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Ice Storm Blankets Midwest; Closed Doors, Open Questions; Your Money; Orlando Shooting; A Step Forward; Helping Out Dad
Aired December 11, 2007 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Stay informed all day right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown now.
Carnage in north Africa. Car bombers target U.N. workers. Dozens of people are killed or maimed.
In the cold and in the dark. An ice storm slices power to 500,000 homes and businesses across Oklahoma and Missouri.
Plus, a widowed dad with newborn triplets. We told you Andrue Smith's story. Now he's overwhelmed by your generosity, this Tuesday, December 11th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Dozens of people are dead after terror attacks in northern Africa. A pair of car bombs explode just minutes apart. Hospital sources in the capital of Algeria say at least 62 people are dead. United Nations officials say at least one staffer is dead, a dozen more are missing. The massive explosions sheered off the fronts of at least two agency buildings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON REDMOND, UNITED NATIONS SPOKESMAN: This car bomb went off in the street between two U.N. buildings. So it certainly does appear that the U.N. was targeted in this. It comes with the territory, but it becomes increasingly difficult for our field workers to do the kind of work that needs to be done to help people in a humanitarian, neutral way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So far, no group has claimed responsibility for these blasts. But in April, a wing of al Qaeda boasted of a bomb attack in downtown Algers (ph). Thirty-three people died in that blast.
Millions of people in the Midwest are waking up to this. And also the sound of car wheels spinning, tree branches snapping. A heavy coating of ice and snow reaching all the way from Oklahoma to Illinois. For many people, no heat, no lights, no school and just no way to get around. At least 23 people have now died in the storm. Mostly in accidents on frozen roads. In Oklahoma, the biggest power outage ever. Half a million customers are in the dark. CNN's meteorologists very busy on this one. Bonnie Schneider is tracking the storm for us and Jacqui Jeras is right in the middle of it. We want to begin with Jacqui in Kansas City, Missouri. What's the deal, Jacqui? How's it look now?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, we've had a lot of changes here in the last hour, Heidi. You know, we've been seeing the ice accumulating since last evening. A good half of an inch on the ground. And the rain has really picked up in intensity just in the last 20 minutes or so. And it's coming down. And we're starting to see some melting taking place a little bit.
Our temperature has been hovering right at that 32 degree mark. So we've seen some ice, mostly on the sidewalks and the elevated things. But take a look at these streets now. Here you can see just standing water. And my concern is that cold air is starting to invect (ph) in from the north and I think that we're going to see the transition back over to some freezing rain. And the water now that's beginning to collect on some of these surfaces will likely turn into ice and bridges and overpasses particularly are going to become extremely slick. We're getting reports now that many accidents are starting to develop across town. Mostly due to the wet streets and poor visibility rather than the ice.
Speaking of the ice, check this out next to me. This is a pine tree. And look at how fat that branch is. A couple of inches around. And there's a coating of ice on top of it. And you can kind of hear the drip, drip, drip taking place now as the ice is starting to come off a little bit. And it's coming off in chunks. So that's really hazardous too. You have to watch out for that.
Not to mention, if you can see the sidewalk here, there's still a lot of ice that's kind of becoming slushy and a big mess. We're here a plaza in Kansas City -- if you've ever been here before during the holidays, it's absolutely beautiful. They light up all of the shops here. And it looks like the shop owners are actually starting to show up. Getting to work and starting to open up for business. Hopefully things are going to work out later on this afternoon. But we're very concerned that that ice is going to start accumulating again in the coming hours. And we have an ice storm warning in effect here until midnight tonight.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Boy. All right, Jacqui, thanks for the update on that, coming to us live from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Jacqui Jeras, thank you.
Want to head over to Bonnie Schneider now who is watching the maps and all the computer models to get even a better look at what on earth is happening with this ice. It's so scary. I mean you just plain don't want to be out in that at all.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, it is very scary because you can't always see where the ice is when you just step outside your front door.
But one of the interesting things we can show you here on CNN is we're zooming into Oklahoma Gas and Electric. And you can see these flashing red dots. This indicates areas that have a high concentration of power outages. Meaning any area you see flashing there in red, 500 customers or greater. So we're seeing a lot of power outages in the region, unfortunately.
And this is just one particular area. Power outages are going to be a problem, not just for today, but tonight as well because we still have an ice storm continuing until midnight. As Jacqui mentioned, the warning, for example, in Kansas City will expire not until midnight tonight.
Now we're looking at something else. We've been wondering, are people actually out on the roads? Well, we can zoom into our real live tower cams. This is courtesy of Weather Bonk. And you're looking at Des Moines, Iowa, US 65 at 163. So if you live in the area, you may recognize this region here. And you can already see the snow on the ground, sleet, some of the ice kind of glazing the live camera shot and this is an example of what the roads look like.
Now in this particular case, you can see people are not on the roads, which is good news. But, unfortunately, as we get through the day, we may see some more traffic in this region. And Des Moines is one area that will change over to snow, which is a little easier to drive on. But once that snow covers areas into ice, then you're going to have a concern and a problem.
Now taking a look at the winter threat. We still have the ice storm warning in effect for Kansas. Some of the worst weather will be actually north of Kansas City. That's where we'll see a greater ice accumulation.
In fact, look at this, over half an inch of ice expected as this low works its way further to the north and east. What will happen in this region is the winds coming out of the north and at times today we could see in the darker highlighted color a quarter of an inch of ice per hour. That's a lot of ice coming into a region and that's why we're expecting more power outages.
And incidently, Heidi, the winds in this vicinity will pick up as well. So that will blow about some of the weaker branches that are already ice-laden and we may see even more power outages as a result of that.
COLLINS: Oh, terrible. All right, nasty combination there that's for sure. I like that computer model you had, though, with all of the power outages. We'll check on that again a little bit later. It makes it a lot harder on people, that's for sure.
Bonnie, thank you.
Today on Capitol Hill, CIA chief Michael Haydn goes behind closed doors to face angry senators. Lawmakers want to know about the CIA's decision to destroy the videotaped interrogation of two terror suspects. It happened in 2005. Hayden was not the head of the CIA at that time, but he is defending the move and he says Congress knew about it. Some lawmakers deny that. The destroyed tapes apparently showed what the administration had called harsh interrogation techniques.
At issue, critical questions about what qualifies as torture. What did the White House know and when. CNN's Ed Henry reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Now that there are open investigations of the CIA's destruction of videotapes, President Bush isn't commenting. Not even through his press secretary.
DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In terms of -- I can't talk about that particular -- I can't characterize the president's thinking on that.
HENRY: The White House counsel has ordered staffers to preserve all records relevant to the preliminary joint investigation launched Saturday by the CIA and the Justice Department. And Perino says she's been told not to answer specific questions.
PERINO: To avoid any appearance of trying to prejudice that inquiry, it's appropriate and better for us not to comment.
HENRY: Administration officials did comment anonymously on Friday night to provide information that may help them, claiming former White House aide Harriet Miers told the CIA not to destroy the tapes. That begs the question of why Miers did not inform the president. But she is not commenting and neither is Perino.
PERINO: No, no. It's going -- unfortunately, be one of those briefings. I'm not able to comment on anything regarding that.
HENRY: The White House employed a similar strategy with former aide Lewis Scooter Libby, eventually convicted of lying and obstruction in another CIA case.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can't get into discussing ongoing legal proceedings. That's a question relating to the ongoing legal proceedings.
HENRY: The White House brushed aside questions about the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, saying they did not want to interfere with the investigation. Yet on Monday, when Libby announced he had ended his appeal, the White House still would not shed any light on what the president thinks about Libby disclosing Plame's identity.
PERINO: So I did not have a chance to speak to the president after this announcement was made this morning and so I don't have his immediate reaction.
HENRY: The president vowed back in 2004 that he would fire anyone involved in leaking Plame's identity. That never happened, which is why the big question hanging over this new investigation is whether in the end anyone will be held accountable.
Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Happy new year but blue for business. The Fed making a key announcement today and some fear for the future. Our Ali Velshi is watching your money, watching it closely, thank goodness.
Ali, what's going to happen? What does it mean to us?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're expecting, Heidi, is that the Fed will cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point. Now, what that means for some of us is that it will mean less interest on some of the loans we carry, if you have a home equity loan or a credit card loan because it affects the prime rate.
But, fundamentally, when you reduce interest rates, it stimulates the economy. And the Fed is doing this to try and avoid a recession in many cases. And this is what some people think could happen in 2008.
In fact, we've just heard from Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch who say that we are going to feel some sort of a recession in the United States in 2008. Goldman Sachs last week, they all do these economic forecasts, said no recession. Our economic growth will slow, but everybody sort of agrees that our unemployment rate will increase. And more than energy prices, more than home prices, Heidi, that unemployment, jobs are the most important thing. If you think you've got a job, you're more likely to take that credit because you think you're going to pay it off later.
So the job story is one to watch very closely. That's what the Fed is concerned about. They want to make sure that we don't get into a recession.
COLLINS: Do you think that there will be less dissension then among people who say that, yes, in fact, we are in a recession or no we're not because there really are two very different opinions on that.
VELSHI: Yes. And the interesting thing about a recession is, you never know you're in one until it's sort of started. You can sense it, you can feel it but recessions are actually measurements of economic growth. So you don't know until it's -- you know, until you're reporting backwards that it's happened.
So, absolutely, this is going to be a very hotly debated matter. And the question here is, is the Fed doing the right thing so that six months down the road people will say they're doing the right thing. For most people, they're looking at this Fed rate cut because it will cost them less money on their loans.
The Fed rate right now, 4.5 percent. The prime rate, always three percentage points higher, is 7.5 percent. And, Heidi, many of our consumer loans are tied to the prime rate. So if the Fed cuts rates by a quarter percentage point, you'll see that corresponding all afternoon. We'll be telling you about the banks as they lower their prime rate. COLLINS: OK. I say, cut away, you know.
VELSHI: Yes, there you go. So you and a lot of people think so.
COLLINS: It's not that hard.
All right, Ali, thank you.
VELSHI: OK, Heidi.
COLLINS: Shooter now identified. Police say Matthew Murray is the gunman in those fatal attacks in Colorado. Two people killed at a youth mission in Arvada, two others at a church in Colorado Springs. A former roommate identified this picture of Matthew Murray. Murray worked at the youth center five years ago but wasn't allowed to go on a mission trip. Two staff members, Tiffany Johnson and Philip Crouse, died there in Sunday's shooting. Teenage sisters Stephanie and Rachael Works were killed at New Life Church 12 hours later. Their father was wounded. He is now in fair condition. Richard Werner roomed with Matthew Murray at the Arvada worship center back in 2002. He spoke exclusively with our Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD WERNER, ROOMED WITH SHOOTER IN 2002: He was actually very quiet. He was a nice kid sometimes. But then sometimes he would be just like very sarcastic and just make some bizarre comments towards everyone.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: He talked -- he made noises at night, I've heard you say, and how -- what did he describe -- what was he doing, he said?
WERNER: I have -- I wrote down a diary at that time and on October 23rd of 2002, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning and he was just tossing and turning making some strange noises. And I was like, hey, Matthew, what are you doing? He said, I'm just talking to my voices and just come down. I said, dude, you've got to be kidding me. And he said, don't worry, Richard, you're a nice guy, you know, you don't have to worry. The voices, they like you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Werner also says he immediately thought of Murray when he first heard about the shootings.
A softer stand by Iran. The country's hard-line president's latest remarks about the U.S., live from Tehran after a quick break here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Want to get this breaking news to you now. Our T.J. Holmes is working on a story about an elementary school, T.J., that's on lockdown in the Orlando area. T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's in Orlando. The school's on lockdown. No reason to believe any of the kids are in danger right now or any shooting at the school. I know this scene looks a little scary here. But apparently what we have here in Orlando is a shooting at a convenience store where someone has been shot and the victim has been taken to the hospital and right now two suspects are on the loose. We're not exactly sure what was going on at the convenient store. If this was a robbery or some kind of an incident where some kind of a confrontation. But apparently a shooting there at the convenience store. And because of its close proximity to the elementary school, officials went ahead and did this thing to go ahead and put the school on lockdown. Kids are being left. Nobody allowed to leave. Nobody allowed to come in.
But again, no reason to believe any of these kids are in danger. No reason to believe the school is being targeted. This is just a matter of its proximity to where this shooting happened.
So two suspects apparently on the loose, according to Orlando Police. We're keeping an eye on it. We'll give you an update. Hopefully everything will work itself out here shortly.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, OK, very good. Thank you, T.J.
A step forward. That's what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls a recent U.S. intelligence report. His comments to reporters today, a sharp contrast to how he's talked about the U.S. before. CNN's Aneesh Raman asked him about what's next. Aneesh joining us now on the telephone from Tehran.
Aneesh, I understand there was quite a dialogue between you and the Iranian president.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Heidi, I tried to push him. You know, there's a discussion within the U.S. about whether it is time now to engage Iran directly. The president, of course, Bush, establish a precondition for talks, that Iran suspended its nuclear program. I asked Ahmadinejad, you know, would he be willing to talk without preconditions? He didn't say yes, he didn't say no, but he left open the possibility.
This was a different Ahmadinejad, Heidi, than the man I saw in two, previous press conferences. His rhetoric, subdued. His tone, conciliatory. Either he, of his own accord, or under the advisement of the country's supreme leader, has really toned down the rhetoric because of that NIE report. And he spoke directly about that report. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN, (through translator): This a step by the U.S. government is a positive one. This is our assumption. This is one step forward. If they take one or two more steps, the conditions will totally change. And the issues we've had before us will be no longer complex and the road will be paved for the resolution of regional issues and international issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAMAN: Now, Heidi, he even backtracked from his earlier, his first comments on that report where he was quoted as saying it was a victory. He corrected himself today, saying he didn't mean the report itself was a victory, but rather a broader victory for the Iranian people.
He shows no fear of new U.S. sanctions. This as the U.S. is trying to push, along with France and England, a third round at the U.S. Security Council. He showed no fear those sanctions would come.
He was asked directly about conversation he has had with the Russian President Putin. He refused to give any details. But this, again, was a very different tone from a man who's known more for controversy than conciliation.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. And, still, what does it all mean? That, I guess, is the bigger question. Aneesh Raman coming to us as the only U.S. reporter in Tehran.
Aneesh, thank you.
New tensions to tell you about in the Mideast. Israeli tanks and bulldozers rolled into Gaza earlier today. They were backed by aircraft. The operation focused on an area that is a main launching ground for rocket and mortar assaults on Israeli targets. At least five Palestinians were killed. Dozens were rounded up in house-to- house raids. The incursion comes on the eve of the latest Mideast peace talks.
Newborn triplets. A young dad on his own. You helped impact his world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDRUE SMITH, TRIPLETS' FATHER: Wow. Bags of diapers. I had no idea so many people could be so generous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: An update right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Worried about Internet privacy. How to keep your information secret ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
His wife died during childbirth, leaving him newborn triplets and a whole lot of worries. We told you about it last week in a report from our affiliate KBOA. Now reporter Sandy Rathbun has the rest of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our daughter just turn a year old. So we would (ph) bring you some diapers.
SANDY RATHBUN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): All weekend Tucsonians (ph) brought donations to Victory Assembly of God Church for Andrue Smith's boys.
ANDRUE SMITH, TRIPLETS' FATHER: Wow. Little bags of diapers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some warm, little outfits for them. It looks like it's three of each.
SMITH: I had no idea so many people could be so generous.
RATHBUN: People from all over the world. CNN aired News 4's story about Andrue and the church phone has been ringing ever since.
KANDIE STANTON, VICTORY ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH: And we've been getting calls from Canada, Florida, New York, California. I mean just from all corners.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm actually calling from Inton (ph), Oklahoma. I'm a triplet myself and I would like to help in any way I can. I have enough clothing to outfit all three of those babies for the next two years and I would like to donate all of it to the family.
SMITH: It's a huge comfort and it puts my mind and heart at ease to get all this support that I'm getting.
RATHBUN: Andrue says his deceased wife, Debbie, would have appreciated it, too.
SMITH: Absolutely. She would be overwhelmed, I'm sure, like I am.
RATHBUN: Sandy Rathbun, News 4.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: If you would like to help out the triplet's dad, you can e-mail -- I keep saying that. I'm so sorry. Actually mail it. A regular old snail mail to this address, Debra L. Smith Family memorial Fund, care of Wells Fargo Bank, 2825 North Cambell Avenue, Tucson, Arizona, 85719.
He is an insider on the outside and talking to CNN. A former CIA officer on waterboarding. .
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Taking action in Colorado to stop a gunman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just knew I was not going to wait for him to do any further damage. I just knew, I just knew what I had to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The security guard who stopped the rampage, now talking about it. Hear from her coming up in the NEWSROOM.
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: Good morning, once again, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Tony Harris is off today.
Dozens of people are dead after terror attacks in northern Africa. A pair of car bombs exploded minutes apart. Hospital sources in the capital of Algeria say at least 62 people are dead. United Nations officials say at least one staffer is dead, a dozen more are still missing. The massive explosions sheered off the fronts of at least two agency buildings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON REDMOND, UNITED NATIONS SPOKESMAN: This car bomb went off in the street between two U.N. buildings. So it certainly does appear that the U.N. was targeted in this. It comes with the territory, but it becomes increasingly difficult for our field workers to do the kind of work that needs to be done to help people in a humanitarian, neutral way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the blasts. In April, a wing of al Qaeda boasted of a bomb attack in downtown Algiers. 33 people died in that blast.
A former CIA agent says it took only seconds to break the silence of an al Qqaeda mastermind, and he believes the information that Abu Zubaydah gave up saved lives. They came through a controversial technique -- waterboarding, which makes prisoners think they are about to drown.
Earlier the former agent spoke to John Roberts on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Now you've actually had this procedure performed on you as part of a training exercise.
JOHN KIRIAKOU, FMR. CIA AGENT: In training we tried it on each other just to see what it was like.
ROBERTS: And?
KIRIAKOU: I only lasted five seconds. It's entirely unpleasant.
ROBERTS: What happens to the body when you're undergo the process. KIRIAKOU: It almost seizes up. You're so full of tension that you just tense up. Your muscles tighten up, and it's very uncomfortable.
ROBERTS: So this was performed on Abu Zubaydah, to the best of your knowledge?
KIRIAKOU: Yes.
ROBERTS: How long did he last?
KIRIAKOU: It's my understanding he lasted 30 or 35 seconds, which was quite remarkable.
ROBERTS: So he had been resisting all of the time, then within 30 to 35 seconds, he suddenly folded up and said, I'll give you anything you want.
KIRIAKOU: The next day he told his interrogator that Allah had visited him in his cell during the night and told him to cooperate because it would make it easier on the other brothers who had been captured.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: The former agent says he believes waterboarding is torture and should not be used by American interrogators. Now he says, for one thing, the U.S. has become more successful in its war on terror and such extreme measures are no longer need.
We have some breaking news to get to now. T.J. Holmes is working on it for us from the NEWSROOM. T.J., this subway attack, if you will, in New York City last week that we reported on now being investigated.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Being investigated as a possible hate crime, a bias crime, as they call it there in New York. But this happened last Friday on a subway heading to Brooklyn, but four people who were just simply wishing each other a happy Hanukkah, a little bit of a celebration, but from what we understand police say they were just wishing each other happy Hanukkah, when they were approached by a group of 10. Ten people came up on them. They started screaming out anti-Semantic slurs, and assaulted them on that train. Well, those 10 were arrested and have been charged, but now it's being investigated as a hate crime.
Two of NEVILLE: e people who were arrested actually have a history, a prior record of similar crime, of bias crime as they call it again there in New York. Now the four people who were assaulted got some bumps, bruises, scrapes and whatnot, kind of black and blue, but did not have to go to the hospital. So they are OK, but now the incident on the train. Ten people assaulting another four who were wishing each other happy Hanukkah now being investigated as a hate crime. More time to come on that. We're keeping an eye on it -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, very good. T.J., thank you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Also want to tell you about this, a special rescue in Oklahoma city. The nasty storm didn't stop this volunteer effort, people knocking ice off a big American elm tree working to save each and every branch, but you know it's not just any tree. It's near where the Murrah Federal Building used to be. The tree withstood the 1995 bombing and has been dubbed the "Survivor Tree," and it's become a symbol of the strength and resilience of the people of Oklahoma City.
It's news happening outside your window. Send us your video or photos. Go to cnn.com and click on iReport, or type iReport on CNN.com right into your cell phone. When the weather situations like this happen, though, please remember to stay safe.
Two Colorado shootings linked, the gunman now identified and the security guard who took him down is speaking out.
Here is CNN's Sean Callebs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As bad as it was, the shootings at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, could have been much worse if not for Jeanne Assam, one of about a half dozen volunteer security guards at the church who had a weapon. She confronted the gunman, 24- year-old Matthew Murray, head-on.
JEANNE ASSAM, VOLUNTEER SECURITY GUARD, NEW LIFE CHURCH: I saw him and it seemed like the hall was cleared out and I saw him coming through the doors. And I took cover and I waited for him to get closer and I came out of cover and identified myself and engaged him and took him down.
CALLEBS: Assam, a former law enforcement officer was prepared for a confrontation. She had heard about a shooting 80 miles away at the ""Youth with a Mission" Ministries" in Arvada, Colorado. Two people were killed, two wounded.
ASSAM: I saw it on the internet. I saw it that morning and I got chills when I saw it was Colorado and that he had not been apprehended.
CALLEBS: Police now say that Matthew Murray was the shooter in Arvada and 12 hours later in Colorado Springs. Sources tell us that he had worked with "Youth with a Mission" a few years ago, but had a falling out and had sent threatening messages.
Police say after the Arvada shootings, Murray made the hour drive down I-25 to the heart of Colorado Springs and the New Life Church campus and he had a plan of attack.
Police say he first tossed a smoke grenade at the north entrance of New Life. Sunday service had just ended so it was crowded. Murray made a short drive to the east exit of the building.
As soon as he got out of his car he opened fire with an assault rifle hitting five people including the father and two daughters of the Works family, 18-year-old Stephanie and 16-year-old Rachel were killed.
SGT. JEFF JENSON, COLORADO SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT: 24-year- old Matthew Murray was a gunman that was in the parking lot in the east corner of the complex near the east entrance into the worship center. The suspect at this time begins to fire several rounds in the parking lot.
CALLEBS: Inside the chaotic, crowded hallway, Jeanne Assam heard the gun fire.
ASSAM: I'll never forget the gun shots. They were so loud and I was just focused and I just -- I just knew I was not going to wait for him to do any further damage.
CALLEBS: Murray, carrying two pistols, a rifle and about a thousand rounds of ammo was now 80 feet inside the building. Assam says it's not overstating it to say God took over and helped her bring down a killer.
ASSAM: God was with me and I asked him to be with me and he never left my side.
CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, Colorado Springs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Isolating AIDS patients. An old comment by a Republican presidential candidate. What does he say about it now?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Delay in becoming a citizen may mean a voter's dashed dreams. What's behind the backlog? That story in about three minutes.
Hoping to move in on the competition. Internet search engine ask.com is promising to give you more privacy than Google or MSN with a brand new tool called the ask eraser. It lets you wipe out all the internet search requests. Other sites usually keep your personal information for over a year. They use it to help customize online ads. But the new feature on ask.com will erase your info within just a few hours.
The Federal Reserve will announce its decision on interest rates at 2:15 Eastern. And Stephanie Elam is on the floor now at the New York Stock Exchange, with the very latest mortgage fallout ahead of this afternoon's announcement.
Good morning to you Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Heidi. Today we're going to be talking about housing fallouts and taking a look at the Fed. It's pretty much all about the Fed at this point here. It's widely expected the Fed will go ahead and cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. Some hoping for a little bit more, maybe half a percentage point cut there.
But still we're going to have to wait until 2:15 Eastern to see when that number comes out. In the interim, the Fed funds rate is currently at 4.5 percent. That's been coming down since September when the Fed started cutting, down at 5.25 percent before it actually did go on this move here to start cutting interest rates from that period.
It did say that the Fed has said that this is not to prevent the mortgage fallout from those people who were speculative. It's not going to stop their pain, perhaps. But this will hopefully help the economy and not slide us into a recession here.
Let's talk about Seattle-based Washington Mutual. It's now warning off a quarterly loss. It's going to layoff about 3,000 people. Shares of WAMU are now down more than 8 percent because of this. Also H&R Block, you know the company that goes ahead and prepares our taxes for so many Americans. Well they said that they are losing money, as well.
The company said expect a net loss of half a billion dollars for the quarter ending October 31, Heidi. So obviously still some rough numbers out there.
COLLINS: Yes, plenty of rough numbers, plenty of volatility for us all. All right Stephanie, we'll check back a little bit later on. Thank you.
ELAM: Thanks.
COLLINS: No express line for citizenship. The wait to become an American is more than a year now. And it's keeping millions of people from the ballot box, as well. Here is CNN's Chris Lawrence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than a million potential voters will never cast a ballot next November, all because of a backlog in immigration applications.
Sophia Alpos did everything you're supposed to. She arrived from Greece 12 years ago, got her green card and started running a restaurant with her husband. Last summer she paid $400 and applied for citizenship.
SOPHIA ALPOS, WAITING TO BECOME CITIZEN: I would be like to be involved in this election.
LAWRENCE: But officials say it take as year and a half to process an application. So her swearing in ceremony would be next December.
MICHAEL AYTES, CITIZENSHIP & IMMIGRATION SERVICES: She might not make it.
LAWRENCE: She might not make it?
AYTES: That's quite possible. It's unfortunate.
LAWRENCE: The law requires the government to grant or deny citizenship within four months of their exam. After waiting years for the FBI to finish a background check, thousands of applicants have sued the government and some judges have granted citizenship on the spot.
AYTES: Now, we have a little over 1.1 million applications pending right now.
LAWRENCE: Last summer, some applicants rushed a beat the price hike that upped the application fee by a few hundred bucks. Immigration officials told me they weren't prepared for the 600,000 people who filed all at once.
AYTES: Where this is largely going to affect us is in our ability to interview these folks.
LAWRENCE: All that extra money from the application fees is supposed to pay for updated computers and thousands of new employees. But officials admit, they won't reach the goal of a five-month wait until 2010. Way too late for Sophia, and millions more hoping to vote next November.
ALPOS: I'm a lady and I'd love to have a lady president, the first lady.
LAWRENCE: But if nothing changes, it's a vote Senator Clinton probably can't count on.
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COLLINS: More breaking news to tell you about. Another story coming to us from Colorado. T.J. Holmes, working at a -- looks like a collision here between a light rail and a coal train.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we got -- had a derailment in the first place which then caused a collision. Take you to these pictures. It's still dark out there in Colorado. This is in the Littleton area. But you can make out kind of the mess here.
These are all cars from that coal train that pretty much have all toppled over, well many of them at least. But what happened apparently there was a derailment of the coal train on this track. The light rail train then comes along. The driver, it's -- you can tell it's a little snowy out there, a lot of weather going on. The conductor of the light rail, didn't see and wasn't aware that there was a train derailment ahead of him. And that caused him to collide with the coal train that had derailed.
You follow me? So there were 30 people on the light rail, 30 passengers. Understand that none of them were injured. All of them were taken off, had to be bussed elsewhere. But this particular line, I believe it's the C and D line, closed for the time being. The officials out there trying to get this worked out and trying to -- much pretty just have a mess on their hands.
Not really a dangerous situation right now for anybody and again nobody injured. That is certainly the good thing. But really a mess that they have to clean up now. Not really sure right now what caused the coal train to derail in the first place, but it's just caused a mess.
You can see though the weather is -- may have been a factor. Maybe the conductor couldn't see on the light rail. But you can see that snow coming down, there is snow all around. Just a mess all around for the commute, probably, this morning out there in Colorado --Heidi?
COLLINS: Absolutely. Boy, look at that snow coming down. Not going to be helping efforts at all. I think I understand one of the other main roads there, that Santa Fe road, is usually jam packed with rush hour traffic. So that I guess was shut down, too. It's going to be ugly on your way to work in the Denver area today.
T.J., thank you. We'll keep our eye on this one.
HOLMES: All right.
COLLINS: One race now a virtual tie, the other getting tighter. Shifting presidential poll numbers, tell you about it in a moment.
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COLLINS: Mike Huckabee, what he said back then and how it might impact the presidential race right now. Here's Dana Bash, part of the best political team on television.
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DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Fifteen years ago, Mike Huckabee called homosexuality an aberrant, unnatural, sinful lifestyle. Does he still believe that?
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I do. I believe that -- let's understand what sin means. Sin means missing the mark.
BASH: He makes no apologies for his staunch belief then and now that marriage, any relationship, should be between a man and a woman, period.
HUCKABEE: If we didn't have that as the ideal, we wouldn't have a civilization that was able to perpetuate. So rather than read into something incredibly out of line, just read into the fact that I believe that the ideal relationship is one man, one woman for life. I believe in traditional marriage, and I believe in the family.
BASH: That kind of stance is endearing Huckabee to socially conservative voters who are helping propel his rise in the GOP polls. It is harder for Huckabee to explain what he told The Associated Press in 1992 about AIDS patients, that he wanted to isolate the carriers of this plague.
HUCKABEE: My position then was that in the world of public health, the public health protocols call for isolating carriers of epidemics. And I did not suggest that we should do it. I'm just saying that it was an unusual approach that we had taken.
BASH: Yet, Huckabee expressed that view six years after the surgeon general made clear you could not get AIDS through casual contact and two years after this appeal from the Republican president...
GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is only one way to deal with an individual who is sick -- with dignity, with compassion, care and confidentiality. And without discrimination.
BASH: Yet, Huckabee insists there was still uncertainty about AIDS in 1992 and equates it with last year's tuberculosis scare.
HUCKABEE: People from the left and right were just outraged that he might have infected them. Now, we know that this particular type of it probably was not that contagious and infectious to other people, but at the time there was this incredible concern. That was my point.
BASH (on camera): In that 1992 survey, Huckabee opposed spending more federal dollars for AIDS research, saying Hollywood AIDS activists should reach into their own pockets to help find a cure. But on that, he has changed. Huckabee reiterated to us today here in Florida that he wants to boost federal spending to help find an AIDS vaccine.
Dana Bash, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Shake-up at the top. Our new national poll shows the race for the White House getting closer. On the Republican side Mike Huckabee has moved into a statistical dead heat with Rudy Giuliani. Mitt Romney has picked up support and is in third place now, while Fred Thompson has dropped to fifth.
Shifts for the Democrats, too. Barack Obama has shaved Hillary Clinton's lead in half since last month, now 10 percentage points. Clinton is still way ahead among woman voters, but Obama now leads Clinton among men.
Two big presidential debates this week, beginning with the Republican Iowa faceoff, tomorrow 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern, live right here on CNN. And the Democratic candidates face off the following day. That's Thursday, December 13th. Their Iowa debate also from 2:00 to 4:00 Eastern live here on CNN.
Want the most up-to-the-minute news political news anywhere available? Just go to CNN politics.com. It's the Internet's premier destination for political news, CNN politics.com.
Off the tracks and into the snow. Denver commuters get a bumpy start to their day.
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COLLINS: Snarks on a plane? Samuel L. Jackson doesn't star in this in-flight movie. Instead, it's animated characters teaching flyers a lesson or two in etiquette. Here's one snippet entitled "Middleman."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, would you like a beverage?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, can I have a (INAUDIBLE) cranberry and a slice of lime, please.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Pretty good. I like it. The airline has put together 25 animated lessons. You can see the videos under the blog section of delta.com.
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