Management officials for the village of Antioch, Lee Shannon.
And Lee, tell us exactly why folks should start seeing these waters receding.
LEE SHANNON, III, ANTIOCH, IL EMERGENCY MGMT DIR: We received word this morning that approximately 3:00 a.m., the Fox River has crested. Already by our unofficial markings, we have seen a three- inch drop in the Fox River itself.
ACOSTA: But, you are saying to us earlier before we started the interview that down river, the Chain of Lakes, they may still see some water rising where they are. So, we're not quite out of the woods yet.
SHANNON: That is correct. Overnight, the Chain area, the makeup of the Chain of Lakes, rose over a foot, it's expected to rise several more inches yet before it crests about noon tomorrow. After that, we should start seeing regression in the water and that area, as well.
ACOSTA: All right, very good. And that's good news for the people here. But, to hold back these waters, it's been all hands on deck and that includes some of the local teenagers in the community, including the local community football team. This is Antioch Vikings football team. And yes, they have the pads to prove it. There are the pads there. Those aren't pants, folks. Those are football pads. It's that time of the year again. And this is -- we were just talking to Lee Shannon, III. This is Lee Shannon, IV.
And Lee, tell us, what's it been like filling sandbags? LEE SHANNON, IV, ANTIOCH VIKINGS FOOTBALL PLAYER: Tough. Each time we had to do it, it got heavier and heavier. Just had to bring it down the road and just set if off, trying to keep people's houses from getting flooded.
ACOSTA: And, I guess from a football perspective, does that count as one of your two-a-days? Does that help at all in terms of a -- do you get out of a practice if you fill some sandbags? How does that work?
SHANNON, VI: It doesn't, we just keep working at it. We -- we fill sand, you still have to do practice.
ACOSTA: All right, well, there you have it. It doesn't get any easier for the Antioch Vikings. They still have to go to football practice after they've filled sandbags.
But, as his father was mentioning, things are improving out here. And we're hope if the weather holds up over the next 24 to 48 hours things will start improving dramatically in these parts of northern Illinois.
WHITFIELD: All right, well that would be nice. In fact, let's check in with Bonnie Schneider, right now, to find out whether things will hold up for the folks there. They don't need to be waterlogged any further.
Give us some good news, Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Of course. You know I can. Actually we are seeing some improvements. A lot of the flood warnings, if you've been watching us throughout the morning, you see the little boxes have been checking off and some of these advisories are actually going to expire within the next hour and 15 minutes. That's some good news, but it is going to take a while. It takes a while for rivers to recede, as you were seeing earlier from that report from Jim and part of the reason is that when you have the rain coming down, even after the rain stops the river takes a while to settle.
For example, this is Des Plains River in Des Plains, Illinois, and you can see yesterday morning, we were concerned because it was well over 3-1/2 feet above flood stage, above five feet, which is flood stage. The actual crest was at 8.62 feet on Friday morning. Then it kind of leveled off over the past 24 hours. And this morning we had a reading of 8.57.
But notice the forecast. It's likely to recede pretty rapidly between this morning and tomorrow morning and then dramatically as we go towards Monday and Tuesday. So, we will see the rivers actually start to improve in terms of not as much of a threat of flooding.
Right now, we've had some rain pass through Chicago over the past few days. In this entire region we've had reports of between four and 10 inches of rain in parts of northern Ohio. Today we're watching for heavy rain back out to the south and west, moving across Oklahoma into Arkansas. You'll see some heavy downpours into Missouri, as well.
And finally, we're also tracking extreme heat here in the weather center. Look at this, New York City down from New Jersey, Washington, D.C. definitely facing the heat. In fact, some of the DMV offices actually put out an advisory they're closing early in Washington, D.C. So, if you are going to get your driver's license or anything, call ahead because of the heat.
Now, looking ahead here's what we're looking at for areas into Philadelphia. It is going to feel like it's 105 degrees today. Fredricka, we talked a lot about that, here in Atlanta, we're used to it, but in Philadelphia, and even up in Boston they have heat advisories and that's where it's been a little bit cooler. So, you're going to feel the heat like it's in the southeast, today.
WHITFIELD: That's right, so people need reminders. This means drinking a lot of fluids.
SCHNEIDER: Yeah, stay inside, too.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, stay inside with the air conditioning, fans, something like that.
SCHNEIDER: Definitely.
WHITFIELD: All right, keep it cool. Thanks so much, Bonnie.
All right, well now a lawyer for DMX is describing the rapper's pit bulls as "practically family," yet, sheriff's deputies say they found 12 of the dogs at the rapper's Arizona home without food, without water. They also found remains of three other dogs. Our Kara Finnstrom is covering developments in Cave Creek, Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We understand that sheriff's deputies have been investigating for about two weeks, here, leading up to Friday's raid. This is the home of DMX, right behind us here. You can see on the gate, far back there, you can see "beware of dogs." Sheriff's deputies tell us when they did conducted that raid, they found 12 dogs on the premises that were a mix of pit bull and English mastiff. They say those dogs appear to have been poorly fed and were dehydrated, so they actually took them into custody. They also found three dogs that had been buried, the bodies of three dogs on this property. They say at least one of those dogs had been burned. And they say they found some drug paraphernalia, some drugs and some weapons. So, what's all this mean for their investigation? Here's what the sheriff had to say.
SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA CO, ARIZONA: We found about 12 pit bulls, some in the house, some in the yard. They were not fed properly, water. We took the dogs down to our MASH unit, our jail.
FINNSTROM: And the sheriff made it clear that at this point it's not clear whether any charges will be levied against DMX. He has been away in New York and his attorney says he was very disturbed to find out that his dogs weren't being properly taken care of by the caretaker who he left in charge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, another dog related story that is stealing the headlines. This one involving NFL star Michael Vick who is admitting to operating and funding a dogfighting ring on his property in Virginia. In a written plea, Vick also admits being involved in the deaths of six or eight dogs that didn't perform well in test fights.
His plea will be entered Monday in federal court, it could be a scene just like this one when he appeared for his arraignment hearing in Virginia. You can hear the booing in the background. The NFL has suspended Vick indefinitely without pay. Commissioner Roger Goodell calling Vick's conduct "illegal, cruel, and reprehensible." Vick denies betting on dog fights or taking any of the winnings.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 9-1-1 do you have an emergency or can you hold?
CALLER: Yes, I need everything you got. The whole bridge over the river fell down. There's cars all over the place!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Some pretty frightened voices, there, flooding the 9- 1-1 system after the Minnesota bridge collapse. You'll hear newly released tapes, straight ahead.
And it became known as the NASA love triangle. Find out what happened when the two women involved showed up in a Florida courtroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Frantic calls for help. Dispatchers trying to grasp what was happening moments after the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Just released 9-1-1 tapes reveal how the disaster unfolded.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 9-1-1 do you have an emergency or can you hold?
CALLER: Yes, I need everything you got. The whole bridge over the river fell down. There's cars all over the place!
911 OPERATOR: OK, where, sir?
CALLER: I want to say 35W over the Mississippi down by the U. (INAUDIBLE) There's hundreds of cars. I'm over the river. Bring everything you got.
911 OPERATOR: OK, sir. We're getting them started.
CALLER: Oh, hurry up!
(END AUDIO CLIP) WHITFIELD: The Minneapolis Emergency Communication Center released those tapes and transcripts from about 40 calls. Thirteen people died in that bridge collapse.
A NASA love triangle arouses some tense moments inside a Florida courtroom. You might call this pretty awkward. Former astronaut Lisa Nowak came face to face with romantic rival Colleen Shipman. You might remember Nowak, well, she is accused of driving from Houston on Orlando and attacking Shipman over a love affair. Former shuttle astronaut Bill Oefelein was there as well and heard it all. Our John Zarrella has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Former astronaut Lisa Nowak apologized to the other woman.
LISA NOWAK, FORMER ASTRONAUT: I would like to let her know how very sorry I am about having frightened her in any way and about the subsequent public harassment that has besieged all of us.
ZARRELLA: Nowak's statement came at the end of a pretrial hearing where Nowak, the accused, and Colleen Shipman, the victim, were both present, seeing each other for first time since an alleged love triangle between the two women and shuttle astronaut Bill Oefelein came to a head.
Nowak allegedly attacked Shipman with pepper spray at the Orlando Airport. During the hearing, Nowak's attorney argued that the monitoring device his client is forced to wear is unnecessary and she is not a threat. On the stand, Nowak promised to stay clear of Shipman if the ankle bracelet is removed.
NOWAK: I can absolutely say that I will not go to Brevard County.
ZARRELLA: Next on the stand, Colleen Shipman, saying there is a comfort level knowing Nowak is being monitored, but admitting she traveled to Houston to visit her boyfriend, going to the same city where Nowak lives.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Shipman, did it still make you feel better that you knew that she couldn't come near you or be around you?
CAPT COLLEEN SHIPMAN, USAF: Absolutely. When I'm home alone and there's nobody there with me, it is a comfort.
ZARRELLA: Much of the hearing's testimony came from the police officer William Becton. Nowak's attorney, Donald Lykkebak, wants evidence collected, the BB gun, the mallet and the interview Becton conducted after her arrest, thrown out saying she never really agreed to talk without an attorney.
DONALD LYKKEBAK, NOWAK'S ATTY: And you asked for that commitment of her to speak to you without advising her of her constitutional rights known as the Miranda Warning, isn't that right? WILLIAM BECTON, POLICE OFFICER: I wouldn't say that's totally accurate.
ZARRELLA: Lykkebak has maintained that the stories his client wore a diaper from Houston to Orlando were preposterous. On the stand, Officer Becton testified he found three soiled diapers in her car.
BECTON: She said she used the diapers in order to pee so that she didn't have to make as many stops.
ZARRELLA: The judge has yet to rule on any of the issues. Nowak's trial is set to begin next month.
John Zarrella, CNN, Orlando.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, he may not be Matt Damon, but he is America's top spy. Find out why he's going public.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: So, we told you earlier about an extraordinary set of events that has taken place in British Columbia involving a balloon. A number of people who got on the balloon, but somehow this balloon caught fire and the last we checked, we understand that one person has been injured.
Well, on the line to help clarify the series of events that took place leading to that pretty dramatic video, right there, John Kageorge is a spokesperson for the balloon company.
So, Mr. Kageorge, give me an idea of when this fire actually started and how people were able to -- so many people were able to escape injury.
JOHN KAGEORGE, COMPANY SPOKESMAN: Well, yes. In part of our preflights we tether the balloon down and we prepare the balloon from flight. So, this balloon had not been launched yet. It was just in the pre-launch stages. And...
WHITFIELD: When the fire broke out, you're saying?
KAGEORGE: The fire broke out for some unexplained reason. We don't know what had caused that. But, we do know that we immediately asked everybody to disembark from this aircraft and the crew helped passengers get out, and the pilot helped passengers get out. And however, hot air balloons lift because of heat and this fire caused the balloon to lift. And eventually that lift power and fire caused it to break from its tether and it traveled a short distance before coming down.
WHITFIELD: Wow, well that's really extraordinary. So, in that pre-launch position, you mentioned, there were people -- about how many people were in that basket? KAGEORGE: The balloon was fully loaded. It has 12 - it's a 12- passenger balloon, and there's a cockpit which allows space for...
WHITFIELD: So, when the fire ignited, you all are or whomever was onboard there was able to act pretty quickly to get the majority of the folks off except the one person?
KAGEORGE: Well, the passengers go through pre-flight instruction to tell them what to do should there be any sort of incident. And so that is what happen helped them get out so rapidly. We're not certain how many people may have been onboard when it began to lift, but one person did jump from a very high altitude - you know, from an unsafe height. It could have been two or three stories.
WHITFIELD: And what's the condition of that person?
KAGEORGE: All passengers and the pilot were sent to the hospital last night. Most have been released from bruises or light burns caused by an explosion that had occurred.
WHITFIELD: And is it true that one person is unaccounted for? At least one person unaccounted for?
KAGEORGE: That's correct.
WHITFIELD: OK, and do you know anything about that individual?
KAGEORGE: No. We haven't heard an update on that. The one thing that we do know right now and were our main focus is, is to help those people that have been affected by this accident: to provide to them support. This is, you know, a fully insured operation, of course, but our concern is to help all of those directly and indirectly affected by this and following that, we are going, naturally, be fully cooperative with the investigation so that we can get to the bottom as to what...
WHITFIELD: Yeah, and we know this is a traumatizing event, not just for the people who were onboard, but for and you everyone that works with this balloon company to have to deal with this tragedy. So, our hearts go out to the folks that were involved. Meantime, any initial suspicion on how that fire could have started?
KAGEORGE: No. No. We run a pretty tight ship and it's down to a regular procedure. The hot air balloon pilot that was looking after this flight looks after the majority of the flights. He's a hot air balloon pilot, a hot air balloon pilot instructor, a helicopter pilot and an airplane pilot. He has no idea as to how this fire could have happened.
WHITFIELD: All right, John Kageorge of Fantasy Balloon Charters, thank you so much for your time as the spokesperson and wish you all the best.
Meantime, coming up next, much more on what turned out to be some very devastating and also deadly flooding taking place in the Midwest of this country. An update when we come right back. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the nerve center for the entire kitchen, in fact, it's the nerve center for the home. This is the HP Touch Mark PC. And it's kind of social computing, right, at its best. But, the idea here is you put everything in one place. At a touch point, there's a middleware program on this from a company called Conceptual Innovation. And what that did is it brought all of these elements like lighting and shade control and music and put them all into one interface.
A refrigerator is a big piece of real estate in the kitchen. And what's great about how Whirlpool executed on this is that, when they came up with the Central Perk (ph) System it's the idea that this device would actually -- hapgs off of a power strip that' built into the top of the door. It can be flexible. I can use this for Microsoft which is kind of this fantastic interface for recipes and being able to shop and do all of these things online.
In a live environment, it also comes out. Let's say I wanted to take this off. Right? And I wanted to put up some family pictures. So now I've got this picture frame, interactive picture frame running pictures of the family. It is what I want when I want it. That's the idea of flexibility.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Happening right now. This just in from India, two explosions just minutes apart have now killed at least 24 people. Those blasts in Hyderabad, in the southern part of the country. The first explosion was at an amusement park, the second at a nearby eatery.
In the Midwestern U.S., floodwaters are on the rise. The problem is especially serious in the Chicago area. For tens of thousands of people are without power still.
So too much water and certainly too much heat in some parts of the country. Bonnie, this has been a tough summer.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Well this is a pretty extraordinary event involving a master spy. One of the most secret men in the world intentionally blows his cover. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT DAMON, ACTOR: Who was I?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They gave you so many identities.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jason Bourne, undercover CIA assassin globetrotting with fast cars and beautiful women. That's Hollywood.
BOURNE: They can't stop me.
STARR: This is reality.
JOSE RODRIGUEZ, CIA VETERAN: My name is Jose Rodriguez. I'm the director of the National Clandestine Service, the espionage service of the United States of America.
STARR: Jose Rodriguez has never said that in public before -- certainly never before TV news cameras. At a speech in Texas, he chose his words carefully.
RODRIGUEZ: As director of the clandestine service, I run the service and I run our overseas operations.
STARR: Jose Rodriguez is America's top spy. A CIA veteran of countless undercover missions against drug lords and terrorists, Rodriguez has spent the last 2.5 years in charge of all of the U.S.' undercover espionage efforts. Rodriguez wouldn't give an interview but a former colleague describes what Jose has faced.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Often under surveillance by hostile intelligence services, often requiring the use of techniques to evade and elude surveillance. Often requiring classic intelligence techniques like disguise and stealth of various sorts. And I can tell you that Jose was one of the best at this.
STARR: Rodriguez dropped his cover to speak about diversity in America's spy world. Though he makes clear in the world of human intelligence, it is results that count.
RODRIGEUZ: Our government was not going to put someone in charge of the nation's clandestine counterterrorism human operations against al Qaeda merely to satisfy a diversity requirement. I was put in charge because I brought something unique to the mission.
STARR: Rodriguez will retire from the CIA in the next few months, after 30 years in the shadows. Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is a three followed by eight zeros, $300 million in the Powerball lottery. You can buy a lot of coconuts. We'll talk to some ticket purchasers when CNN SATURDAY continues.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIK TORKELLS, EDITOR, BUDGET TRAVEL: The U.S. Department of Commerce says that 8 percent of outbound travelers are adults with kids. But what's the right age for children to start traveling internationally? Although it depends on your kids, experts generally agree that there is not much point in taking children under the age of 3 abroad. They are just not going to get much out of the experience and you will end up with more hassle than you like.
If it is a big ticket, once in a lifetime trip, you are better off waiting until the child is 10 or so. Also, to make sure kids find a trip engaging, get them involved in the planning. They will be less likely to complain about an activity if they help choose. This may mean making compromises as most kids prefer excitement and action to beautiful views and art museums.
The fact that other countries have their own cultures won't mean that much to kids who have yet to learn about their own cultures. Still, as soon as you think your kids will be ready, go for it. There's nothing like broadening a child's horizons as early as possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Putting more "mega" into the Mega Millions jackpot. Last night's numbers in the 12-state lottery were 4, 21, 46, 51, 53. The mega ball number was five. Guess what. No ticket sold had all the winning numbers. So the jackpot goes up. It is expected to be around $250 million for the next drawing, which is Tuesday.
And as big as that Mega Millions jackpot sounds, it is still not as big as the current jackpot in the Powerball lottery. Tonight's Powerball drawing is for $300 million. Powerball is played in 29 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and nation's capital, which is exactly where we find our Gary Nurenberg with what I hear to be a pocket full of tickets. Gary?
NURENBERG: Yeah, you're talking about Mega Millions. I had one last night. It is not a winner, unfortunately. In D.C. when they had big -- in D.C., as you know in the past when they had big Powerball lotteries like this, they sell or they make for the D.C. government $1 million a day.
We just asked D.C. lottery officials to do a computer run on how that's going today. They expect big business even though that Mega Millions in neighboring Maryland and Virginia is taking some customers who might come to D.C. to buy these Powerballs. We talked to someone who didn't.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had $20 in my pocket. I went ahead and got me $17 worth of Powerballs. And I needed $3 to get on the metro to get home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's my cigarette money. Since I don't smoke, I do that. Everybody has a vice. Somebody hits it. It might as well be me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put it this way. You are going to spend it one way or the other. Why not take a chance on $300 million? I mean, $300 million? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody wins. Somebody will win soon. The odds are that the higher it goes, the -- sooner someone will win.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I'm not going to buy one because it wouldn't be fair. I have too much help. Good-bye. Have a good day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NURENBERG: Isn't she great? Somebody is going to have a good day if they actually win this thing. Drawing tonight and Fredricka, $300 million. If nobody gets it, it is even bigger when they draw next week.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. And so all have you do is cross the state lines. If you can't get it there in D.C., then you can go play with the other lottery in Maryland and Virginia. I don't know, winnings all the way around.
NURENBERG: On my way home.
WHITFIELD: Sounds good to me. I'm calling all my family to tell them to start buying tickets and in all those little places. Thanks a lot, Gary.
NURENBERG: I hope you come in second.
WHITFIELD: Yes, and you first, of course. Thanks a lot, good luck to you.
So let's say your dream does come true and you actually win this huge jackpot. Now what? Susan Bradley is a certified financial planner and author of the book "Sudden Money." She joins us now with a little bit of advice because, Susan, something tells me when people say hey, I'm thinking about winning and if I do win the first thing the first they want to do is they start making a list of the things they want to buy. You are saying you need to do something else besides count the money first.
SUSAN BRADLEY, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER: Yes, the lottery sounds like it is about money. But it is really about the life change that the lottery win would trigger. And the first thing that you want to do is create a safe space for yourself to not make commitments and not make unnecessary decisions. We call it a decision-free zone. And quite frankly, it is counter-intuitive. Most people want to go out and make a lot of decisions.
WHITFIELD: Susan, this doesn't sound very exciting. When people say change they say yeah, change. I want to buy some kind of fancy sports car or two that I've always wanted, a car. Help out my family members. That's the kind of fantasy that comes with winning big money.
BRADLEY: Yeah. You are right. There's nothing wrong with that if it fits into the overall landscape of your life. But this is a life change. This isn't just for a week. It is not for a month. It is not for a year. This is the rest of your life. All of that that was existing beforehand has now been altered with the win of the lottery. So it is OK if you go out and do a little bit of that. One of the biggest mistakes people make right away is they make commitments to other people that they are not really healthy commitments.
They are either based on fear of losing them as a friend or family or they think that they want to share but really don't want to share when the money hits the account. Making commitments is one of those big things that gets people in trouble. Right away, first day.
WHITFIELD: Suddenly new friends and family, they come out woodwork. Everybody has, you know, a story. They figure hey, if you have $300 million, if that's what you end up winning, then certainly you can spare $10,000 to me and maybe another $5,000 to him or her. Right? There is a lot of pressure.
BRADLEY: Right and sharing is a good thing. Sharing without thinking it out really backfires on people. So the financial planners at the Sudden Money Institute at suddenmoney.com, you will see that we talk about this. There are ways to talk to your friends and family and say hey, I'm in a decision-free zone. I don't know. This is not as easy as it looks. I'm working with someone.
WHITFIELD: You win and you need to immediately find someone to consult to say OK, you help manage my money or you help tell me what to do?
BRADLEY: Yes. Help me figure it out. You have got to organize things because this is not -- even if you win enough money to never work again, which some people like, some people don't like. But if that's the case, what you really have gotten is a whole new job that's called wealth management. And that is not easy. You need a specialist to work with you through all of that.
So you can avoid things. People don't know if winning the lottery really made them rich or more secure or just less poor or if they are going to end up with less money than they started.
WHITFIELD: Gosh. Or maybe it brings more problems. That's no fun. That's taking the fun out of the whole idea -- you know, hitting the big one.
BRADLEY: That's right. You are right. It should be fun. It can be fun. It can be a great life event. It does not have to be awful. It can be fabulous. But you need some guidance. This is a major life event. Change is much tougher to deal with than the money is. The money is pretty easy to deal with. It is the change. Your financial planner has to understand the change with it as well as the money.
WHITFIELD: All right, pocket change bringing big change in your lifestyle. Thanks so much. Susan Bradley of Sudden Money Institute. I'm sure whoever win this big Powerball or Mega Millions they will be dialing your number and giving you a call, looking for some guidance.
BRADLEY: Thanks, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, this was a big problem, really big. Flooded by Katrina. Buried in paperwork, a local sheriff explodes with frustration at FEMA. Soledad O'Brien returns to New Orleans straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Wednesday is the second an verse of Hurricane Katrina. It may be marked by more resentment than recovery. Among the disappointed is the sheriff of St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans. CNN special correspondent Soledad O'Brien spent some time with him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACK STEPHENS, SHERIFF, ST. BERNARD PARISH: But right now we don't have that.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens is frustrated.
STEPHENS: We are here on the slab now of what used to be Chalmette General Hospital, 300-plus bed facility.
O'BRIEN: How far are we from the nearest hospital?
STEPHENS: We are probably, during the best drive time, 30 to 45 minutes away. If you are suffering from a serious injury or stroke or heart attack, chances of you reaching the emergency room in time to be saved are not very good.
O'BRIEN: You are going the die.
STEPHENS: You're going to die.
O'BRIEN: Two years after Hurricane Katrina put his parish under water only a third of the 65,000 residents have come home. Weeds grow, cement slabs sit empty while people wait. For medical services, for a fully working sewer system. For more schools, more fire stations. The sheriff says that there's lots of blame to go around. But mostly he's angry at FEMA.
STEPHENS: Part of the problem is we are probably on our 10th or 12th set of FEMA representatives.
O'BRIEN: Each new group of representatives has a different set of rules, he says. So the money is slow to nil. And sometimes the sheriff says they ask for what he thinks are ridiculous things, like written proof that his deputies worked overtime immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck.
STEPHENS: Cement slabs, we didn't have cars, boats. They want us to produce trip sheets for the deputies to justify the overtime. We didn't even toilet paper much less paper to write to fill out trip sheets. O'BRIEN: FEMA director David Paulison.
DAVID PAULISON, FEMA DIRECTOR: We ask you for documentation to prove that they worked overtime, the answer is yes.
O'BRIEN: Looming above the destruction are vote for Sheriff Jack Stephens signs. This is the jail?
STEPHENS: Yes, where the dilemma is.
O'BRIEN: A year ago, Sheriff Stephens told us he wasn't running. Why would you run again? After all that you described.
STEPHENS: Every day I try to convince the ranking officers and the manpower that we had here to give this place a chance, to stay here. Try it out. I started to feel guilty about me persuading them to stay when I was than going to stay.
O'BRIEN: Jackie Roche (ph) is a resident that decided to come back.
I remember the first time we came. We walked through the house, through the wall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: We found her home two years ago while walking the neighborhood with Sheriff Stephens. There are other questions about how much of their house is worth saving. Look at something like this. You have to think maybe not very much. But now --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the master bedroom.
O'BRIEN: It looks great. It looks great. But it's just a few steps away from a levee that hasn't seen many repairs. The levee is just one more thing keeping residents away. How long before St. Bernard Parish is back?
STEPHENS: Won't be back in my lifetime.
O'BRIEN: Soledad O'Brien, CNN, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And on Wednesday, two years after Hurricane Katrina, we will bring you Soledad O'Brien's special "Children of the Storm." See what happened after Soledad and filmmaker Spike Lee gave 11 area students cameras and asked them to film their lives. That's Wednesday night at 8:00 Eastern, only on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: "Anchorwoman" is a new reality show from the FOX television network that was supposed to help boost ratings. Well now it has already gone to black. Jeanne Moos explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She went from bikini model to winking and tugging, always tugging at her skirts.
LAUREN JONES, ANCHORWOMAN: Yes, I'm hanging up the bikinis and going in a more serious direction.
MOOS: She hung up her bikinis all right and changed into this for a stint at a real TV station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which of your favorite anchors is dressed like this?
MOOS: Station management was always telling her --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need you to go home. I need you to change.
MOOS: What do you think this is, nude news? What it was a FOX reality series. Take a sexy novice and give her a crash course in TV news at a real TV station in Tyler, Texas.
JONES: When we get to where we're going, are we going to like run out of the car and act all newsy?
MOOS: Teach her how to read a teleprompter.
JONES: Welcome to this Sunday edition of eyewitness news. I'm Lauren Jones and thank you for joining us. Gunshots ring out at a Tyler nightclub. There's nightclubs here?
MOOS: Not quite as bad as movie character Ron Burgundy.
WILL FERRELL, ACTOR: What is the name of this network again?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ESPN.
FERRELL: That's a terrible name.
MOOS: But this was a real station. The FOX reality series "Anchorwoman" brought Lauren Jones here for a month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's darling. She's personable. She's friendly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She isn't anything.
MOOS: That's one of the station's real anchors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know deep in your heart.
MOOS: Say that to the station's general manager, and he'll take every other network to task.
PHIL HURLEY, KYTX GENERAL MANAGER: Well you know he had probably already turned over three or four times watching y'all and FOX cover Paris Hilton. MOOS: And hey, didn't "CNN Headline News" hire Andrea Thompson, star of NYPD Blue as an anchor after she worked only a year in a station Albuquerque. The "Headline News" gig didn't last long and neither did the anchor woman. The show was canceled after only the first episode because of low ratings.
HURLEY: We like her. She had a great work ethic. She knew how to laugh.
MOOS: Tell that to this guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stormy, the weather dog.
HURLEY: He didn't like her. And for 30 days he didn't like her.
MOOS: Maybe it was the way they met.
JONES: It looked like a stuffed animal.
MOOS: Though she sank as an anchor woman, Hurley says she has as many as ten other TV offers. Being able to read teleprompters pales next to being able to do this.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All righty. A look at the top stories in a moment. "YOUR MONEY" is next. Here's a preview.
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