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Six White Suspects Charged in Race-Charged Rape, Kidnapping Case; Burned Iraqi Boy Arrived in U.S. for Treatment; Troops Speak Out about War; How Safe are American Toys?
Aired September 12, 2007 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's not exactly child's play, insuring the safety of millions of imported toys. But the head of Mattel promises Congress he'll get the lead out.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And a small child targeted for ghastly cruelty in Iraq finds compassion and hope right here in America. Youssif's story takes a big step forward, right here in the NEWSROOM.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: It is a bizarre story involving kidnapping, torture, sexual assault an horrific crime against a young black woman in West Virginia, with the added possibility of hate crime charges against six white suspects. Let's go now to CNN's Brianna Keilar in Charleston with new information on this case.
What's new, Brianna?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, Logan County prosecutors are telling us that drugs are involved in this case. And something else that's very interesting. They say the victim in this case, this wasn't the first time that she'd been to this home where sheriffs deputies discovered her on Saturday.
They say back in July she was attacked at this house by one of the suspects in this current case, Bobby Brewster. They say he was charged with domestic violence. So obviously, that account back in July was documented.
Now, when sheriff's deputies found Megan Williams, the victim, at this house, the Brewster residence, police reports allege that she'd been raped at knifepoint, stabbed in the left leg, beaten, strangled and doused with hot water and forced to eat animal feces.
Now of course, CNN doesn't normally reveal the identities of sexual assault victims, but in particular case, Megan Williams' parents say they want people to know what happened to their daughter. They want her name to be out there so that people can protect their kids and learn from this incident.
Right now Miss Williams is here at this hospital in Charleston, where she is recovering. And meanwhile, six suspects are being held in Logan, West Virginia, about an hour and a half drive from here, really not far from where police say that Williams was held captive.
And police reports really indicate that it was Frankie -- and they allege that Frankie Lee Brewster and her son, Bobby Brewster, were really the ringleaders in this rape and kidnapping case. But also four other suspects: George Messer, as well as Alisha and Karen Burton, a daughter and a mother, and Danny Combs are also facing very serious criminal charges.
All of these suspects have extensive criminal charges, a history of criminal charges with Logan -- with the Logan Sheriff's Department, including a lot of charges that involve violence.
In fact, Frankie Lee Brewster was in prison for five years in the '90s. She pled out to a voluntary manslaughter charge that was connected to the death of her son's grandmother, Don.
LEMON: All right. CNN's Brianna Keilar. Thank you for that update, Brianna.
PHILLIPS: This is one of those stories about Iraq that bears every hallmark of the war: senseless violence, a sliver of optimism and an innocence of human face.
The world first came to known a brutally wounded little boy because of CNN's reporting, and today we see action to help him.
CNN's Arwa Damon takes it from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This has been an amazing journey for 5-year-old Youssif and his family, a dream come true, a dream that Youssif's parents risked their lives to tell by telling their story to the world, the story of their 5-year-old son whose face was grotesquely disfigured after masked men poured gasoline on him and set him on fire.
Their journey from Amman, Jordan, took 24 hours to complete. They finally arrived here in Los Angeles, California, to begin months long, if not a yearlong medical treatment for their son.
The family arrived in California, was greeted by Barbara Friedman and other members of the Children's Burn Foundation. They came forward, offering to help Youssif and his family here.
We're in front of the Grossman Burn Center, where Youssif is going to be receiving his medical treatment.
The family, when they arrived in the United States, was so struck by the reality that they were finally here that they were left speechless. All they could say was that this felt like a dream come true, that they felt like they were in paradise.
Youssif's mother, when they arrived at their new apartment, stepped out and said, "My God. You can't hear the gunfire. You can't hear the bullets or the explosions."
This is a family that lived in a small, one-room home in a violent Baghdad neighborhood, where their son suffered a horrific attack, and now they have found themselves in a two-bedroom, one- living room home, filled with toys for Youssif, where he began to play almost immediately upon arrival, despite being exhausted from the trip. He and his family laughing, screaming, shouting. Such a true pleasure to finally see this family taking such joy in what was happening around them when they have suffered so much.
This journey that they're undertaking largely due to the outpouring of support that came from viewers, various organizations that put their names forward, wanting to help. The U.S. embassy that helped expedite the family's travel documents that allowed them to finally come to the United States.
This is, though, the beginning of what is sure to be a very painful process for Youssif and his family. He's expected to have to undergo multiple surgeries. Treatment lasting anywhere from nine months to about a year and a half. And there's, of course, the grave concern of the psychological impact that the attack has had on this little child.
But right now, all the family can really concentrate on and focus on is that the risk they took has finally paid off. This is a dream come true for them. And they now know that, at the very least, they gave it their best shot and that their little boy is going to be receiving the best treatment that is out there, in hopes that in the future he'll have a relatively normal life.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So what's next for Youssif and his family? We're going to talk to someone from the group that made this trip of mercy possible, that made hope for his family possible, as well. That's next hour right here on CNN.
And since CNN first brought you the story of Youssif, thousands of you have offered to help out. You still can with CNN's Impact Your World initiative. Just log onto our Web site, CNN.com/impact, and you, too, can make a difference.
LEMON: After two days of the Capitol Hill treatment, General David Petraeus will head back to Iraq, freshly grilled by Congress. But first, he'll join us, live, coming up in just a few minutes. We'll talk troop levels, political progress, deployments and withdrawals.
Make sure you stay with CNN. General David Petraeus speaks live with our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, at about 1:45 p.m. Eastern right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Reversing the surge. Two days after Petraeus told Congress he hopes to have roughly 30,000 fewer troops in Iraq by next July, President Bush is preparing a speech to the nation.
It's scheduled for tomorrow evening. CNN, of course, will bring it to you live, and the expected drawdown is expected to be the headline. I say expected because at least for today, White House spokesman Tony Snow doesn't want to speak for the boss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: First, let the president announce what he plans to do.
Secondly, the enemy has been significantly degraded. You're assuming, Ed, that U.S. forces would leave with a strong enemy in place. It has always been the contention here that you -- you time your troop movements related to facts on the ground. And if you have a strong and capable opponent that's capable of sort of waiting and hiding and then inflicting that mass destruction, you're not going to leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And a reminder for you, the president's speech airs at 9 p.m. Eastern tomorrow, but you'll want to tune in at 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific, for a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM" right here on CNN.
PHILLIPS: The headline is frighteningly familiar, a powerful earthquake strikes near Indonesia, sending people into the streets.
Today, a quake with a magnitude of 8.4 struck in the Indian Ocean, killing at least three people in western Indonesia and damaging buildings 400 miles away for -- away in Jakarta.
Tsunami warnings were issued, and a small tsunami around two feet high was detected on Sumatra, several hundred miles from the quake's epicenter. Those warnings have now been canceled.
While strong, today's quake is still about nine times weaker than the 2004 quake that set off that tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people.
In this hemisphere, a familiar refrain: tropical weather. Heavy rains in southeast Texas as well. Chad Myers here with an update on the latest threat to the coast.
Hey, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kyra, this thing is really developing quickly and very close to Houston and Galveston. Now, the good news is it is so close to Houston and Galveston that it's not going to have three days to run and become a Category 5 hurricane. This will actually be onshore later on today. You can almost see the spin.
Just check out right about there. This rain going that way and that rain going that way. And so we do know that it is now a tropical depression. It's Tropical Depression nine. And I know you're probably not keeping track at home.
You're saying what happened to eight? Well, eight's out there, too. We'll just -- it's not that close. So, we'll talk about nine first. Then we'll go back to eight.
Here's the storm now. You can see the clouds really building up there, Corpus Christi and Houston. And we are really concerned about the potential flooding. Not street flooding and coastal flooding because of storm surge. But because this thing isn't going to move very fast, we're going to get a lot of rain over Houston, and we show you that rainfall in Houston and flooding all the time. You get a couple inches an hour in Houston, and it just starts to flood there.
Now we'll go back to Tropical Depression No. 8. Why is it eight? Well, because it formed before nine did. It's just so far out there, it's of no threat, at least at this point. It may make its way up toward the Leeward Islands, maybe even toward the Virgin Islands by Monday or even into Tuesday, but for now it's still way out there in the Atlantic.
So what's going on today? A frontal boundary that's very close to Houston will be stopping some of this rain and forcing this rain, this air, into the sky. That air going up into the sky will have the potential to make flooding rainfall there.
Same story all the way across into Florida, as well.
Nice weather across the upper Midwest, all the way through the Great Lakes. Temperatures really couldn't be nicer up there. Look at the high today in Minneapolis, 66. Chicago, 64. And Detroit, 64.
And in a little bit, I will tell you what this map means and where you can find it on the Internet. That was the epicenter of the earthquake. Every different color is one hour. If there was a tsunami, you could count how long it would take to get to you. One hour, two hours, three hours, four.
Well, this happened at a little after 7 Eastern Time. So we're already, what six hours away, -- count it. And if there would be a tsunami, it would almost be approaching the west coast there of Africa. Right now, though, no warnings so far.
Guys, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Part of our new fancy technology.
MYERS: Love it. Love the colors.
PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Chad.
LEMON: Top toy makers are called to Capitol Hill and promise lawmakers they're not playing around when it comes to stricter safety standards.
PHILLIPS: Plus, thousands of diabetics take Avandia to help control their blood sugar. How many people are putting themselves at risk for heart failure? Disturbing numbers from a new study.
LEMON: And doctors said his spinal cord injury could have killed him. Now hopes soar as an NFL player makes some astonishing moves.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: After two days of the Capitol Hill treatment, General David Petraeus will head back to Iraq, freshly grilled by Congress. But, first, he'll join us, live, coming up in just a few minutes. We'll talk troop levels, political progress, deployments and withdrawals.
Make sure you stay with CNN. General David Petraeus speaks live with our very own Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, a little bit later on, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: Whatever may conceivably await U.S. troops in Iraq, it's running their heads as they file into the giant plane for the long flight into that war zone. CNN's Gary Tuchman took the same flight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At an air base in a country we cannot disclose for security reasons, Army soldiers board an Air Force C-130. They are part of the surge. They are on their way to Iraq.
(on camera) This huge transport plane is packed with soldiers going into the war zone. Some seem relaxed and are able to sleep. But many others are too nervous to do so.
We just crossed the border into Iraq, and for many of these troops, this is the first time they've ever been here. And they're all aware of how indiscriminate the loss of life has been.
(voice-over) You look at faces and wonder what they're thinking. Specialist Kevin Duong of California has been deployed for the first time and says he's ready.
SPC. KEVIN DUONG, U.S. ARMY: Pretty cool. I might reenlist after my four years.
TUCHMAN: But ask the new soldier if he would change anything about the length and number of deployments in this war, and he says...
DUONG: Maybe we should, you know, like send some soldiers home who's been here for probably, like, longer than two years. Give them a break.
TUCHMAN: What about those soldiers who keep coming back? Sergeant Juan Rivera of Florida is here for the third time.
(on camera) Is it hard to keep the same enthusiasm? SGT. JUAN RIVERA, U.S. ARMY: I think it is hard, yes.
TUCHMAN: Are you coming back again?
RIVERA: Most likely, yes.
TUCHMAN: And how does that make you feel? Honestly.
RIVERA: It's just hard.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They fly in a stark, windowless cabin, many of them not aware of the challenges happening in the cockpit one level above.
The Air Force flight crew has to keep an eye out for insurgent attacks, particularly as they take off and land.
MAJOR PHILLIP CLINTON, U.S. AIR FORCE: What we're looking for is either, like, a shoulder-launch rocket, an anti-aircraft artillery, or even small arms.
TUCHMAN: They fly several flights across Iraq a day, more than eight hours of flying. Also taking soldiers out of the war zone to go back home.
Specialist Travis Pierce has been here a year.
(on camera) Is it hard to keep morale up when you're here so long?
SPC. TRAVIS PIERCE, U.S. ARMY: It comes and goes. It's like a roller coaster. Sometimes it's hard to keep morale. Other times it's easy to come by. It just depends on the people you hang around, your friends, other soldiers.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Sergeant Melinda Perry is also going home. She has four small children but says if the war goes on, she'll probably be back.
(on camera) How does this war end?
SGT. MELINDA PERRY, U.S. ARMY: Us winning.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): When this war started, many troops felt victory would come when Saddam Hussein was caught. Now three-quarters of a year after his execution, it's hard for many troops to answer what signifies a win.
PERRY: I don't know, but just sticking together and doing what we have to do and doing what we're told to do.
TUCHMAN: This war has now been going on for four and a half years. The youngest soldiers on this plane were in junior high school when it began.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Don't forget, the president's speech airs at 9 p.m. Eastern tomorrow, but you'll want to tune in at 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 Pacific, for a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM", right here on CNN.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rusty Dornin in Atlanta, where a lot of parents want to know exactly where their toys are made, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It is a controversy that saw millions of parents rushing to check their kids' toy boxes this summer. Now, the head honcho of the toy giant Mattel is addressing a Senate subcommittee about his company's massive recalls. Twenty-one million products were pulled from the store shelves just in the past few weeks over concerns about lead paint and other issues.
The source of many of the safety hazards: Chinese subcontractors who made the toys for Mattel. CEO Robert Eckert is pleading (sic) to work even harder to make sure the company's products are safe.
PHILLIPS: Even as toy company CEOs defend themselves before lawmakers today, parents are left to wonder -- wander story aisles, rather, wondering what's safe their kids.
CNN's Rusty Dornin is actually at a toy store in Dunwoody, just outside Atlanta. She's been talking to people all about this.
And I'm hoping the toys you have been holding, playing with -- yes, Rusty, don't disappoint my nephews, OK? Tell me that's a safe one.
DORNIN: Well, they're -- most all of them are imported. That does not mean they're unsafe. But something to make very clear, of course, there have been recalls of millions of toys but, of course, not all the toys are unsafe. But most of them are not made here in the United States.
We're here with Becky Goblish, from Picayune Toys in Dunwoody.
Are you getting calls from people? What are they asking?
BECKY GOBLISH, STORE OWNER: They're asking where can we buy things made in the USA? And I tell them good luck with finding that.
DORNIN: Why good luck? I mean, you've got a little toy store here...
GOBLISH: We have a little toy store and we're a specialty toy store. But we have all of our toys, just about, come from China. China, China. These do some from Thailand. I will say this about this company. They are made of renewable wood and organic dyes. They're not painted, which is good.
This is China. All this little stuff here is China.
This is a German company, but even their products are made -- or their components are made in China.
DORNIN: And you find that most of the components and that sort of thing.
GOBLISH: Yes.
DORNIN: You and your husband went looking for things made in the United States. What did you come up with?
GOBLISH: This one, two, three. And these simply because they're locally made. But the components actually probably came from China.
DORNIN: Oh, my goodness. OK.
GOBLISH: That's it.
DORNIN: All right. Here with us is Leigh also, who's here with her daughter, Alicia. I think you might have seen her a little earlier.
You were telling me you're not that concerned, really. Or even if you -- I mean, you're concerned, but your pocketbook is driving it, right?
LEIGH EIBERGER, SHOPPER: Yes, I mean, I hear toys made in America cost a lot more, and that's tough when you have several kids, you know. That gets really expensive when you go to the stores.
DORNIN: But does it still make you want to read the labels of what's on there, just to make sure?
EIBERGER: I'm not sure even if I read the labels that I would understand what I'm looking for.
DORNIN: Is it going to change buying habits for -- or your buying for Christmas?
EIBERGER: Probably.
DORNIN: In what way?
EIBERGER: Well, I think I'll buy things that aren't painted.
DORNIN: Going to be very difficult.
EIBERGER: Things that are stuffed, maybe.
DORNIN: OK. All right, great. Thanks for joining us.
A lot of parents very concerned but not really sure what to do. Paying close attention to this testimony and just hoping that toy manufacturers and China, who has now agreed, of course, to stop putting lead paint in toys shipped to the United States, will stick to that -- what they said they'd do.
PHILLIPS: OK, Rusty, something that caught my attention, back at the beginning. Organic toys? I mean, we've heard about this whole organic push and how popular that's become and, you know, how healthy really is an organic something. Now we're hearing about organic toys. What does that mean, organic toys?
DORNIN: Organic toys. Well, let me go ahead and ask Becky here.
She's asking, what do they mean by organic toys?
GOBLISH: They're dyed. Rather than paint, they're using, like...
DORNIN: Vegetable dyes?
GOBLISH: Vegetable dyes. Yes.
DORNIN: And also it's just -- it's also just plain wood.
GOBLISH: It's plain wood.
DORNIN: Part of those toys are unpainted. And then I guess what else they use on them are just vegetable dyes and that sort of thing. OK.
GOBLISH: Uh-huh, that's what they're telling us.
DORNIN: OK. So -- you have to believe the manufacturer once again.
PHILLIPS: Right.
DORNIN: That nothing else is being used in the toy.
PHILLIPS: OK.
DORNIN: But many of these have components from all over, you know. It's -- part of it is made in Italy, maybe.
PHILLIPS: There could be a number of places that put together just one toy. Interesting.
DORNIN: Exactly. The components from all over.
PHILLIPS: All right, Rusty Dornin, you've been all over that toy store. Thank you so much.
DORNIN: Having fun!
PHILLIPS: Yes, I know you are. You always do.
Well, toys are the topic of today's news quiz. How much of the world's toys are made in China? We're going to tell you just a little bit later right here in the NEWSROOM.
LEMON: Many of those toy companies are publicly traded. We want to talk now about the huge downturn in the housing market when it comes to business. It has produced some astonishing effects. Some people are choosing to protect their credit cards instead of protecting their homes.
Susan Lisovicz live at the New York Stock Exchange.
Susan, does that really make sense to do that?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It defies logic in a lot of ways, Don, but, you know, in some ways, you know, if you're -- if you're paying off your credit cards before your mortgage, I guess part of the psychology is that, you know, you're able to manage your more pedestrian expenses.
But, you know, the -- the thinking is that people would do just about anything to save their homes. Not anymore, according to some of these findings. Now many debt-ridden people are doing everything possible to save their plastic.
It's something CNN/money first reported in June. Debt counselors continue to see it. One debt counselor we spoke to says they see it every day. Consumers who are up-to-date with their credit cards but have homes that are in or on the verge of foreclosure.
It could explain why we're seeing high foreclosure rates but relatively few credit card delinquencies. It seems odd, and it's taken credit counselors by surprise. One counselor we spoke to says a lot of it is psychological, that consumers feel better if they can keep three credit cards current and let their house fall past due. But at least they still have access to credit.
Of course, the credit record would certainly be tarnished if your home went into foreclosure, Don.
LEMON: Yes, OK. You're right. You said it defies logic. We'll stop there.
But one thing this effect -- it's having another effect on the housing market, this downturn. It's literally changing the landscape. And depending on how you look at it, it could be good.
I've never understood this, why people need such huge homes. Always less is more. The more home you have, those McMansions, the more you've got to clean, the more upkeep. The yard's bigger; blah, blah, blah. On and on.
LISOVICZ: And it costs more.
LEMON: Yes. Utilities.
LISOVICZ: The designer kitchen, your big home office, your personal gymnasium.
LEMON: Yes.
LISOVICZ: The much-derided McMansion may be shrinking with all those extras such as the designer kitchen. It was a huge trend through the housing boom of the last decade.
Now home builders have decided to downsize -- downsize not only their businesses but the size of the new homes they're building. "The Wall Street Journal" says tighter financing has forced builders and buyers to opt for smaller floor plans.
Another reason we should mention is the credit crunch. It's just tougher to afford those bigger homes. "The Journal" pointing that out over the last three decades, that the size of the American home has grown by nearly 50 percent.
Some folks won't be sorry to see an end. I should say many folks won't be sorry to see an end to the McMansion.
(STOCK REPORT)
LISOVICZ: Fast foods may not be the healthiest option, but there are a few healthy or healthier choices to feed your kids. I'll have more on that in the next hour of NEWSROOM.
For the kids that we don't have, but we're -- for aunts and uncles that we are. We're very good at that, aren't we, Kyra and Don?
LEMON: Oh, yes. I look forward to that.
And you know what? Back to the home thing. It's always sad when the little bungalow or cottage neighborhoods, and then you see these -- you know, cute little homes...
LISOVICZ: You live in one.
LEMON: And then these big homes next door. It just kind of destroys it.
LISOVICZ: That's where zoning comes in. And I love those bungalows.
LEMON: Yes.
LISOVICZ: I know that. I know it's Ashland -- it's Highland area, right, of Atlanta?
LEMON: Yes.
LISOVICZ: I'm not going to -- I'm not going to disclose the exact address, but I've memorized it. Mr. Lemon, I've memorized it.
LEMON: Come hang out with me. We'll play in the garden. Thank you, Susan.
LISOVICZ: Got it. PHILLIPS: Discovering the secrets of the Sierra Madre. As the search for Steve Fossett continues, there is still no sign of the missing adventurer, but there are clues to other disappearances.
Details straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, as we told you at the top of the show, President Bush is preparing a speech to the nation. It's scheduled for tomorrow evening. CNN, of course, will bring it to you live. And a drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq is expected to be the headline.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux just got out of the daily White House briefing. She has more for us.
Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.
We are -- have been told that the president has had at least 20 drafts of this speech. It's going to be about 20 minutes or so. It is going to be very important address to the nation tomorrow evening and really, a lot of questions coming out of this, of course, even before he delivers it.
First of all is whether or not -- it's not so much of a plan but whether or not it is inevitable. There is a certain (INAUDIBLE). That that is because President Bush will be announcing that, yes, he's going to take the recommendations of military to pull out some 30,000 troops, part of that surge.
But military planners all along have been saying that that is (INAUDIBLE) they plan to do that they could not sustain such a surge beyond next year. President Bush will talk about that happening by July of next year.
So, what we're hearing from the president, what we will hear, is really trying to gain some political capital here, if you will. To make the argument that enough progress has been made (ph), at the very least to pull out those additional troops (INAUDIBLE) some time ago, a lot of Democrats, even some Republicans here, saying, asking the question, is this really anything new? Is it a new strategy, a new plan?
We heard from Tony Snow trying to make the arguments to say something here is working. And that this is, in fact, a new strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This seems to be an opportunity, whether people want to seize it politically. It seems to be an opportunity to get together to do two things -- No. 1, if you believe in the troops and support them, why don't you acknowledge and celebrate their success? I mean, this ought to be a time for people to say, job well done!
And the second thing is, to ask the question, what do you need? And that is because there are bad guys out there, Helen, and they don't want to go away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And, Kyra, what we also heard, really kind of various arguments from Tony Snow -- on the one hand, really trying to change the nature of the debate and even the discussion, saying that the question really is are the Iraqis into this, do they give a rip, is what he said in his words. And then, he seemed to attack the critics as well, suggesting that they are trying to change the subject, that this is a cat-and-mouse game, to take the blinders off.
Really kind of all over the place when it comes to trying to make the case here, convince people that this is not kind of the same business-as-usual. But it's been a really tough argument to make, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, it hasn't been business as usual for Tony Snow. Today actually was his last day, right?
MALVEAUX: Absolutely, and he took every single last question. He started off -- people applauded him when he came into the room. By the time he left, there was a lot of back-and-forth here. I mean, it was just as contentious as day No. 1. Really, people not letting up on any of the questions.
But he seemed to enjoy the back-and-forth, as he always has. And it's his very last. So he was having fun with it.
PHILLIPS: And he continues to undergo treatment for the cancer, is that right?
MALVEAUX: That's right. Yes, it's going to be a different phase of his treatment, I had a chance to obviously talk to him about that. It's going to be ongoing treatment. It's really a maintenance routine. He says next week, he is going to go on vacation with his family, and then he's looking at writing speeches and speaking to charities, that type of thing. He's really very important to him specifically to talk about recovering from cancer and working with other people who have done the same -- Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux from the White House. Sure appreciate it.
And don't forget, the president's speech airs at 9:00 p.m. Eastern tomorrow, but you'll want to tune at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 Pacific for a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM" right here on CNN.
LEMON: Let's talk about the weather now in this hemisphere. A familiar refrain: tropical weather, heavy rains, and in southeast Texas.
Chad Myers here with an update on the very latest threat to our coast. Chad, tell us about it.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I got good news and bad news. What do you want first?
LEMON: Let's do the bad news, and then we'll follow it up with some good news.
MYERS: OK.
LEMON: All right, you want to do it the other way?
MYERS: No, no, it doesn't matter.
LEMON: Do your way.
MYERS: I can't even tell you which one's good, which one's bad because the good news is there's going to be tropical weather. The bad news is, I guess, there's going to be tropical weather.
But the good news about the tropical weather is that it is so close to Texas right now that it's not going to have a chance to really get going. This is very warm water. This thing could be a category something in three days. The good news is, by 8:00 tonight, see the spin right there? By 8:00, it's going to be over land. And as soon as you lose contact with the water of the center, then you lose the energy, and then it all starts going down to nothing.
But it will be a localized, what I will consider, flood-maker. A flood-maker for the Houston area, for maybe Lake Charles. Maybe all the way over into New Orleans. But notice, just -- this is overnight. And then, wow! Man, did that thing get big, just in the past, oh, I'd say less than ten hours, it really got itself together, got organized, and if it had time to run, it would be a much bigger storm.
But it's still going to have a lot of humidity, a lot of moisture and it's going to run right over Houston. See that? That's a TS. They expect this to actually get a name, it would be Humberto. About 45 miles per hour as it makes its run just to the south of Galveston and then -- not that far from Victoria.
But as you turn up toward the north and then on up, this is already Friday. So, it only moves from here to here, from now until Friday. So that means this thing's going to be around for a very long time and even though it's not going to be a wind-maker -- it's only 35 miles per hour, maybe up to 40. It's not going to be a flood, storm surge-maker like obviously Katrina was, it will be a freshwater flood maker, which means that's the rainwater flood, not saltwater.
There's the next one, there's tropical depression number eight. The one before was tropical depression number nine. Because it actually formed after that one did. But, this may get a name before this one does, anyway -- Don?
LEMON: Nine. Number nine?
MYERS: Yes, I know.
LEMON: Number nine, you remember that? All right, well, let's hope it doesn't do any damage and it sort of peters out. Thank you very much, Chad.
MYERS: Your welcome.
PHILLIPS: About 1:40 p.m. Eastern time right now, here's three of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.
7,000 miles from home and a whole new world of hope for a little Iraqi boy. Five-year-old Youssif has arrived in California to begin treatment for his disfigured burns. His -- he meets, actually, with a surgeon today. Youssif was doused with gasoline and set on fire by the attackers as he played outside of his home back in Iraq. We're going to be following his story closely in the days and months to come.
Strong aftershocks continue to cause concern in Indonesia after about an 8.4 magnitude earthquake earlier today. At least three people have been killed and a tsunami watch is in effect for 24 countries in that region.
President Bush will address the nation tomorrow night. He's expected to support the drawdown of 30,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by next summer. That was the recommendation of General David Petraeus in charge of Iraq operations. We're going to hear from the general himself in a live interview in half an hour.
LEMON: Doctors feared he'd be paralyzed by this hit. Well, today, an NFL tight end is down, but not out, in Buffalo. We'll have the details for you on that hit right there. Straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's supposed to help control Type II diabetes, but it's putting thousands of diabetics at risk of heart failure. We'll have details on a new drug study, later in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We'll have news in just a moment. But first, Chad Myers with more on that tropical weather that's taking place -- Chad?
MYERS: Yes, you know what, we always get the 2:00 update about 15 minutes early, and this is 16 minutes early.
Here we go now, this is Humberto. This actually now was a tropical depression just a little bit ago, but they did find winds at 45 miles per hour. So, they've upped it now to Tropical Storm Humberto. What it is going to do is bring an awful lot of rainfall, flooding rainfall, to the Texas coast -- wrong map here -- Texas coast here. This rainfall id going to be coming into Sweeney and to Galveston, all the way up. And as it moves inland, it may even affect the areas east of there. We're calling maybe Lake Charles, maybe even to New Orleans.
But the low, the low itself, the center, it won't be an eye, expected to travel right over Houston, and put down six to 10 inches of rain. And Houston, you know what six to 10 inches of rain will do. And have you go back over here toward the bayou, sure, there's just a lot of water, and swampy areas through here, but you can still flood Lake Charles. And certainly, could get some heavy rainfall into New Orleans. You know what could happen there if the pumps don't do what they're supposed to do.
Kyra, Don, back to you.
PHILLIPS: We don't want to talk about those pumps and those levees. We do not want to see any bad news on that front.
OK, we'll keep tracking it, thanks, Chad.
MYERS: All right, you're welcome.
LEMON: News from medicine now. After the head-crunching impact that left him fighting for his life in a hospital, heart-warming news today about Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett. Some doctors are saying that he's shown promising movement and may, in fact, walk again. The surgeon who actually operated on him after Sunday's tackle will just say that he's shown improvement. But Everett's family and teammates are full of hope.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT ROYAL, BUFFALO BILLS: Looked great compared to what he looked like when I saw him on Sunday. Yesterday was a sign of relief for not only us as his teammates but also for his mother and his girlfriend that was there in attendance.
You know, Kevin was talking to them, and he was responsive, obviously he couldn't talk because of the tubes that was in his mouth, but he was able to shake his head and smile a little bit and actually move his arms and legs just a slight -- just a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A spinal cord expert, now optimistic about Everett's condition, says the key here was a treatment done just minutes after the athlete was removed from the field. Everett was put into a hypothermic state. His temperature lowered with an icy cold saline solution. That reduced the swelling and movement and helps protect the spinal cord.
PHILLIPS: It's supposed to help Type II diabetics keep their blood pressure in check, but a new study shows that some people who take the drug Avandia are dramatically upping their risk of another kind of trouble.
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Imagine you're taking a drug to help your diabetes, and it ends up increasing your chances of having a heart attack?
Well, that's what a new study says a drug called Avandia does. The study in the "Journal of the American Medical Association," says Avandia increased the risk of heart attacks by 42 percent and doubled the risk of heart failure. If that's true, it means that thousands of heart attacks are suffered every year because of Avandia.
Now, some are saying that this is a sign that the Food and Drug Administration needs to change the way it approves drugs. Now, bottom line for people who are taking this drug? Talk to your doctor, because there are other drugs that you can take. The maker of the drug, GlaxoSmithKline, they say that the drug is safe, if used as directed.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Recently, the Federal Drug Administration ordered black box warnings on both Avandia and another diabetic drug, Actose (ph), warning patients that they should be monitored for possible heart-related side effects.
LEMON: A few minutes ago, we asked you how much of the world's toys are made in China? And here's the answer for you: 80 percent, mainly because of their low-cost labor and production. Again, 80 percent because of the low-cost labor and production.
A month after millions of contaminated toys were pulled off store shelves in America, officials in China have agreed to ban lead paint in toy production.
CNN's Christine Romans reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a Product Safety summit in Washington, promises from American and Chinese officials to protect consumers.
WEI CHUANZHONG, CHINESE PRODUCT SAFETY AGENCY (through translator): The Chinese government attaches great importance to improve the quality of exported toys.
ROMANS: The Consumer Products Safety Commission and China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine signed a joint statement in which Chinese officials promised to immediately stop using lead paint in toys. Acting CPSE chairwoman Nancy Nord hailed, "significant forward progress" in bringing Chinese products in line with U.S. standards. Besides lead paint on toys, the two agreed to improve the safety of Chinese-made fireworks, toys, lighters, and electrical products.
At the same time, though, China's safety official said overall, China's exported toys are of, "high quality." He said design flaws from American firms were responsible for most of the dangerous products recalled this year. And Nord had a warning for toy makers.
NANCY NORD, CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION: No longer can industry tolerate and ask no questions mentality, when making, ordering and purchasing products.
ROMANS: The Chinese promised more testing of toys bound for the United States and cooperation when there is a recall, helping American authorities trace hazardous shipments to the source.
JANELL DUNCAN, CONSUMERS UNION: It's a long overdue good start. And the devil will be in the details, and the timing. When will these -- when will these new measures be put into place? What will be the enforcement mechanisms to ensure that the promises are kept?
ROMANS: A good start, consumer advocates say, 20 years after toy makers began moving production to China.
Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Disorder in the court. We have a judge fed up with an uncooperative defendant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your attorney has been in to see you on numerous occasions. You have spit on him, you've refused to talk him. This trial is still going forward on Monday. You have a weekend to change your attitude, Mr. Hollingsworth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So, what happened to courtroom decorum?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The sheriff called the scene a horror movie. Now, the Feds are involved and hate-crime charges may be added to the list. Coming up, did the alleged victim have a prior relationship with one of the suspects?
LEMON: It's one of the most bizarre stories you're going to see today. Take a look at this one. Attitude adjustment needed when a restrained defendant doesn't feel bound by courtroom etiquette.
Glen McIntyre from our affiliate WBNS reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLEN MCINTYRE, WBNS REPORTER (voice-over): Wendell Hollingsworth and Judge Julie Lynch didn't exactly start off on the right foot Friday when he accused her and his attorney of religious bias and ordered them off his case.
JUDGE JULIE LYNCH, FRANKLIN CO., OHIO COMMON PLEAS COURT: Your attorney has been in to see you on numerous occasions. You have spit on him, you have refused to talk to him. This trial is still going forward on Monday. Mr. Weisman, you are still counsel of record, so you have a weekend to change your attitude, Mr. Hollingsworth.
MCINTYRE: Those hoping for a change of attitude today instead got this.
WENDELL HOLLINGSWORTH: (EXPLETIVE DELETED), (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MCINTYRE: In the melee, Hollingsworth's attorney cut his hand and a deputy caught the wrong end of a taser. Hollingsworth was removed, restrained and returned to court. Calling the trial a farce, he promptly demanded to be taken back to his cell.
HOLLINGSWORTH: (INAUDIBLE) I don't get a fair turn, this ain't no fair trial. (INAUDIBLE).
MCINTYRE: His attorney and the judge attempted to move forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The maximum sentence that he could receive is 104 years.
HOLLINGSWORTH: OK, give it to me now. (EXPLETIVE DELETED), this is unfair, give me 250 years right now. It's unfair.
MCINTYRE: Swearing and shouting over the judge again and again, Hollingsworth repeated his demand for a new attorney. A demand again and again, the judge denied.
LYNCH: Thank you once again for telling me how to do my job.
HOLLINGSWORTH: I tell you, you ain't going to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) treat me fair, and you a Catholic. I'm charged with robbing a Catholic church, I won't get a fair trial. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: That was Glen McIntyre from our affiliate WBNS reporting on that. This is not the first courtroom outburst for Hollingsworth. During a sentencing in a 1992 robbery case, the public defender said he turned to talk to Hollingsworth's mother and his client punched him.
PHILLIPS: Well, Rutgers women's basketball player drops her lawsuit against shock jock Don Imus. Kia Vaughn had sued Imus, CBS Radio, and others last month, claiming slander and defamation. Imus was fired in April after he made racially insensitive remarks about the Rutgers team. A spokeswoman for Vaughn's attorney says Vaughn has decided to focus on her education and basketball. Imus' attorney says his client did not pay Vaughn to drop the suit.
LEMON: Police say this trucker admitted to one murder, but evidence points to the possibility of others. On the road and in cold blood? That's the question, chilling details straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: Some cops in Florida put this gator in a headlock. Now, they could be in trouble. We'll have that story, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Police in Altamonte Springs, Florida, may be in hot water after wrestling match with an eight-foot long alligator. Residents of an apartment complex called the cops when they spotted the gator. Cops eventually were able to release the gator back into a lake, but state officials are pretty upset. Policy dictates that gators longer than four feet are killed because they are considered dangerous.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
LEMON: He's a four-star general and a battle-scarred veteran of some high-pressured hearings on Capitol Hill.
PHILLIPS: Today this hour, David Petraeus talks live with CNN's Barbara Starr about the war in Iraq, the troops he plans to send home, and the pressure he feels from the armchair generals in Congress.
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