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Burbank Freeway Wreck; Snowstorm Slams Into West; Mall Massacre Tapes; Court Hearing for Barry Bonds

Aired December 07, 2007 - 09:00   ET

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

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

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

Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on Friday morning. It's December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day.

Here's what's on the rundown now.

Voices sound the alarm. Hear the horrifying 911 calls that came in during the Omaha mall shooting.

HARRIS: Baseball's homerun king in front of a judge today. Barry Bonds' first court appearance on perjury charges.

COLLINS: Time to choose. Flu shot or FluMist? Our medical correspondent has your answer.

A sniff or a stick -- in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And right on the top this morning, let's get you back to the breaking news happening right now in Burbank, California, the story that John Roberts just mentioned to you moments ago. A car has flipped off the I-5 freeway into what appears to be some kind of a drainage canal, maybe a ravine.

Wheels up, as you can see here, roof down. Not a good picture.

We understand firefighters just a short time ago lowered what is called a stokes basket with a flat board on it to rescue one -- there is the picture from just moments ago -- to rescue one of the people inside that vehicle. We do know at this point, we have seen pictures that we won't show you right now, that there was at least one other person inside that vehicle right now.

So this is very much an active scene. Moments ago, you can see the effort to get that one person out of the vehicle. There is at least one other person that we are aware of inside the vehicle.

And again, firefighters working as quickly as they can to extricate that person from that vehicle, but this is happening a short time ago. Again, a car flipping off the I-5 freeway in Burbank, California. Live pictures, as you can see here from our affiliate there, KTLA.

We will continue to watch these pictures. And it's a story that is developing. We are getting some indications, at least, that weather might have contributed, may be a factor in that area.

I know that, Heidi, Reynolds Wolf is following the situation there. And we will get to Reynolds in just a moment. But -- and Reynolds is available to us right now.

And Reynolds, if you're there, I know that weather is a factor in Los Angeles, southern California, to be hit with a lot of rains today and maybe over the next couple?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, this is what we're seeing right now. Obviously, this video from KTLA shows what many people are dealing with this morning, not just here. I mean, obviously, this is the most extreme case. You see this water rescue. But many people are going to be driving through areas where you have quite a bit of water.

Rainfall rates going at about a half inch now -- or in some locations. And this thing is going to continue through a good part of the day. Not just in parts of the L.A. basin, but through a good part of California.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: OK, Reynolds. Appreciate it.

Again, we're going to keep an eye on this situation now, this vehicle flipping into this drainage ravine off of the I-5 freeway. The rescue effort under way right now.

Again, we will bring you more updates on this story as we get the new information here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Severe weather posing a real threat to many of you this morning. As you just heard in southern California and as we've been showing you, too, a fierce rainstorm there raising the risk of flash flooding and mudslides. Residents have sand-bagged vulnerable neighborhoods stripped of vegetation by wildfires. You'll remember those. We covered those for days -- nearly weeks, it seems.

Thousands of people have been evacuated now. The heavy rain could last through the weekend, as Reynolds was just telling us.

And feeling their pain. Hawaii now. Much of that state under water after heavy storms this week.

These pictures taken by I-Reporter Chris Williams. And look closely, because that is a couch those people are surfing on. Wow.

Rain and flooding isn't the only weather worry in Hawaii, though. Believe it or not, there are blizzard warnings on two big island mountains. And getting slammed by a major snowstorm right now, several western states, including Utah and Colorado. These pictures were taken in Denver.

Actually, it looks quite lovely. A little southwest of there, though, CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is "toughing it out" in Telluride.

So, Rob, I continue to ask the question, how do you get the assignments?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You get a degree in meteorology, and, you know...

COLLINS: Oh, sure.

MARCIANO: ... and you like to be standing out in the cold.

COLLINS: A likely excuse.

MARCIANO: That's your first step, Heidi. I don't want to hear your complaining anymore.

It was a tough go to get here. I'll tell you that much.

It is a beautiful spot here in Telluride, Colorado. We're in the southwest corner of the state, in the San Juans, which is just going to get slammed with the most amount of snow here in the next 48 hours.

Just coming over the mountain passes last night -- or a few hours ago, in fact, the snow was blowing around, the visibility was poor. It definitely, definitely was dangerous, but let's not kid ourselves. Any snow this time of year for the ski resorts is definitely a boom.

Tom Watkinson is one of the workers here, just showing up now.

The skiers not quite here yet, Tom. But you already had one dumping of snow. How much does this help the ski resort this time of year?

TOM WATKINSON, TELLURIDE RESIDENT: Oh, it's great. You know, we're able to -- we kind of -- the more snow we get, the more we can open up on the mountain. And so we're hoping for a big snow this weekend just so we can get more terrain going and get some of our steeper, bigger stuff ready to go and skied on.

MARCIANO: Rather be working or playing right now?

WATKINSON: Oh, playing. Waiting for it.

MARCIANO: Dumb question. I ask the really tough questions here.

Hey, soon those aspen trees that you see all across Colorado that they are famous for, they will be getting a little more buried in the white stuff, as Reynolds said. Winter storm warnings posted for this area until 6:00 tomorrow night, and we could be very well measuring the snowfall here in the feet.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: Sounds lovely, as long as it stays always, like we say, in the ski resorts and in the mountains. Excellent.

All right, Rob. We'll check back a little bit later on.

And just a quick reminder now. When weather does become the news, you can see it here on CNN. If it's happening outside your window, go ahead and send us your video or your photos. Go to CNN.com and click on "I-Report." Or type ireport@CNN.com right into your cell phone. But remember, as always, please stay safe.

HARRIS: Bursts of gunfire, shrieks of panic, and frantic 911 calls to Omaha police.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 DISPATCHER: 911. What's your emergency?

(GUNSHOTS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is someone with a gun shooting people in Von Maur at Westroads.

911 DISPATCHER: OK. We are on our way out there. Have you seen anybody that was shot?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No.

911 DISPATCHER: OK. They're on their way out there. Did anybody see the person shooting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a bunch of people shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) shot up (INAUDIBLE). Oh, my God! Help us.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HARRIS: Audiotapes capture the moments of horror and death.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is outside the mall where Wednesday' rampage took place.

Ed, you hear those tapes and you just can't believe it. What are we learning from these tapes about the attack?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you really get a chilling sense of just the intensity with which Robert Hawkins fired upon the people who were holiday shopping inside the mall here just a few days ago, and it also offers a glimpse into the chaos that ensued.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

911 DISPATCHER: Hello?

LAVANDERA (voice over): Omaha police say Robert Hawkins may have fired off as many as 60 rounds on the third floor of the Von Maur department store.

911 DISPATCHER: That can't be, because I'm still hearing shots. Hello?

LAVANDERA: Shoppers trapped inside the store called 911 as they hid to survive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we're up in the women's bathroom. And there is a bunch of us.

911 DISPATCHER: There's a lot of people out there hiding. So you all just stay safe. Let the police do what they've got to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at Von Maur and I think there are shots being fired all over the place.

911 DISPATCHER: Yes. Well, they're on their way out there. Anybody been hit?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't seen anything. I'm hiding in a clothes rack.

911 DISPATCHER: OK. We're on our way out there, ma'am.

LAVANDERA: Investigators have seen the security camera video of the attack. They say it only lasted a few minutes, not enough time for officers to save any victims. Shooter Robert Hawkins was dead by the time police arrived.

CHIEF THOMAS WARREN, OMAHA POLICE: It appeared that the shooting victims were randomly selected. It didn't appear as if anyone was specifically targeted.

LAVANDERA: Nebraska health officials say Hawkins spent four years in state care and was treated for drug abuse and in mental health hospitals. He was released in the summer of 2006.

TODD LANDRY, NEBRASKA CHILDREN FAMILY SERVICES: This tragedy was not a failure of the system to provide appropriate quality services for youth who need it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Authorities here in Omaha continue to say that they pour over the text messages that Robert Hawkins had sent to some friends and the people he talked with in the hours leading up to the shooting, but that, as well as the tapes that you've heard from this morning, still don't offer the definitive answer as to why this happened -- Tony.

HARRIS: Just amazing.

Ed Lavandera for us this morning.

Ed, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Want to take you back to the breaking news we've been bringing you this morning happening in Burbank, California. These pictures coming in of this water rescue that is taking place.

You see someone there in the basket that is being brought up to be treated. They were trapped underneath this vehicle.

These pictures coming in from our affiliate there KTLA. Once again, live pictures for you.

Want to go ahead and bring in Captain Ron Bell. He is with the City of Burbank Fire Department to give us a little bit more information about what we're watching here.

Captain, tell us what's happened. And, of course, what is going on right now.

CAPTAIN RON BELL, BURBANK FIRE DEPARTMENT: Right now, we're trying to extricate the second victim. The first victim was already en route to a trauma center. This came in this morning as a vehicle over the side off of the I-5 freeway northbound. And this car ended up in what is called the Western Channel which connects to the L.A. River here in town.

We've got two of our firefighters on tag lines down in the water right now. Luckily, the rain has stopped here for a minute. So we're only dealing with less than a foot of water in this particular portion of the river which is aiding us in our rescue efforts. We've got the cities of Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and L.A. City have all come together here with our urban search and rescue teams, and making these two rescues.

COLLINS: Holy cow. It's interesting to know that there is just less than a foot of water there, because obviously, as we know from past scenarios, where we've had cars overturn and water is involved, it is a dire situation, and these men have to move fast.

BELL: This particular channel, as I say, it's an offshoot of the L.A. River, and the rain a has stopped. It goes up and down at a moment's notice. So we've got lookouts up river to give us notice.

We still have one victim in the car. The car is on its roof. And so we're at a very lucky point right now where we can get to the victim.

COLLINS: Let me just clarify quickly, because I'm not sure that you are able to see the pictures that we're broadcasting right now. You said the first victim has already been taken out of the vehicle and in the trauma center. The second victim is being taken out now, but I think I heard you say -- is there still another person inside, or were you referring to this person who's being taken out live right now on our air?

BELL: You're probably seeing a better picture than me.

COLLINS: OK.

BELL: I walked over away from the noise so that I could speak to you guys. So if the second victim is coming out, I know they are both going to trauma centers. There are only two victims in the vehicle that we're aware of, and then we will be yanking the entire vehicle out of the wash.

COLLINS: OK. Understood.

If you could give us an idea of what challenges these rescuers are facing right now. We see them. We see that the victim is already in the basket, and they are working very hard to get the cables connected and for him to be lifted out.

Can you talk about that for just a moment here?

BELL: Well, initially, we want to find out who is in the vehicle. Are there people in the vehicle? We need to stabilize the vehicle, because the water level has dropped just since we've been here because the rain has slowed down.

Putting our own people down in the water is a very dangerous situation. But sometimes that what we obviously need to do to get to those people.

We are very lucky because of the water level that we could do that here. We have to tie off that vehicle. Right now it is chained to the side of the wash so that if the water level does come up, that it doesn't take off and we are chasing it down the wash.

COLLINS: Oh.

BELL: All these things that we're looking at, besides the fact that the water is icy cold. Hypothermia sets in immediately with these people that are in the water, whether they are in a vehicle or they just fall into these washes or the L.A. River. So all these things that we're looking at right now, trying to do a very safe, quick operation so we can get these people to the care that they need.

COLLINS: Absolutely. I think it's something that people don't think about. Even though it is December, they don't think that the water is very cold in California sometimes, so excellent point. And obviously, as we said before, they are going to have to move very gingerly to get this person to safety.

We appreciate your time very much.

Captain Ron Bell, he is with the city of Burbank, California, Fire Department.

We're going to keep our eye on this story for you.

BELL: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: The homerun king swings by court today. Did he lie about steroids? Barry Bonds answers the charges.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Need a flu shot? Hate the needle? There are options, you might be happy to hear. Will it be a spray or a shot? We'll tell you about it coming up ahead.

HARRIS: A baseball legend accused of lying about steroid use. Today, homerun king Barry Bonds is in court to face perjury and obstruction charges.

Thelma Gutierrez live from San Francisco for us.

Thelma, great to see you.

How will this day unfold for Barry Bonds? It's usually pretty straightforward. He shows up, he says "not guilty," or enters some kind of plea, and then that is pretty much it.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right, Tony.

Well, this hearing is expected to begin in less than three hours. Right now, it's quiet. Of course, all of that is likely to change.

There are barriers up to keep all of the crowds away, the protesters away. And so it's going to be quite a circus a little bit later this morning. But Bonds will appear here at this San Francisco courthouse. When he does appear, he will be fingerprinted, his mug shot will be taken. And this will be his first public appearance since he was indicted back in November.

He will appear before a U.S. magistrate. They'll discuss bail, and then the case will go to a U.S. district court judge who will formally accept his plea.

Now, this homerun king is expected to plead not guilty to four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to a grand jury for knowingly using performance- enhancing drugs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL RAINS, BARRY BONDS' ATTORNEY: What we want to know, what we will keep asking is whether, whether the media and whether the government of this country would spend as much time repairing Barry's reputation as it has spent destroying him after he is proven innocent by a fair and impartial jury.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTIERREZ: Now, that was attorney Michael Rains who, of course, is striking out against the government, saying that that the government was after his client for four years and that they were relentless in pursuing Barry Bonds. If he is convicted on all counts, he could be sentenced to two years in prison -- Tony. HARRIS: Boy, can't wait to see how this all unfolds.

Thelma Gutierrez for us in San Francisco.

Thelma, thanks.

COLLINS: Mortgage relief. President Bush announcing a plan he says will rescue 1.25 million homeowners facing foreclosure. But not everyone caught in the subprime debacle will benefit So, who is served and who is left behind?

If you are confused about the housing market, we're going to try to help this morning. Send us your questions. The address that you should send them to, cnnnewsroom@CNN.com.

Real estate expert Ilyce Glink will answer some of them on the air right here in the 11:00 Eastern hour.

HARRIS: A police officer who tasered a pregnant woman is fired, not for the tasering, but for what investigators found on his MySpace page.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The water rescue? Okay. All right. Just want to get you the latest pictures now of the water rescue that looks, at least the rescue portion of this seems to be complete right now. This is a vehicle that flipped off the I-5 freeway and landing as you can see, wheels up, roof down, in that drainage canal. The two people who were in that vehicle have been rescued from that vehicle and we don't know their conditions right now but they are clearly on their way to a hospital for treatment.

The effort that is on the way right now is to get that vehicle out of that ravine, that canal. Pictures from earlier as that stokes basket was lowered and the victims were pulled to safety and at least out of that canal, again, that part of the operation is over and now as we go back to live pictures, you will see that the effort is on right now, a wrecker on the scene to get that vehicle out of the canal. Not sure of what impact. You know some impact on the freeway traffic there along the I-5, but the good news at least is the people have been rescued from the vehicle and are on their way to a hospital for treatment. The effort is on the way to get that vehicle out of that ravine.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Christmas music filled the air. Then a killer raised his gun and began mowing down everyone around him. Men, women, shoppers, workers, Killed at random and prompting frantic calls to police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911. What is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is someone with a gun shooting people in Von Maur at Westroads.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're on our way out there. Have you seen anybody that was shot?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're on our way out there. Did anybody see the person shooting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A bunch of people shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shot up in the air! Oh, my god! Help us!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, get away. I can't hear what you're saying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said there are a bunch of people shot inside of Von Maur.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police are on their way.

COLLINS: One store employee barricaded herself in an office. She watched surveillance cameras as the rampage came to an end.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh, it looks like the gun is laying over by customer service. There's an officer there now. I wonder if he ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Customer service on the third level?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Correct. It looks like he might have killed himself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Do you see him laying by a gun?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see him laying by a gun (INAUDIBLE)

COLLINS: Today, even more red flags to consider about Robert Hawkins. A state official says he threatened to kill his step-mother in 2002. He spent the next four years in a series of treatment centers, group homes and foster care.

We now know more about Robert Hawkins' victims as well. Gary Sharp was one of two shoppers killed. His ex-wife is sure he protected others right to the end. John McDonald had been married for 40 years. He and his wife were getting Christmas gifts wrapped. Gary Joy was one of the six store employees. His 91-year-old mother says he was a devoted son. Beverly Flynn was a gift wrapper. She was shot once and declared dead at the hospital. Janet Jorgensen was another employee and she was planning a wedding for one grandchild and getting ready for the college graduation of another. Angie Schuster wanted to teach grade school after college. Instead, she went to work for the store ten years ago. Diane Trent loved to grow flowers and nurture friendships with her neighbors. Maggie Webb was a new worker. She was about two weeks shy of her 25th birthday.

HARRIS: And the CIA trashing the evidence. The spy agent admits destroying videotapes. They showed what is termed harsh interrogation techniques. Live to Kelli Arena now in Washington. Kelli, great to see you. What is the CIA director saying about these tapes?

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: He is saying a lot, Tony. But why don't we start from the beginning for our viewers. There were actually, this is the first time we've heard about this, CIA videotapes of interrogations that they did of terrorism detainees. These tapes were produced after the president okayed, you know, harsher methods. He said ok you can use these and those methods would include things like waterboarding. That's a technique we've heard so much about that simulates drowning.

In a letter to the CIA work force, Director Michael Hayden says the CIA made the tapes to do an internal check to make sure that all of those new techniques were being applied appropriately. A knowledgeable source says that the tapes were made in the year 2002 of two detainees, one of them being a senior al Qaeda operative Abu Zubada who was one of the first high level terrorist taken into custody.

Those tapes obviously would be very helpful right now, big debate over whether the CIA overstepped its bounds but Director Hayden says those tapes were destroyed two years ago. Hayden says that was to protect the identities of the CIA interrogators but, Tony, that was at a time when the CIA knew that there was a big debate over their interrogation techniques, those tapes were never supplied to the courts who were doing terrorism trials. They were never supplied to the 9/11 commission which had repeatedly asked for all evidence pertaining to September 11th.

Now, Director Hayden says, hey, wait. Congress knew all about this. The CIA's in-house lawyer watched the tape, concluded that those interrogation practices were legal. He also said the tapes were viewed by the agency's inspector general.

But we back up again. "The New York Times" is saying, look, we spoke to a lot of congressional leaders who said they had no idea the tapes were going to be destroyed in advance. Obviously, you know, lots of questions remaining, despite the fact that Director Hayden put out there long letter to his employees trying to offer an explanation.

HARRIS: Well, here is one of those questions. Kelly, was waterboarding on the tapes?

ARENA: We don't know. You know what? There will never be any proof that either, will there? Because they don't exist anymore.

HARRIS: Because they don't exist. Justice correspondent Kelli Arena for us this morning, thank you.

ARENA: You're welcome.

COLLINS: Severe weather posing a real threat to many of you this morning. In southern California, a fierce rainstorm raising the risk of flash flooding and mudslides. Thousands of people have evacuated. The heavy rain could last all the way through the weekend.

Feeling their pain in Hawaii. Much of that state under water after heavy storms this week. These pictures taken by our I-reporter Chris Williams. If you look closely, you can see that is on couch they are surfing on. It looks fun but probably not so much. Rain and flooding isn't the only weather worry in Hawaii either. Believe it or not, there are blizzard warnings on two big island mountains. Interesting. And getting slammed by a major snowstorm right now, several western states, including Utah and Colorado. These pictures taken in Denver.

HARRIS: Reynolds is here to need some time to sort through this rather complicated weather story today.

REYNOLDS WOLF, METEOROLOGIST: As always, there's a lot of topics to cover here.

COLLINS: You've taken your jacket off so we know you're getting down and dirty with at all.

WOLF: You're on to me. We do have a lot to cover. Why don't we start in the west. We already talked about Hawaii. Let's focus a little bit on the golden state of California. Then we're going to make our way across the grate basin into the Rockies.

First, again California where, right now, you're seeing transformation in Lake Tahoe it's mainly snow but into the parts of this San Joaquin Valley we're talking about some rain and some of it is heavy. And under any other circumstance, you would think this is a great thing. We've been talking about the wildfires in southern California so you would think it's a great thing to finally get in on some of that rainfall. Problem is a lot of the hillsides are completely bare from all the heavy fires. We don't have any grass and we don't have a root system so we will see mudslides. Not necessarily today but in the days to come that could be a tremendous issue.

Snow is also a huge story we're seeing. As this system dejects farther to the east we begin to see the snow piling up in parts of Sierra, Nevada and Salt Lake City and back into parts of southwestern Colorado. Not inches but rather feet. We could see plenty of snow in many spots anywhere from one to three and maybe as much as five.

I believe we have a shot from the great divide. A live image from KUSA. You can live in the Rockies your entire life but one thing it never, never -- you don't get a good grasp on is driving in that snow. That is always a scary prospect and it's going to be a scary prospect for many people today. Best advice, take it easy, drive slowly and if you don't have to get on the roads, don't. That is something you have to do, in parts of Colorado, you got to get it work. You've got to take care of your family. On parts of I-80 and I-70 you will deal with the snow, some heavy. Same story across much of the great basin. Southern California it is going to be the rain so we finish up where we started. Flash flood watches and warnings in parts of southern California and same areas, Los Angeles, back into San Diego. It could be messy.

HARRIS: We're going to keep you posted with the information throughout the rest of the morning and into the evening. It always happens. Plenty to tell.

WOLF: Yeah.

COLLINS: Thank you for bringing that.

WOLF: Any time.

HARRIS: We're going to invite you again, as we always do to help us tell the story weather today and if you see extreme weather happening outside your window send us your videos or photos at CNN.com. Remember, stay safe.

COLLINS: A woman looking for a husband online is not so unusual I guess. But we'll tell you why one woman's alleged quest for a man has landed her in trouble with the law.

HARRIS: Let's get you to the New York Stock Exchange as we get the business day started. Futures market indicating a flat open as the markets sort of died. Just the new labor department jobs report. Here we go inside the first couple of minutes in the trading day. Dow up 22 points. We are following the markets throughout the morning with Susan Lisovicz -- no, it's Stephanie Elam in for Susan in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The shuttle "Atlantis" going up tomorrow, hopefully. Liftoff, as you probably know was supposed to happen yesterday but a couple of faulty sensors in the fuel tank led NASA to call it off. Right now, launch is set right now for 3:43 eastern p.m. but it could change. The shuttle's management team meets today to go over data and discuss whether or not to go ahead with the launch. The focus of the 11 day mission is delivery of a bus-sized laboratory to the International Space Station.

HARRIS: Can you really buy just about anything on Craig's List, including a husband? The woman who allegedly tried that is now in trouble with the law. Hello! Veronica De La Cruz!

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello.

HARRIS: Is this true? Of course, it's true. Or you wouldn't be here to tell us about it.

DE LA CRUZ: It all allegedly happened. Hi, Tony. It's nice to see you. We found the story on the L.A. Times website, a Russian woman now facing jail time deportation after getting busted for a fake marriage. 24-year-old Yuliya Kalinina reportedly said she didn't know it was illegal to advertise for a green card marriage online so she posted an ad to Craig's List. The ad read green card marriage will pay $300 a month total $15,000. This is strictly platonic business offer, sex not involved. Not required to live together. She found a taker, a man in his late 20s who was working at Disneyland at the time. She leased him a Ford Mustang instead of giving him cash because she had bad credit. She took care of wedding arrangements. Listen to this, her live-in boyfriend, also a Russian national, performed the ceremony after becoming an ordained minister by registering online.

HARRIS: This gets crazy!

DE LA CRUZ: Let's take a look at this. This is the criminal complaint filed by ICE officials. We found it is on the Smoking Gun website. The documents show that Craig's List turned over the advertisements as well as the IP addresses for the two involved. Google then turned over email from Kalinina's gmail account. Federal officials say it's a fairly blatant example of marriage fraud. Kalinina's lawyer said federal agents were aware of the ad two years ago when she posted it and instead of giving her a warning they sat back and waited for her to commit this crime. Both she and her green card husband were arrested last week at separate residences and according to the Smoking Gun, this is the first marriage fraud scheme that immigration and customs officials haven't covered on the Internet, probably won't be the last.

HARRIS: I read a little bit more on this. Apparently the woman was receiving offers of marriage from agents from immigration and custom agents. They may have been setting her up for the fall here. What a story.

DE LA CRUZ: Yeah. What a story. You get anything these days on Craig's List, it seems, right?

HARRIS: Yes it seems. Well Veronica, have a great weekend. Good to see you.

DE LA CRUZ: You to.

HARRIS: A reminder you can see Veronica every morning on "AMERICAN MORNING" 6:00 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. eastern.

COLLINS: Need a flu shot but hate the needle? Elizabeth Cohen is here with options. Will it be spray or a shot?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A mother face down in an icy lake. Her daughter trapped in the sinking car. How they made it out alive just ahead.

COLLINS: Need a flu shot? Well, there is plenty of vaccine this year and now you can choose between getting a shot or using flumist. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen lays out the pros and cons.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The big news about flu vaccines this year is the cost of the flumist, the nasal spray, has come way down. It used to be for many of you prohibitively expensive. So let's take a look, now that the price has come down, which should you get; the shot or the nose spray? Let's take a look at a comparison.

First of all, the shot is a dead vaccine. The flumist is a live vaccine, an actual virus. So there is some safety questions that come with that. The cost, well, the shot is a bit less expensive about $10, $11 compared to the flumist which is $17-18. We saw places that wanted $20 for it. Here is probably the biggest difference. The shot is approved for pretty much everyone. The flumist, because it is a live vaccine, is only approved for people ages 2 through 49 and also it's not approved for pregnant women and for people who have weak immune systems but for everybody else, what the CDC says is get vaccinated. Make your choice. And the most important thing is get yourself vaccinated. Back to you.

HARRIS: All right. Let's put you to work here. More gets you relief. President Bush announcing a plan he says will rescue one and a quarter million homeowners facing foreclosure but not everyone caught in the sub prime debacle will benefit. Who is left behind? If you are confused about the housing market, man, I sure am. We're going to try to help. Send us your questions to the address cnnnewsroom@cnn.com; again cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. Real estate expert Alice Blink will be here to answer some of your questions on the air in the 11:00 a.m. eastern hour.

COLLINS: The Omaha mall shooting, gunfire on tape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911, what is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is someone with a gun shooting people.

COLLINS: The alarming 911 call in just a few minutes.

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HARRIS: You know, each week, we introduce you to people who transition from one line of work to another, giving them a new sense of purpose. Today, Ali Velshi brings us the story of a former stay at home mom who is now pursuing a calling of a different kind.

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ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sally Bingham is a woman of the cloth but what she preaches is one part bible and one part being green.

REV. SALLY BINGHAM, GRACE CATHEDRAL: Two of my greatest passions are the environment and my Christian faith. So bringing those two things together was probably the best when there became the opportunity to be a priest and talk about stewardship of creation from the pulpit.

VELSHI: Bingham is an Episcopal minister at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco but 16 years ago instead of raising environmental awareness she was raising children.

BINGHAM: Prior to becoming a priest, I spent most of my time being a wife and a mother. It occurred to me that people who sit in the pews and profess a love of god should be the people that are protecting the creation. VELSHI: So in 1991, at age 51, she went to study at a seminary and preaches from the pulpit and across religious lines through her regeneration project. The organization helps religious groups around the country make their facilities more green.

BINGHAM: One of the really fun and exciting things about this ministry is the fact that it's interfaith because it brings Muslims, Jews and Christians together around a table standing in solidarity on a particular issue and I have been completely overwhelmed by the affirmation and the growth of this ministry the last three to five years. Utterly startling to me but it tells me that I just happened, by the grace of god, to be in the right place at the right time.

VELSHI: Ali Velshi, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Dallas deputies close call. A car just missed him. But not his cruiser's door.

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HARRIS: Time to steal a doughnut! Huh? A Krispy Kreme truck clocked at 82 miles an hour! Yeah! The whole story is still ahead.

COLLINS: Back-to-back close calls for a Dallas deputy. A car almost hits the officer on the side of a busy highway. You can see the impact on the squad car's door. Wow. What you can't see is what happens next, though. The officer had to leap over the hood of a second car that almost hit his legs. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

HARRIS: How about this? In Ohio a police officer who tasered a pregnant woman is fired and not for using the taser but for what investigators say they found on Michael Wilmer's Myspace page, pictures of evidence seized during a drug raid and video of Wilmer driving a police cruiser more than 100 miles an hour. That page has been pulled from the web site. This taser incident is still being investigated. Wilmer says he didn't know the woman was pregnant.

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