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Landslide in La Jolla, California; Underground Rescue Under Way in South Africa; New Theory in Phoenix Airport Death

Aired October 04, 2007 - 09:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody.

I'm Heidi Collins.

Watch events come in to the NEWSROOM live on this Thursday morning. It is October 4th.

Here's what's on the rundown now.

The day the earth moved. Look at these pictures. So did a hundred families, though. Incredible pictures of a San Diego area landslide.

HARRIS: They are coming up and out today, thousands of South African gold miners trapped underground.

COLLINS: Nooses at the Coast Guard Academy. A congressman demanding an investigation.

He speaks out live in the NEWSROOM.

Living on the edge. A section of a street swallowed up, homes destroyed and damaged by a landslide in California.

Kara Finnstrom is joining us now from La Jolla, California, right outside San Diego.

Kara, describe the scene that you are seeing around you.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really unbelievable. For a lot of these families who, some of them say they had no idea that this danger existed here, they're just staring at this in awe.

Now, overnight, the mayor declared a state of emergency here. He is looking for state and federal dollars to help this community deal with this massive sinkhole that has opened up. It's about the size of a half of a football field across, as well as the big landslide that that triggered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSSELL MOORE, RESIDENT: This is not a surprise. The surprise factor was, OK, today is the day.

FINNSTROM (voice over): Neighbors here were warned the hillside was moving, but before city engineers could do anything to protect homes, a dramatic show of the force of nature.

MOORE: The asphalt that should be under my feet was eight feet in the air.

FINNSTROM: Evacuated homeowner Russell Moore says a massive sinkhole first swallowed up the street, then the unsupported hillside simply began to roll.

MOORE: We watched the trees snapping and cracking and more boulders coming down to our feet, and we were witnessing this move. Not in a dramatic, "Oh, my god, here comes the dirt," but to see this slow avalanche and hear the groaning of the earth and hear the snapping of the trees.

FINNSTROM (on camera): Well, this is the edge of the slide area. And you can see that the dirt, the grass, the trees, this entire side of the mountain just seemed to slide off right across the street, cover the street, and come into this person's front yard. It's now been marked with a red tag which means it's not safe for anyone living here to come back.

(voice over): At least not until city engineers can take a close look. For two weeks they watched this hillside shift, noting big cracks and a broken water line. Then the night before the slide, engineers almost prophetically warned four families it wasn't safe to sleep at home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were four in the middle of the slide that are considered destroyed and not re-inhabitable. Those were those four individuals.

FINNSTROM (on camera): So you really had it pinpointed before this occurred, the homes that were at most risk?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty closely.

FINNSTROM (voice over): A total of 111 homes were immediately evacuated. The damages to many are not known yet. Engineers believe building practices that wouldn't be approved today and a geologically unsettled hillside are to blame.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shana (ph), I'm here. I'm here.

MOORE: Homeowner Ira Goodman (ph) got a joy as he was reunited with his dog. But he says this rumbling hillside has stirred up all kinds of uncertainties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were able to get Shana (ph), so I'm hopeful that since they got Shana (ph) and didn't tell me anything bad, that the home is in OK shape. I don't know. I really don't know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FINNSTROM: Now, because city engineers knew this earth was shifting, there was some investigational drilling going on here to try to determine exactly what was happening. They also had moved gas and water lines from above the ground -- to above the ground from beneath just as a precaution.

So they're having some questions about whether all of that may have sped the shifting or made it worse. But city engineers say they don't think that's the case. They say they were simply trying to react to what the earth was doing -- Heidi.

COLLINS: So, quickly, Kara, is it over now? I mean, from looking at these pictures it seems like, boy, there certainly could be a lot more that could happen in this area.

FINNSTROM: Well, and that's definitely the question that homeowners here have.

As of late yesterday, city engineers felt that the worst of this particular incident was over. But they are going to continue studying this area to see exactly what's going on. And they say that homeowners really need to learn more about how their homes were constructed, because there are some particular construction techniques that were used about 45 years ago that they feel really make some of the lots here unstable and make these homes less likely to survive any type of shifting.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. All right.

Kara Finnstrom, thanks so much.

HARRIS: Underground rescue under way in South Africa. About a thousand workers still trapped in a gold mine there. Some 2,000 other miners make it out.

CNN's Robin Curnow on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The miners you see behind me have just emerged from the shaft over here, bringing them from this subterranean prison. There's a look of joy and excitement on many of their faces. A lot of them are exhausted, hungry and tired. They get a sandwich and some water when they come out, but many say they just want to go home and sleep.

What is interesting, that this is quite a mixed group. Many women have been trapped down beneath me in that mining accident for the last day and a half. Many of them come out and cry. They say they've been scared. But these women and the men have had a lucky escape, according to the mine and to many of the mining authorities here. No fatalities and no injuries.

Robin Curnow, CNN, Carletonville, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Investigators this morning trying to figure out what caused that deadly fire at a hydroelectric plant in Colorado. The bodies of five workers pulled from an empty water tunnel. Authorities believe the men were likely killed by smoke and fumes from the fire. They were trapped about 1,500 feet underground in a pipeline when the blaze erupted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

None of the bodies had any burn marks on them, and that is what I do know. There was no sign of trauma, there was no sign of any burning. So, you know, I'm sure it had to do with a noxious substance of some kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Four workers did manage to escape. Among other things, authorities are looking into conditions inside the pipeline and what type of training the workers had.

HARRIS: An intense search still going on in Florida right now for a registered sex offender. He is accused of lowering a 15-year- old girl from her home after the two met on the Internet. Authorities hope this newly-released surveillance video will help them find William Joe Mitchell.

Police say the girl was found safe after Mitchell dropped her off a this Florida Wal-Mart. Mitchell was believed to be traveling in a 2000 black Chevrolet Lumina, Florida tag G025EL.

COLLINS: Maybe losing her kids was a wakeup call for Britney Spears. "OK!" magazine reports she may be checking into rehab in Antigua as early as this weekend. She'll reportedly be treated for depression and alcohol abuse.

Spears completed two other stints in rehab earlier this year. She was a no-show at a custody hearing yesterday. A judge ruled she gets supervised visits, but ex-husband Kevin Federline keeps primary custody of their two young boys for now.

HARRIS: Attack at a high school for the death. KKK and swastikas scrawled on the body of a black student.

Hate crime investigation under way.

COLLINS: Also, nooses at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. A congressman calls for an investigation. We'll ask Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings what he wants done.

HARRIS: Handcuffed at a Phoenix airport. A mother dies in police custody. Now a new theory about what may have happened. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Some new information here in the CNN NEWSROOM to tell you about. An armored car heist in the Philadelphia area -- and bear with me as I go through some of these new details that we are just getting in.

According to the Philadelphia Police Department, they are still searching for four suspects -- that's two men and two women -- in this attempted robbery of an armored car. It's near the Wachovia Bank in Northeast Philadelphia.

This left one of the guards dead with a gunshot wound, we are being told. So one person dead, four suspects still on the run. Another guard is also being treated at the scene as we speak. A third guard was grazed by a bullet and is apparently in stable condition.

Of course, we are trying to get some video of the scene for you and we will certainly keep you posted. But once again, a pretty nasty, frightening situation in Northeast Philadelphia, where one guard of a bank has been left dead, another one wounded and another has been treated and is stable.

Four suspects, two men, two women, on the run, being sought after by police of this attempted robbery of an armored car.

We'll stay on top of this one for you.

HARRIS: Swastikas and "KKK" scrawled on an African-American student's body with a marker. Police say it happened at a high school for the deaf on the campus of Gallaudet University in Washington.

Seven students, six white and one black, accused in the attack. Police are investigating it as a hate crime. The provost of Gallaudet says the school will not tolerate this behavior.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN WEINER, GALLAUDET PROVOST (through translator): We have notified parents via written communication regarding the activities that we are now -- that we now have in place. And we have counselors involved in this program, consultants.

We have been doing this. This is an ongoing educational program.

This incident is intolerable. That's why the Metropolitan Police Department is involved. That's how serious we are about this incident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The seven students involved have been sent home. The young man who was attacked is also home with his family.

More on the hate crime investigation later on CNN.

The president of Gallaudet University live in the NEWSROOM, 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

COLLINS: A new theory coming up now in the death of a mother in police custody at the Phoenix airport.

CNN's Joe Johns has the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Carol Ann Gotbaum was a struggling wife and mother and member of a powerful New York City family. Her step mother-in-law is the city's number two elected official.

BETSY GOTBAUM, NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE: Carol was a wonderful, wonderful person. She was a wonderful mother. She was sweet and kind and loving.

JOHNS: Exactly how Gotbaum died is still a mystery. Complete autopsy reports are not in yet. But when you put together the hyper airport security in this country with a stressed out mom who just missed a plane to alcohol rehab, you start seeing how things could really go wrong. And they did. Michael Manning is the family's Arizona lawyer.

MICHAEL MANNING, LAWYER FOR GOTBAUM FAMILY: So she was denied boarding and that is what provoked her emotional meltdown.

JOHNS: Witnesses say Gotbaum screamed that she was not a terrorist, just a mother who needed help. And then struggled with police. Accounts of what happened next are now different from initial reports after her death at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The early speculation was that Gotbaum somehow choked herself with a chain used by police to restrain her when she was left alone in a police lockup.

But the family's lawyer and some experts say she more likely died of something called positional asphyxia, which can come from violent, forceful restraint, such as being placed face down with a knee in the back and handcuffs, creating an inability to breathe. Witnesses say that's how Phoenix police handled Gotbaum, and the family's lawyer says that might have led to her death.

MANNING: That's when you put the body in the position where the body cannot exchange bad air for good air. It can come from a compression of the diaphragm, it can come from bending forward, it can come from having your hands cuffed behind your back, it can come from a struggle in connection with a restraint. Lots of ways it can happen.

JOHNS: The danger of asphyxia when arresting people is well known to police across the country.

EDWARD MAMET, NYPD CAPT. (RET): A person who is thrown face down with someone on top of them cannot breathe. Their chest is compressed. So in a struggle to breathe, they push back to get this weight off of them. The people who are on them think they are fighting them and push harder to hold them down. And it sets off this cycle of compression of the chest and pushing back.

JOHNS: Here's another issue. Phoenix police say they left Gotbaum alone to calm down for between six and eight minutes. Her family lawyer and some experts say that should not have happened.

MAMET: Someone like that would be considered emotionally disturbed person or an EDP. An EDP requires immediate medical attention. Now in the case of EDP, you have to get them under control because they are a danger to both themselves and the general public. But they require immediate medical assistance.

JOHNS (on camera): Phoenix police declined an interview. They have repeatedly said Gotbaum was vocally and physically disruptive in the holding room, but that their officers followed procedure. Several investigations are under way. The family's lawyer says he's not prepared to say whether he will file a lawsuit until the facts are in.

Joe Johns, CNN, Phoenix, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: An international business deal in the making. Could it give China access to some of the Pentagon's secrets?

We'll tell you more after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Race relations at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy under scrutiny this morning. In New London, Connecticut, two nooses, one found by a black cadet, another by a diversity training officer.

Commandant Admiral Thad Allen is at the academy today to address cadets about the service's anti-discrimination policy. The head of the academy says, if caught, those responsible for planting the nooses would face disciplinary action.

Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings is calling for a full investigation. And the congressman joins us now from Washington.

Elijah, great to see you, my friend. It's been a while.

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: Good morning. Good to see you, too.

HARRIS: Well, you know, there has been one investigation into this case already. The culprits have not been found.

What more do you want from Thad Allen?

CUMMINGS: Well, the first thing I want Thad Allen to do today -- and I'm glad he's doing it -- is going up to New London to the Coast Guard Academy and making it clear that we will not tolerate this kind of conduct from our Coast Guard cadets. And by the way, Tony, I'll be going with him and I also will be addressing those cadets.

HARRIS: Oh, that's great. OK.

So, the nooses, let's go backwards a little bit.

We've got these instances at the academy. We've got the nooses in Jena, Louisiana. I know you're all over that story. That happened last September.

Nooses in the police station in Hempstead, Long Island. Black folks using nooses as a so-called training, teaching tool at Grambling.

Are we becoming desensitized to the powerful symbolism of nooses in this country?

CUMMINGS: I think they are -- I think some of this is copycat stuff, Tony. But I think that there are some people who don't like the fact that our country is becoming more and more diverse, and they want to do whatever they can to block that or make people feel uncomfortable.

The nooses to African-Americans is a symbol of hatred, and it takes us back to the times when African-American people were being hung from trees for no reason at all. And so we -- you k now, it's a very offensive kind of thing.

HARRIS: Yes.

CUMMINGS: And so I just think -- but, you know, in the Coast Guard Academy, keep in mind, we're giving these young folks a free education.

HARRIS: Right.

CUMMINGS: These are going to be our future leaders. And the last thing you want are your leaders not being tolerant. And that is one of the reasons I wanted the very head of the Coast Guard to go up there and make it clear that we will not tolerate these kinds of things.

HARRIS: You know, I wonder if these diversity classes, I wonder if these race relations classes are having, in some cases, the opposite effect of hardening attitudes. You know?

No one volunteers to sit down and take a race relations class. So I'm wondering, is that a possibility here, that folks are being forced to sit in these rooms and talk about these very difficult issues, which, I mean, we can make the point that folks need to, but what is happening is that folks are -- you know, don't like the situation, don't like being forced, and because of that, these attitudes are hardening a bit?

CUMMINGS: Well, I think one of the -- part of the Coast Guard honor code, for example, is honor itself. And that is doing those things that are consistent with being a good Coast Guard person. And I've got to tell you, I see it as part of their leadership training. As to others, some people may find it a forced situation, but then the question becomes, Tony, what is the alternative? And race is not something that people like to discuss. And I just -- I just -- I like to think on the very positive side that there will be people who will sit there through this training and say to themselves, you know what? Diversity is something that we are living with.

HARRIS: Yes.

CUMMINGS: It's a good thing, it's not our problem, it's our promise.

HARRIS: Yes. Let me -- maybe to tie this up a little bit, and maybe not, but are we, as African-Americans failing? And I know this has the tent of, you know, the victim reaching out to the victimizer here. And -- but I wonder if we have an obligation to sort of reach out to our white colleagues, that in a way that maybe we haven't to this point, to try to promote some better understanding?

I'll just throw it out there.

CUMMINGS: I think, for example, today, when I address the Coast Guard Academy, I'm going to talk about not only, you know, this incident, but I'm going to talk about how great the institution is.

We've got to keep in mind, Tony, I don't want to just put, you know, a negative light on, say, for example, the Coast Guard. I guarantee you 99 percent of those persons are just absolutely great young people.

HARRIS: Yes.

CUMMINGS: I sit on the board of the Naval Academy and I've met most of those cadets. They are great young people.

But I want to say to them that they should not tolerate it amongst themselves, because they will be judged by their weakest link. So far, we haven't found out who did this...

HARRIS: Right.

CUMMINGS: ... but I think they can help us find that person.

HARRIS: Congressman Cummings, great to see you.

CUMMINGS: Good seeing you.

HARRIS: And we'll talk again soon.

CUMMINGS: All right.

HARRIS: OK.

We have an exclusive interview today with Admiral Thad Allen. He will talk about whether there's racism in the Coast Guard live in the NEWSROOM at 2:00 Eastern. COLLINS: Want to take a moment to update you now on this developing story that we told you about just a few moments ago in Philadelphia, an armored car heist.

Unfortunately, CNN has now confirmed that two bank guards are dead. Unfortunately, they are two people that were guarding the Wachovia Bank. This has all happened in Northeast Philadelphia.

Apparently, according to the Philadelphia Police Department, there are four suspects, two men, two women, still on the loose. They were trying to, obviously, rob this armored car that was at that bank.

Once again, two people, two guards now confirmed dead. There is another who has been injured, apparently grazed by a bullet, but is reportedly in stable condition.

So that is the situation right now. Once again, two men, two women.

We don't have a description to give you just yet, but I imagine we will be getting that hopefully getting very shortly as police are after them, as you might imagine. Clearly armed and dangerous.

We'll continue to stay on top of this situation for you.

HARRIS: And right now, let's take you to the New York Stock Exchange. We're just seconds away from the opening bell.

And as we get the business day started, look. The Dow opens at -- ah, there it is. There's the moment. We're off to the races now.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: Where is that Ali Velshi?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm here.

HARRIS: There you go.

Good morning -- Ali.

VELSHI: I'm right here. It's a more exciting -- it's a more exciting shot to look at that New York Stock Exchange, which is, by the way, about 20 points higher right now just as we get started. But I am going to -- I'm hearing that music.

Does that means I'm going to tell you what I'm doing and come back or am I going to tell you right now?

All right, you know what?

I'm going to come back and tell you about the toys that you need to buy for your kids for Christmas and why they may not be on the shelves.

Stay with me. We're coming back in THE NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And living on the edge -- a landslide destroys some California homes. Others are left on the brink of collapse. We'll have the latest.

HARRIS: Another powerful senator prepares to step down -- a serious health problem for New Mexico's Pete Domenici.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's see, about 25 before the hour.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning, everyone.

I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Hello, everybody.

I'm Heidi Collins.

Among our top stories this hour, they felt the Earth move right under their feet -- literally. More than 100 homes in a California neighborhood evacuated now because of a landslide. It caused a section of four lane street to collapse. Look at that. It looks like someone took a big cannon ball and dropped it there. Now, homes were destroyed and damaged. And one day earlier, city officials actually warned residents in four homes not to sleep in them because the land might give way.

Residents could not believe their eyes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL MOORE, EVACUEE: The street was -- had upheaval. I don't know a better word to describe it. But the asphalt that should be under my feet was eight feet in the air right in front of me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSS CLARK, LA JOLLA RESIDENT: We saw it come across the road. It was about 25 feet in height. It took out our wall. It took out our neighbor's house. It completely demolished our neighbor's house. It just ripped it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: A city geologist says the current slide has basically come to a rest, but more slippage is possible. We're going to be getting a live update from the scene coming up at the top of the hour.

HARRIS: Also unfolding this hour, trapped in an underground gold mine more than 24 hours and now and counting now. Rescue efforts underway to save about 1,000 miners still stuck in a South African gold mine. More than 2,000 miners making it out alive. The company says an air pipe snapped, knocking out power and disabling an elevator leading to the surface. They insist the workers were not really in danger.

COLLINS: And new now this morning -- progressive brain disease, the reason a longtime U.S. senator is announcing his retirement today. Pete Domenici says his condition can cause problems with his decision making, mood and behavior.

Let's go ahead and bring in CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen now for more on this disease.

What is the senator's condition called?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's called frontotemporal lobar degeneration and it's a form of dementia. Everyone, of course, has heard of Alzheimer's disease. And this is something that is a bit different. It affects different areas of the brain.

Let's take a look at the areas of the brain that are affecting the senator. The frontal lobe, which is the one that is behind your forehead, and the temporal lobe, the one that is over the ear. And this problem can cause all sorts of issues. For example, people have, well, progressive dementia, which we mentioned, and, also, problems with organization, problems with decision making, mood, behavior, communication, personality.

For example, there might -- this might affect someone who is a loving parent and all of a sudden they push their child away or someone who is very good with finances, very responsible, all of a sudden, they start spending wildly. So, as you can imagine, Heidi, sometimes this happens and people say -- a doctor will say oh, they're bipolar. Oh, they are schizophrenic. Oh, they're whatever when it really is this.

COLLINS: So misdiagnosed quite a bit?

COHEN: Yes.

COLLINS: A lot of people might be wondering -- Pete Domenici is 75 years old.

Does it have anything to do with age?

COHEN: Oh, you know what's interesting is that this probably started decades ago for the senator. This form of dementia, unlike Alzheimer's, actually starts when people are often in their 40s or in their 50s. It's even been shown to start at 35. And it starts very slowly.

First, there are some behavior changes. Maybe the person isn't as organized as they used to be. And then over the course of years, it gets to be so bad that eventually the person does get some kind of an MRI or a C.T. scan or something and they can actually see the lobes are shrinking. They can actually see that they're shrinking.

COLLINS: So is that how it's diagnosed?

COHEN: Right. Right. That's how it's diagnosed is they do those tests and they see that the lobes are shrinking.

COLLINS: Wow! Yikes. That sounds very scary.

COHEN: Very scary.

COLLINS: We wish him the very best. Of course, we'll continue to follow his situation.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right, Heidi, let's check in with Reynolds Wolf, in this morning for Rob Marciano.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Well, the holidays are the most crucial time of the year for toy makers and sellers. But with all the recent toy recalls and beefed up testing, analysts are predicting a toy shortage this holiday season?

Ali Velshi here Minding Your Business -- Ali, if you're one of these big stores counting on holiday sales and you're selling toys, principally, what are you thinking?

What are you doing right about now?

VELSHI: Well, think back to last year.

HARRIS: Yes.

VELSHI: TMX Elmo...

HARRIS: Yes.

VELSHI: You know, a big toy. It was constantly selling out. And, obviously, stores don't want to sell out of toys that are big because they want to be able to get every last dollar they can.

HARRIS: Right.

VELSHI: Now you look at this year. There are millions of toys that have been called off the shelves. And, in fact, many of those toys come from China so they come up on ships. It takes a while to get here. There's no just in time manufacturing. They can't replace all of those toys.

So, at this point, one doesn't really know whether this is real or whether this is retailers sounding the alarm. Wal-Mart has cut prices on toys already. Typically what happens is we see Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, as the beginning of the holiday shopping season. And what many shoppers do is they wait until quite late in December to see how much these prices are going to be slashed.

But in this particular case, because there are going to be shortages of the most popular toys, or some toys altogether, it's going to force everybody to buy these other toys and maybe these shortages are going to be more widespread than they've been seen before.

So what happens is if you wait too late, Tony, you could get stuck without anything that's on your list.

HARRIS: Whoa.

And how realistic is this?

I mean we're -- we're really getting close here. We're talking October and then we've got November.

VELSHI: Right.

HARRIS: And I mean this...

VELSHI: Well, like I say, I'm always, you know, it's always kind of fishy as to what's going on in the retail industry.

HARRIS: Yes.

VELSHI: You know, telling people you're going to run out of something is a sure fire way to go out and get them to do it.

HARRIS: To get folks in the store, too, early.

VELSHI: Yes. So what we're doing is we're gathering the various lists that are put out there of the hot toys and we're going to try and figure out from the manufacturers and the retailers over the course of the next few days...

HARRIS: That's why you're the man.

VELSHI: ...what's actually going to be available, what you need to hurry to get and what they've got lots of supplies.

Toys" R" Us says they'll run out of some things, but they'll -- they should have lots of it. Wal-Mart, being one of the biggest sellers of toys in America, will get choice, you know, shipments of things.

HARRIS: Sure.

VELSHI: So, you know, we'll have to see where it goes. But there are probably going to be -- of the top 10 list -- they're probably are going to be a handful that if you don't get them soon, you may not get them.

HARRIS: Yes. See. See.

VELSHI: And then you're going to have to explain to your kid the whole issue of imports and security and lead paint and why they shouldn't swallow their toys.

HARRIS: Oh, god. (INAUDIBLE).

VELSHI: It's very complicated.

HARRIS: Yes.

Ali Velshi minding your business this morning.

Ali, good to see you.

Thanks.

VELSHI: Got it.

COLLINS: For Democrats, the fight is far from finished. The president vetoes an expanded children's health care program. Now, a new strategy on Capitol Hill. We'll tell you all about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We want to take you directly to La Jolla, California now, where we are looking at the beginning of a press conference on the situation with the landslide there.

Let's go ahead and listen in for just a moment.

MAYOR JERRY SANDERS, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: ...those out of their homes and those that are just inconvenienced by all the activity. And I -- we'll be cleaning this up as quickly as we can.

We've got good news this morning. Seventy-five homes will be repopulated by 8:00 a.m. This morning. And we'll have a complete list of those homes available and, in fact, our two scene commanders will fill you in on that in just a second.

That will leave 11 that are -- or, excuse me -- nine that are still red tagged because of structural issues. And they're unsafe at this point. There are 27 that are yellow tagged. Some of those, it's because of access. Some of those we'll have to reevaluate in daylight to see what type of structural damage. But we'll do that as rapidly as we can, also.

With me this morning are Council Members Kevin Faulkner, whose district we're in; Council Member Jim Madaffer. We've also got Fire Chief Tracy German. We've got Rich Hoss (ph), who's the deputy chief operating officer for General Services.

We have got Deputy Chief Brewster -- Fire Chief Brewster, who will fill you in, in just a few minutes, along with Captain Boyd Long. And then we've got other department heads whose crews have been working through the entire night.

I'd like to thank all of the crews who worked the entire night, and that includes San Diego Gas and Electric, who got electricity and gas back into those homes that we were concerned about, have made the repairs that they need to make, at least on a temporary basis.

I'd like to thank our water and wastewater crews for getting water and wastewater service restored to those homes so that we can get people back into their houses today.

I'd like to thank our fire and police and everybody else who was here throughout the night working very hard to make sure we can get our citizens back in their homes and minimizing the damage we have.

Today, what we'll be doing is actually taking a look at what happened. We will be hiring a forensic geology firm, one that will look back to track and trace what happened, probably from the '60s until the present day, and create a time line and give us a definitive answer on why all of this occurred. We have also hired another geology firm to help us plan how to repair the roadway, how to stabilize this entire area, so as we move forward, it's safe for everybody in San Diego.

Today, I have already declared a state of emergency. Council President Scott Peters has scheduled an 8:30 council meeting this morning, even though the council on break this week, so that we can get a resolution passed stating it's a state of emergency. That allows us to access state and federal aid.

We have already been in contact with congressional representatives, Brian Bilbray called immediately yesterday. Senator Boxer's office called immediately and offered aid. The White House called to offer aid. We also have the governor's office, Caltrans. Just about everybody who could possibly help has offered to help us.

And the first step in that is by declaring a state of emergency, which we'll have done very early this morning so we can move ahead.

We'll be coordinating all of that through Council Member Faulkner's office and the mayor's office so that we get the correct people here as quickly as we can to help out those that have lost property or who have suffered some type of loss.

With that, I'm going to turn it over to Deputy Fire Chief Brewster and Captain Boyd Long to talk about the homes and what the situation is overnight.

DEPUTY CHIEF GERRY BREWSTER, SAN DIEGO FIRE-RESCUE BATTALION: Good morning.

I'm Gerry Brewster.

I'm one of the incident commanders the Soledad incident.

The life safety hazard has been greatly reduced overnight in the incident area. As the mayor has said, the personnel worked throughout the night in a unified fashion, both the public and the private sector, to mitigate most of these hazards.

Currently, we're going to begin transitioning from an emergency response mode into a recovery mode. We are going to start opening up 75 homes this morning after 8:00 for reoccupation. And we're going to reassess the ones that we tagged as yellow yesterday.

The fire-rescue department will begin transitioning and reducing the amount of personnel on scene and equipment. However, we'll still be here to assess and assist in the mitigation of any hazards.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Captain Long.

CAPTAIN BOYD LONG, SAN DIEGO FIRE-RESCUE BATTALION: Thank you, Chief Brewster.

The evacuees are encouraged to call the CAPS line, which is the city action phone system, at 619-570-1070. What we would like to do is make sure the information is provided directly to those who are evacuated on which houses are those that represent the 75 that folks will be returning to.

In addition to that, we will be providing this information to anyone who is using the La Jolla High School as an evacuation point. That information will be available there.

In addition, evacuees who come up to the area -- officers, police officers from the San Diego Police Department positioned at each of the traffic posts here or our special events traffic controllers will have access to that information.

We ask that those people returning to their house, to the best of their ability, have information or identification that shows us they are actual residents of that area and they will be allowed back in.

Those areas for the evacuees to return...

COLLINS: All right, so we've been getting an update here just for the past couple of minutes on the landslide and some of this incredible video that we have been getting in overnight in San Diego, California.

Boy, oh boy, it was 111 homes that have been affected. Now, that doesn't mean that they were destroyed, obviously, but affected in some way. And, obviously, those people evacuated from their homes, as well.

This morning, we are just now hearing about 75 of them will be able to go back. There are nine still red tagged, which basically means that they are unsafe and structurally compromised. And then the rest are yellow tagged, so they're still trying to decide on what to do with those.

Workers were there all night long. These are some more of the pictures now of what happened there. Basically, the damage was 50- yards long, 20 feet deep in an area that overlooks Interstate 5. If you're familiar with the area that's a very popular roadway. So, some forensic geology firms have been hired. They're trying to figure out why and how this happened. And another one will help them determine how to rebuild and make sure everything is safe.

HARRIS: And it is turning into a busy morning here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll take you back to Philadelphia now for the first pictures from the scene of that Wachovia Bank. Three armored car guards shot, two of them fatally, in a robbery attempt there outside of the Wachovia branch in Northeast Philadelphia.

As you take a look at these pictures from the scene now, investigators, obviously, are over that scene. Police, as well. Two men, would women were trying to rob that armored car outside of the Wachovia Bank branch when the shooting happened. Two guards were killed. The third guard suffered a graze wound.

We understand one male suspect fled on foot and the other fled in a car. Not immediately known how the two female suspects escaped.

As you can see here and in some of the video we've been showing you, an ATM machine ripped open. But police -- investigators on the scene now as the work continues. Three armored car guards shot, two fatally. This robbery attempt of an armored car outside of a Wachovia Bank branch in Northeast Philadelphia.

We will keep an eye on this situation for you.

COLLINS: Also, stick around. After we take a very quick break, we want to begin showing you some of the first pictures coming in from the Congo. There's been an awful plane crash there. Thirty people dead -- 22 on the plane and then eight on the ground. It crashed into a very crowded area. Again, we'll bring you some of the first pictures in just a moment.

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COLLINS: As promised, we want to show you some of the new pictures coming into us now. The first picture is from the Congo. A horrible plane crash there happening in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is Kinshasa. Apparently this plane is an Antoch 26 (ph), which may not tell you all that much, except that it's not a huge plane. There were 22 passengers on the plane who were killed and then it, unfortunately, crashed into a very crowded area. Eight more people were killed on the ground.

We are trying to get more information in as we go here. But, again, some of the devastating pictures now coming into CNN out of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We will continue to follow this and let you know if we learn any more about that situation.

HARRIS: Also developing this hour, life on the edge -- dozens of homes fall victim to shifting Earth. A San Diego landslide in THE NEWSROOM. A live update from the scene at the top of the hour.

And thousands of workers trapped underground. Now these coal miners see daylight again.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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