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Idaho Senator Steps Down; Sand-Castle Vandalism; Bakersfield Plane Crash; Al Sadr Suspends Fighting; Marine Murder Hearing; University of South Florida Students Terror Indictments; Virginia Senator Retires; FBI Spied on Mrs. King; Utah Mine Search Ended; Iowa Same Sex Marriage Law; Nifong Sentenced to Jail.
Aired September 01, 2007 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: We talked to parents, the Board of Education and we're going to bring you all sides of the debate coming up this week on (AMERICAN MORNING).
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We will see you for that, Karin. You have a good weekend. Remember folks, John Roberts and Karin Chetry Monday through Friday on (AMERICAN MORNING) starting at 6:00 a.m.
It is Saturday, the first day of September and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hello to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes.
MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Melissa Long in today for Betty who is on assignment and straight ahead this hour for you. Under fire all week, and now it appears he is stepping down. Republican Senator, Larry Craig, will talk to reporters in just a little bit. We have the story covered with the best political team on television.
HOLMES: Also, three hundred and thirty mega-millions up for grabs. There's more than one winning ticket out there this morning.
LONG: And, I want to show you a sand castle. It was built to raise money for sick children. You can see what happened. Who would be mean enough to kick it over? Answers ahead in the NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: But first here, after four days of scandal, a political career appears to be over. Senator Larry Craig has scheduled a news conference in Idaho today; he's expected to announce his resignation. CNN's Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash is on this story for us in Boise. We're are about an hour and a half away now, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are and we do expect to hear Senator Craig come here to the historic Boise Depot, the train station here in Boise, Idaho, and tell the constituents that he has served for 27 years in Washington that he intends to resign from his senate seat effective September 30th. This really is a stunning fall from grace. This is a man who has gone through eight Congressional Elections and has not gotten less than 54% of the vote. In fact, the last time around, last time he ran for Senate he got 65%. He would have been up for re-election in 2008. It was unclear if he would have run. Most people think that barring this stunning scandal, that he would have likely, if he ran, he would have likely won easily.
Now, this is all happening because of intense pressure that Senator Craig got from his fellow colleagues, his friends in the Republican Party, in the U.S. Senate back in Washington. Several of them out right said that he should resign. Others used some pretty harsh language to describe the incident and the actions of Senator Craig in that men's public bathroom in the Minneapolis airport. Publicly and privately the message was abundantly clear to Senator Craig that he simply was not welcome back in Washington, that he was a liability to the Republican Party and that, for the most part, is why we expect to see Senator Craig to announce the end of what has been, up until now, a rather popular, rather storied political career for the state of Idaho. T.J.?
HOLMES: Of course, Dana, somebody has to fill the seat he has to vacate until the end of his term. So, the governor is going to be making that announcement at some point. He has to replace him. So, what are the names out there and are there front-runners?
BASH: There are front-runners, for sure, you're right. Governor Butch Otter is going to have to replace Senator Craig whose, as I said, his term does ends January 2009 so this person would be kind of an interim senator. But they're already -- because it was unclear whether or not Senator Craig was going to run and because this is a very republican state, there's already major jockeying going on inside the Republican Party here in Idaho to figure out who would run. So those people are the front-runners. The top of the list, who many people think that Governor Otter will appoint is the Lieutenant Governor Jim Risch. He is somebody who people think he will probably get this spot. But his office insists that Governor Otter has not made a decision. Congressman Mike Simpson is another possibility for this spot and for somebody else who has had a national role before and currently has one, the current Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. He was a senator, he was a governor and he is somebody who some people here think the governor might put in as a placeholder because there is such jockeying already going on within the Republican Party about running and getting elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008.
HOLMES: Alright, Going to be a heck of a day there in Boise, Idaho. Dana Bash for us this morning, Dana, we appreciate you.
BASH: Thank you.
HOLMES: Now, you can stay with CNN for live coverage of the senator's statement; that's today at 12:30 eastern time and a programming note here for you as well, be sure to stay tuned to CNN tonight for a special edition of (LARRY KING LIVE). Larry and his guests will discuss the situation out there in Idaho including a look at who may be named, in fact, yes, the replacement.
LONG: Now outside of Bakers Field, California, federal crash investigators are combing for clues this morning. A small plane missed a runway and exploded in flames last night. Six people on board were killed. A Bakersfield newspaper reports the victims were four adults and two children. The airport manager saw that plane coming in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JELTJE NELSON, KERN VALLEY AIRPORT MANAGER: I went in and he landed -- tried to land on 3-5(ph), it was too high. He went around; he took off and went that way and I turned back to go in and tell him what the wind was doing and I heard pop, pop and that's it. Then I saw smoke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Investigators say the plane took off from Santa Monica. The travelers, apparently heading for a labor day weekend camping trip.
HOLMES: Muqtada Al Sadr tells his militia to stand down. Today, the U.S. Military says, "Sounds Great." The Americans say they can now focus on Al Qaeda without worrying about Al Sadr's fighters. Al Sadr, of course, has wide support among Shiites, says he will restructure his group over the six months. Still, some observers say ultra-radical militia fighters may ignore Al Sadr's order and keep on attacking.
LONG: At Camp Pendleton, California, a military hearing for Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Woodrich. Prosecutors are trying to show he should be court-martialed for a rampage in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005. And now a video has surfaced, and it may help in the marine's defense. Here's Senior Pentagon Correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The bombings and scraping(ph) seen on this aerial video, obtained exclusively by CNN, shows Haditha was a hot bed of insurgent activity back on that day November 19th, 2005. Early in the morning a U.S. Marine died in an IED attack and shortly afterward, 24 Iraqi civilians were killed by marines hunting the attackers; leading to murder charges a year later. A small unmanned spy-plane called, "Scan Eagle" arrived about 30 minutes after the initial attack on the U.S. Marine vehicle. Focusing on a house from which the military suspected insurgents triggered the bomb and showing the aftermath of the blast here, some 1,000 yards away. Just up the road is a white sedan and the bodies of five Iraqi men, who marines say refused to lie down and were shot while running away. Villagers said the men were students in a taxi but the marines say their actions were consistent with insurgents about to detonate a car bomb. The video will soon be evidence in a case of Squad Leader, Staff Sergeant Frank Woodrich, accused of doing some of the shooting.
VOICE OF GARY SOLIS, MILITARY LAW PROFESSOR: Well If I'm a juror, I'm not going to be impressed.
MCINTYRE: Retired Marine Lieutenant, Colonel Gary Solis a former prosecutor and military judge who teaches law at Georgetown and West Point, analyzed the video for CNN.
You've seen the tape. How significant do you think it is as a piece of evidence?
SOLIS: It tends to prove that this is a violent place, where you had enemy fighters, where it was necessary to bring in air support.
MCINTYRE: Throughout that day, marines engaged in fierce firefights and called in air strikes to level entire buildings often with no definitive idea of who was inside. That could buttress defense arguments that the marines clearing buildings on the ground, with guns and grenades, were just following the rules of engagement.
SOLIS: The defense can say, hey, look, you had to do this later in the day. What's the difference between what happened later in the day and what our guys did earlier in the day?
MCINTYRE: And that might help explain why so far prosecutors have had trouble making murder charges stick. Charges have been dropped against two marines, another is waiting a decision. Is there a tendency to give marine soldiers in combat a benefit of a doubt?
SOLIS: I think that's another problem in this case. You have a military jury, probably most of whom, if not all of whom, will have been in Iraq.
MCINTYRE: The video shows how the military suspects anyone on the move during combat as being a potential enemy. Such as this motorcyclist who appears to be an insurgent messenger.
SOLIS: Every person you see on the street, every item, everything you see on the street may be the means of your death.
MCINTYRE: While prosecutors may be having a hard time winning convictions, Gary Solis believes someone should be accountable for the 24 civilian deaths in Haditha.
SOLIS: It would be difficult to say that justice has been served if no one is convicted for Haditha.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: CNN's Jamie McIntyre reporting. And of the original defendants in the Haditha case, charges have been dismissed against three men. A fourth dismissal looks likely, so that means Staff Sergeant Woodrich would be the only marine to face murder charges for the events at Haditha.
HOLMES: Two Egyptian students from the University of South Florida facing a terror indictment today. The pair jailed in South Carolina for nearly a month now. That's where police stopped them for speeding and allegedly found explosives in their trunk. The specific charges are carrying explosives across a state line and demonstrating how to use them. Both men are engineering students.
LONG: He will have served 30 years in the Senate. Now Virginia Republican John Warner says it's time to go. At the age of 80, Warner will not seek re-election. He earned a sterling reputation among his colleagues for his civility, his honesty and courtesy. Now Warner is the leading Senate expert on the military, even questioning the president's strategy in Iraq and, of course, also remembered as a member of the Elizabeth Taylor Ex-Husband Club. HOLMES: That's a pretty big club. It's not as exclusive as you might think.
LONG: It's still an exclusive club though.
HOLMES: It is, it's still an exclusive club. I know Reynolds is a former member of that group as well. But he's in the Weather Center today talking about not his exes. He was not married to Elizabeth Taylor by the way folks, I'm just kidding.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's all right, man. It's okay. It's alright. I don't know where you're going with that sometimes, man. You just kind of go with it.
HOLMES: That's why I stopped.
LONG: I think it's a surpise(ph) that he quit talking about football for once.
WOLF: Actually we're talking about something entirely different, we're talking about this big system; we're talking about Felix. Felix, now the latest that we have in the Atlantic basin, this storm now roaring into the Caribbean leaving St. Vincent, Grenada, also St. Lucian in it's wake(ph). This storm, actually a fairly strong one with winds at 65, gusting to 75, it is a tropical storm; however, it is expected to strengthen significantly. By 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, winds of 75 still a minimal, minimal category one storm by that point but then strengthening even more, possibly going up to category three status as we get to early Wednesday with winds of 115 miles an hour, possibly making landfall on the coast to Belize. We're going to watch that for you very carefully.
This is not the only system we're watching. On the other side of the globe, we've got another rectory(ph) on the other side of Mexico, we're watching this system, this is Tropical Storm Henriette. Right now, maximum sustained winds are at 50 but gusts have been up to 65. The storm expected to march its way to the west and northwest, strengthening to category one status at the beginning of Sunday. By Monday and Tuesday, still category one but then as it moves farther north it's going to interact with the cold California current and you know what that does; cold water has the opposite effect on these storms. The warm water, of course, will strengthen it but the cold water is going to weaken it. That's going to be the case with this but it should remain right off the coast of Baja, California.
Meanwhile, around the U.S., we're looking at a fairly quiet, fairly quiet holiday weekend. High pressure building over the northeast, look for scattered showers across parts of the southeast but still very warm out west. In fact, in the parts of California, from the San Joaquin Valley northward just east of the Bay area we're going to see incredible heat. Temperatures warming back up into the 100s but when you combine that with the high humidity -- look at the result, it's going to feel like 110 degrees. Even hotter when you're out there by the grill with the spatula and your hot dogs or whatever you're cooking, it's going to be a warm time for you so be patient with mom or dad as they're out there flipping burgers. Let's send it back to you at the news desk.
HOLMES: Sure will, appreciate that.
WOLF: Elizabeth Taylor, rights?
HOLMES: Elizabeth Taylor, yes.
WOLF: Okay, I'm going to have to think about that one for awhile.
HOLMES: Sorry about that, Reynolds.
WOLF: Later, man.
HOLMES: Alright, thanks buddy.
Alright folks, remember out there it's always nice to share, especially if you're holding one of the four winning mega millions tickets. The lucky new millionaires bought their tickets in New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and Texas. They'll have to divvy up a $330 million jackpot. The numbers, if you have not checked yours this morning, 8 - 18 - 22 - 40 and 44, the mega ball number was 11.
LONG: Checking the clock, it's 11:15 and that means in less than 90 minutes now, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho is expected to announce he is resigning following the scandal over his arrest in a bathroom sex sting. Just stay in the CNN NEWSROOM for our live coverage.
HOLMES: Also coming up, vandals destroy part of a huge sand castle. It damaged the hopes of some terminally-ill children. Yes, we've got surveillance tape that could help catch these bozos.
LONG: And, new revelations about how the FBI kept tabs on Coretta Scott King even after her husband was killed. We're going to hear from the reporter who spent a year looking through FBI files.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: The search for the 6 Utah miners has been called off. Crews suspended operations after four weeks. The fruitless attempts to find the men missing since an August 6th cave-in, the final attempt to locate the missing miners was a robotic camera lowered into a bore hole. It got stuck in the mud and then turned up no useful information.
HOLMES: Who could be mean enough to destroy a sand castle, especially a sand castle being used to raise money for terminally-ill children? A surveillance tape offer a clue. Lucas Colavecchio of CNN Affiliate, WGME, reports from Kittery, Maine.
LUCAS COLAVECCHIO, CNN AFFILIATE CORRESPONDENT: It took 6 months worth of planning to put together this sand castle here at the Kittery Trading Post. Two weeks of hard work and dozens of volunteers. All to have this destroyed in a matter of seconds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And, all that hard work was for nothing.
COLAVECCHIO: Employees at the trading post who volunteered to construct this castle can't understand why someone would want to destroy their masterpiece. Here's what it looked like just a few days ago, standing tall at 15 feet. Today, it barely tops out at six feet. This surveillance video shows a disturbing scene early Wednesday morning. Two men, possibly teenagers, seen jumping a fence, attacking the sand castle with their arms and legs, then running off under the cover of night.
JON MORRILL, KITTERY TRADING POST SPOKESPERSON: They thought it would be fun to destroy something that means a lot to Kittery Trading Post and Camp Sunshine.
COLAVECCHIO: The castle was built to promote this weekend's attempt to create the world's tallest sand castle, thirty-one and a half feet near the shores of Camp Sunshine at Sebago Lake, an event that's also raising money so the camp can host children who suffer life-threatening illnesses. Sculptor Ed Jarrett designed this castle and the one in Kittery.
ED JARRETT, SCULPTOR: It's a lot of work. It's not an easy thing to do.
COLAVECCHIO: While police continue to hunt down their suspects Jarrett says once he's done with his world record attempt he'll run to Kittery to help the trading post rebuild. After all, this one's for the children.
JARRETT: If we can turn it around, you always try to take a bad and make it a positive.
MORRILL: And anything the community can do to help the camp out, would love them to do so.
COLAVECCHIO: And, one employee here at the trading post had an interesting idea, if those vandals are ever caught, he says they should be forced to rebuild this sand castle or volunteer at Camp Sunshine. In Kittery, Lucas Colavecchio, News 13.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Good idea for those kids.
It is no secret that the FBI spied on Martin Luther King Jr. Now we've learned his wife was on their radar, too. Next, the reporter who broke this story joins us in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: Plus, same sex marriages were legal in Iowa, for a few hours. The one couple who managed to tie the knot before the law was sent back to court.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LONG: Good morning to you. On this Saturday, the Former North Carolina prosecutor who accused three Duke Lacrosse players of rape has been sentenced to one day in jail. Mike Nifong was found to be in criminal contempt of court for his actions in that case. He was accused of withholding DNA evidence that would have cleared the players falsely accused of raping an exotic dancer. The judge ordered Nifong to report to jail next Friday.
HOLMES: We've known for some time that back in the 1960s the FBI spied on Martin Luther King Jr. considering him a subversive. But now we're finding out the FBI also kept track of Coretta Scott King even after her husband's death. So, exactly what were they so afraid of? Mark Greenblatt, our Houston Affiliate KHOU, spent a lot of time looking through the the FBI's file on Coretta Scott King. Sir, thank you for being right here with us. What in the world were they afraid of?
MARK GREENBLATT, CNN AFFILIATE CORRESPONDENT: T.J., thanks so much for being here. It's, you know, what they were really concerned about was her possible involvement in the anti-Vietnam war movement. So, J. Edgar Hoover really did anything and everything that he could to assign agents to go after her and find out where she was going, who she was talking to and what she was about to talk about, even in public speeches.
HOLMES: And, what you could -- from what you've been able to see in this file, did they have anything to be afraid of?
GREENBLATT: You read through the file and all you see is movements from her moving around on Eastern Airlines flights, they track her when she's invited to go to Caesar's palace to have a social event with the boxer Joe Louis. So we really saw nothing in there that they had anything to be afraid of and yet they tracked her nearly every move.
HOLMES: Nearly every move, how close? I saw something that said, like you said, they see something to go hang out with the boxer Joe Louis. I mean, every little thing, every movement, no matter how mundane it may seem us to, they were on it?
GREENBLATT: They were really watching her closely and they weren't just watching her internally but they actually forwarded this information in some cases to Henry Kissinger at the White House. In some cases to military intelligence, the U.S. Army, naval intelligence, even air force intelligence. They wanted everybody to know what she was doing.
HOLMES: Was this a matter or, from what you've been able to tell from looking at this file, just paranoia on the part of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover to follow her around like this? Did they have any reasons to believe, other than the fact that she was the widow of Martin Luther King Jr.?
GREENBLATT: They really had no reasons. You used the word paranoia and, actually, about half an hour ago I just got off the phone of the former mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young who was very close to the King family, and he used that word, too. They were simply paranoid and he said that they had no good reason to be paranoid.
HOLMES: Now how did you get this file in the first place and what made you want to go after it?
GREENBLATT: We wanted to go after this file because we realized the historical significance of Coretta Scott King and her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. So, all we did was we filed a Freedom of Information Act request, something that compels the federal government to release a file once someone passes away if they keep it. We didn't know for sure if the FBI actually had a file on Ms. Scott King but we wanted to see if we did. So we filed it and we worked for a year and a half in order to get this file and finally on Wednesday they released it to us.
HOLMES: Now, as you went through this page by page by page, were you shocked at what you were reading and is there anything in there that kind of stands out to you that surprised you about what was going on?
GREENBLATT: You become shocked as you see the justification for why they investigated her. And the justification came down from J. Edgar Hoover that they labeled her associating with alleged communists and they labeled her as an anti-war activist and, because of that, you have to wonder why so much surveillance. And I'll tell you, the thing that really struck us at KHOU in our investigative unit is the fact that they did forward this on to military intelligence. You have to ask yourself, why?
HOLMES: And, finally here, where did you see in the file where things finally turned and they finally realized we should not be following this woman around every move?
GREENBLATT: It really took until J. Edgar Hoover, the former director of the FBI, actually passed away. When he passed away, the next director actually has a handwritten note inside the file that says, "Close this thing, close the file." And he's very happy he writes, "yes, definitely, would like to close the file. "
HOLMES: That simple. Well, this is some fascinating reading. You've been going through it, milling(ph) over for the past, like I said, 48 to 72 hours but you've been after it for a good year or so, Mark Greenblatt, from our station KHOU in Houston. Sir, thank you so much for being here.
GREENBLATT: Pleasure. Thank you for having me.
LONG: Still to come on this CNN Saturday morning, Larry Craig, the U.S. Senator caught in the bathroom sex sting is scheduled to announce his rest resignation in about an hour from now. Live coverage on CNN plus a look at other politicians who've been disgraced by sex scandals.
HOLMES: Also, working hard or hardly working? A reality check on America's work habits and how we stack up against people in other countries, stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We return to our top story now. Larry Craig expected to announce his resignation from the U.S. Senate today, actually coming up in about an hour, we are expecting. The Idaho Republican is scheduled to speak to reporters. At that point, CNN will cover it live.
LONG: However, since news broke about Senator Craig's arrest in the airport men's bathroom, he has been under heavy pressure. Everybody has been calling for his resignation -- or perhaps I should say almost everybody.
Here's CNN's Carol Costello.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Craig to resign.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He should resign.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Calls for Senator Larry Craig to resign are deafening. But now, days after the scandal broke, there is a voice wondering if there has been a rush to judgment. And it's the voice of Tom DeLay, who himself resigned from Congress after being accused of violating campaign finance rules.
TOM DELAY (R), FORMER HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: It's really unfortunate that people rush to judgment like they have. And I'm not defending Larry Craig. I have great sympathy for what his wife and his family is going through right now. But the decisions that Larry Craig need to make are up to Larry Craig and his constituents in Idaho.
SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R), IDAHO: Viciously harassed.
COSTELLO: Craig insists there's a media witch-hunt to get him. And on that point DeLay agrees, as he told "The Today Show" on NBC.
DELAY: The double standard in the media is amazing. The feeding frenzy, the sharks in the water that's going on right now because of a Republican.
COSTELLO: Delay launched into the media, accusing it of not shining a light on the peccadilloes of Democrats like Congressman Barney Frank. In 1989, he admitted to a sexual relationship with a male prostitute.
REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I'm not going to resign because I think resignation is an acknowledgment of a very, very serious breach of duty, and I don't believe that the stupidity I showed in hiring a prostitute and reacting as I did to the pressures that I didn't handle well reaches that level.
COSTELLO: Frank received a reprimand for the House Ethics Committee. But one of its members voted for the more serious punishment of censure, then House member Larry Craig.
Conservatives insist that President Clinton's conduct in the midst of the Lewinsky scandal was no more credible than Craig's today.
BILL CLINTON, 40TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
CRAIG: I am not gay.
COSTELLO: The difference? Democrats did not desert Clinton, who was also determined to fight for his job.
JONATHAN HARRIS, POLITICO.COM: Bill Clinton said, I don't care a wit about the conventional wisdom. I don't care what anyone says. I am going to fight and save my career.
COSTELLO: So why is Senator Craig more vulnerable than other politicians caught up in sex scandals?
HARRIS: This is harder for a Republican politician to withstand because Republicans -- their coalition includes a lot of social conservatives, who are genuinely offended by homosexual conduct.
COSTELLO: Carol Costello, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: And just stay at CNN for live coverage of the senator's statement that is expected at 12:30 Eastern time today. And a programming reminder as well, be sure to stay with CNN tonight for a special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE." Larry and his guests will discuss the situation, including a look at who may be named as Craig's replacement.
HOLMES: In a very brief moment for Iowa, this couple became the state's first and only same-sex pair to legally marry. On Thursday a judge overturned the gay marriage ban after only four hours yesterday, he turned the issue over to Iowa's Supreme Court, stopping all of those marriage licenses from being issued.
LONG: A face-off over Facebook. Coming up, the bosses are cracking down on employees who logon to social networking sites while they're at work.
HOLMES: Ah, and speaking of work, Americans take fewer vacations than people in other countries. But did you know we may not be working as much? We'll get a reality check, coming up next.
LONG: That's a live picture from Idaho. We're awaiting for a news conference to get under way less than an hour from now. We're expecting to hear from Senator Larry Craig, expecting to hear his resignation after the sex sting in a bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. This is expected to get under way at about 12:30 this afternoon. We'll bring you live coverage of it when it happens.
And we've been talking today about the lottery, the mega millions, four winning tickets. We're also going to talk about being lucky in New York State. And there's one New York family that is extremely lucky. They won their state's lottery not once but twice. Adeline and Eugene Angelo first hit the New York Lotto jackpot back in 1996, winning $2.5 million. And then this week, they won $5 million.
CNN's Tony Harris talked to the Angelos about their extremely good fortune.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADELINE ANGELO, TWO-TIME LOTTERY WINNER: My reaction was after my husband woke me up, after he saw it at least 15 minutes before, and he was just sitting there like -- very calmly. And, my reaction was that I didn't believe it. I'm going to just -- I just could've fall. I couldn't believe it at all, until I -- my son was there and then he made me realize that my husband was telling the truth.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: So, Gene, you buy the tickets, correct?
EUGENE ANGELO, TWO-TIME LOTTERY WINNER: Well, no, my son buys them for me every Saturday, he puts in for both days. But I have the numbers.
HARRIS: But, you had the numbers. All right. Now we get to the rub of it all. All right, what's the code? What's the secret? Come on. Twice in 11 years?
E. ANGELO: I keep on playing the same numbers. I got lucky twice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: Oh, what a cutie. The Angelos say they will share their $5 million with their three sons. I wonder if they need a daughter.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Or another son.
LONG: Yes.
HOLMES: Here's something else to consider on this Labor Day weekend. How do Americans stack up when it comes to punching the clock? No, the Angelos don't have to punch the clock much anymore. We have all been told though how we, us, in the U.S., are the most industrious nation. But is that truly, truly the case and are we reaping the fruits of our labor? Josh Levs always working hard, doing double duty today actually with the dot-com desk and the "Reality"?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poor me.
HOLMES: You are hard-working.
LEVS: Right, poor me.
HOLMES: No, not poor you. It's a charmed live you have. LEVS: Oh, well, thank you very much. We'll say that about you. I know we can't all win the lottery twice, right? So some of us have to work. But it's true. And one is always saying that we're the hardest working nation on Earth? So I started looking into that for Labor Day. And I found that Australia says the same thing and so do like 10 others countries out there.
So I started to wonder what the real deal is. Here is the "Reality Check."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS (voice-over): Americans do work hard, very hard in many cases. But are we really, as we're often told...
GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The hardest working people in the world.
LEVS: We do get less vacation time than folks in many other nations. And one in four workers gets none, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The group calls the U.S. the "no vacation nation" because it's the only advanced economy that does not guarantee paid vacation.
Those who do get it, often don't use it up. A survey by Expedia, which sells vacation packages, found about a third of Americans leave some days unused. Instead of this, we're doing this. But when we're working, do Americans clock the most hours?
No, according to the United Nations . It counted up how many people in different countries work a long week, at least 48 hours. In the U.S., 18 percent do. That number is higher in Switzerland and Australia. In both Britain and Israel, 26 percent of workers put in that kind of time. The numbers are substantially higher in many developing nations. In Peru, half the workforce works more than 48 hours a week.
Now, who in America works the most hours? The federal government looked at more than 300 jobs. And in just a few cases, it found an average work week of more than 50 hours.
Among those clocking that kind of time: firefighters, doctors, marine engineers, animal breeders, extraction workers, riggers, hoist and winch operators, and those who operate trains and ships.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: But not...
LEVS: It's not often -- what's that?
HOLMES: Not journalists?
LEVS: No, journalists are not on there. I'll tell you, and it's not often that you get to talk about hoist and winch operators on CNN. However, I just read the full list of the people with the longest weeks, the people with the more than 50-hour weeks. And that's it, just about eight categories of 300, just about eight jobs out there that average more than 50 hours a week.
HOLMES: Do you want to see my timecard? Are you kidding me?
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS: OK. This week, may -- oh yes, actually, that has been true lately with you. But in general overall, you've got to average it out among all of us.
HOLMES: All right. Well, something that sounds good is that family incomes are up. That sounds wonderful. Things must be going well. But individual incomes are down. That doesn't make much sense. Explain that.
LEVS: It doesn't. And it's very "Reality Check-ish," and that just came out this week. Exactly, from the new census figures. Here's the deal. He's right. Overall family income has gone up on average around America. Individual income has gone down. Here's why. In more families these days, both parents are working. Therefore families are pulling in more cash overall, but both each parent on average making less.
So when you hear claims out there about family income on the rise, isn't that great about the economy, blah, blah, blah, keep in mind individual income is going down, family income, T.J., can mean both that parents have to work.
HOLMES: Blah, blah, blah?
LEVS: You know, it's the spin. That's what you're going to hear.
HOLMES: Did you say "Reality Check-ish" in there?
LEVS: I don't have time to -- you're right, yes. Not "Reality Check-ish," "Reality Check."
LONG: You can call it that next -- tomorrow or next weekend, right, too?
LEVS: Yes. All right.
HOLMES: Well, we're going to get weather...
LEVS: Go change the font, "Reality Check-ish."
HOLMES: We're going to get weather check-ish now. Reynolds Wolf over at...
LONG: Would you have blah, blah, blah to share with everybody yourself?
LEVS: They are so mean to me. REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, no, no blah, blah, blah here. But I will bring this back to your memory, T.J. You had mentioned during the last weather update that I had been married to Elizabeth Taylor.
(LAUGHTER)
LONG: Oh no.
WOLF: I'm going turn the tables on you, my friend. I want to show America your minivan. Let's -- can we show it?
(PICTURE OF "A-TEAM" VAN)
WOLF: That's right. That is T.J.'s minivan. That is actually the van that was used in the "A-Team," that was, I believe, owned by Mr. T. So quoting Mr. T.: "but ain't no time for jibber-jabber!"
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Hey, at least it's not a family minivan. That's a militant van right there. That is...
WOLF: That is a sweet, sweet ride.
HOLMES: That's a party ride.
WOLF: However, with the shadow, you really can't see the fuzzy dice or the shag carpet on the inside.
LONG: Do you have a bed and a TV in there as well?
HOLMES: You know, Reynolds, isn't that a tropical storm or something you need to be working on?
WOLF: You know, we're just going to take care of that first. And then we're going to move on to the rest of the story.
HOLMES: This is what you spent your time on?
WOLF: OK? Here we go. This is a little bit of housekeeping we need to do.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WOLF: However, in the Caribbean, we are keeping a very sharp eye on this system. This is tropical storm. Its name is Felix. And it has winds of 65 miles an hour, gusting to 75. We're watching this very carefully. The reason why is because it is expected to strengthen by 8:00 a.m. Sunday to a Category 1 storm. Winds around 75.
But watch what's going to happen over the next 12 to 24 to 36 hours as we get to Tuesday. Tuesday around 8:00 a.m. Winds of 105 miles an hour. It's going continue to march its way into a warm water/low shear environment. And by 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, a Category 3 storm possibly. Again, this is just the forecast.
A lot can change between now and by the time we get Wednesday. The storm could die out all together, it could get a bit stronger, could move farther to the north or farther to the south. However at this point it does appear that 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, the Belize coast, no threat to the United States, but still something we are going to watch.
Let's send it back to T.J., a big fan of Mr. T., the "A-Team," and Mr. T.'s van. Back to you.
LONG: You probably grew up watching the show, right?
HOLMES: I did. I was a fan of that show. I recognize that van.
WOLF: You should. It's right out in the parking lot.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Yes. And, Reynolds, thank you for getting back to the weather.
WOLF: Any time.
HOLMES: Thank you.
Well, we could call this a Facebook faceoff. Next in the NEWSROOM, the battle to keep social networking Web sites out of the office.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And again, a reminder that Senator Larry Craig expected to announce his resignation about 45 minutes from now. You're looking at this -- what really is a beautiful backdrop in what has been an ugly story this week. There in Boise, Idaho, where we're expecting him to come to the podium again in less than 45 minutes to make that announcement. We will have live coverage of the senator's statement coming your way at 12:30 Eastern time.
LONG: And this Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend, we're focusing on work. And some workers, they goof off while on the job, many do it using a high-tech method. And now some bosses in Britain are cracking down.
CNN's Phil Black on the face-off over Facebook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This London public relations company is a Facebook-friendly workplace. At some point during the day, pretty much everyone here gets involved in online social networking. Some, like Abby Cohen (ph), do it more than others.
BLACK (on camera): Do you waste time at work on Facebook? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, never.
BLACK (voice-over): That's not what her colleagues say.
(on camera): How many Facebook friends do you have?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 270, which isn't -- I mean, some people have loads. Some people have over 500. So it's not that many.
BLACK (voice-over): Abby is just one office worker caught up in a worldwide phenomenon. Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo, that provide another way of staying in touch with people and escaping the office existence.
For bosses it is new technology but an old debate. Are personal distractions on the job acceptable?
NIALL MCKINNEY, UTALKMARKETING: The technology and people's use of the technology has outpaced bosses' understanding of the technology itself.
BLACK: Niall McKinney conducted a survey for the marketing industry which he says proves Facebooking at work is not a big deal.
MCKINNEY: People on average spend less than 10 minutes a day on Facebook. And only around 17 percent of people actually use Facebook while they're at work. So while people are using social networking sites in the workplace, they're not on average using it excessively.
BLACK: But an increasing number of bosses disagree and have banned social networking sites in their offices. Britain's unions say that's not fair.
SARAH VEALE, TRADES UNION CONGRESS: Some employers are telling employees they're simply not allowed to use Facebook or any of those other Web sites at work at all. We think that's poor management.
BLACK: The bans have inspired the creation of Facebook protest groups, demanding more trust from their employees. But other groups aren't helping the cause. These pages are dedicated to self-confessed office slackers who boast about spending much of their working day on Facebook. That's the extreme end.
But for many, it has become a daily temptation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's definitely a tendency to go on it too much and it could be distracting. But as long as you manage it effectively, I think it can be quite useful.
BLACK (on camera): Obviously I have a very good excuse for using Facebook at work today and would never do so normally. But employee groups say these sites reduce productivity because unlike personal e- mails and phone calls, they're not limited to straight communication. You can spend hours browsing friends' sites or making your own more impressive. (voice-over): Facebook alone has more than 37 million users. Bosses who want online networking out of the workplace are facing off against a global army of workers that grows bigger every day.
Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: While we're focusing on goofing off at work, we're getting serious of course. You have a busy hour coming up.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we do. Hello, good to see you.
LONG: Good morning.
WHITFIELD: I haven't seen you in a while, Melissa.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Am I ignoring you again? I'm sorry, T.J. That's a second weekend in a row.
HOLMES: In a row.
WHITFIELD: Only because we're gabbing before we get on the air.
HOLMES: It's all right. It's OK. I understand.
WHITFIELD: All right. Anyway, good to see both of you guys. Of course, Senator Craig, we're going to be carrying that live, his announcement. Will it be indeed the announcement of his resignation? That is what some sources are saying. That out of Boise, Idaho. We'll be following that. We've got the best political team on television poised to talk and debrief all of this.
Also, coming up, Dan Lothian explores why many police jurisdictions are indeed carrying out very similar sting operations in public bathrooms. Why? We'll explore all of that straight ahead beginning at 12:00 Eastern. That's a mouthful, isn't it?
HOLMES: It is.
WHITFIELD: Twelve Eastern, today, Saturday, yes.
HOLMES: Today is Saturday; You're on here in a minute, Fred.
WHITFIELD: In a minute.
HOLMES: All right. Good to see you. We'll see you shortly.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.
HOLMES: And of course, when it comes to bathroom humor, comedians not stalling on this one.
LONG: All right. All right. A senator's sex scandal is giving plenty of material, as you know, to late night comics and Web wits.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: We're going to play along with the game right now.
HOLMES: We're going to play along with this (INAUDIBLE) humor -- yes, we'll play. We probably shouldn't play but we're going to play. Some of the jokes, like a senator's career right now, pretty much in the toilet.
CNN's Jeanne Moos has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's hard to hear this.
CRAIG: I am not gay. I never have been gay.
MOOS: Without being reminded of this.
JAMES MCGREEVEY (D), FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: I am a gay American.
MOOS: The Craig affair has sure led to a lot of late-night gaiety like Jimmy Kimmel's unintentional joke of the day.
CRAIG: Thank you very much for coming out today.
JAY LENO: We have a clip of the press conference. Show the press conference today.
CRAIG: Thank you all very much for coming out today.
MOOS: Never have the nation's newscasts spent more time, literally, in the toilet.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And what's with the hand signals?
MOOS (on camera): But there's something about the toe-tapping part of all this that media folks can't resist tapping into.
(voice-over): You expect it on YouTube.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At 12:16 hours he started with the foot tap.
MOOS: But a TV station in Sacramento did its own recreation of the Craig men's room incident, the colleague even provided a homemade stall divider.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The senator allegedly started tapping his foot like this. Apparently that's a sign that you're interested in having some relations.
MOOS: But if it's high quality production you're after, check out the recreation at the Web site Slate. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was able to see Craig's blue eyes as he looked into my stall.
MOOS: Slate used verbatim quotes from the arresting officer's reports.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Craig moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area. At 12:17 hours, I saw Craig swipe his hand under the stall divider for a few seconds.
MOOS: And a YouTuber posted this guide to men's room signals.
Senator Craig denies anything rude took place, allegedly telling police his "wide stance" explains his foot placement. The scandal is generating plays on words and puns. It's causing commentators to tell personal stories you'd never expect.
MSNBC's Tucker Carlson described how he was once bothered in a men's room.
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, "TUCKER": I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the -- you know, and grabbed him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did what?
CARLSON: Hit him against the stall with his head, actually.
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: Carlson later said the man physically grabbed him first.
It's almost too hot a story for reporters to handle. "Red State Update" comedians to the rescue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tappy, tappy on the tootsie. A little peek- a-boo through the crack in the door. Hell, I can't keep up with all them signals. When I want to get some I just go down to the bar and wait for the first woman to fall off the stool and tell her hair looks nice.
MOOS: At least that won't get a senator arrested.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: I think I'm blushing.
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness.
Well, Fredricka, we apologize that we have to turn it over to you...
WHITFIELD: No you don't. You did that on purpose.
HOLMES: ... on that note.
LONG: In all seriousness, a busy hour ahead for you.
WHITFIELD: Yes, we do have a busy. That was a rather uncomfortable segue though, wouldn't you say? Anyway, well, you guys have a great day.
LONG: You, too.
HOLMES: All right.
WHITFIELD: We've got much more ahead here in the NEWSROOM.
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