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Severe Weather Happening in Parts of Florida; New Unemployment Numbers Out; On the Trail With Chelsea Clinton

Aired March 07, 2008 - 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 is off today. Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Friday morning. It is March 7th. Here is what's on the rundown.
Severe weather happening right now in parts of Florida, including reports of a tornado touchdown. We will have the late breaking details.

Also, American companies cutting thousands of jobs last month. New unemployment numbers just out. We zero in on the economy this hour.

Surveillance tapes of the Times Square bomb blast and possible new clues. Federal agents head north to the border with Canada today.

Bright, articulate and a forceful advocate for her mother. On the trail with Chelsea Clinton, the young campaigner, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Boy, let's get right to it. Happening right now, tornado warnings in Florida and reports of two possible fatalities and another person missing in the Tallahassee area.

Let's get straight to Bonnie Schneider in the Severe Weather Center with the story.

Bonnie, good morning.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Tony. East of Tallahassee and its small town of Capitola, that's where we're getting reports from the National Weather Service, an official storm report of two fatalities, because two houses were blown off their foundations. This occurred on White House Road and Capitola Road. And the report comes from an emergency manager and, of course, through the National Weather Service out of Tallahassee.

They also have reports of one person missing and again the two suspected fatalities in this region. Very powerful thunderstorms and possibly now, of course, a tornado moved through this region earlier this morning. And unfortunately, it's very serious situation not just for this reason, as we take a look further off to the east, we are watching for the threat of severe weather in and around this region. We have tornado warnings in effect and a tornado watch.

As we take a close at the region we can show you that we have tornado warnings in effect for several counties in and around northern Florida, with very strong storms working their way through the region right now. The wind gusts have been reported to be over 40 miles per hour, possibly greater with large hail as well.

Here's the tornado watchbox area and some of the concerns we have right now are in for the Jacksonville area. As we take a look at some of the Doppler radar, we can show you as we zoom in some of the regions. What we're looking at are some powerful thunderstorms working their way through the tornado warning still continuing for areas in northern Florida. One just expired, but we still have two more we're watching. And with the threat of tornadoes we're likely to see more tornado warnings issued.

I want to show you a live picture of Jacksonville, Florida. This is one city that we'll be watching for very, very carefully as we go through much of the morning, because we are watching for severe weather. Jacksonville, Florida is under the threat for tornadoes until noon today and, Tony, with the history that these storms have, possibly two fatalities, it's very serious situation.

If you live in north Florida, get your NOAA weather radio out now because you could lose power at any time with the strong gust of wind even if we don't see a tornado unfortunately.

HARRIS: And Bonnie, if you would say with us, I'm sure you have a couple of questions for Mike Stone. He is on the line with us from Florida, Emergency Management.

Mike, thanks for your time this morning.

MIKE STONE, FLORIDA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Good morning, sir.

HARRIS: Hey, Mike. Right now what are your chief areas of concern? We've got reports out of Tallahassee, possibly two fatalities right now and the storms, as you know, are moving through northern Florida. We're keeping an eye on Jacksonville. What are you watching right now?

STONE: We are watching this weather very closely at the state emergency operation center in Tallahassee. Our emergency services and human services teams are in the state EOC as we speak following these local reports just to the southeast of Tallahassee and the Chairs Capitola area. We're also now receiving reports of another possible touchdown in the Keaton Beach area. This is a coastal area in the county of Taylor which is a little further to the east-southeast of Tallahassee, but, yes. We're watching the system as it moves through north Florida, towards the Jacksonville area today.

Our concerns are, frankly, the winds and damages as well as the possibility for localized river and urban flooding.

HARRIS: And Bonnie, I know you're with me. Do you have a question for Mike?

SCHNEIDER: Well, just wanted to check in on some of the precautions that folks are taking in the region now, because the power outages are coming pretty fast and furious with these strong winds.

STONE: That's correct, Bonnie. For the last several days, we have done numerous advisories out to the state together with our local emergency management partners to warn residents. We've been kind of on this weather roller coaster for the past week or two. And so we have several rivers that are in flood across the region of the Panhandle in the northeast Florida. So we're making sure that folks understand they need to remember to turn around and don't drown when they come across flooded roadways.

HARRIS: OK. Mike, let's leave it there for right now, and we'll probably be checking back with you throughout the morning as developments warrant.

Mike Stone with the Florida Emergency Management Agency.

And, of course, when weather becomes the news, we always remind you, remember, you can send us your i-Reports. Just go to CNN.com and click on i-Report or type i-Report@CNN.com into your cell phone, but remember, particularly in cases like this, be safe.

To our other big story this morning, the nation's sputtering economy. You may feel the pain every time you reach for your wallet. This morning, a whole bunch of gloomy news. The latest blow came just about a half hour ago.

The new payrolls report shows 63,000 jobs disappeared last month. That's the second month in a row of job losses, and it adds to the recession anxiety. And we will how those concerns play out on Wall Street today. Markets open in less than 30 minutes. Futures are down after the Asian market tumbled, at least 2 percent overnight.

Much of the reason for the troubled economy. The housing crisis. The new signs that it's even getting worse, if you can imagine it. Foreclosures hit an all-time high last quarter and for the first time since record-keeping began in 1945, American homeowners are now saddled with more debt than equity.

Boy, it is your money and our focus. We are covering all the angles. You see them right there, CNN senior business correspondent Ali Velshi looks at the jobs report and the markets. And Gerri Willis looks at the housing part of the equation.

Ali, let's begin with you and the -- and the jobs report. Break out the numbers for us if you would, sir.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right, Tony.

The unemployment rate in the United States now stands at 4.8 percent. On its own, that would look good news, because it was 4.9 percent in January. But take a look at the jobs numbers. The important thing is the number of jobs that are created or lost. January, we lost 22,000 jobs, that's, by the way, have been adjusted. We didn't think we had lost that many. And in February, we lost 63,000 jobs. 63,000 is the biggest of the job loss in five years. And when you look at economic downturns and recession the thing that you're most concerned about is people's jobs. Credit and energy prices definitely put pressure on the consumer but the inability to earn an income or know that your income is going to increase is the most serious thing.

Let me tell you where those jobs were lost. Construction, 39,000 jobs were lost. Manufacturing, 52,000 jobs, and the retail sector, 34,000 jobs. There were some gains in heath care. Health care always has been increasing over the last few years and interestingly, in food services. But there were far more losses than gains -- Tony.

HARRIS: Oh boy. And Ali, if you would, what are you looking forward to, what are the signs pointing to in terms of an open to the markets?

VELSHI: Well, this is another piece of grim news. We had oil hitting $105.45 over night, got almost to $106. Right now oil's trading still -- above $105. That's never good. The dollar versus the euro is the lowest point it's ever been.

HARRIS: Boy.

VELSHI: It would cost you $1.54 to get a euro. And that's -- you add it all up, and you look at futures, we're looking at probably a triple digit decline in 20 minutes when the bell rings.

HARRIS: And Ali, stay right there for a moment. Let me turn to Gerri Willis.

And Gerri, if you would, break out and put it into some kind of context these foreclosure numbers for us.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Yes. These are not good numbers, Tony. I've got to tell you. More homeowners than ever before are losing their homes. According to Mortgage Bankers Association, 900,000 Americans are currently, right now, in foreclosure. Now that represents 2 percent of all mortgages. That is the highest number since 1945, in 63 years. That's a very big deal.

And of course, the reason for this, as Ali was just mentioning, loss of jobs, but also, of course, the mortgage meltdown that we've been talking about so much. People saddled with just too much mortgage debt. Now if you closely follow these numbers you probably heard other numbers from reality track, 2.2 million people in foreclosure last year. Now that number represents even those people who are also in default. So it covers a bigger group of people if you're getting a little confused by the numbers out there.

HARRIS: Yes. And more and more Americans are owing more than their home is worth.

WILLIS: Now, this is really concerning. Let's take a look at this closely. So Americans currently, for the first time since 1945, own less than 50 percent of their equity. Let's talk about equity for a moment... HARRIS: Great.

WILLIS: ...so we know what we're talking about. Equity is simply the good stuff. You know, you don't own the bricks and mortar of your house. Your bank does, if you have a mortgage. So you want equity and that is your payments towards principle plus any appreciation, if you have that right now, plus your investments in the home, the upgrades you have in the home.

So this is bad news for folks out there, their investment going down. It doesn't look good for them, and, of course, we have the number earlier this week.

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: Ten percent of Americans are underwater in their mortgages, meaning that they owe more than the house is worth.

HARRIS: That's -- that is something.

All right. Ali, let me bring you back in, and if you would, give us a bit of a preview and Gerri, the same question to you, of this afternoon's special report on financial security.

VELSHI: We're going to talk about these very things that we're discussing here. How do the nuts and bolts of the economy that we keep reporting on affect your life, your money? What you can do about it. Gerri, I believe you're going to be taking e-mails from our viewers?

WILLIS: That's right. Not just e-mails, but we'll also be taking phone calls, if you have a question about your wallet. It doesn't have to be jobs. It can be debt. Whatever's on your mind, give us a call, send us an e-mail. We want to talk to you and we'll be answering those questions live on-air.

HARRIS: This is terrific, perfect timing. Ali, Gerri, great to see you. It's all hands on deck today as we talk about your money. Thank you both very much. Appreciate it.

WILLIS: Thank you.

VELSHI: OK.

HARRIS: In other news, unfolding this hour, several new twists and turns in the Times Square bombing investigation in New York. Authorities are taking a closer look at surveillance video. They're searching for a hooded bicyclist seen just before the blast at a military recruiting station. Authorities also taking another look at an incident last month at the U.S.-Canadian border in New York.

But this morning, they say there appears to be no connection between the bombing and letters sent to members of Congress. They included photos of the recruiting center. The letters sent to lawmakers, the timing of the explosion in Times Square, officials calling it a bizarre coincidence. Kate Bolduan is tracking developments. She's live from Capitol Hill.

Kate, good morning.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. Well, it was a -- bizarre twist and now, as you said, it's turned into a bizarre coincidence. Law enforcement sources say that there's no connection between the letters sent to Congress and to the New York bombing.

Now, as many as 10 letters arrived on -- at the offices of the Democratic lawmakers Thursday, yesterday, and included in those letters was a photo of a man standing in front of the Times Square military recruitment station, and with the statement "We did it."

Of course, that led to many to jump to conclusions, but now we hear from the New York City police commissioner that the "We did it" refers to -- this person referring to the 2006 Democratic victory and not claiming responsibility for the New York incident.

Very strange coincidence, but we are told now that they are saying that there's no connection between these two cases, and so they say basically the investigation into these letters is now dropped. The person who sent the letters, they say, was voicing his opposition to the war and nothing else.

But I do want to get to new developments that we are now hearing. Authorities are turning their attention to the New York State/U.S./Canadian border where they say an incident earlier last month is getting a little more attention. What they say happened is, on the Canadian side, three or more people were stopped and questioned, and during the interview process it wasn't completed. One or more of these people, they left before it was completed and left behind a backpack. In that backpack is getting more attention.

And The New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly described this morning what was found in that bag. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: Some pictures of Times Square, including the recruiting station, were found. Our liaison officer in Montreal was notified. Our nexus team, these are teams of detectives that go around and talk to businesses, did go out and speak to the people in the recruiting station and told them about the fact that these pictures were found. So federal officials are going back to take another look and attempting to speak to Canadian officials about that stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, at the time, Border Patrol didn't have any information that would lead them to think these people had any suspicious backgrounds. But clearly, as we can see now, that incident is getting a little more attention. HARRIS: Absolutely.

BOLDUAN: They say it's prudent to revisit.

HARRIS: Mm-hmm. OK. Kate, appreciate it. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

HARRIS: Wooing Wyoming, the state in the spotlight ahead of tomorrow's Democratic caucuses. Hillary Clinton heads there after starting her day in Mississippi. Barack Obama also on the campaign trail in Wyoming today. In a tight race where every delegate counts, they're both going after the 12 up for grabs in Wyoming tomorrow.

Still no winner in Tuesday's Democratic caucuses in Texas. As of yesterday, Obama was leading Clinton 56 to 44 percent, but that's with less than half of the precincts reporting. Polling places were chaotic Tuesday with overcrowding and long lines.

Republican nominee in waiting, John McCain, is on a southern swing. He's holding a town hall meeting in Atlanta this morning before heading to New Orleans. His last remaining rival, long shot Ron Paul hinting that he will officially end his White House run soon.

Two students, two campuses. Are the murders of these young college women connected?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Severe weather to be sure in Florida this morning. Let's check in once again with Bonnie Schneider.

Bonnie?

SCHNEIDER: That's right, Tony. We're watching for reports. We actually had reports from the storm prediction center from the National Weather Service from the Tallahassee area of two possible fatalities in this region there, capital of Florida, which is close to Tallahassee.

But what's happening right now is we are watching for two tornado warnings. The first one is for Lafayette Suwannee and Taylor counties, and that expires at 9:30. But a new one has just been issued to the north and east. And we can query this one as well because this goes until 9:45 and includes the rest of Lafayette County and Suwannee counties.

So the storms are very powerful and they are moving to the northeast. We've already had frequent lightning strikes with these storms and, of course, very heavy rain. And Tony, some of the earlier reports early this morning were reporting such heavy rainfall that some of the roads were completely covered with water. So if you're driving in this region, it's a dangerous situation.

HARRIS: Yes, it sounds like it.

SCHNEIDER: You may want to stay inside. This watch extends all the way until noon today.

HARRIS: OK. Bonnie, appreciate it. Thank you. We'll check back with you shortly here.

And still to come, parents slipping their kids hormones to help them sleep? Dr. Sanjay Gupta weighs the pros and cons of melatonin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Well, police are chasing a lead fanning out across the campus of Auburn University. Freshman Lauren Burk from Suburban, Atlanta was found shot Tuesday night. She died in a hospital there. Her burning car discovered in a campus parking lot.

How grisly is this?

Police reportedly have interviewed several persons of interest. Alabama's governor is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to her killer.

Another campus in mourning, teachers and students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, stunned by the violent death of the student body president, senior Eve Carson of Athens, Georgia, was gunned down Wednesday not far from campus. Police say they have no suspects but the crime appears to be random.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUDDY SIMS, EVEN CARSON'S BIOLOGY TEACHER: There was not that many good human beings around anymore, and she was really one of them, and just person who was going to do good things for other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Boy. Carson's car was found about a mile way from her body. Investigators believe it might have been stolen during the crime. Police say nothing suggests the UNC and Auburn killings are linked.

Now "Your Health." Sleep. Boy, we could all use more of it, but tomorrow, Daylight Saving Time, cost you an hour. Sleep is already a problem for many teens. So some parents are turning to melatonin for help. Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here. Melatonin?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And so the kids continue to have problems with sleep because I have a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old, and this is...

HARRIS: Well, you're...

GUPTA: ...going to continue. HARRIS: No, no, no. You're in lockdown until the youngest is at least 4 or 5. You really are lock -- I'm just telling you from experience here, but I've got to ask you, because there are a couple of follow-ups to that point.

Melatonin, is it a good idea?

GUPTA: Look, I think it'd be hard for us to find a doctor, Tony, who's going to recommend melatonin...

HARRIS: OK.

GUPTA: ...for teenagers specifically, because there's not a lot of science on this specifically. But having said that, the sleep experts we talked to say there's been a huge upsurge in the number of teenagers taking melatonin. It's pretty remarkable. It's a dietary supplement, this is not a prescription medication. It is synthetic but it's basically you're trying to synthesize a hormone that is made by the pineal gland in your body. Melatonin basically regulates your sleep/wake cycle.

When it gets dark outside, Tony, you make more melatonin. So thought was, if you use melatonin, it might actually help you with your sleep. That's the thinking, anyway. Now we do know sleep's important, for all the reasons that you suggested. Let me just say really quickly, with teenagers, in particular, they need more sleep than even 9 or 10 year olds.

HARRIS: They do.

GUPTA: Yes. They need more -- so they're growing, more demands on the body. They don't get the sleep, Tony, you know this stuff.

HARRIS: Oh boy.

GUPTA: Poor test scores. Possibly...

HARRIS: We're just talking about this, yes.

GUPTA: Just talking about this.

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: Longer termed depression, ADHD, even suicide. The day after, we spring forward, actually, upticking automobile accidents, yes.

HARRIS: Really?

GUPTA: Yes.

HARRIS: Whoa. But here's the question, I mean, is it -- does it work?

GUPTA: It can work. Again, there's not a lot of science in kids in particular, teenagers. HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: But one thing that -- we researched this. One of the things that came out was don't give it to children under the age of 10. There's simply no research there and don't ever give more than three milligrams.

But again, this whole idea of sort of regulating sleep/wake cycles, that seems to have some potential benefit. But again, doctors are not necessarily recommending this.

HARRIS: Look, wait a minute. We don't really want to medicate our way through this. And so I'm wondering, for those of us who don't, are there some natural ways to enhance and encourage sleep?

GUPTA: Yes, I think so, and especially on this weekend.

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: The spring-forward weekend. There are some good things to remind people of. One of them, pretty obvious, I guess, go to bed an hour early.

HARRIS: There you go.

GUPTA: Going to sound silly. I'm going to tell you. But it actually works. Maximize your exposure to natural light on Sunday as much as possible. Get outside if you can. Also keep a light schedule even on Monday. You my feel the repercussions a couple of days.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

GUPTA: So spring forward but take care as well.

HARRIS: So I come off weekends, Rick Sanchez is back and I lose an hour of sleep.

GUPTA: I think that works out -- well, that actually works out for Rick.

HARRIS: It works out -- Sanjay, great to see you.

GUPTA: You picked the good one to come back.

HARRIS: Get your rest this weekend, why don't you?

GUPTA: You, too.

HARRIS: All right.

GUPTA: All right. Thank you.

HARRIS: And still ahead in the NEWSROOM, we're watching severe weather in parts of Florida and the so-called merchant of death is out of business. How a notorious Russian arms dealer got caught. We're on the story. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Her campaign comeback snapped Barack Obama's winning streak. Hillary Clinton making her mark this week. She won three out of four primaries on Tuesday, with victories in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island. She's campaigning in Mississippi and Wyoming today. Clinton still trails Obama in the delegate count, but she says her campaign has turned the corner and regained its momentum.

And now a story of big time gun running rebel fighters and one army's incursion into a neighbor's land. It spans three parts of the globe and we're covering all the angles. Last weekend the Colombian army's four-decade fight with its nation's FARC rebels took a new turn. The army conducted a raid on the group in Ecuador. That triggered an angry response not just from Ecuador's president but Nicaragua's and Venezuela's as well. Those leaders are meeting in the Dominican Republican today.

Our Rick Sanchez is covering that. CNN's Karl Penhaul is on the Colombian/Venezuelan border and our Dan Rivers is in Bangkok with a related story involving a notorious arms dealer and weapons that Colombia's FARC rebels will never see.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The so-called lord of war looked distinctly un-aristocratic as he was paraded for the press in Thailand.

(On camera): Do you have anything to say about the charges against you?

(Voice over): But Viktor Bout remained silent, possibly the most prolific arms smuggler in the world is out of action, and he didn't look happy about it.

American law enforcers weren't mincing words when they sought him out.

THOMAS PASQUARELLO, U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: Mr. Bout is now referring as the merchant of death and man of war.

RIVERS: The Thai police say he may face trial in Bangkok first, but the U.S. is hoping he'll be extradited to a court in New York.

PASQUARELLO: That's up to the two governments to work that out between the legal systems.

RIVERS: Viktor Bout thought to have supplied weapons for wars across the world from Africa to Asia. The DEA think his AK-47s ended up almost everywhere. He used contacts in the former Soviet Union and is thought to have made tens of millions of dollars.

But the deal that ended it all was with the FARC rebels in Colombia. The DEA set up a complex sting, fogging him as he agreed to sell the fighters surface-to-air missiles which he parachute into the jungle for $5 million.

(On camera): No one knows for sure how many weapons Viktor Bout has sold or how much money he has made. For years he has evaded the law with apparent impunity, but now it seems, for perhaps the world's biggest arming smuggler, the game is up.

(Voice over): And so Viktor Bout was led away facing years in prison. I wonder if his heavily armed guards would give him the privilege of seeing what was showing on Thai TV. "Lord of War" was playing right on cue, the film inspired by Viktor Bout. Only the real-life version looks like it will have a distinctly unhappy ending.

Dan Rivers, CNN, Bangkok.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Tony Harris.

HARRIS: And coming up on the half hour, welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris. Heidi has the day off.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, a powerhouse campaigner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF HILLARY CLINTON: My mother supported civil unions for longer than I've been alive.

My mom is fighting to see the delegates from Florida.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Chelsea Clinton speaks. We are on the trail with her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: Jerusalem grieving. Thousands attending funerals today for eight young seminary students killed by a Palestinian gunman on campus. Live to Jerusalem now with CNN's Ben Wedeman. Ben, good to see you. What is the situation there were you are right now? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, it's been a very emotional day for Jerusalem. These eight victims of the attack on the yeshiva have been buried. The day started with a ceremony at the yeshiva here itself, the site of the attack, where the eight bodies were laid out and speeches and eulogies made by directors of the school and their colleagues. Then various bodies were taken to burial, some in Jerusalem, some in the West Bank, some in Israel.

Now this comes at a time of really heightened security around Jerusalem. This is under normal circumstances a very security- conscious place, but I was coming from Gaza this morning, and I have not seen this many police on the streets, this many checkpoints, this many identity-check patrols on the streets of this city in several years -- Tony.

HARRIS: And, Ben, have there been any claims of responsibility?

WEDEMAN: Well, that's a very complicated question. Now, just after the attack last night, of course, there was an announcement from Al Manar TV. That's the Hezbollah-run TV out of Beirut, Lebanon, carrying a claim of responsibility, calling itself the "group of free men of the Galilee," and now today what we're learning is that there are reports that Hamas has claimed responsibility as well, but our sources in Gaza say that it's actually an offshoot, or very possibly a lone member of Hamas with, we're told, possibly some assistance from a group affiliated to Hezbollah. But we're really trying to sort that out. And it's a very sort of bowl of spaghetti, all tangled up and very hard to untangle at this point -- Tony.

HARRIS: And, Ben, one more quick one. Any thoughts so far on the possible impact of this attack on the already fragile peace talks?

WEDEMAN: Well, we've heard from Israeli officials, Tony, that, in fact, Israel and the Palestinian Authority plan to carry on with their peace negotiations, peace negotiations which were really thrown up in the air following Israel's offensive in Gaza at beginning of this week, but we are told they're back on track. But given the tensions, given the resentment, given the anger, really, on both sides, it's a very tenuous return to the peace track at this point -- Tony.

HARRIS: CNN's Ben Wedeman for us in Jerusalem. Ben, thank you.

She's not talking to reporters, but she is talking to young voters. CNN Gary Tuchman on the campaign trail with Chelsea Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Her father was a governor when she was born, a president when she was 12. Chelsea Clinton has been in the national public eye since 1992. But her fiercely-guarded privacy makes many realize they've never even heard her speak.

C. CLINTON: Jordan, nice to meet you, Jordan. Nice to meet you. Hi, Joe. Nice to meet you. Thanks for welcoming me. TUCHMAN: She's speaking now, on behalf of her mother. We're in the University of Pennsylvania Student Union with her as she's about to take the stage, where she's greeted like a rock star as the sun gets ready to set on the chilly Philadelphia campus.

CLINTON: I'm really excited to be here in Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania.

TUCHMAN: With the crucial Pennsylvania primary coming up, Chelsea Clinton says she will take any questions students want to ask, nothing off limits. She's asked about homosexuals.

C. CLINTON: My mother has supported civil unions for longer than I've been alive.

TUCHMAN: She's asked about the Iraq war and General Petraeus.

C. CLINTON: My mother is on the Armed Services Committee, and so she does listen to General Petraeus, but she disagrees with General Petraeus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will your mom actually do to keep jobs in this country?

C. CLINTON: If a company wants to take jobs overseas, that's its prerogative. But we as American taxpayers should not be subsidizing that.

TUCHMAN: Chelsea Clinton, who lives in New York and works for a hedge fund, comes off as poised. She answers questions without notes. She's well prepared for a question about all the Bushes and Clintons in the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are your thoughts, that Bush-Clinton- Bush-Clinton thing?

C. CLINTON: One, I wish we hadn't had a second Bush.

TUCHMAN: Her staff says she has campaigned at 60 different colleges in 30 states, from Hawaii to Arkansas to Wisconsin, where she made an interesting comparison.

C. CLINTON: My mother is more fiscally conservative than my father and certainly this president.

TUCHMAN: And she is not shy about diving into campaign controversies.

C. CLINTON: My mom is fighting to seat the delegates from Florida. And I don't know what the Democratic Party will do.

TUCHMAN: Her candid Q&A sessions are particularly notable, because she has no such sessions with reporters.

C. CLINTON: This is actually a perfect question. TUCHMAN: A college journalist might slip in a question at these events, but for those of us notably past college age, nothing. Even though she's no longer 12, Chelsea Clinton has a no-interview policy that's rigorously enforced.

(on camera) It's easy for a lot of us to still think of Chelsea Clinton as a kid, but she's 28 years old. Her father, when he ran for Congress in his first try at political office, was also 28.

(voice-over) As she leaves the Penn campus on the way to a campaign stop in Wyoming, I asked one of her top aides if I could talk to her. He momentarily surprises me when he says yes, but it has to be off camera and off the record. For us, that's not particularly helpful.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: You think you're always safe to fly? Think again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the movie serious lapse in aviation safety at the FAA that I've seen in 23 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Southwest Airlines and the FAA have some explaining to do.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Still, we want to continue now to update the situation, the severe weather, this massive storm system, very powerful rolling through as you can see on the radar here. Southern Georgia and, of course, Florida taking the brunt of it right now. And as you can see the storm passing through the Tallahassee area right now. Perfect, because it gets us to David McCranie. He is the public information officer for the Tallahassee police.

David, good to talk to you. Thanks for your time.

If you would, as we look at radar images right now we see that the storm system is passing through the Tallahassee area right now. Can you give us any kind of an assessment as to the damage being brought by the storm?

DAVID MCCRANIE, TALLAHASSEE, FLA. POLICE: Yes, Tony. Thanks for having us on. Essentially what we had is that weather band early this morning, I guess it started around 5:00 or 6:00 this morning and continued until about 9:00 this morning. We've had trees down, (INAUDIBLE) trees, and we've had power outages.

But we've had no fatalities, so we're fortunate in that regard. We have some flooding that typically happens when you have heavy rains in a short amount of time, but those have since subsided and things tend to be getting back to normal, but we still have some power outages affecting intersections, but we were very, very fortunate that no one was injured.

HARRIS: So what is it like outside your window now? Is it still a rain event? Is it a heavy rain event? How would you describe it?

MCCRANIE: The rain has gone away, still very cloudy, dark outside and dreary, but for the most part it looks like the rain has passed, or at least the severe rain has passed us. So, again, we're very fortunate, and hopefully it's done for the day.

HARRIS: So you have some damage, you have power lines down. Any idea at this point, and maybe it's still early for you, how many people are without power at this point?

MCCRANIE: Well, at one point we had about 10,000 customers without power, and that was actually after the worst of the rain had occurred. We had four substations that went down, but that was due to some trees and some other things. But I think at the current time we probably have less than 3,000 people without power.

HARRIS: OK.

MCCRANIE: So we're slowly getting back.

HARRIS: Great.

MCCRANIE: To full strength.

HARRIS: And, David, any injuries? No fatalities you mentioned a moment ago, but any injuries to report at this point?

MCCRANIE: No apparent injuries. Of course, we had a few more traffic crashes than we normally would, because of the power outages at intersections and so forth, but nothing that has injured anybody significantly.

HARRIS: Traffic accidents. It that's the worst of it, then that's pretty good.

All right, David McCranie is the public information officer for the Tallahassee Police. David, thank you for your time.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: We are going to continue to follow that radar image, and of course all of the storms as they move through Florida throughout the morning for you, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM, but first a break.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: All right, and still to come, politics not for the feint of heart or for those who swoon for their candidates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And now, a story of bigtime gun running, rebel fighters and one army's incursion into a neighbor's land that spans three parts of the globe. And we're covering all the angles right here this morning in the CNN NEWSROOM. Last weekend the Colombian army's four- decades fight with its nation's FARC rebels took a new turn. The army conducted a raid on the group in Ecuador. That triggered an angry response not just from Ecuador's president, but Nicaragua's and Venezuela's as well. Those leaders are meeting right now in the Dominican Republic. Our Rick Sanchez is covering that for us, CNN's Karl Penhaul is on the Colombian-Venezuelan border, and our Dan Rivers is in Bangkok.

Let's talk to Rick right now. He is on the phone.

And, Rick, I understand you are attending the Rio Group Summit where this has to be a hop topic of discussion?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hot to say the very least, Tony. We're making our way over here to the summit. The security, as you might imagine, is unbelievably tight, with presidents of all these Latin-American countries. But it's the tension between these leaders. I mean, you really have a brand new faction that's emerged now between the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, of course, the president of Ecuador -- that's Correa -- and the president of Brazil and Nicaragua as well, all considered to be left-leaning, somewhat to different degrees, anti-United States.

After this incursion a couple days ago where the Colombian forces literally went into Ecuador. Now you've got to kind of picture this on a map, but Ecuador's on the southern border with Colombia and the Colombian officials and the Colombia President Uribe made a decision that he would go ahead and go into Ecuador to take out some of those FARC rebels. In doing so the incursion actually went into some sovereign territory, and that's where this argument has now begun.

As you can imagine, Ecuadorians have now placed troops on their border to protect themselves against the Colombians. So have the Venezuelans. Most people think it's really a show of force, that it's not really going to lead to any serious fighting.

But nonetheless, Tony, I think it's difficult to not look at this and not see for the first time in decades the kind of tension that's taking place in this region, and you know, it's the type of tension that's going to be discussed here today. It's expected that Uribe is going to try to explain what he did to both the Ecuadorian president, as well as Hugo Chavez, who I'm sure will have another one of his command performances here.

HARRIS: Sure.

SANCHEZ: So it's a difficult argument. It's one that's going to be working out here and, of course, all of this with the price of gas looming in the background from a region where much of our gas comes from.

HARRIS: Rick Sanchez. Rick, we're going to be following this story with you. It is a hot topic, and we really need to spend some time on it, and we will doing that throughout the morning here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Rick Sanchez from the Dominican Republic for us. Rick, appreciate it. Thank you.

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