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Toddler's Lip Bitten Off; 11-Year-Old Rape Victim: Suspects 8 and 9; Detroit Named Most Dangerous City; Aid Groups Trying to Reach Survivors in Bangladesh
Aired November 19, 2007 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, unbelievably cruel. A toddler's lip bitten off. The man accused scheduled to be arraigned today.
More now from Christa Delcamp of affiliate WHDH in Boston.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTA DELCAMP, REPORTER, WHDH (voice over): Outside the Lowell apartment House, a sign of a celebration past and a child's toy. Inside, police say, one of the most brutal cases of child abuse they've seen.
This neighbor new something was wrong yesterday.
(on camera): When did you see the police and what were they doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yesterday. I saw the ambulance.
DELCAMP (voice over): Police still don't know what motivated the attack Saturday morning on a 22-month-old boy, where authorities say a 26-year-old man bit off the boy's lip. It's left neighbors around Middlesex Street (ph) sickened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's just gruesome. That's too much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of scary. You know, it's unbelievable, you know. Kind of -- something's kind of weird.
DELCAMP: DSS identifies the man as the child's father. Neighbors say they have seen no hints of violence in the past.
(on camera): Had you seen any trouble there before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're a good family. No troubles.
DELCAMP (voice over): The boy was rushed to Children's Hospital. His injury not considered to be life-threatening, but there's no word on whether his lip has or can be reattached.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would you do that to a kid like that? I don't know. It's terrible. DELCAMP: A police officer on the scene says the suspect, Thai Chan (ph), was thrashing and erratic. He's under police guard, being evaluated at the hospital.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Today's arraignment is expected to take place at the hospital. Police say efforts to reattach the child's lip are working. They say the boy's condition is improving.
You're with CNN. You're informed.
Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming into the CNN NEWSROOM on this Monday, the 19th of November.
Here is what's on the rundown.
Nasty weather and cantankerous communications. The two mean slow-going at several of the country's biggest airports this morning.
And a tour bus veers off the road. Travelers headed for a holiday cruise end up in a hospital instead.
Plus, a Missouri girl takes her life over a boy who never existed.
MySpace tragedy, in the NEWSROOM.
Some breaking news to tell you about. The situation coming in about a missing hiker in North Carolina.
Betty Nguyen is in the newsroom and has been working this story.
Betty, what's happened here?
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, he's a 13-year-old boy, as you mentioned. He's autistic and he's missing right now in the Morrow Mountain State Park area.
This is a very large park. It covers some 5,000 acres about 50 miles northeast of Charlotte. And right now 100 searchers are just combing through this state park trying to find a severely autistic 13- year-old.
His name is Kyle Whitman (ph). He's been missing since late yesterday afternoon.
Here's what happened. He went hiking with his father, and his father says he usually sits down and stays in one place in the woods, but he didn't do that this time. And now they can't find him.
His father was able to reach us, authorities there near the woods, and told them that his son was missing. The search is on.
The good news though, Heidi, is that the weather wasn't bad overnight. So those searchers are out again today.
But again, he's a 13-year-old severely autistic young boy missing in the woods that covers some 5,000 acres. So hopefully they can get to him very quickly.
COLLINS: Yes, boy, we hope so.
All right, Betty. And we know you'll stay on top of it. And we'll check back later with you.
Thanks so much.
Want to get back to the other story we've been telling you about all morning long now, and that is the travel delays that have unfortunately kicked off a pretty messy week this holiday travel week. As you know, Thanksgiving coming up on Thursday. People trying to get in place.
You're looking at a live shot now from our affiliate in Dallas, DFW, WFAA. The situation there that has really caused sort of a jam up, if you will, because of radio communications that went down in one of the towers. We do understand that planes are now taking off and landing, but as you would imagine, it's going to take a while to get things back on track, certainly in a timely manner.
Also, the other thing that travelers are fighting is the weather, and oftentimes we just lose that battle outright.
Bonnie Schneider is here now to show us the map.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Meanwhile, a holiday trip turns deadly this morning in South Carolina. A charter bus crashed just after 1:00 a.m. on Interstate 26 in Dorchester County. The bus driver was killed, 31 passengers injured.
One person was flown to a Charleston hospital in serious conditions. The highway patrol says the other 30 people injured were taken to area hospitals. The emergency medical services director says none of their injuries appear to be life threatening.
About 60 people were on board the bus. They were headed to Miami for a holiday cruise.
A disturbing story out of suburban Atlanta, an 11-year-old rape victim. Police say her alleged attackers are even younger.
Summer Jackson of affiliate WSB reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAPT. WAYNE BENNARD, ACWORTH, GEORGIA, POLICE: Our criminal investigation division is investigating an alleged rape of an 11-year- old female. SUMMER JACKSON, REPORTER, WSB (voice over): It's unbelievable accusations. Three boys accused in the rape of an 11-year-old little girl in a wooded area outside the West Ridge Apartments in Acworth.
BENNARD: Reportedly, two 9-year-old boys and one 8-year-old boy took the girl into the woods against her will where she was raped.
JACKSON: The three boys are in custody at the Cobb County Detention Center facing charges ranging from rape, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and sexual assault.
BENNARD: And reaction is dismay.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Prosecutors haven't decided yet whether to try the adults -- excuse me -- the suspects as adults.
The Motor City says it got a bad rap. Detroit named the most dangerous city in America by CQ Press. That's part of "Congressional Quarterly." Last year's crime leader, St. Louis, dropped to second place, followed by Flint, Michigan; Oakland, California; and Camden, New Jersey. The controversial list is based on FBI crime statistics, but even the FBI is critical of how the numbers are used.
Art Edwards with affiliate WDIV sampled reaction in Detroit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ART EDWARDS, REPORTER, WDIV (voice over): The city of Detroit on a crisp, clear November evening. Lots of people on the streets in the popular Greektown area under the watchful eye of police.
In Campus Martius, where visitors sometimes stop to take pictures of all the lights, and around the Fox Theater, mostly these folks are unaware of the city's ranking as the most dangerous city in America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't agree at all. You see I'm here on a Sunday night, Greektown. I mean, it's a really good experience. I mean, we're at the bakery. Plenty of people in here. I don't think anybody is in fear at all.
ROSA CRUZ, DETROIT RESIDENT: I don't want to be on top of that statistic.
EDWARDS: Rosa Cruz lives in southwest Detroit behind a fence with a locked gate. She says lots of work still needs to be done in the city's neighborhoods.
CRUZ: And we can't leave it all to the police department. They have a lot to do. And we appreciate the work that they're doing. But they can't do it alone. We have to be their eyes and their ears.
EDWARDS: CQ Press puts out the report. The company calls its an independent publisher advancing democracy by informing citizens. Police chief Ella Bully-Cumming has problems with the report and Detroit's number one ranking. She released a statement that says, in part, "Attached to the organization's press release are instructions on how to purchase the complete report. It really makes you wonder if the organization is truly concerned with evaluating crime or increasing their profit."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Some cities, including Chicago and Minneapolis, were not included because the data wasn't available.
On the other end, Mission Viejo, California, was named the safest city in America. It's followed by Clarkstown, New York; Brick Township, New Jersey; Amherst, New York; and Sugar Land, Texas.
A trusted member of President Bush's inner circle moving on. His top terrorism adviser is resigning. Fran Townsend has been one of the president's go-to people on homeland security. But after more than four years on the job, she's leaving to work outside the government. The White House says Townsend helped come up with anti-terrorism strategies.
Two teens so infatuated with school shootings, German police say they were planning their own. Police say one of them had a Web page glorifying the 1999 Columbine massacre. Police questioned the teens and found weapons and bomb-making instructions. They say one of the teens killed himself by stepping in front of a street car.
Police believe the teens planned to carry out a school attack in Cologne tomorrow. That would have coincided with the first anniversary of another German school shooting.
He picks the court, and now the court picks him. Pakistan's supreme today court rejecting legal challenges to president General Pervez Musharraf's rule. The Pakistani leader appointed new judges more than two weeks ago when he declared a state of emergency.
The court's decision opens the way for the Pakistani leader to serve another five-year term. Pro-democracy advocates have denounced the ruling. Meanwhile, the Bush administration has been trying to convince the Pakistani leader to drop emergency rule, restore the constitution, and free political opponents.
Untold suffering after the storm. Thousands are homeless in Bangladesh and waiting for help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A Saudi Arabian rape victim now facing a harsher sentence herself. The 19-year-old was gang-raped last year. She was sentenced to 90 lashes for meeting with an unrelated male.
Her seven attackers were sentenced to just 10 months to five years in jail. The young woman's attorney appealed. The court lengthened the attackers' sentences but the judges also changed the girl's sentence as well.
She now faces 200 lashes instead of the 90 she received earlier. They also gave her six months in prison. It is reported the court increased her punishment because she was trying to influence the judicial system by talking to the media.
Growing desperate in Bangladesh. The military there now saying more than 3,000 people were killed by the massive cyclone that hit there on Thursday. That number could more than double as searchers reach remote villages wiped out by the storm.
Many of those villages have been cut off from relief supplies. The U.S. has promised to help. More than $2 million for relief, and the Pentagon is also sending two Navy carriers to the area.
Aid workers right now desperately trying to reach some of those more remote areas.
CNN's Cal Perry is in Barisal City.
Cal, wondering what the chances are now of those agencies getting into those very remote areas.
CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the aid agencies are really up against a mountain to climb. And what they're really doing is having to run reconnaissance missions.
We actually just spoke to Save the Children again just minutes ago, and tomorrow they are planning to head south, to the southeast, to take a look at the some of the hardest-stricken villages and find out exactly what the situation is. The problem here on the ground is that I'm standing on the biggest delta in the entire world. It's a huge river system and it's very complicated to cross.
In many of these areas you can only reach survivors from the cyclone by boat. Today, for example, we went by boat to remote villages and found people there in desperate need of aid, both food, water and shelter. So, these aid agencies, along with the government, really trying to get to these areas that they have not been.
There are still vast areas of the country where they have not been, which is why we have been continuously reporting that this death toll could very well rise, not only because of the cyclone itself, but because of the potential for disease. They're worried that with the bodies that are being discovered, with the mosquitoes in the air and the standing water, they're worried about things like cholera, like typhoid, like Benge (ph) fever.
So this story could continue for some days and weeks ahead as the death toll continues to rise -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Cal, what is it that people need the most? Obviously when we're talking about those remote areas, they just need to get out of there. But are we talking about shelter now? Are we talking about food, vaccinations? What is it? PERRY: We're talking about shelter and food, first and foremost. The other issue that we're seeing here is the massive amount of human traffic.
Some three million people fled from the south to the north. Some 10 million people live down south along the coastline. So that leaves some seven million people that stayed during the storm.
We know about 600,000 of those were put in shelters. But returning these three million people across this delta, across these rivers, back to their homes, when they don't know if they have homes to return to, is an incredible challenge for the aid organizations and for the government. And it's an unbelievable tragedy for these families as they still wait up in the northern areas of the country to cross back down to the south, and they have no idea if their villages are still where they were left.
Imagine this is, as I said, just a huge delta, just one or two feet above sea level. And when you talk about a 15-foot storm surge, that's when you see that incredible devastation of entire villages being wiped out, houses being washed into the sea.
So, as I said, it's an incredible challenge for both aid organizations and the government to really just get a grasp of the full reality of the situation here on the ground -- Heidi.
COLLINS: It is devastating, the pictures that we have been looking at coming in here to CNN.
CNN's Cal Perry from Barisal City, Bangladesh, this morning.
Cal, thank you.
Want to let you know how you can take action. You can go to CNN.com and find out how you can help the people in Bangladesh that have been left homeless by this cyclone. You can log on and add your name to the growing number of CNN viewers grabbing the opportunity to Impact Your World.
You may hear a lot about global warming, but is it drawing much attention in the presidential race?
Here now, CNN's Bill Schneider, part of the best political team on TV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice over): Environmental activists are frustrated. They want global warming to be a big issue in the presidential campaign.
So a coalition of environmental groups led by online magazine Grist.org and Public Radio International's "Living on Earth" head the first-ever presidential forum on global warming in Los Angeles this weekend. They invited 17 presidential candidates. Three showed up.
They spoke passionately about the crisis.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot afford to fiddle while the world warms.
SCHNEIDER: They offered plans to fight global warming.
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You set forth a number of initiatives.
SCHNEIDER: Do voters care about the issue? They have seen Hurricane Katrina, California wildfires, the Asian tsunami, a cyclone in Bangladesh. Many have seen Al Gore's Oscar-winning movie and heard about his Nobel Peace Prize. Now they're reading front-page stories about a U.N. report that calls the crisis so severe and so sweeping that urgent global action is needed.
JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American people are actually hungry to do something as a national community.
SCHNEIDER: The candidates are pushing the issue.
CLINTON: I speak about it everywhere that I go to try to kind of get it into the bloodstream of the presidential campaign.
SCHNEIDER: Why is it so difficult? The organizers of the forum blame the media. Oh, sure, the press covers the issue. CNN ran a week-long series, "Planet in Peril." But they don't cover it as a campaign issue.
Grist writer David Roberts argues that's because global warming doesn't fit the conventional model of political coverage.
DAVID ROBERTS, GRIST.ORG: And it doesn't fit very well into the horse race coverage. There's not really a hook with one candidate jabbing another or one candidate, you know, making a gaffe.
SCHNEIDER: The press wants conflict, like a protester confronting Senator Clinton at the global warming forum. Can't resist that.
CLINTON: Were you invited to speak here this afternoon?
SCHNEIDER: What would it take to get global warming covered as a campaign issue?
ROBERTS: Perhaps if, you know, John Edwards' hair caught on fire or something because of global warming, then we could get it.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): The voters are concerned about global warming. The candidates here all had plans to deal with global warming. But this forum tried to deal with the most difficult issue of all -- how to get global warming onto the political agenda.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COLLINS: Want the most up-to-the-minute political news anywhere available? CNNPolitics.com is your one-stop shop. Get behind-the- scenes details from CNN's best political team on television and see why it's the Internet's premiere destination for political news -- CNNPolitics.com.
And you did it once. Now it's time for history to repeat itself. Go to CNN.com/youtubedebates and post your questions for the Republican presidential candidates. The debate, Wednesday, November 28th.
Your voice will be heard only on CNN, your home for politics.
A devastating injury. And now football star Kevin Everett is back home, and he has a message for his fans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Encouraging news to tell you about this morning about injured NFL player Kevin Everett. After suffering a severe spinal cord injury in a season opener, Everett had a special message for his fans last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN EVERETT, FOOTBALL PLAYER: How you doing, Buffalo? This is Kevin Everett. I'm out here in Houston working here, out here rehabbing, just thinking about you guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Everett told fans the good news, he was going home from the hospital and will have outpatient therapy from a fractured spinal cord.
CNN's medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here now with more on this.
This was one that really hit home for everybody. You hate to see when a player gets hurt like this.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, a clash like that. He couldn't move below the neck initially. I mean, it was really quite horrible.
It's been quite a two months for Kevin Everett. But what we've learned now is that he has left the hospital, that he is doing physical and occupational therapy.
After the accident on September 9th -- you see it here -- doctors feared he would never walk again. Well, now he sits in a wheelchair and uses his feet to push himself around. And he can hold himself up briefly in a walker.
And you heard him say, "I'm out here rehabbing." He spends four to five hours a day in physical and occupational therapy. And Kevin Everett put it best himself. He said, "I have a long journey to full recovery." That's how he put it.
COLLINS: Yes. It is such a long journey when we see injuries like this, especially when you're talking about the spinal cord.
Are they talking about him walking again? I mean, it sounds like really good news that there's feeling or some type of control in those feet.
COHEN: Well, they're being very smart right now and they're not talking about anything in the future, which is smart. Because there was one doctor who said he is going to walk out of the hospital on...
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: He said that shortly after the accident, and that did not happen. So I think they're being wise in not making any forecasts.
All of these injuries are very -- they're unique. So each one is different. You never quite know.
Certainly that is the hope, but that is not necessarily going to happen. But doctors said they have seen people with this type of injury make a full recovery.
COLLINS: Maybe we should talk a little bit more about what his specific injury was when this all happened.
COHEN: Right. What's important to know is that this was the C-3 and the C-4 vertebrae. And those are, as you can see, right up near the neck. And as I said, initially, he couldn't move below the neck. It seems incredible that you can have a fracture there so high up and make a full recovery, but doctors say they have seen it.
COLLINS: They have seen it. Boy, I hope we get to see it again.
COHEN: Let's hope.
COLLINS: All right.
CNN's medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.
Thanks, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
COLLINS: Want to give you this information just in to CNN now about Mike Tyson, former heavyweight champion. He was apparently sentenced today to 24 hours in jail and three years probation for drug possession and driving under the influence.
Tyson had pleaded guilty in September, as you may remember, to a single felony count of cocaine possession and a misdemeanor DUI. He did face a maximum of four years and three months in prison, but once again he has now, according to The Associated Press, and as well as local affiliates there in Mesa, Arizona, he has been sentenced to 24 hours in jail and three years probation for drug possession and driving under the influence.
So that is the latest coming out of Mesa, Arizona, this morning.
Stuff you're wallet. You're going to need extra gas money if you're driving to Thanksgiving dinner.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off today.
Big delay in the big "D." The FAA telling CNN just a few minutes ago a control tower radio problem is being fixed, but still as you would imagine, there is quite a backup. The FAA says things will be back to normal in about two hours. Dallas-Ft. Worth is the nation's third busiest airport.
Bonnie Schneider is joining us now from the CNN Weather Center. Certainly not something you want to see on the beginning of this holiday week of travel, Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. It was just amazing. I have been here since early morning. How fast the delays started happening. One lead to another. Here in Dallas, we have it programmed so you can see all the planes heading to Dallas. Between 70 and 80 planes of the over 5,000 planes that are in the sky at present. Many of them are delayed.
I want to look at the rest of the country because Dallas is not the only trouble spot. Take a walk over here. What you're going to see looking at your U.S. satellite perspective is a lot of cloud cover, a lot of cloud cover and some storms. That combination is making for tough travel. Dense fog continues into Oklahoma. It's lifted for Texas. Another place where we have a lot of fog that will go for at least another hour is southern California. The fog continues for Los Angeles through long beach, all the way down to San Diego. So fog is going to cause the delays definitely as we go through the afternoon.
Here is a list, a long list, of airport delays from Chicago through New York City, the Dallas delays we were talking about just below an hour. Look at Newark. Ground delays are an hour and 20 minutes. JFK also reporting delays, and the lost is so long it goes two pages. Delays are decreasing for Atlanta. Good news there. We have had a lot of fog in that region. It's caused a slowdown. Looking ahead to Wednesday, the official busiest day of the travel season, we are looking at a lot of rain through much of the nation's midsection. Snow back out toward Minnesota, northern Illinois, and Wisconsin. Want to let you know, we are still not out of the woods yet for snow in parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Snow advisories continue straight through this afternoon, so we're looking for at least an inch or two of snow in northeastern Pennsylvania and northwest New Jersey.
COLLINS: Okay. Wow. I'm just going to hunker down right here. Bonnie, thank you. If you are flying for the holidays a message from the TSA. Pack smart. CNN's Jeanne Meserve live this morning at Reagan National Airport. So, Jeanne, really we could actually save some time in we pack in this layered way that you've been telling us about?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, that's right. The Transportation Security Administration posting public service announcement on their website and elsewhere today, giving you a few tips on how to get through security quickly. They say you should pack in layers, put a layer of clothes and your electronics on top of that side by side rather than all jumbled together. So screeners can look inside your bag and see what you have. Not be worried about spending a lot of time looking for bomb components. If you do that, they say it will save you time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It takes three minutes to do a bag check, if they have to dive into somebody's bag. What we're asking the public to do is partner with us and think about how they can help us help you get through security faster.
MESERVE: Other tips, have your IDs ready, and remember about the liquids. You can only bring things on in bottles that are three ounces or less. You have to put them in a one quart plastic bag, seal it. One of these per person, and put it in the bin at the security check point. The reason they're putting out this word now, not because any rules have changed. They haven't. They just want the public to be aware, particularly those people who don't travel on a regular basis, but are traveling for the holiday. Back to you Heidi.
COLLINS: And they want people to move it along. We see that happening all the time in those lines. People tapping their feet. All right. Jeanne Meserve, thanks so much live from Reagan National Airport this morning.
Keep the thanksgiving dinner warm. U.S. Airways says you may have to do that because it expects about 40% of its flights will leave late. That's because of possible winter storms and heavy holiday travel. But officials with the carrier say even if your plane departs late, it doesn't always mean it will arrive late. Of course, some planes can fly faster and make up time that's usually lost at the gate.
A holiday trip turns deadly this morning in South Carolina. A charter bus crashed just after 1:00 a.m. on interstate 26 in Dorchester County. The driver was killed. 31 passengers injured. One person was flown to a Charleston hospital in serious conditions. The highway patrol says the other 30 people injured were taken to the area hospitals. None of their injuries appear to be life threatening. Officials say it's too early to know what caused the accident. About 60 people were on board the bus. They were headed to Miami for a holiday cruise.
An 11-year-old rape victim. Police say her alleged attackers are even younger. Rusty Dornin is here now with a very disturbing story.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And details are a little unclear at this point. From what wends, this 11-year-old girl was playing with younger boys, an 8-year-old and two 9-year-olds. This is 30 miles outside Atlanta. They were playing near her apartment. Now allegedly they pulled her away from the apartment, into the wooded area where police now say the little girl's mother, who reported this three days later, is claiming that the little girl was raped. Let's listen to the charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. WAYNE DENNARD, ACWORTH, GEORGIA POLICE: They're all three charged with rape at this time. Not sure exactly how many of them participated in the actual rape, but the charges range from rape to kidnapping, false imprisonment, and sexual assault.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: They're being held in a juvenile at the detention center in Cobb County and from what we understand there will be a hearing sometime this afternoon.
COLLINS: I think we had heard some talk that these kids could be charged as adults?
DORNIN: They're very adult-sounding charges, but from what we understand in Georgia, you cannot charge a child under the age of 13 with this kind of a crime unless it was a capital offense, unless the little girl died from the attack. They cannot be charged as adults. But, of course, the charges themselves very adult-sounding.
COLLINS: Just awful. I know you'll be looking into it even further. Thanks so much. CNN's Rusty Dornin.
Parents learn too late their daughter's online love affair wasn't what it seemed. Suicide in Missouri.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: An out of control driver ends up in someone else's pool. No one living there was hurt. The driver took off though, and get this. Affiliate WWLP tells us even though police followed footprints to a man nearby soaking wet, they can't prove he was actually behind the wheel. The car wasn't registered.
Time now to take a look at some of the most clicked on videos on CNN.com. A crane falls and closes a street in Los Angeles leaving a woman and her infant son with minor injuries.
Mine rescue in Australia. All 27 miners freed five hours after a landslide blocked the main entrance.
Nicole Kidman tells a courtroom she was reduced to tears and feared a car accident after a celebrity photographer chased her two years ago. Kidman told the court the car ride left her "in tears and distressed."
And getting down and dirty in the wedding dress is the latest trend in bridal photography. Something borrowed, something blue, and something covered in a whole bunch of goo. You can take us with you anywhere on your iPod with CNN daily podcast. See some of the stories that will have you talking. It's available 24/7 right on your iPod.
Something else that is available to us now is an unbelievable picture. There it is. Bonnie Schneider is tracking and mapping for us --
SCHNEIDER: Every plane.
COLLINS: Those are -- It looks like snow but it's actually airplanes that are in the sky right now.
SCHNEIDER: 5,400 planes are in the sky over the U.S. right now, and they all seem to be stuck in the eastern half of the country. This is where the bad weather is, where we've had the clouds and delays from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, through Atlanta, in and around New York City. A lot of planes in the sky. A lot less trouble oriented across the west. There's fog in San Francisco and Los Angeles, that's causing a bit of a slow down. Lots of delays across the country, and most of the delays are already at an hour's time. So we're likely to see the volume increase throughout the afternoon and more delays in the forecast. Here it is. Flight explorer for you. 5,400 planes. That's what it looks like from above.
COLLINS: Wow.
SCHNEIDER: That is absolutely unbelievable.
COLLINS: It is.
SCHNEIDER: We should compare it to a day where the holiday travel -- I think you'd see more spaces between the planes.
COLLINS: I bet quite a few. CNN's Bonnie Schneider. Thanks so much.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
COLLINS: Want to get to this story now, and it is a disturbing one. A teenaged girl kills herself after a dispute with an online boyfriend. It turns out the boyfriend didn't exist. CNN's Gary Tuchman explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What happened here is horrifying. Why it might have happened will leave you incredulous.
TINA MEIER, MEGAN'S MOTHER: She was just a good girl.
TUCHMAN: Tina Meier of St. Louis is the mother of Megan Meier who had lived a challenging childhood.
RON MEIER, MEGAN'S FATHER: She got bullied in school, and she had big self-esteem issues. She had struggled with depression. TUCHMAN: Her mother and father allowed her to set up a Myspace account under their supervision and said their 13-year-old swooned when she got her fist first affectionate note from a boy named Josh Evans.
MEIER: He thought she was really pretty.
TUCHMAN: For about a month Josh sent her instant messages saying things like lucky me and lucky you, because you are my number one. But Megan's mother and father started getting suspicious because although the notes were not explicit, the parental instincts told them something wasn't right.
MEIER: I did contact the police department, and I called and asked to be transferred to the cyber crimes division to see how can I check to see if this Myspace account is real. Nothing you can do.
TUCHMAN: And then one day --
MEIER: It was a whirlwind. It was just Josh saying horrible things to Megan.
TUCHMAN: Nasty messages from a boy who the day before meant everything to this lonely deep.
MEIER: The world would be a better off place and have the [ bleep ] rest of your life.
TUCHMAN: Megan was distraught beyond words.
MEIER: This is the part I'll never forgive myself for because she was looking for me to help calm her down like I normally always did and be there for her, and I was upset with her because I didn't like the language that she was using, and I was upset she didn't listen to me and sign off when I told her to, and so I was aggravated with her about that and told her she knew better, and she just said to me, you're supposed to be my mom. You're supposed to be on my side, and she took off running upstairs.
TUCHMAN: It was too quiet for too long in that upstairs bedroom. Megan was pronounced dead the next day. When Ron came home from the hospital, he wanted to find Josh Evans, let him know what he had done to his little girl. The first place he tried to look was Josh's Myspace page.
MEIER: It was deleted. The whole Josh Evans no longer existed.
TUCHMAN: A month passed. They were searching for answers and who was the boy who drove her there. Then a neighbor told them something stunning. Josh Evans was actually the creation of a mother who lived on the same block as the Meiers, a mother who went to the funeral. She acknowledged it in a report saying in the months leading up to the suicide, she instigated and monstered a Myspace account created for the sole purpose of communicating with Meier's daughter. She wanted to find out why she was having a dispute with their own 13- year-old daughter. We not reporting the name of that other family to protect the identity of the daughter but did try to get their side of the story. Is anybody home? The woman's father answered the door. He said it was sad but then would not say if he thought the police report was wrong.
Have you talked to these people since then?
MEIER: Yes, I have.
TUCHMAN: What have you said to them?
MEIER: Probably things that I can't say on camera.
TUCHMAN: What have they said back to you?
MEIER: Give it a rest.
MEIER: Give it a rest.
TUCHMAN: Now at this point if you're waiting to hear what law enforcement is doing in an effort to get Megan and her family some justice, you may be waiting forever. County prosecutors, the county sheriff's office, and the FBI say there is no indication whatsoever a crime has been committed. So there are no plans to do anything legally. After initially telling us they weren't even investigating the case anymore, the prosecutor is now telling CNN his office will review the situation. But more than a year has gone by since Megan hung herself. Tina and Ron, who have separated, partly because of the stress, was told by lawyers it was best to stay quiet, but they no longer are. They are angry and feel they owe it to Megan to speak out.
Maybe your story could help the welfare of another child.
MEIER: That's what we hope.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Missouri.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: A crude warning from Venezuela's president Chavez. Oil, $200 a barrel?
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COLLINS: Heading home by car for Thanksgiving? Well, it's going to cost you. Gas prices are up another 13 cents just in the past two weeks. The average for a gallon of self-serve regular now, $3.09. That's just 9 cents from a record. Hugo Chavez warns oil prices could go to $200 a barrel if the U.S. attacks his country or Iran. You see the pictures there. The white house says the only people attacking Chavez are Venezuelans who want freedom and democracy.
Stocks on Wall Street are taking a big stumble. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with the latest. Hi there Susan. Things not looking very good.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, we actually pulled things out on Friday with a rally, but the Dow industrials today briefly dropped below 13,000, Heidi, and stocks are tumbling this morning. The financial sector in particular taking a beating. Goldman predicts more huge losses for Citi. That led to a major shake-up at Citi including the ouster of its CEO chuck prince. Home improvement retailer lows reported a 10% drop in its quarterly profits. It's stock is falling nearly 7%.
The Dow industrials off their lows, but not by much. The blue chips down 157 points at 13,019. The NASDAQ composite down 35 or 1.33%. Also weighing on sentiment today is a survey on a growing number of economists pegging the odds of a recession, they're growing, getting more pessimistic.
And black Friday, a new report from MasterCard says while black Friday is important for retailers, overall sales are expect to be higher on the Saturday before Christmas. It expects December 22nd to be the biggest day for overall spending. Another big shopping day as we have talked about it, cyber Monday will be later this year as well. Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, typically the Monday after Thanksgiving. MasterCard says this year it will be three weeks later on December 10th. Heidi.
COLLINS: So should retailers not be as concerned then about black Friday or what should we be thinking?
LISOVICZ: Black Friday is important for retailers. It's just no longer the busiest day of the year for retailers. It seems there's a lot less procrastinators pushing our purchases later to the actual Christmas day. Black Friday still the biggest shopping day of the year for toy stores, discount stores, clothing stores, and electronics. It's a major blitz at electronics stores. Savvy shoppers have learned they can save some big bucks on the door buster deals. Of course, they do lose out on sleep. There are 32 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. That's the most possible, and four more than last year. Although I'm sure it's not going to seem that way on December 23rd or December 24th, Heidi.
COLLINS: It's probably not. Not going to change a darn thing for those of us who wait until the last minute. CNN's Susan Lisovicz, thank you, Susan.
It would be mostly a dark Thanksgiving on the great white way. Broadway producers have canceled shows through next Sunday because of a stagehand strike. There was a breakdown in talks last night. The strikes have brought down the curtain on 27 Broadway shows. Eight broadways productions under separate union contracts and off Broadway, shows do continue to run.
Heading back to the bargaining table in Hollywood now, striking writers agree to return to contract talks with producers next Monday. The writers have been on strike for two weeks. The issue, what they're paid when their work ends up on DVDs or the internet. Since the strike began, late night talk shows and some sitcoms have gone to reruns. Scripts are quickly running out on other shows.
A roof or chimney? We can see it happening. But a billboard? Santa hangs out after he gets stuck.
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St. Nick rescued in the nick of time, and parents had to think fast to explain what happened. Stephanie Gavian explains.
STEPHANIE GAVIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There he is, old St. Nick himself. He made an appearance on Conroe Outlet Mall and what an entrance. Santa started to rappel down an 80 ft. sign, but about 30 feet off the ground both Santa and the crowd below realized he was in trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take the beard off if it's stuck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be stuck for permanent.
GAVIAN: Santa's beard was stuck in his rappelling gear. After dangling high above the crowd, James Bossom, the rock climber wearing the red suit, realized the show was over. Bossom pulled off his wig and beard and called for help. Someone tossed him a knife, but no luck. Santa was still stuck and the situation was serious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got halfway down the rope, and the rope -- yeah, I'll call you back. I'll call you back.
GAVAIN: In no time, police, fire crews, and an ambulance were all on the scene.
COLLINS: Big story dealings today, including the travel delays we have been telling you about. Want to give you a quick look the at DFW there, things are looking a little bit better but, boy, it was quite a way to kick off the holiday travel week. Many weather delays across the rest of the country. That one was due to radio communication delay. Look at this, 5,400 some odd planes in the sky right now, skytracker watching them all.
We'll be with you tomorrow. "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next. I'm Heidi Collins.
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