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Getting From Here to There; Alleged Rape of 11-Year-Old; California Suing Over Lead in Toys; Justified Killing? Texas Shooting Caught on Tape; Typecast as Terrorists; Where Does Republican Race Stand in New Hampshire?; From Skin to Stem Cells
Aired November 20, 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: You're with CNN.
Hello, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming into the CNN NEWSROOM on Tuesday, the 20th of November.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Fog slows holiday travelers in Los Angeles this morning. And a brewing storm could spell trouble for airport hubs across the heartland.
Lead in toys leads to recalls, and now a big lawsuit. Is your kid's holiday wish list hazardous?
A man opens fire to protect his neighbor's property. Good citizen or Rambo vigilante?
A troubling case -- in the NEWSROOM.
Time to pack the car, grab the kids, and get to the airport. This Thanksgiving countdown is on. But first, you've got to get where you are going. So wherever you are headed this holiday we've got the travel information that you will need.
Our Susan Roesgen is at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. And Jacqui Jeras is tracking the latest on flight delays and traffic conditions.
But we want to start with Rob Marciano. He is in the weather center with what's going on across the country.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Meanwhile, we want to get back to our reporters covering this story.
Ed Lavandera is at LAX, about to board his first of several flights over the next couple of days. And Susan Roesgen is at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Jacqui Jeras standing by with the latest on flight delays and traffic conditions.
We want to go ahead and get straight to Ed. Ed, you look like you are loaded for bear.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm ready to go, Heidi. And we are here with the first leg of our trip. We're going from L.A. to Denver on a United flight. And this is the check of first several lines I will be making here over the next several days. But, you know, you can't complain about this. This is, get your boarding pass and check the luggage here as well.
And there has been, you know, people trickling in the lines here, but for the most part, moving very quickly. So we will be able to get a good sense of how long this wholes process will take, checking your luggage, getting your boarding pass.
The security line over there, which we will be able to show you in a little while, is a little more daunting at this point. But you really can't complain about this.
They have got about 50 kiosks here where you can just walk up to. There's two or three United gate agents actually barking over a microphone when one of these opens up and shuffling people in and out as quickly as possible. So things here are moving relatively quickly and relatively smoothly.
COLLINS: Yes. Well, it looks like -- let's see, L.A. to Denver to Dallas to New York. And you've got to be there in time for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Boy, it is definitely a cross-country adventure.
LAVANDERA: Right.
COLLINS: We will be following your travels there, Ed. And good luck to you. OK?
LAVANDERA: All right. Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: You bet.
All right. We want to move on now and find out how things are going in Chicago.
CNN's Susan Roesgen is there to give us an update on the situation at O'Hare.
Hi there, Susan.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Heidi.
I think Ed better get going. He's not going to make it for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He needs to -- he needs to get on that plane and get going.
Here at O'Hare, people are coming in. I think it says something about the American traveler's psyche these days, Heidi, when they say the second busiest holiday travel day this week is today, the day before the day before Thanksgiving. A lot of people decided to come earlier. They've asked for more time off. And yet, here at O'Hare, it is not really crowded.
We've heard that the FAA is saying an hour and a half flight delays. Usually that's the kind of thing that you hope for. If you are like me, today, leaving my wallet in the cab on the way to the airport, I could have used some extra time.
But if you look at the lines out here today, they really aren't very long at all. People are flowing really smoothly through security.
And, Heidi, I said the second busiest travel day of this whole holiday period is today, the day before the day before Thanksgiving. But the busiest day of this whole Thanksgiving period, they say here at the airport, is actually Monday.
Again, so many American travelers are trying to make that week last longer. They are taking time off earlier and they are coming back to work later. And so a lot of people here believe that they will beat the Sunday night rush and instead come back on Monday, and then it turns out that they are going to be with a lot of other people. They're expecting 230,000 travelers here at O'Hare on Monday for what they say will be the busiest day of the Thanksgiving holiday -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Boy, oh, boy. All right.
CNN's Susan Roesgen braving it out at O'Hare in Chicago today.
Thank you, Susan.
Want to take a moment to get over to Jacqui Jeras now. She is following all of the flights in the skies and a lot of the traffic on the ground, too.
Hey there, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey there, Heidi.
Yes, a lot going on today. And a lot of weather-related delays.
And what amazes me is Ed's flight is on time, because we have some of the worst weather conditions in the country right now in Los Angeles. Let's take a look at that live picture.
You can hardly even see the planes on the ground there. Visibility is down to about a quarter of a mile. But they are reporting that all the planes are running about on time. So everything's looking good there despite the dense fog, and that advisory is going to be lifted at about 9:00 local time.
Now, the story not quite so pretty though as we head towards the ground. And if you're going to be traveling on many of these freeways and interstates, we have a lot of problems here and a lot of red lights, so to speak, with all of these slowdowns. A lot of the major interstates are being affected. Highway 1 I- 10, the 105, the 110, the 404 and also the 710 all being impacted. There you can see -- there is the 110 with all the red lights on that. This is where it intersects here with I-10.
The Santa Monica Freeway running slow. We'll query some of this for you on 110 northbound.
Look at that, 21 miles per hour. So that is certainly moving on the slow side as you are heading into the town area. And we are also looking at some delays as you are trying to get into LAX.
Now, what kind of other delays do we have at the airports right now? Chicago, O'Hare, we heard from Susan the ground delay is about an hour and 20 minutes. That's to get to O'Hare.
New York City, we've got delays at LaGuardia, about 30 minutes; 40 minutes here at Newark.
Atlanta, this is just volume. It doesn't even have to do with the weather right now. Those delays, unfortunately, yes, look at that arrow on up. That means that they are increasing.
We also have delays at JFK. Those delays on the way up about 30 minutes right now. And we had to use two pages now this hour.
We have delays at Philadelphia increasing. These are departure delays, if you're trying to get out of Philadelphia. About 30 minutes wait there.
And I kind of like these just for good measure, Heidi. Take a look at those -- three minutes in Teterboro and White Plains, and that's just due to high volume.
I want to show you one more thing before I let you go, and show you where you can find some of this flight information on the Web yourself. If you go to www.fly.faa.gov, there you can see a map of the United States, and there you can see the orange balls and the yellow balls. It means that there are some delays, so you can just click on each and every one of them. It will tell you how long your delay is, whether or not it's an arrival delay or a departure delay.
And this is -- there you go. You can see a perfect example of that, of what's going on at Chicago O'Hare. So that's the way you can get some information on the Web yourself.
And we'll have more travel tips coming up in about 20 minutes or so -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Very good. All right. Yes, those three-minute delays -- Teterboro, though, mostly like business jets and stuff, you know.
JERAS: I hate it when that happens.
COLLINS: So I don't know if it's a fair comparison, but we do like to see three minutes. JERAS: Sure. You can read some headlines while you wait.
COLLINS: Yes. Very good.
Jacqui, thanks so much.
If you are hitting the road or flying the skies, make CNN.com your first destination. Check out our special report, "Holiday Travel," and get an online travel kit with tips on where to go and how best to get there. That and more at CNN.com/holidaytravel.
It's an extraordinary case even for police. The alleged rape victim is 11 years old, the suspects are even younger.
Rebekka Schramm of affiliate WGCL reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REBEKKA SCHRAMM, REPORTER, WGCL (voice over): The girl is 11 years old. She tells us she and another girl had been playing tag with some boys when the boys lured her into the woods behind their Acworth apartment complex.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they said, "Let me see your breasts." And I said, "No." And they said, "You better do it," or they had kind of like a rope thing. And he was hitting me with it and it hurt really bad.
SCHRAMM: She says one of the boys, a 9-year-old, raped her while the others, ages 9 and 8, watched. The girl says it happened last Thursday but she didn't tell her mother until Saturday night. The mother went to authorities yesterday.
The father of the youngest boys tells us he believes the girl made up the whole thing to cover up her promiscuity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's only 45 inches, 40 pounds, in the third grade. This girl is in the fifth grade, she's 11 years old, two foot taller than him. How can my boy, with a broken wrist, be accused of any kind of kidnapping charge?
SCHRAMM: The girl stands by her story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel very mad what they did to me, because I wish they didn't do this to me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They do need to be taught a lesson. They do, because if they did it to her, they could do it to somebody else.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Prosecutors say the boys cannot be charged with felony crimes because of their ages. But they could be tried on lesser charges and, if convicted, sent to a juvenile facility for five years.
(NEWSBREAK) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Kids in danger. Millions of toys recalled because of dangerous levels of lead. And now one state has had enough, filing suit against toy makers and sellers.
CNN's Allan Chernoff is in New York. He's following the story for us today.
Good morning to you, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
In fact, about six million toys have been recalled this year because of excessive levels of lead, and California now is trying to make sure that such toys are kept off the shelves. The state attorney general, Jerry Brown, as well as the city of Los Angeles, are suing 20 companies, toy manufacturers, such as California-based Mattel, as well as retailers including Toys "R" Us, claiming that they knowingly exposed children to lead. The lawsuit would force the companies to adopt procedures for inspecting toys to make sure they are safe.
Now, Mattel says it welcomes the attorney general's involvement. In fact, the company has been promising to toughen its inspections following the recall of millions of toys that had been made in China, including Barbie accessories and toy trains.
Toys "R" Us also says that it "shares the attorney general's commitment to product safety."
Now, also this morning, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group known as PIRG is releasing its annual survey of toy safety. It finds that standards are not tough enough to ban lead, especially in children's jewelry. In fact, the study looked at one piece of jewelry that contained 65 percent lead by weight. Now, the Public Interest research Group is blaming the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has a very, very small staff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: Why is it that millions of defective toys, millions of toys that have unsafe levels of lead in them, millions of toys that have other problems with them, how is it they have gotten through the safety net that we try to create and to build in this country? And the reason is simple. Toy manufacturers are not afraid of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. They are not afraid of it taking the enforcement action that it should be, and they are not afraid because, in fact, what have you there is a paper tiger that doesn't have the resources that it needs to get the job done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: The Public Interest Research Group says toy manufacturers and retailers simply have too much control over safety information, they disclosed to us. And also, how they decide to recall potentially dangerous toys -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. It's certainly a story everybody is talking about.
CNN's Allan Chernoff from New York for us this morning.
Thank you, Allan.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A killing over the cost of gasoline, that's what police are calling it. A Detroit gas station owner is accused of shooting a rival businessman. The suspect had lowered the price of gas at his station by three cents. Police say the competitor from across the street came over to complain.
According to authorities, a fight broke out and the suspect shot the man. An attorney for the suspect says his client fired in self- defense.
Self-defense or vigilante justice? A grand jury in Texas must now decide. The whole incident caught on tape.
CNN's Gary Tuchman has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Horn saw it right outside his window.
911 OPERATOR: Pasadena 911. What is your emergency?
HORN: Burglars are breaking into a house next door.
TUCHMAN: A burglary at his next-door neighbor's house in the Houston suburb of Pasadena. It was 2:00 in the afternoon.
HORN: I have got a shotgun. Do you want me to stop them?
911 OPERATOR: Nope, don't do that. Ain't no property worth shooting somebody over, OK?
TUCHMAN: Three minutes into the call, and the 61-year-old was getting increasingly upset as he watched the two men.
HORN: I'm not going to let them get away with them. I can't take a chance on getting killed over this, OK?
911 OPERATOR: No.
(CROSSTALK)
HORN: I'm going to shoot. I'm going to shoot. TUCHMAN: On September 1, Texas strengthened a law giving civil immunity to people who defend themselves with deadly force, not only in their homes, but in their cars and workplaces. But this was a neighbor's house, and the 911 operator warned Horn 13 times during the call to stay inside his home.
(CROSSTALK)
HORN: OK. He's coming out the window right now. I got to go, buddy. I'm sorry, but he's coming out the window.
(CROSSTALK)
911 OPERATOR: No, don't. Don't go out the door.
Mr. Horn? Mr. Horn?
HORN: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) They just stole somebody. I'm going out the window. I'm sorry.
911 OPERATOR: Don't go outside.
HORN: I ain't going to let them get away with this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) They stole something. They got a bag of something.
911 OPERATOR: Don't go outside the house.
HORN: I'm doing it.
911 OPERATOR: OK?
Mr. Horn, do not go outside the house.
HORN: I'm sorry. This ain't right, buddy.
911 OPERATOR: You're going to get yourself shot if you go outside that house with a gun. I don't care what you think.
HORN: You want to make a bet? I'm going to kill them.
911 OPERATOR: OK? Stay in the house.
TUCHMAN: Joe Horn would have won that bet.
911 OPERATOR: I don't want you going outside, Mr. Horn.
HORN: Well, here it goes, buddy. You hear the shotgun clicking and I'm going.
911 OPERATOR: Don't go outside.
HORN: Move, you're dead.
(GUNSHOTS)
TUCHMAN: Miguel Antonio Dejesus and Diego Ortiz, two men who had previous minor scrapes with the law, were killed.
CAPTAIN BUD CORBETT, PASADENA POLICE DEPARTMENT: One of the two suspects -- at least one of the two -- was carrying some property which was dropped in the front yard of the residence that -- that was being burglarized.
TUCHMAN: As for Joe Horn, he said in a written statement the shooting is weighing heavily on him. A grand jury will now decide if he should be charged with a crime.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Let's go over to Jacqui Jeras, who is not only covering weather, but helping with the traffic deal today.
It looks pretty slick out there right now.
JERAS: Yes, it is. And we do have quite a few slowdowns all across the Northeastern Corridor as a result of that as well, Rob.
You can see that snow and the ice. And we're going to zoom in on a couple of these cities to show you.
We are looking at the slick conditions in the Massachusetts area. And now we are going to zoom in to New York City.
Look at all those dots here. Red means that it is going to be slow-going, and many of the interstates are slow even going into New York and going out. We have both of those kind of travelers going on there.
There you can see Interstate 278, and also 478 right across the bridge there. That is very slow-going trying to get across as well.
MARCIANO: But it's cool. I mean, those -- there are the buildings of downtown New York right there.
JERAS: Those are the buildings, yes, in 3-D.
MARCIANO: Neat stuff.
JERAS: So you can see things as you go around.
There's 278 all the way around town. Look how long that extends. So people are really looking at slow-going.
MARCIANO: All right. So this is something that you can find on the Web. Not to this resolution, but where can you find this on the Web?
JERAS: Here we go. Google.com.
MARCIANO: That's right.
JERAS: It's not just a search engine for finding a plethora of information. But you can also find traffic conditions.
So you go to google.com. You want to type in "maps," then click right here on to the traffic button, and then you see all those little stoplights which begin to pop up.
You click on the stoplight there. It will zoom you in to the city.
Hit "Zoom in," and it will show you the conditions. Red, of course, means very slow. Yellow means moderate conditions. And green means things are moving along pretty well.
MARCIANO: Well, that's free all on the map. A couple of big cities where people are trying to pack because it's a four or five-day weekend for some folks, I mean, what can we expect?
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: All right, guys. Thanks so much. We'll check back in a little bit later on.
First, though, we want to get to this news just in to us here in the CNN NEWSROOM. T.J. Holmes is working on it for us about a house explosion in Michigan -- T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, in Michigan. In Canton Township, Michigan.
Check out the picture here. This was a pretty large-sized -- large-sized home in an upscale community. These are the pictures here.
In the shots here you can see some homes around it. Again, this is, from what we understand, an upscale community. But you can see the houses around it are pretty good sized. So you can imagine, this was a comparable size house itself that is gone now.
An explosion this morning, early this morning. A married couple, both 64 years old, at the home at the time. We're told now that both of them have been taken to the hospital where they are in stable condition, expected to be all right, non-life threatening injuries.
Don't know what in the world was going on this morning that would cause such an explosion that would destroy a house like this. A couple reports from local affiliates say that the married couple was found in the backyard after this explosion happened. So don't know if they were trying to escape and get out of the house or possibly were blown out of that sucker when it blew up this morning. But that's the aftermath. And again, two people inside. Both expected to be OK. But some amazing pictures this morning and a heck of a wakeup call for this married couple when their house exploded.
If we get more information on exactly how this happened, we certainly will pass it along to you because we're curious about that ourselves here -- Heidi.
COLLINS: OK, great. T.J., let us know. Thank you.
HOLMES: All right.
(NEWSBREAK)
COLLINS: Casting call for bad guys. Arab actors find their roles in Hollywood are usually limited.
CNN's Brooke Anderson explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Terrorist. Terrorist. Terrorist. Arab-American actor Sayed Badreya -- for much of his career Hollywood offered him only one kind of role: terrorist.
SAYED BADREYA, ARAB ACTOR: That's the only role that was available for me. For 10 years I have one line: "In the name of Allah, I will kill you all." That's it. Every movie I go in somehow I end up with that line.
ANDERSON: Arab characters have long been Hollywood's stock villain all the way back to the silent era, with the Sheik, to today's post-9/11 world, when the number of terrorist roles has only increased with films like "United 93," "Munich," "Syriana," and "The Kingdom." That's created more employment opportunities for Arab actors, but at what cost?
MARC CASABANI, ARAB ACTOR: Oftentimes they play terrorists. The material that was available was very one-sided or very -- it was pigeonholed.
ANDERSON: Marc Casabani, who, like Badreya, is of Egyptian descent, played a terrorist in season two of "24," but has turned down parts he feels perpetuate a harmful stereotype.
CASABANI: I remember my niece writing me and saying, "Uncle, are you still playing a terrorist? Because someone in school today said, "You know what? I saw your uncle on TV and you must be a terrorist, too."
ANDERSON: Felicia Fasano was the casting director for Showtime's terrorism-themed "Sleeper Cell." She says she understands the Arab- American actors' dilemma.
FELICIA FASANO, CASTING DIRECTOR: If these jobs come up, if you don't feel comfortable with it, don't take it.
ANDERSON: And, Fasano asserts, typecasting isn't unique to Arab- American actors.
FASANO: For years, that's what we have gotten with the Latino actors. It was, "I don't want to play a maid." "I don't want to play a gangbanger." But that's what all the roles are.
And most stories about Italian-Americans are about the mob. And they keep making them. And actors get jobs.
ANDERSON: Casabani and Badreya are working independently to change the Arab stereotype.
BADREYA: Ninety-five or 100 percent of movies done about Arabs is written by a white guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to talk about it?
ANDERSON: Hoping to present a more balanced view of Arab- Americans, Badreya co-wrote and stars in the upcoming feature film "American East," which isn't about terrorists but an Arab family man who opens a Middle Eastern restaurant with his Jewish friend. Likewise, Casabani is developing a sympathetic comedy called "The Rules of a Muslim in Love."
Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: So what do voters care about? We have new poll numbers for a key primary state. Some top Republican candidates may be in for a shocker.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight at 9:00 Eastern, the plastic surgeon who operated on Kanye West's mother hours before her death, Dr. Jan Adams, sits down with Larry King. It's an exclusive interview, CNN live, at 9:00 Eastern.
New CNN/WMUR poll numbers from New Hampshire now to tell you about. Some Republican heavyweights may not like what they see.
More now from CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider. He is part of the best political team on television.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Where does the Republican race stand in New Hampshire? Our new poll shows Mitt Romney still leads. In fact, Romney's support has increased.
Only two other Republicans are in double digits in New Hampshire, John McCain, whose support has been steady, and Rudy Giuliani, who has been losing strength. New Hampshire voters demand a lot of attention and they may not feel Giuliani has given them enough.
The big shock is Fred Thompson. He's getting nowhere in New Hampshire. He has now fallen behind Ron Paul.
New Hampshire Republicans are beginning to see a two-man race for the nomination, Romney vs. Giuliani. Only eight percent believe McCain is a likely national winner. That could be holding his numbers down in New Hampshire, a state he has to win.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can win in New Hampshire as I did in 2000.
SCHNEIDER: Here's some more bad news for McCain. McCain has staked his candidacy on the success of President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq.
MCCAIN: I would much rather lose a campaign than lose a war.
SCHNEIDER: New Hampshire Republicans think McCain would be the best candidate to handle Iraq, but Iraq has declined in importance as an issue among New Hampshire Republicans. Growing in importance, illegal immigration. That's Romney's issue, along with taxes and the economy.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I think my record as someone who has fought to protect legal immigration but to stop illegal immigration stands up against anybody's in the country.
SCHNEIDER: The issue of terrorism is also important to Republicans. But it's an issue McCain has to share with Giuliani.
RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am used to having the responsibility of other people's safety and security on my shoulders, millions of other people.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): From New Hampshire, there's good news for Romney, not such good news for Thompson and McCain. And Giuliani? He looks like a big player, but not yet in New Hampshire.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: You did it once and 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.
It was totally awesome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were just about to leave, and this nice man over here gave me and my sister two free tickets. And I'm very happy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So are we. Meet the most deserving Hannah Montana fans and the man who made their dreams come true.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: All right. We want to get you back to what seems to be the top story today, which is the travel out there and what is happening at all of the airports. We have been following Ed Lavandera as he makes his trek cross-country, if you will. He began at LAX. He's still there.
But the good news is, Ed, I understand you have gotten through security. How long did it take?
LAVANDERA: You know, from the moment we got through security -- and I even got screened, so I got pulled aside. I had to get the special screening on the side, whatever. Everything took about 20 minutes or so. So it wasn't that bad.
It almost feels kind of anticlimactic at this point. So I'm sure that will change here tomorrow when the brunt of the people will come through.
But we're inside the terminal now, just -- and we're good Cub Scouts right now, because we're here a couple of hours before our flight is supposed to take off. So the aviation industry cannot complain about what we've done this morning.
COLLINS: OK. Well, you know what? Sometimes it's good to be the guy that thought he had a story but doesn't have a story today. So that's good. All right, 20 minutes at LAX to get through security.
Ed Lavandera, good luck on the rest of your travel leg. Appreciate that.
Now we want to get to this story that we told you about just a moment ago. It is being called a tremendous milestone. It involves one of the biggest medical controversies of our time.
Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here now to explain.
Some news on the stem cell debate.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.
Now, Heidi, if you remember, the reason why stem cells have been so controversial is that to get the embryonic stem cells, you had to destroy a human embryo.
COLLINS: Right.
COHEN: Obviously very problematic for many people. But what two different sets of researchers have done is very exciting. They say this they can just take a skin cell, take a Heidi Collins skin cell, and they could turn it into a whole bunch of treatments in case you were to get sick. And that they avoid the whole embryo issue, and they say that they're -- that these cells, using -- getting it from skin, are just as useful as getting them from embryos.
COLLINS: So my understanding is -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- that they actually had to add four genes, and then what that did was sort of change the whole -- the way that the gene is actually made up. And it can turn into pretty much any cell that exists in the entire body.
COHEN: Right, exactly. So they added these four ingredients and made this -- they called it a cocktail to turn just an ordinary skin cell into something that could become any kind of tissue. So let's say, God forbid, you were in a car accident and you had some kind of rupture in your spine, and you needed new nerve cells to replace the damaged ones, they could take, theoretically, your skin cells and turn them into nerve tissue. Now, they haven't done this yet.
COLLINS: Right.
COHEN: OK? That's the big next step. But that's the theory behind it.
COLLINS: Wow. It really -- I mean, it really could mean a lot of big things, but we should probably focus for a minute on what it means for patients. And breakthroughs here right now?
COHEN: It means nothing right now for patients.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: Do not go to your family doctor tomorrow and say, "Gee, I would love that new stem cell treatment."
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: He's going to look at you blankly. It means nothing now. But what it could mean in the future is new treatments, and it's going to happen probably quicker than when it was -- when they were thinking about doing this with embryos, because the embryo research was so controversial. President Bush wasn't funding it nearly as much as scientists wanted. But now that you can get these from skin cells, maybe that funding will be increased.
COLLINS: Yes, maybe it will be.
Does it put to rest -- I mean, it seems very, very early to actually say this -- but the whole ethical controversy over human embryonic stem cell research, or...
COHEN: One researcher put it this way. He said, "It is the beginning of the end of the controversy."
It doesn't totally put it to rest, because embryonic stem cells, you know, killing that embryo and getting stem cells, may still be useful in some ways. It may still be better in some ways. But it's the beginning of the end of the controversy.
COLLINS: OK. That's very well put.
All right. CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
(BUSINESS REPORT)
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COLLINS: He looks like a scalper but he didn't want money. He just wanted to make Hannah Montana fans happy.
Preston Rudie of affiliate WTSP has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRESTON RUDIE, REPORTER, WTSP (voice over): If you were at the (INAUDIBLE) in Tampa Monday night, you would swear it was every girl's dream to see Hannah Montana.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hannah Montana.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hannah Montana.
RUDIE: In fact, one family we met came all the way from Puerto Rico so their daughters could see the teenage singing sensation.
(on camera): You came all the way from Puerto Rico just to see Hannah Montana?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We love her, Hannah Montana.
RUDIE (voice over): But while most people paid $60 or, in some cases, hundreds of dollars for their seats...
FINN WALLING, GAVE TICKETS AWAY: Do you have tickets?
RUDIE: Finn Walling showed up with an offer that sounded too good to be true.
WALLING: Do you folks have tickets tonight?
RUDIE: The father of a 9-year-old girl Madison, Walling was looking to give his two tickets away for free.
WALLING: It's not about money to me, as long as I can have somebody else go who really deserves to go and wants to go and maybe can't afford a ticket.
RUDIE: The tickets were originally for his daughter. But when Madison fell ill...
WALLING: Do you folks have tickets?
RUDIE: ... instead of scalping the tickets, Walling decided to try and make some other little girl's dream come true.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hannah Montana!
WALLING: If you're coming to the show in a limousine, you do not deserve free tickets.
RUDIE: After a 20-minute search...
WALLING: Do you have tickets? You don't?
RUDIE: ... Walling proved some things in life...
WALLING: But you're on disability. You can't afford them.
RUDIE: ... are free.
WALLING: Well, I will tell you what. I cannot think of two girls who are more deserving than you two to have two free tickets to Hannah Montana.
EMILY ADAMS, GOT FREE TICKETS: Thank you so much!
WALLING: You're welcome.
RUDIE: He also proved a smile that comes from a good deed is truly priceless.
ADAMS: We were just about to leave and this nice man over here gave me and my sister two free tickets. And I'm very happy.
WALLING: When I saw her cry, I started to tear up a little bit, man. It's like -- I just felt so great. It means that much to these kids, and so bring a little joy, maybe get a little joy in return one day.
RUDIE: In Tampa, Preston Rudie...
ADAMS: I'm so happy.
RUDIE: ... Tampa Bay's 10 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: It's the story of the day I think.
CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now. Big stories developing today, too.
"YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and right here at home.
I'm Heidi Collins. I'll see you tomorrow.
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