Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hurricane Noel; Car Smashes Stroller; Capitol Hill Fire; Gerri's Mail Bag; Sugar Refinery Blast; Who Is She?

Aired November 02, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Is trying to run as a Republican in his home state. I don't think that's going to happen either. He needed to put up $35,000 or so and didn't do it by the deadline. OK.
And the most popular video so far today at cnn.com, stories about the bounty hunter known as Dog. His A&E reality store has been suspended. This follows the release of audio recordings of Duane "Dog" Chapman. He is heard using the "n" word in a rant about his son's African-American girlfriend. Chapman says he was set up.

You know, many of these stories that you will actually find them in the Podcast, the CNN daily NEWSROOM Podcast as we go full circle this morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Sell it.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.

Keeping tabs on your nest egg. Will a new jobs report help the Dow rebound from a bad fall? We're watching Wall Street for you.

COLLINS: New round in a fight over poor children's health care. Another veto? We're going to go live to Capitol Hill.

HARRIS: And funny man, serious topics. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has a new comment about his ex-cast mate's racist rant.

It is Friday, November 2nd, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Hurricane Noel now a dangerous category one storm swirling off the southeastern coast. Noel already deadly. Even when it was just a tropical storm. Take a look at this devastation it caused in the Dominican Republic. The storm triggered landslides and flooding there and in Haiti. At least 64 people were killed.

An i-Reporter in Haiti caught these images of villages washed out and buried under mud. Some homes swept away by a flood-swollen river and people there told i-Reporter Christie Wray it is the worst flooding they have ever seen.

Want to get straight over to Rob Marciano now standing by to give us sort of an update on everything Noel.

Good morning to you, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Heidi.

Well, luckily for the folks who live on the island of Hispanolia (ph), where they were the most hardest hit, the storm finally now picking up steam and beginning to eject north and northeast. A lot of rain up to and over a foot in some spots across the Bahamas. And as you know, not a whole lot of rain across Florida, but a decent amount of wind sustained for a couple of days and erosion still a problem. North and northwest winds now down in Miami. Same deal in Orlando, but still pretty gusty for this time of year. Twenty-three-mile-an- hour winds over there around Ft. Myers.

Now some of this is getting up towards the north, across the Carolinas, in through Georgia. Savannah, 24-mile-an-hour winds right now. Charlotte, 19, 20-mile-an-hour winds.

This storm is going to hug the coastline and as it does so it will hit -- well, it's not going to hit the coast, but it will be close enough, and it will be strong enough to where we're probably going to see some hurricane-force gusts along Cape Cod through tomorrow. So that's possible as is torrential rains. So this thing will be close enough to do -- or at least cause a few headaches.

Here's the official track out of the National Hurricane Center. Eighty-mile-an-hour winds right now gusting to 100. It's moving as north-northeasterly at about 18 miles an hour. That's not expected to change. It may pick up a little bit of steam, but it's not going to recurve completely.

So it gets very close to the U.S. Actually, there's high wind warnings out this afternoon across the North Carolina coastline. Could see winds there gust 50, 55 miles an hour. That's enough to do some minor damage.

And then getting very close to the coastline of Cape Cod tomorrow afternoon and then making a landfall with 85-mile-an-hour winds across Nova Scotia early Sunday morning. So Noel not quite done with North America just yet.

Tony. Heidi.

COLLINS: It doesn't sound like it. All right, Rob, thank you.

MARCIANO: You got it.

HARRIS: You know what? Here's the thing. We would really like your help in telling the Noel story. You can help us with your i- Reports, of course. If you see severe weather happening in your area related to Noel this weekend, look, send us along an i-Report. Go to cnn.com and chick on i-Report or ireport, just type it there, into your cell phone. The big cell phone is supposed to pop up here any second here. But remember, remember, stay safe.

COLLINS: Wait for it.

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: On to this story now. An Illinois police officer's wife is missing. Focus of the search? The couple's suburban Chicago home. Twenty-three-year-old Stacy Peterson disappeared on Sunday. Police took computers, cell phone, and a sport utility vehicle from the couple's home yesterday. They also searched a pond near the home. The woman's husband is a 29-year veteran of the Bolingbrook Police Department. Drew Peterson has said he thinks his wife has left him for another man.

HARRIS: Wall Street in a new day. So where are your life savings right now? The stock market's reeling a bit. Oil is up. The housing industry down. What's next? Here with some answers, CNN's Susan Lisovicz from the floor of the -- we love it when you're on the floor of the stock exchange.

And, Susan, good morning to you. All right. Give us a look at the numbers. How are we doing so far?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COLLINS: Want to get to Capitol Hill now and news that we were just telling you about a few minutes ago. It's pretty unusual. Another suspicious fire. Capitol police are looking into this morning's fire inside a women's restroom in the Senate Dirksen office building. It was discovered around 8:00 this morning and was immediately put out. In fact, there were no injuries or evacuations. But a little bit unusual. There have been other suspicious fires around the Capitol and all of them in the women's restrooms. Police are searching for any possible connections and we're going to be having a live report coming our way in just a few minutes to learn more about this.

HARRIS: You know what? This is when you have to actually see to really believe. A baby pinned under a car after a traffic accident. But the story has a happy ending. Karen O'Leary of affiliate KIRO in Seattle with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN O'LEARY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It was this Ford Focus, now parked in the neighborhood, that witnesses say rammed into a stroller being pushed across busy 23rd Avenue.

TERRON HAMMONDS, SAVED CHILD: She didn't hit the brakes. She just lost control of the car.

O'LEARY: And this was the result. A smashed baby carriage. The one-year-old boy inside was pinned under the car. Fortunately, construction worker Terron Hammonds and his co-workers were right across the street. They lifted the car off the baby.

HAMMONDS: It squished the baby buggy to the way down to the ground, but the baby was up under the engine. So once we lifted, we slid it out, and the baby was still laying there smiling and grinning. O'LEARY: The baby and his mom were transported to Harborview Medical Center. We're told the baby was unhurt. As for the 47-year- old driver of that Ford, police say she will be cited for negligent driving.

HAMMONDS: So she panicked. I guess she hit the gas.

O'LEARY: Other neighbors tell us this is a dangerous corner. David Armour walks his dog Madi (ph) here regularly.

DAVID ARMOUR, NEIGHBOR: In the 18 years that I've been here, I've seen at least 20 accidents on this corner.

O'LEARY: Look at how another mother with two babies in a carriage treats the some intersection. Annemarie Skov has to run to beat the traffic. She told us she was horrified when she learned about this morning's accident.

ANNEMARIE SKOV, MOTHER: I think it's tragic. And I really feel strongly about, we need more pedestrian-friendly crosswalks. Especially on busy streets.

O'LEARY: At least in this case, the tiny victim should be fine.

HAMMONDS: We are praying for the mother and family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, according to reports, the baby was admitted for an overnight hospital stay, but he's said to be doing just fine.

COLLINS: Unreal.

A mystery in the Georgia Tech football stadium. Somebody took four jerseys from the visiting Virginia Tech locker room right before last night's game. So what do you do? Get to work with the felt tip markers. Yes, the Sharpies. Four Georgia Tech jerseys came off the bench and the Virginia players wrote their names on the back. The words Georgia Tech on the front of the jerseys were, of course, marked out as quickly as possible and Virginia Tech won the game 27-3.

HARRIS: Oh, have some! Big hit.

You know, he got laughs at Kramer on "Seinfeld," but when he used the "n" word, things got serious. What does Jerry Seinfeld have to say about his former cast mate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN/ACTOR: It was a bad moment and it was a bad choice. But it was just -- I think it was just a temper thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Seinfeld on CNN's "Larry King Live." Must see TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Not mistaken identity. Police say one young woman assumed another's identity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This girl was actually living as our victim and went to great lengths to live as her and to become Brooke (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: She's called a con artist and accused of taking her game to the ivy league.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Right now Capitol Hill Police are on the scene of a suspicious fire. What they are calling the latest in a string of fires. Want to get live now to The Hill and congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin.

Jessica, good morning to you. What are they saying about all this? They've all taken place in women's restrooms.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have, Heidi. It's an interesting and unsolved situation. What we have right now is another fire that took place this morning in the Senate office building in another women's restroom. Senate staff received an e-mail around 8:20 this morning, letting them know that the fire was quickly extinguished and that they were investigating not just that building but looking through sites in two other Senate office buildings just to be safe.

Now this is the seventh fire of this nature since the start of October. And officials here say that they have no viable suspects and they've made no arrests. Here's what they said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. KIMBERLY SCHNEIDER, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: This is about the seventh fire in a series of suspicious fires that have occurred on Capitol grounds on the Senate side in the last few weeks. The fire was put out quickly. USCP investigators are on the scene currently investigating. And we have several suspicious scenes as well that are being secured by crime scene search.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Now the Senate is in session today and investigators say they will continue to look into this until they find somebody. But it does -- folks in the building are talking about it. Everybody seems to be scratching their heads. And one of those Senate office buildings was the site of the anthrax mailings that happened some years ago. So there's some real discomfort when these sorts of unanswered crimes happen around the Capitol.

COLLINS: Yes, especially seven of them. Very weird. Anybody been hurt, Jessica, in these fires?

YELLIN: No. No one's been hurt. And in ever instance they've been extinguished quickly. So it's just one of these situations where it's an annoyance and a concern, but not yet a real danger.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we know you'll be watching it. Jessica Yellin from Capitol Hill this morning. Jessica, thanks.

HARRIS: Don't play with matches. It's something we tell our children all the time. We are looking into why that message doesn't always get through and the devastating consequences.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Jerry Seinfeld's back. This time on the big screen with his first film "Bee Movie." Seinfeld is the star. Last night he sat down with CNN's Larry King, where he defended former cast mate Michael Richards. Richards came under fire for using the "n" word.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE": What do you make of what happened to Michael?

JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN/ACTOR: That was, I think, a thing that, where you have a flaw sometimes in your personality or in your kind of emotional base that sometimes it just cracks and something happens that you almost don't want to do. I think people know what it's like to lose their temper. And it was a bad moment and it was a bad choice. But it was just -- I think it was just a temper thing.

LARRY KING, CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE": During all your years with him, was he ever racist?

SEINFELD: Oh, no, no, no.

KING: So you were shocked?

SEINFELD: Yes, completely.

KING: Did you talk to him?

SEINFELD: Yes. Sure. We talk all the time. I talked to him a couple days ago.

KING: How's he doing?

SEINFELD: He's doing good. He's doing good. You know, he still feels bad, you know. That's the, you know, the terrible thing about something like that is you never quite get it out of your head that you hurt people. But, you know, he did what he could.

KING: What's the place for the Michael Richards -- in another category, "Dog," the bounty hunter, who used the racism in a private phone conversation, which happened to be taped. Is it recoverable?

SEINFELD: For somebody like that?

KING: Yes.

SEINFELD: I don't think -- probably for that person, almost impossible. I think other people can forgive you. It's harder to forgive yourself, I would say.

KING: For Michael, too?

SEINFELD: Yes. Yes. If you're a sensitive person. If you -- you know, if you're not that way and you hurt someone, you never forgive yourself. That's probably the most difficult part.

KING: So do you work?

SEINFELD: Do I work?

KING: Does Michael work?

SEINFELD: Oh, does Michael work. He's starting to look into it, yes. He wants to start working again.

KING: Would somebody in television hire him?

SEINFELD: Absolutely. Why not? I mean, we're human beings. It's like, you know, none of us is without a mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And catch more of Larry King live tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific. He talks with actor Ben Affleck, who pulls back the curtain on life as the tabloid target.

COLLINS: Consolidating your credit cards. Hiring a pro to help with college savings. Will these moves save you money or will you merely spin your wheels? Here to answer your e-mail is CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here's the first question from Caroline in Illinois. She writes, "is consolidating multiple credit cards onto one always the best answer?"

Well, Carline, you need to get rid of the debt with the high APR first. One strategy, roll that debt over to a low introductory rate card or a card that has a zero percent intro offer. You're probably already getting these offers in the mail. But you have to read the fine print.

You'll pay what's called a balance transfer fee. Now this fee used to be capped at $50 to $75, but many issuers have started to eliminate caps on these fees, so there's no limit on what you can be charged. Make sure you find out exactly what the terms and conditions of the balance transfer fee is. And when you do transfer, keep in mind that the introductory rate may last only six months. And now a question from Cynthia in Washington. She writes, "how much do college financial advisers cost?"

Well, first off, you're better doing all the leg work yourself. College financial advisers help you fill out your FASTA (ph) form for financial aid, but you'll still have to gather all the information. Using an adviser isn't cheap. Costs can be up to $2,500. And there is plenty of free help already out there on the web. For example, collegesundaygoalsusa.org, makingitcount.org and finaid.com are great free resources. In the end, you'll be better off putting that money toward your college fees.

And, of course, there may be times when it does make sense to hire one of these advisers. And in that case, you'll want to use an accountant. A certified financial planner or a CPA.

And, finally, Joe in Illinois writes, " my 401(k) was losing money, so I withdrew some money and was penalized for the withdrawal and then again in taxes. I lost a significant amount of money. What could I have done differently? Why isn't the decrease in value of the 401(k) something that can be itemized?"

Well, don't we wish that 401(k) losses were write-offs, but taking a withdrawal from a 401(k) is a desperation maneuver. The majority of people should not take out money from a 401(k) prematurely. You'll be penalized heavily. The only reason you would ever tap into that is in the case of extreme hardship, like you're facing foreclosure or you've been disabled.

And, of course, if you have a question, send them to us at toptips@cnn.com. We love hearing from you and we answer those questions right here every Friday.

HARRIS: Trying to identify a child. A little shoe. A pink outfit. Some of the only clues in the death of a young child found stuffed in a storage box. The sheriff's office updating the case in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: Quickly we want to get you to T.J. Holmes in the CNN newsroom. He is following a breaking story and pretty dramatic pictures, T.J., out of Baltimore.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're trying to make out what's happening with the picture. The word is here -- what you're looking at is -- you see the sign there, the Domino sugar plant. This is in your old stomping ground here, Tony, up in Baltimore.

HARRIS: Yes. HOLMES: But this plant, we understand, there's been an explosion here and fire officials and emergency officials are on their way to the scene. Not sure if they have made it to the scene just yet. But this is the live picture we are getting there right now out of our affiliate WVAL.

And again, a live picture. We see this smoke and the steam coming up. And that might just really right now be related to just regular day-to-day goings on at the factory anyway. So not exactly sure about the explosion, what caused it, and also any injuries, the extent of it.

But from the live picture we're able to see now, we can't make out too much. So we just want to let you know that we are on top of this story. As we get more information, possibly get different pictures that give us a different and a better perspective of exactly what's going on, we will pass those along to you.

Tony.

HARRIS: Terrific. OK, T.J., thanks.

HOLMES: All right.

COLLINS: Want to go ahead and get a look at the big board now. As soon as we can find it. And I'm not sure we want to look at it. Well, it's down about 56 points or so. The Dow Jones Industrial averages, as we just reported earlier here on the show, the jobs numbers that came out today where employees are adding more workers really was sort of an unsuspected boost. 166,000 is the most in five months. So that was an unexpected statistic. However, we are still to the negatives and with the Dow Jones Industrial averages. So we will talk a little bit more about what these numbers have to do with the trading day and how they will drive it a little bit later.

HARRIS: On Capitol Hill, another suspicious fire. Capitol Police are looking into this morning's fire inside a women's restroom in the Senate Dirksen office building. It was discovered around 8:00 Eastern Time. It was immediately put out but there were no injuries or evacuations, but we should tell you that recently there have been other suspicious fires around the Capitol. Police are searching for any possible connections.

COLLINS: They call her Baby Grace. Her tiny body stuffed in a box, washed ashore in Galveston, Texas. Authorities are hoping you can help identify her. We'll hear from the sheriff's office in just a moment. But first, details from Cho Win (ph), CNN affiliate KHOU.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO WIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Harbor Walk (ph) sits just on the north side of Galveston's west bay. It is also a few miles from Monday evening's awful discovery of a little girl's remains inside a large plastic container. Few people live here, but it was a very different scene over the weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there were a lot of contestants out here in this fishing tournament. Around 300 or maybe a little over.

WIN: It was Harbor Walk's first fishing tournament with at least 75 boats lining the marina. Now detectives hope to hear from as many people who were part of that tournament as they can.

MAJ. RAY TUTTOILMONDO, GALVESTON CO., SHERIFF'S OFFICE: If we can get to every single person, that's exactly what we're going to do, if that's what it takes.

WIN: They want to know if anyone saw anything around the uninhabited island where the container with the girl's body was found. It is believed that some fished within proximity. Detectives also released that replica photo of the container. It's a Sterilite brand model, 1842, and it's not brown, but royal blue with a black handle. It has been an around-the-clock investigation as authorities hope for any clues that can help them identify this girl and what happened to her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The Galveston County Sheriff's office is really taking this case personally, and Major Ray Tuttoilmondo is with us live from Houston.

Major Tuttoilmondo, thanks for being with us this morning.

First I want to share with our viewers a really touching e-mail that you sent to the local media. I want to put that on the screen quickly for them.

"I don't often make an appeal of emotion, choosing to stick with the facts of the case as we should. However, a case such as this draws out emotions in all that touch it. Even us cynical old cops. I ask that you buck the system and include the emotions you, like me, are experiencing in looking at this case, as a parent, a child, one who has children as part of your life or just as a human being."

Tell me what this case has meant to you so far.

TUTTOILMONDO: The cynical old cop story is deadly accurate. The emotions that we feel in this case, being very closely connected to trying to find out what happened with Baby Grace. As I said in my e- mail, it brings out a lot of emotions that we don't typically feel a lot. We tend to hide our emotions, and it's cases like this that can't help but bring out those emotions for us, and that certainly makes us work even stronger on a case like this.

COLLINS: Yes, because there always is that fine line, even for journalists, too, where you try not to get too close and too emotionally affected, but nobody knows who this little girl is.

TUTTOILMONDO: That's very true. We have adopted the name of Baby Grace, because there, again, that's part of the emotional part of this case for us.

COLLINS: How so? TUTTOILMONDO: She's more to us than just a case number, more to us than just an unidentified body. She is very much a human being. She is someone's child, someone's grandchild, someone's cousin, someone's best friend, and to us that's the most important part about this case, but in looking at this box that she was found in, this is not a way for her to end her life.

COLLINS: Yes, yes. It's just unbelievable. There's also the little tennis shoes that she had on. They are -- they look pretty common, but maybe, just maybe, someone who sees them may know something, and there they are on the screen now. A little bit of lavender and live with the velcro laces there.

TUTTOILMONDO: I think we can see just how small the shoe is.

COLLINS: By you holding it in your hand, absolutely.

What was the reaction when the fishermen found the body?

TUTTOILMONDO: He was certainly very upset, to be sure that anyone who would make a discovery like this. He's -- I haven't had the personal opportunity to speak with him, but he, like us, I'm sure is going through a lot of emotions himself. He would certainly like to do everything he can to make this case happen.

COLLINS: Certainly. What is the update on the case? Have you had any tips? Do you have any leads that you feel good about at this point?

TUTTOILMONDO: Fortunately, we have had numerous calls over the past couple of days, ranging into the hundreds, I understand, that have people giving us information, and we certainly appreciate those calls. Have any of them really turned up anything? Not really. A number of them we followed up on have led us to go check on other children. Fortunately, we found all of them safe and sound, but nothing that's absolutely made a home run hit yet.

COLLINS: If you've got any information that could help solve this case, please contact the Galveston County Sheriff's Office. The numbers are on your screen. They're 409-766-2222 or 866-248-8477.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

HOLMES: Want to get over to T.J. Holmes now in the NEWSROOM. He is working on some breaking news, in fact, that we have into the NEWSROOM right now, regarding Oprah Winfrey and the academy she's built in South Africa.

What's the deal here, T.J.?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Reuters is reporting that there has been an arrest in this case, this case being the one of alleged abuse at the school. Of course, you're seeing here -- this happened back in January, a lot of fanfare surrounding this school outside of Johannesburg that Oprah Winfrey opened up for underprivileged young girls. Where the allegations came out just a few weeks ago about -- that someone there who worked at the school was abusing, physically and emotionally abusing, girls who attended this school, and now, again, according to Reuters, there has been an arrest in this case.

Again, the video you're seeing, this is a school -- again, these kids were bright students, all straight-A students who are getting free tuition to come to this school, free uniforms, free textbooks. And again, this is a school that Oprah Winfrey certainly very much proud of, and was happy to put out there.

But now in the past couple weeks, she's even come out and made apologies and felt like she had failed these students because of the alleged abuse at the school. But now, again, according to Reuters, an arrest has been made now this case. A lot of details still not out there about exactly what the abuse was, but a lot of reports about some kind of physical abuse, also some kind of emotional abuse of some of the girls who did attend the school there.

But now Reuters reporting there has been at least an arrest. Don't know details who this person is. We're working to confirm this information and also find out more details about who this was and possibly about how serious the abuse was that an arrest was warranted, and it does appear there may have been one now. So we're on top of the story, keeping an eye on it in the NEWSROOM. We get more details, we will pass those along to you -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, very good. T.J., thanks.

HOLMES: All right.

HARRIS: If you've got frozen pizza in your freezer -- most of us do -- a warning this morning. We'll tell you what you need to throw out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: I feel like we say this all the time, but you might want to check your freezer because there's a new food recall just in time for your Friday night pizza night. General Mills recalling about 5 million frozen pizzas. Sold under the Jeno's and Totino's labels. The company says the pepperoni topping could be contaminated with E. coli. Health officials are investigating 21 possible E. coli-related incidents in 10 states. General Mills wants you to throw out pizzas produced since July and mail in the bar code from the package for replacement.

HARRIS: You know those huge Southern California wildfires, one of the worst started by a 10-year-old boy. Surprised?

CNN's Ted Rowlands reports, you shouldn't be.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The boy, according to neighbors, was playing with matches outside this horse ranch trailer home, where he lived with his parents. The fire destroyed 21 homes. A witness says the boy's father, who takes care of horses on the ranch, tried to put out the fire that his son had started.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just kind of stomping it with towels, just trying to get it out. And it just didn't work because there was just too much fire -- or too much wind.

ROWLANDS: According to the California Department of Justice, in 2005, 52 percent of those arrested for arson were juveniles. Nationwide, according to the National Fire and Protection Agency, about half of the arson arrests in 2003 were children under 18 -- a third of them younger than 15.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These can be more dangerous than a loaded gun.

ROWLANDS: Many states have fire intervention programs for kids. This is a class of youngsters arrested for starting fires in Florida. They watch video of a burn victim and get the feel of what it's like to be in handcuffs.

Experts say kids start fires for a variety of reasons. Often, they are innocently experimenting, but some cases involve psychologically disturbed youngsters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of times the primary motivation is control and power. And what's more powerful and available to young people than fire. It's, you know, readily available at their fingertips and brings all kinds of lights and sirens and fear and reaction.

ROWLANDS: No charges have been filed yet against the 10-year old in California. People who saw the little boy during the fire say he seemed to realize what he had done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, because his eyes were this big.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Hard time, easy listening. A prison gospel group finding freedom through song. Take a listen in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, Heidi, I was just at CNN.com just a moment ago. That's not absolutely true. Did my nose just go Pinocchio, way out there? We're podcasting later today, and what we do know is folks at home are really interested about this possible strike with the writers in Hollywood, and the implications for their favorite shows, your "Desperate Housewives." What's one of your favorite shows?

COLLINS: "Dancing with the Stars," "Grey's Anatomy."

HARRIS; we're going to round up the troops here and the forces and put together some good reporting on that for you, not only in the NEWSROOM program here, but also in a podcast that's coming up a little later for you, 24/7. As you know, the CNN daily NEWSROOM podcast is available to you. There we are. We do the program for you every day. It's available. Just go to CNN.com and download it today. COLLINS: Are you done?

HARRIS: Barely.

COLLINS: Locked up, but finding freedom through their music. Want to tell you this story coming our way from Dana Hackett of affiliate WBRZ. She has a story of a prison gospel singing group striking a new chord from behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA HACKETT, WBRZ REPORTER (voice-over): The words they sing are a testimony of change.

MARK GAUNICHAUX, ANGOLA PRISON INMATE: I'm 38 years old. I've been incarcerated for 21 years.

HACKETT: Some never knew they had the gift.

GAUNICHAUX: I learned that I could sing since I have been here.

HACKETT: Others have known music all of their lives.

CALVIN LEWIS, ANGOLA PRISON INMATE: If you don't put hands on, why you're here, what do you want to do in the free world, you're going to lose it.

HACKETT: They come from different backgrounds, in prison for different reasons, but all share a love of music.

LEWIS: You get involved with music or any other type of activity, it keeps you motivated to keep on going day by day.

HACKETT: These inmates have a renewed hope knowing that they're now making history. Never has a group of inmates recorded a gospel CD behind prison walls, until now.

GAUNICHAUX: It just shows the wisdom of god concerning how God would raise up men who are next to nothing.

HACKETT: Reporter: Through their voices, they're here to show people that they're more than nothing. Many say they've had time to soul search and rediscover who they are.

GAUNICHAUX: It shows where my heart allegiance lies. It's who I am. It's who I have become.

LEWIS: If you empower these organization, it helps you stay focused, it helps you not get in trouble.

HACKETT: Now, as they continue to transform, they're hoping their music will touch and transform others, because for them making this CD is one of the only ways they can give back to a community outside of these walls.

GAUNICHAUX: This is the season of giving, and God has purposed in us to be able to give, and so that's what we do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And the name of the prison gospel CD -- "Lose These Chains." Sounds appropriate, right?

Also want to let you know down in the corner of their scene there, we have decided to put up the Big Board, if you will, the Dow Jones industrial averages and all the activity happening there. And now down about 73 points. There's been a lot of activity on the New York Stock Exchange. So we're going to be watching it for you as the day continues.

HARRIS: A Montana woman on the run, accused of pulling off an Ivy League con. So smart, so elusive, police even wonder if she could be a spy.

Our Gary Tuchman takes us inside this strange and rather puzzling case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Twenty-year-old Brooke Henson disappeared without a trace in a small South Carolina town of Travelers Rest.

JON CAMPBELL, TRAVELERS REST, SOUTH CAROLINA, POLICE: My working theory is that she was murdered, and her body was disposed of.

TUCHMAN: But no arrest has ever been made.

Lisa Henson is Brooke's aunt.

(on camera) Can you believe how much your family has been through?

LISA HENSON, BROOKE'S AUNT: Absolutely not.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The family has gone through a whole new round of trauma more than seven years following Brooke's disappearance, after police in New York City contacted the police in Travelers Rest.

CAMPBELL: They called us and said, "Your girl is in New York. She's alive."

HENSON: I was just, like, jumping for joy. I mean, it was incredible.

TUCHMAN: But the joy was brutally dashed. This is the woman police found in New York. She said she was Brooke Henson, but in reality, she had taken Brooke Henson's identity.

CAMPBELL: This guy was actually living as our victim and went to great lengths to live as her and to become Brooke. TUCHMAN: her real name Esther Reed, originally from the tiny town of Townsend, Montana. She had been reported missing by her family around the same time as Brooke. And now she's missing again, after she realized she realized she had been caught as an impostor.

Edna Strom is Esther's sister.

EDNA STROM, ESTHER REED'S SISTER: I had pretty much come to the terms that she was dead.

TUCHMAN: Far from it. Esther Reed apparently read that Brooke was missing and used the false identity to apply to two Ivy League colleges, Harvard and Columbia, and the high school dropout got admitted to both.

CAMPBELL: She was able to get some true identification using fake identification, and she was able to take the SAT, the GED in our victim's name, and she used those to apply to Columbia.

TUCHMAN: There was no evidence Esther Reed used the false I.D. and other false I.D.'s she'd gotten for illegal financial gain, but authorities are investigating relationships she had with at least four officer candidates at West Point, Annapolis, and thousands of dollars she received in wire transfers from outside the country. Officials want to make sure she's not a spy.

CAMPBELL: We don't want to learn something like that in a small town in South Carolina and say, "Well, that's interesting" and shove it in the desk drawer and not tell anyone. We want to give it to somebody who would be able to investigate. So we passed hat off to the Army.

TUCHMAN: So who is Esther Reed? High school teachers called her a genius, but also invisible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: From mousy schoolgirl to accused identity thief. In just a moment Gary Tuchman is going to take us to Townsend, Montana to find out more about the mysterious Esther Reed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: More now about Esther Reed, the high school dropout accused of using a stolen identity to con her way into an Ivy League school.

Our Gary Tuchman went to her hometown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Esther Reed allegedly stole a missing woman's identity and has now been indicted. She lived a life in Montana that seemed to be a sad one.

James Therriault was her high school English and speech teacher. JAMES THERRIAULT, ESTHER REED'S FORMER TEACHER: Esther was the kind of kid who would be invisible if you didn't take pains to notice her presence.

TUCHMAN: Her grades were poor but her I.Q. was high. Her teacher put her on the speech team. A first place plaque with her name still hangs in the school more than a decade later.

THERRIAULT: What strikes me most about her was her innate brilliance. I mean, this is a really smart girl we're talking about.

TUCHMAN: Her father stills lives in Townsend.

(on camera) Earnest, can I ask one more question about Esther?

(voice-over) Earnest Reed did not want to open the door but did tell us earlier he is convinced his daughter does not want to be found.

(on camera) Do you think she's using another I.D. right now?

CAMPBELL: Most probably.

TUCHMAN: Vulnerable people in venerable institutions. This native of small-town Montana has fooled them all with equal ease, which makes authorities more than aware that, even after all this, Esther Reed could currently be in your college class, in your office place, in your apartment complex, and you don't even know it.

(voice-over) Esther's sister is just relieved she's alive and wants her back.

STROM: I would hug her. And I guess -- I mean, you just hug people you love.

TUCHMAN: In South Carolina, Brooke Henson's family just wants her back, too.

(on camera) Is there any chance your niece is still alive, you think?

HENSON: We don't believe so. I think you always have a little bit of hope.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Hope, even after being victimized again.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Townsend, Montana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com