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Climbers Found Alive on Mt. Hood; Economy on Minds of Michigan Voters; Results of Bridge Collapse Investigation to Be Released; Britney Misses Custody Hearing

Aired January 15, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's a big state with big problems, but Michigan could be a big prize for a certain Republican presidential contender. Among Democrats, not so much.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Got a beef with cloned cows or pigs? Or goats? Well, the government doesn't. And our medical unit serves up the details.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: First we start with some breaking news. Right at our news desk, Betty Nguyen working on a developing story.

It involves those hikers?

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. A desperate search has been underway for these hikers off of Mt. Hood. Two climbers, in fact, went missing on Monday. And we have just learned that they have been found, and they are alive.

In fact we've learned that they spent the night Monday night in a snow cave, but once the weather cleared, they were able actually to get a cell phone call out to one of the climbers' girlfriends. And then the local sheriff's department used that cell phone signal to track their location.

Right now an 18-member rescue crew is en route in the climbers' location right now to try to get them off of Mt. Hood.

And this is really great news, Don, because if you recall back in 2006, three out-of-state climbers died on Mt. Hood when they got caught in a blizzard. And obviously, it's very cold up there right now. In fact, they had to spend the night in a snow cave.

But the good news is that they, hopefully, will be headed home very shortly, because the two missing climbers have been found on Mt. Hood, and a rescue team is headed their way right now to bring them down.

LEMON: Very good news, yes. And interesting, also, Betty, why he called his girlfriend and not 911. Maybe it was just one of the numbers programmed. But I guess we'll certainly find out.

NGUYEN: Exactly. Call someone who, if nothing else, can call authorities to make sure they know that I'm alive and how to get to me.

LEMON: Absolutely. And we'll probably learn after their release, maybe there will be a news conference.

NGUYEN: What a story it is, though.

LEMON: Yes. All right, Betty. Thank you very much for that.

So just how bad is the weather on that mountain? Let's check in now with CNN's Chad Myers.

Chad, how bad is the weather there?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Much better today. Yesterday it was kind of an ugly day, not much visibility at all. Now, this is not a lot like the climbers that went missing in the past. These guys were in -- on a Timberline Lodge Trail, and it's right at about 6,000 feet.

Here's Portland. We'll fly you back out here to Mt. Hood.

Mt. Hood is almost 10,500 feet tall. But this trail that these guys were probably on here that we don't know how far they went off the trail, but anyway, along the tree line itself, hence the Timberline Trail.

And so, as they were going around, if you go all the way around, all the way around this thing, it's a 40-mile hike. Pretty significant hike. But the problem was yesterday. No matter where you were hiking, the winds were blowing about 50- or 60-miles-per-hour, and the weather was really very cold.

Right now, here's a live shot from Mt. Hood. This is that government cam. This is U.S. 26. It's one of the highways here. These cars will move every once in a while.

Temperature now 21, but it feels like about 6 degrees out there with the wind-chill factor. So it is still a cold day out there. But at least they know where they are. They're in a snow cave. They're keeping themselves warm, and the climbers and searchers will get to them fairly soon.

LEMON: Can't say it enough. Good news.

MYERS: You bet.

LEMON: All right. Chad, appreciate that. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: A developing story right now at out Cambridge, Maryland. This is live -- these are live pictures coming to us from our affiliate WBAL. We appreciate this. Firefighters working this blaze right now. We're told it's a large fire downtown. It's at the Shore Bid Auction and Antique store building, the 400 block of Race Street, we're told. Crews from ten are fire companies are on the scene.

No injuries have been reported so far, but that area has been blocked off to the public. Not sure if there's anybody still inside, but it has been completely evacuated. But it's a large fire right now happening there at the Shore Bid Auction and Antique store building, 400 block of Race Street.

We'll be following that. Thanks to these live pictures from our affiliate, WBAL.

Eight hours till the last polls close on primary day in Michigan. It's all about the economy, and it's all about the Republicans.

John McCain's banking on independent voters to boost him to a second-straight primary victory. But Mitt Romney's counting on his native state to turn his campaign around.

Less at stake for the Democrats. The state is being punished for moving its primary up, so no Democratic delegates are up for grabs.

Hillary Clinton is the only major candidate right now on that Democratic ballot.

Jobs, homes, hopes. Too many people in Michigan have lost all three. And you can bet that's guiding their decisions at the polls today.

Here's CNN's Chris Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unemployment was up. Mortgages went into meltdown. And the building blocks of one small business, crumbled.

BILL CAVERLY, UNEMPLOYED CONTRACTOR: There's no work for what I did.

LAWRENCE: Bill Caverly hasn't worked since his construction company went under last year. It was a business he had taken over from his dad.

CAVERLY: You can't go into church or into the grocery store without meeting somebody who's having a hard time.

LAWRENCE: Bill says Michigan needs a president with business experience, not someone who just extends tax cuts for the middle class.

CAVERLY: I'd rather have the tax cuts for business, because if you give a business a tax cut, you're going to go ahead and they're going to hire people.

LAWRENCE: And he wants a candidate to explain how they cut spending to pay for it.

CAVERLY: I just heard it from Mitt Romney on the TV. He was talking about change. He's going to stop the spending. I don't know how one guy can do it unless they give the president a line item veto.

LAWRENCE: Only Mike Huckabee favors going that far.

So many people have lost their jobs and left town, pews sit empty at First Baptist Church in Sterling Heights. John Sansoterra is a painting contractor who says he competes with companies that hire illegal immigrant workers, a problem made worse by the bad economy.

JOHN SANSOTERRA, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: Even builders or maybe other painting companies that were, you know, above board kind of feel like they have to go this direction in order to stay afloat.

LAWRENCE: He disagrees with John McCain's support for a guest worker program.

Economically, John likes Mitt Romney's promise to help the auto industry and Rudy Giuliani's plan to reduce corporate taxes. But neither will get his vote in the primary, because he wants to elect a true social conservative.

SANSOTERRA: Granted, the temptation is there of what can help me economically, what could, you know, maybe be better. But you know, for us, the social comes first.

LAWRENCE (on camera): This just goes to show you, even in a state dominated by unemployment, other issues will play a part. But make no mistake, Michigan's economy and the best man or woman to fix it will be on a lot of voters' minds.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Warren, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Are you marking your election calendar? We've been to Iowa and New Hampshire with a wee stop for Wyoming in between. The Michigan primary is going on then. And then on Saturday South Carolina holds its Republican primary and Nevada holds caucuses.

The Democrats get their turn in South Carolina one week later, and then Florida holds its primary on the 29th.

On February 5th, Super Tuesday, 24 states hold primaries, caucuses or, in the case of West Virginia, a Republican nominating convention. California's the biggest prize, with 370 Democratic delegates and 170 Republican delegates at stake.

Now, for more on presidential candidates and their next stops, go to CNNPolitics.com. It's your one-stop shop for all things political.

LEMON: And later this hour, we should learn more about the cause of last summer's bridge collapse in Minnesota. The National Transportation Safety Board is holding a news conference on the August 1 catastrophe that killed 13 people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WAGNER, BRIDGE COLLAPSE SURVIVOR: I was very fortunate that the site of the freeway that collapsed in, it took my truck. And the reason I was fortunate was because there was a bus load of kids in front of me, and if it wouldn't have fallen off like that, I would have hit those kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They missed the edge by what looks like feet.

WAGNER: And I was right behind them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: CNN's Susan Roesgen covered the I-35 West collapse for us when it happened, and she joins us now from Chicago.

The big question then, Susan, was, you know, how -- where are my loved ones and how could this happen? And I think they're trying to answer that today.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're still trying to answer that, Don. You know, in the early days there were so many theories about what might have caused that bridge collapse. But right now the investigation seems to be focusing on the steel plates, called gusset plates, that hold the steel beams of a bridge together.

It was August 1 when that I-35 bridge right there in downtown Minneapolis collapsed in just six seconds. It fell more than ten stories, dragging more than 100 cars with it into the Mississippi River. You just heard from some of the survivors. Thirteen people were killed there.

Now the investigation is not over. The NTSB has been looking at a computer model of what might have caused this bridge collapse. They've been examining the pieces of the wreckage. But again, they seem to be focusing on those steel plates, the gusset plates.

And what's really frightening, those gusset plates are used in the design of bridges all across the country. Thousands of bridges have those very same plates that are used to hold the beams together.

In Minnesota, the governor is talking about now replacing dangerous bridges, and he's promising to have the money to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM PAWLENTY, MINNESOTA: This bill contains $225 million worth of local bridge money. This will replace 600 local bridges in the state of Minnesota.

Heightened concern about bridge safety and bridges in Minnesota. And this is an appropriate time I think to take the money that's available that we'd otherwise be spending on other things, in my view probably less important or less needed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: The National Transportation Safety Board, Don, is going to have this news conference in about 20 minutes now, so we should get more information on what they think now in this ongoing investigation really might have caused that collapse.

LEMON: All right. So you call those braces a gusset brace. Besides those braces, I'm sure they're -- they have to be looking at something else, in case that doesn't pan out. What are the other possible causes the NTSB has?

ROESGEN: Well, you know, Don, as strange as it may sound, very early on a theory that was presented and taken seriously was that it could even have been some corrosive acid from years of accumulated pigeon droppings on that bridge that might have weakened particular areas of the bridge.

There was also, as we know, the ongoing construction. That's why they say more people were not killed in that collapse. Two of the lanes were shut down, because there was repaving going on.

The National Transportation Safety Board says that the weight of the equipment and the piles of sand and the concrete on the bridge when it collapsed was roughly 275 tons. And they want to know whether that extra weight could have contributed to the collapse in some way.

So, yes, we're going to hear about these gusset plates, but there may be more factors that they'll be telling us about when that news conference starts in about 20 minutes.

LEMON: Yes. And I remember them talking early on, too, about possible corrosives like for, you know, getting rid of snow and that kind of thing. So they weren't sure.

ROESGEN: That's true, too.

LEMON: All right. Susan, thank you very much for that report.

And we have live coverage of the NTSB's update on the bridge collapse coming up in Washington. That will happen at the bottom of the hour. And we'll go live to Minneapolis to hear what the city's mayor has to say.

PHILLIPS: Confirmation from North Carolina that remains found Saturday are those of a missing pregnant Marine. Investigators also are rejecting the suspect's claim that she committed suicide. An autopsy shows Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Police are keeping quiet on the search for her alleged killer, but Marine Corporal Cesar Laurean is now being featured on the "America's Most Wanted" Web site.

Meantime authorities are addressing some of the criticism of their handling of Lauterbach's disappearance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF ED BROWN, ONSLOW COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: The best evidence in this case suggests that Maria Lauterbach was already dead before she was reported missing on December the 19.

After December the 19th, 2007, the only thing that any investigation could have accomplished was to bring to light what had already occurred. I thank God and I am perfectly comfortable with the knowledge that nothing my office could have done would have prevented the death of Maria Lauterbach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Lauterbach had accused Laurean of rape and was set to testify against him at a military hearing.

LEMON: Bad news begets bad news on the big board. Avert your eyes. You don't really want to see it. We're headed live to New York. Susan Roesgen [SIC] is going to tell us -- Susan Lisovicz, I should say, is going to tell us what this skidding sound on Wall Street is all about.

PHILLIPS: Plus, cloned meat? Uncle Sam says it won't hurt you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's get back to Betty Nguyen with our top story.

What more are we finding out, Betty?

NGUYEN: Well, it is good news today, Kyra, as two climbers who were missing on Mt. Hood have been found.

Now, they did spend the night in a snow cave, but one was able to actually call his girlfriend once the weather got a little bit better today. And because of that, the sheriff's department is able to locate the climbers by that cell phone signal.

An 18-member crew is en route to those climbers right now, trying to rescue them now off of the mountain. But you know, there was a lot of concern whether they would be able to be found, because the weather is not very good.

And Kyra, as you recall back in 2006, three out-of-state climbers died on Mt. Hood during a blizzard there. So the story this time around is one that is so much better than that as the two missing climbers have been found. An 18-member crew is headed their way right now to get them off of that mountain.

PHILLIPS: That's great news. Betty, thanks for the update.

NGUYEN: Sure.

LEMON: Sixteen past, almost 17 past the hour. Here are three of the stories we are working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A U.S. embassy vehicle mangled by an explosion north of Beirut, Lebanon. At least three civilian bystanders were killed. No confirmation whether the vehicle was the actual target of the blast, but there had been a string of pro-western attacks in Lebanon lately.

Steroids in baseball on the plate. At a House committee hearing right now, panel members plan to ask the Justice Department to investigate Houston Astros player Miguel Tejada and whether he lied when he told them three years ago he never used steroids.

CNN has learned Gwyneth Paltrow was hospitalized in New York. Her spokesperson tells "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" the actress is back home now and she is fine. But he won't say why she was in the hospital.

PHILLIPS: Two-hundred-point moves are all too common on Wall Street in the new year. And they have all been to the downside.

Susan Lisovicz on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, with a few moves of her own, to tell us about these numbers and the culprits.

Hey, Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're going to lighten it up next hour, I promise you. Oprah's big. She's about to become bigger. I bet a lot of people didn't think that's possible. We're not talking anything about her weight. We're talking about her stardom, Kyra. And we'll talk about that in the next hour.

PHILLIPS: OK. A lot of people will be tuning into that, that's for sure. Thanks, Susan.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

LEMON: Let's talk now. Britney, Britney, Britney. Courting more controversy with yesterday's hearing no-show. TMZ's Harvey Levin will join us in a few minutes with some very interesting insight. You don't want to miss that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. Well, there you go. Everybody gather around the TV, because we're going to talk about Britney Spears. She finally made it to the courthouse yesterday. She didn't make it inside for her child visitation hearing.

TMZ's Harvey Levin has been following the drama. He joins us from Hollywood, and legal analyst Sunny Hostin is with us from New York.

And Sunny, first appearance on CNN NEWSROOM. Welcome aboard.

SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you. Happy to be here.

LEMON: OK. Good. We're happy to have you.

And Harvey, as usual, thank you for joining us.

What in the world? We're watching this yesterday. And I saw that you used some of our video yesterday, the helicopter shot. What was going on? She's smoking? She's -- what's going on?

HARVEY LEVIN, TMZ: Well, I mean, look. The sad part and the true part of this is Britney Spears is in desperate shape. She has a severe, severe mental problem that we've been talking about on TMZ for months. And she needs hospitalization in the worst way.

The people in her life, her family and the professionals, are really worried about her well being. So whatever she's doing, you can't assume that this is the conduct of a rational person. I mean, she doesn't want to be in court. Even on a good day for her, she basically hates authority. But she is -- she is not -- she is not thinking straight. She's in really bad shape right now.

LEMON: Yes. And if you don't show up for court, I mean, this is serious. This is your two kids. You could possibly lose custody. And I want to talk to Sunny about her mental health, as well.

But I want to take a listen to this. What is this with this British accent? We've got this video. Take a listen to it, and then we're going to talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITNEY SPEARS, SINGER: Do you work here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, guys.

SPEARS: Do you work here? Obviously not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So she's -- "do you work here? Obviously not." I mean, and she's speaking in this accent all the time, Harvey. Confirm that.

And then Sunny, talk about why can't her family commit her if she's actually in trouble like this?

LEVIN: Well, she not only was speaking in a British accent yesterday, but when she was at the -- at the house during the craziness a week ago Thursday, the entire time she was interacting with the cops, cops tell me that she was doing the same thing then. She was speaking in a British accent.

She is just not the person that we watched when she was young and innocent. She is a woman who's delusional. She's apparently bipolar and is just having severe problems right now.

LEMON: Sunny, talk to me about her behavior, and seriously, why can't her family get hold of her and commit her at this point?

HOSTIN: Yes, and I think Harvey's right. It's been reported over and over again that she suffers from bipolar. And she's missed all these court hearings, and she has now even lost visitation with her children.

But it's very, very difficult to have someone placed in a mental institution against her will. If you look at the law, it's very clear. Either the police or a mental health professional or a court has to order 72-hour hold. And then it's only after that evaluation that that person can be committed.

I think what needs to happen here is, again, her family needs to get together, everyone who's ever been important in her life has to stage an intervention. Maybe Justin Timberlake needs to be there. Maybe her Mickey Mouse Club fans and co-workers have to be there. But they need to all gather around her, stage an intervention and get her to agree to get help. If not, she's going to lose custody of her children forever.

LEMON: And in some ways, you know, I wonder, is the media fueling this? But there is an appetite for it. And I'm sure you know, obviously Harvey, you can attest to that.

But how much will the judge -- either of you can weigh in because both of you are attorneys. How much can -- does a judge take into consideration that she had, yesterday, what was it, like, some 300 paparazzi around her, as far as her not getting to court?

LEVIN: I can tell you for sure that the judge did not consider that, specifically did not consider that. But he didn't need to. I mean there's overwhelming evidence here that Britney Spears poses a danger to her kids.

If you look at the details of what we posted of what happened at the house a week ago Thursday, those kids should not be around her. And that's not saying anything bad about Britney.

But you know, Don, I can tell you this. Her family, since September, has been trying to get her into a mental hospital. There is now a huge move afoot with her family and the professionals in her life to get her to some kind of treatment. She's resisting it, but they're trying to figure out how they can get her in. And it is no easy task.

LEMON: And Sunny, you can have the last word, because we're running out of time here. K-Fed is now a more fit parent. Who would have thunk (ph)?

HOSTIN: Who would have thunk that? You know, it's unbelievable.

But the bottom line is, he seems to be -- have a normalizing effect on the children. But what he said during the hearing, at least through his attorney, is that he hopes that they come to a place where they can co-parent together. He wants to co-parent with Britney.

LEMON: Yes.

HOSTIN: And I think what the judge has to decide is what is, again, in the best interests of those children. And right now it's not being with Britney. She needs some help.

LEMON: All right. Sunny and Harvey, appreciate both of you joining us today.

And Harvey, I'll be watching tonight.

LEVIN: OK, Don. All right.

LEMON: Also, I'll be watching our legal analyst, Sunny Hostin, weekdays on "AMERICAN MORNING." She provides all the day's legal briefs from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. on "AMERICAN MORNING."

PHILLIPS: The city is still coping with the tragedy. We're going to hear from the mayor of Minneapolis about the NTSB's update on last summer's deadly bridge collapse over the Mississippi River.

LEMON: Also more -- we're going to have more on our developing story. Missing hikers found on Mt. Hood. They've been located. One of them called his girlfriend when he was able to get a cell phone call out. We're going to find out the latest on what happened there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Live pictures now of an NTSB news conference going on in Washington, D.C. They're trying to figure out exactly what happened to that bridge on I-35W in Minneapolis over the summer that collapsed that killed 13 people. We're going to be listening in on this NTSB press conference.

And then we're going to talk to the mayor of Minneapolis to find out exactly what he has to say about it and also the governor there in Minnesota announcing just a short time ago what he plans to do about these so-called bridge problems in the state. So we're monitoring all of this. We're going to talk to the mayor in just a minute, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: And our other top story, those hikers on Mt. Hood there in Oregon. Good news is they have been found thanks to a cell phone ping.

Betty Nguyen is following that for us -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Yes, those two missing mountain climbers, indeed, have been found thanks to technology. Here's what happened. They went missing in bad weather on Monday. And once that weather cleared, they were able to get a call out to one of the hiker's girlfriends. Because of that, that cell phone signal, sheriff's deputies were able to deploy a rescue team.

Now, we understand that those hikers not only have been found but they are headed down the mountain with rescue teams in tow right now, which is good news. Sheriff officials described those hikers as being positive and upbeat as they began moving down the mountain. These climbers pretty much got lost as they were in -- as you can see there, some heavy snow up on Mt. Hood. They became disoriented and couldn't really give an exact location when one called his girlfriend.

But again, the two are alive and well today. Rescue crews have found them and we understand that they are headed down the mountain and they should be headed to safety very soon. But the problem is the weather is still bad up there today and I'm reading right here from local affiliates that some of the wind and snow is still blowing sideways. So it may take a little time for them to come off of Mt. Hood. But the good news is is they are alive.

And Kyra, as soon as we get more news on this rescue we'll bring you the latest.

PHILLIPS: All right, sounds. Weather conditions that the mountain is enduring. Right now, Chad Myers will tell you that those rescue missions can be pretty hairy. And there's been loss of life, even when those helicopters have tried to go in and extract people out of there.

MYERS: They couldn't even get to them yesterday, they didn't even try. It was so bad yesterday that they said, you know what, we know you guys are up there but we can't even get there.

Today now, the winds have died off, only about five miles per hour. There is a live picture, right there. Temperature is 23 degrees, that's on U.S. 26, the highway that kind of goes right there by Government Camp. There's Mt. Hood. Goes a lot higher than that. And if they would have tried to go to the top, they would have been in worse condition. Most people don't do that in the winter time. Thank goodness they knew better -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, Chad. We'll keep tracking it and keep bringing you in for those conditions. Appreciate it.

LEMON: And searchers are back at it near White Fish, Montana where an avalanche killed two back country skiers on Sunday. It is not even certain anyone else is buried under all that snow, which is 20 feet deep in some places. Witnesses say they saw two other skiers, but no one has been reported missing there.

PHILLIPS: So are you one of the millions of people who take that cholesterol drug, Vytorin? You're going to want to hear about the results of a new study.

LEMON: And his city is still coping with a tragedy. That's an understatement. We'll hear from the mayor of Minneapolis about the NTSB's update on last summer's deadly bridge collapse over the Mississippi River.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Look at that, still unbelievable. I'm just going to let you listen in for a second. Well, sadly, we all know that was this summer when that bridge over the I-35W collapsed right into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people. People were, for days, wondering where their loved ones were and if they had survived. The NTSB is releasing some findings today as it concerns to what happened here. Let's take a listen in, moments ago, of what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ROSENKER, NTSB CHAIRMAN: The damage patterns, fracture features uncovered in the investigations to date suggest that the collapse of the deck truss portion of the bridge was related to the fractured gusset plates and, in particular, may have originated with the failure of the gusset plates at one of the eight notes ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: August 1st, 2007, a tragic day in Minneapolis.

The video we saw just moments ago, 13 people were killed when the I-35W bridge plunged right into the Mississippi River.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could see cars like underneath like the framing. Like the whole bridge collapsed. There were cars like in the river. There were cars like under the bridges. There's cars like hanging off. There's ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is just ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Mayor R.T. Rybak joins us now from Minneapolis.

Thank you for joining us today. Just before we get to the investigation, I'm just wondering how the people in that area are dealing with this, to this day now.

R.T. RYBAK, MAYOR OF MINNEAPOLIS: Well, while all these pictures bring back memories, I think all of us recognize that we have to stand back, remember what happened here. A bridge collapsed in the middle of rush hour in a major American city and killed 13 people, and even worse, it was not an act of God, it was a failure of man.

LEMON: Yes and that's what we want to talk about here. Because we're hearing that it was the gusset plates and again, as you said, a failure of man. The gusset plates -- you have been very critical of the governor, that's no secret. Because -- do you feel that more money should have been put into infrastructure and bridges?

RYBAK: Well, let me broaden that point. I hope what happened was, when this bridge fell, that all of America really had a wakeup call about our infrastructure and for a couple weeks time, that seemed to be the case. At that point, I was in Washington, supporting Congressman Oberstar who did a heroic thing of standing up and saying we had to put more money into roads and bridges. The U.S. Conferences of Mayors brought mayors together, too, and yet that fell on deaf ears in Congress.

In my own state, the legislature passed two straight transportation bills that would have helped with this type of work. They were vetoed. After the bridge collapsed, we tried to get a special session of the legislature. That failed. It really is clear that when you have 13 people dead and everyone looks them in the eye and says we're not going to ever see this happen again, you need to deliver on that promise and, frankly, I don't think that's been delivered on yet.

LEMON: And Mayor Rybak, I want to read this because we just got this in to CNN. It's a statement from the governor, and it reads, "Over the past five-and-a-half years, a number of politicians have unfairly rushed to judgment. The information now available from experts indicates that this bridge had a design flaw before it left the drawing board. We are hopeful that Mayor Rybak and other Democrats will set aside partisan attacks and work with us to address our state's infrastructure needs in a constructive manner." That's Governor Tim Palenty there.

Yesterday, he said he was going to spend -- he was putting up a proposed $225 million to replace 600 local bridges. Your reaction to this statement and to that $225 million proposal.

RYBAK: Well, I felt for some time that Democrats, Republicans need to put partisanship aside and get things done. That's why the last session of the legislature before this bridge collapsed brought Republicans and Democrats together to do the long-term work we needed to do to prevent these things. The governor vetoed that. After the bridge collapsed, he said he would support it, and then he chose not call a special session.

We need long-term action. It's the same feeling I had when I went to Congress. And as I say, Congressman Oberstar is heroic. He's been saying for years that we needed to invest in this infrastructure and mayors bipartisan from across the country stood with Congressman Oberstar and yet, it fell on deaf ears.

LEMON: Now Mayor, you are very critical of the governor and he responded here. But did you ever go to him before and ask for more money or ask for him to look at the infrastructure, and also that particular bridge?

RYBAK: The answer is yes. The governor and I worked together very closely during the bridge collapse. I applaud his work and I think we were good partners on that. Before this bridge collapse, there was a long history of this state and its legislature stepping up in a bipartisan way and delivering resources for investment and infrastructure. He vetoed that before the bridge collapse. We then afterwards, after this collapse, asked him to call a special session of the legislature and do what other states, Missouri, many others did in response to our bridge collapse. He chose not to call a special session. I was pleased yesterday, finally, almost six months after this occurred, that he talked about a one-time investment to help on this. That's a good start.

LEMON: Yes, and Mayor ...

RYBAK: The infrastructure isn't solved with one-time fixes many months after incidents occur. It takes long-term investments. And frankly, when you recognize what happened here, when you look at the fact that people looked in the eyes of the families of these victims and said they're going to do what it took to make sure this never happened again, we need to deliver on that promise.

LEMON: OK, and Mayor, I started this interview and we are running out of time here. I started this interview asking how the people are doing there. How are you doing? Obviously, this is a huge burden to carry in your area. How are you doing personally?

RYBAK: Well, it actually is not about me. It's about the fact that there are many people who've suffered here and it's been pretty remarkable how the community has come together around them. They come from all parts of the community, many different races and cultures, all of them I think have been supporting each other. And that's a wonderful thing.

If any good can come out of a hideous tragedy like this, it's the fact that we all recognize that we share common ground ...

LEMON: Mayor Rybak ...

RYBAK: ...and I think it's brought the community together even as we've lived through something quite horrible.

LEMON: Mayor Archie Rybak, thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: Well, this little piggie went to the market again and again and again. Well, an important decision by the FDA put cloned livestock on your dinner table.

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LEMON: If you take Zetia or Vytorin to manage your cholesterol, you want to hear this. A study sponsored by their manufacturers find they're not as good as older, cheaper statin drugs at slowing the buildup or reducing the thickness of artery-clogging plaque. Now, Vytorin is a combination of Zetia and the statin Zocor.

While both drugs reduce cholesterol, the study raises questions about their ability to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The drug's makers, Merck and Schering-Plough are being criticized for taking almost two years to release the study's findings.

PHILLIPS: Ever have to wait a long time in an emergency room? Well, you're not alone. A new Harvard study shows ER wait times increased by more than a third between 1997 and 2004. And for people who suffered heart attacks, the wait jumped from eight minutes in 1997 to 20 minutes in 2004. Researchers blame overcrowding caused largely by patients who come for non-emergency care.

Meat and milk from cloned cows, pigs and goats now has the blessing of the FDA. But could it be a while before you see it on your dinner table? Our medical correspondent Judy Fortin here with all the details.

And the critics are already weighing in, aren't they?

JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh my gosh, this is already a water cooler story and it's just broken within the last couple of hours. It looks like it will be a few years off, but you may one day be eating a carbon copy of that steak that you ate last week.

The long awaited report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was released a short time ago in Washington. It says that milk and meat from healthy cloned animals and their offspring are safe for human consumption.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDALL LUTTER, FDA: The FDA's not recommending any additional measures be applied to the food or feed derived from these specified animals because food derived from these clones is no different from conventionally bred animals. In other words, the risk assessment concludes the meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones are as safe to eat as the food we eat every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FORTIN: The FDA says it has insufficient evidence to comment on sheep. Now overall, the FDA looked at two areas of concerns: animal health and food consumption risks. The group concludes cloning animals is a way to introduce superior genetics to the herd and claims it can produce animals that are healthier.

PHILLIPS: All right, so what are the critics saying?

FORTIN: Ah, there are a lot of critics out there. They're already talking about food safety. Now, there are many critics at the FDA's plan who are satisfied with their assurances. Others who are still concerned about safety and others who have moral, religious and ethical concerns. And there's also concern about the potential impact of cloned food on U.S. trade.

Some countries outside the U.S. are already worried about genetically manipulated food and they're already raising some red flags about allowing imports. But some groups are satisfied that the food is safe, including for the Center for Science and Public Interest. We've heard a lot about this group over the air. It's now calling for Congress to hold hearings on implications of animal cloning. We'll see how far that one goes, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, how long before we can actually see the cloned food in the stores? FORTIN: Well, some experts are saying three to five years. That's a long ways off. And it's really important to understand what's happening here. The actual cloned animals are really too valuable to be used in food production. They cost up to $20,000 to create in the first place and they're mostly going to be used for breeding. It's the offspring that we're talking about. They're a different story. And it's important to note that the offspring are not clones in this case.

PHILLIPS: Well, will people know what they're buying?

FORTIN: Not necessarily because we don't know if there are going to be any labels on this in your supermarket. You show up to buy your meat, you don't necessarily know what you're buying. And the FDA says it won't require labeling. Now, voluntary labeling by food manufacturers may be considered on a case to case basis.

Now, I thought this was interesting. Cloned foods will not be included in organic food groups, which are labeled. So, if you're looking for that type of meat, that will be easy to understand.

PHILLIPS: Let's see (ph) if people will eat the cloned meat, and could this change the way vegetarians think about, you know, eating meat and animals?

FORTIN: I know, and that's the big question that everyone's talking about today. Would you eat it? And the FDA wondered the same thing, so they actually held a focus group during its investigative research. And for the most part, people really didn't understand the whole cloning process. And, those who were surveyed seemed more concerned about what the animals were being fed during development rather than how they were created. So, maybe some education is at hand here. We need to talk more about the cloning process.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Judy.

FORTIN: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: And you can read more about the FDA's report on safety of meat and milk from cloned animals at CNN.com/health.

LEMON: Actor Wesley Snipes facing the possibility of more than a decade in prison. His trial under way right now. But did he know he was breaking the law?

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LEMON: Quick look at some of the big hits on CNN.com. The top video comes from Australia. A teen bloke threw one heck of a party at his parents' house. Hundreds of teens showed up. Then they ran. Cops, their helicopters, canines and reinforcements showed up later when things got a little too wild.

Now officials want to stick the 16-year-old party animal with the bill. Get this -- 20 grand. That listing cargo ship in the English Channel a popular choice for a second day. Compelling pictures there if you want to check it out.

No one can resist the moose being pried loose. Check that out. Hope they got him out. Did they get him out? Do we know? Yes, he got himself out. Those stories an more at CNN.com.

PHILLIPS: Tax cheat or victim? Competing portraits of the actor Wesley Snipes on trial in Florida for allegedly holding out on the IRS. CNN's Gary Tuchman walks us through the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's been a vampire. Fugitive. And street ball hustler. Now Wesley Snipes finds himself playing the most challenging role of his life -- accused tax cheat.

WESLEY SNIPES, ACTOR: I look forward to clearing my name and resolving this issue post haste.

TUCHMAN: The movie star is standing trial in Florida for tax evasion and fraud. Federal prosecutors say the 45-year-old actor owes taxes on $38 million in income from 1999 to 2004. That could mean more than $15 million in unpaid taxes, plus penalties.

The government alleges Snipes never filed returns and when he did, he grossly inflated deductions. The big test for the government -- did he know it.

JAMI FLOYD, TRUTV ANCHOR: Intent is an important part of this kind of a case. So it has to be shown that Wesley Snipes knew he was breaking the law and deliberately intended to evade proper payment of his taxes. That's a pretty tall burden for prosecutors.

TUCHMAN: Prosecutors contend Snipes never paid up because he felt he didn't have to. The defense calls that theory preposterous. And get this -- puts the blame on his two co-defendants.

ROBERT BERNHOFT, SNIPES ATTORNEY: Truth is going to come out, this jury is going to see the truth. Wesley Snipes is going to be vindicated.

TUCHMAN: Of the two men who handled Snipes' taxes, one's a former accountant, the other a convicted tax protester. Both had long argued that Federal law does not explicitly order U.S. citizens to pay taxes. Like Snipes, both men pled not guilty.

This isn't the first time a public figure has been tried for being a tax dodger. Remember Leona Helmsley? The so-called queen of mean was found guilty of tax evasion an served 21 months in prison. This time it is Wesley Snipes' turn to face a jury.

SNIPES: I look forward to clearing my name.

TUCHMAN: If convicted he could serve a 16-year role behind bars. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Who took steroids? Who lied about it? And, what's baseball going to do to clean up its sport? Congress wants to know. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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