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Tornadoes on the Ground This Morning; Wedding Day Carnage in Iraq; Remembering an Amazing Marine; Greensburg Going Completely Green
Aired May 02, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Here is the I-10 corridor. Just getting your bearings. On the other side of the screen, we have the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex area. And in the towns of Van, back towards Lindale, you've got this potential tornado. Again, excuse me, not potential tornado. This is a confirmed tornado seen by trained weather spotters, a large tornado. This one drifting a little bit more to the east and then northeast. Almost - actually, almost parallel with parts of the i-20 corridor at this time. What we have is also damaging winds and large hail. It's going to be a big mess for many people in the areas of Edom.
If you happen to be in Edom, maybe even Lindale, you need to take cover immediately in the lowest floor of your home. If you have single story building, you don't have a basement, you don't have a storm cellar. What you want to do is you want to get into an interior hallway. Just the strongest area you can of the house away from the outside windows. That is certainly will be your best bet. What's interesting is that we're going to be seeing more of this.
It certainly appears that way. We've got the conditions, in fact, the storm prediction center in Norman, Oklahoma, has now posted a tornado watch that's in effect for points actually moving east. Back towards Greenville, Mississippi, Into parts of Tennessee, even into Kentucky, back into Arkansas. This is an area that could be affected as we make our way through the day into the afternoon. If this isn't stabilized don't be surprised if we see more of these watches extend a little bit more off to the east. Perhaps affecting parts of central Tennessee, maybe even Mississippi and perhaps Alabama before the day is out.
So, again, as we mentioned, incredibly violent system we have been seeing. This line of storm has a history of producing widespread damage, especially through parts of Kansas City and let's see, even in areas like Little Rock. And Little Rock, for the time being, we got very windy conditions. We have a live image for you. You can see the camera shaking around quite a bit. That is not poor camera work. That's proof positive of the strong storm, the strong winds we've seen from this line. Given another 20 minutes and downtown Arkansas, we need to come back to this camera and take a look at it. And I guarantee you, you're going to see some changes. More clouds possibly some hail and some damaging winds there, too.
That is the latest we've got for you. It's just a crazy situation. Very unstable atmosphere. I would certainly expect more of this through the day. So, let's send it back to you. FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, boy. All right. Thanks so much. More on this extreme weather pounding the Midwest. Take a look now at these pictures out of Kansas City, Missouri. Severe storms with hurricane forced winds, hail, heavy rain. All of that moving through the state this morning. Damaging at least 200 houses and businesses. Some homes turned into piles of rubble, owners standing outside looking absolutely stunned in some cases. The devastation also shocking to an affiliate reporter surveying the damage from his helicopter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF JOHNNY ROWLANDS, KMBC PILOT: This is pretty amazing from the air. As you can see, again, we talked about the National Weather Service trying to determine if these were straight-lined winds or what. That is a north -- actually, from the south to the north, tilt down just a little bit for me there, Luke. You can see, there's the foundation of that house that was under construction. Nothing left on the foundation at all. Pushed to the north. As we are circling overhead now and king of looking to the east. You can see damage to the houses either side of that. And we will pull back and show you the extent of damage to the houses right behind that.
As you will see down into the left which would be just to the north of that house. Also, we will pan now to the -- just go ahead and tilt up across the street and you will see damage to some houses in a cul-de-sac there. Now, this -- some of the streets up here, 108th, 110th, North Donnelly, and of course, 291 Highway, as you may have heard, is shut down here. As about two miles to the north and west of i-35 because of all the damage and all the debris. So extensive damage to a lot of the homes here.
Almost anywhere I look along this path of probably 100 yards wide or so, we are seeing damage to roofs. That looks like it comes from, again, southwest to northeast. With the most extensive damage right there where you see the house completely off its foundation. It was under construction into the other house and still - I will get out of the way for you here, and still damage to the north and east there. Very localized, though.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And fire officials report no serious injuries.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get to the other big story. The one we seemed to be following every morning here in the NEWSROOM. It is "Issue #1." New this morning, a clearer view of the nation's economic health. Let's begin with a big shock on jobs, the backbone of the economy. It turns out employers lost at least last month -- cut fewer jobs than expected. April's unemployment drops to 5 percent. That is a slight improvement for March. That figure, 5.1 percent.
Let's take a look at the big board and see how the markets are responding to this jobs report. We were off the mark. And well, triple digits. We started the morning 9:30, pretty much out of the gates in triple digit territory. Dropped to about 66 points inside the first couple of minutes. And here we are again. Triple digits in gains, 111 points. No figure on the Nasdaq yet. If someone could scream it to me but at least about 20 minutes or so ago, the Nasdaq was in positive territory as well plus 14. Thank you for that number.
In the meantime, a few other things we are following this morning. Factory orders for April out just a couple of moments ago. A slight increase as expected. And gas prices down a bit this morning. That ends a string of 17 days of record prices, the national average a little more than 3.62 a gallon. Stay right here at CNN. Our money team has you covered whether it's jobs, debt, housing or savings, join us for a special report. It is called "Issue #1, the economy." All this week. Noon Eastern. We wrap it up today for Friday right here on CNN.
WHITFIELD: Primary countdown. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a national dead heat. Four days now before big contests in North Carolina and Indiana. Dan Lothian with the CNN "Election Express" in Indianapolis. And Dan, moments ago, you told me the candidates are hitting hard the message of the economy. They are listening to, I guess, the electorate there.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They really are listening to them. And as you mentioned, you know, this race, both here and Indiana and also nationally, really has tightened up. According to the CNN opinion research poll shows that Senator Obama is at 46 percent. Senator Clinton at 45 percent, you may remember, just in mid March or so Senator Obama was ahead by seven points. So, yes, indeed the candidates are duking it out and really focusing on some of the issues like the economy, gas prices and health care as well. But they are both also reaching out to those rural voters today. Today, Senator Clinton is in North Carolina. Yesterday here in Indiana, Senator Obama as well. Both of them talking to those rural voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I started talking about our farms and our farmers and I've got, you know, one farmer here and a local elected official who is a strong, strong supporter of agriculture in New York. Because we do, we have 34,000 family farms. And they are mostly small farms. Dairy, fruit, vegetable. A lot of other livestock, horticulture. We got a pretty diversified agricultural economy. But it is mostly dairy, fruit, vegetables. And what with I tried to do in working with our farmers in New York, is to give as strong a foundation as possible to the people who actually farm the land. The people who are with their families and their associates are there day in and day out. People who come here and actually look to see whether they can afford to buy a new piece of equipment.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is my belief that rural America represents what's best about America. Hard work, responsibility, individual initiative, a sense of community, a sense of family. And the fact that rural America is having such a difficult time indicates that we lost focus on our values and our ideas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: Fredricka, as you can see both of the Democratic candidates is really fighting for every vote with just four days to go before the primary. I should point out that Senator Barack Obama will be rolling out a new ad here in Indiana today and he is going after Senator Clinton again on this gas tax holiday. This is something that we have been talking about all week. And he will continue to show through that ad that he believes that she's just - it's kind of politics as usual, just using this in order to gain some political points. Senator Clinton pointing out that his opposition to this shows that he's out of touch with working class voters. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And Dan, have these candidates revealed to you what their plans are for the weekend? Do they plan to stay in Indianapolis? Are they going to do more face time in North Carolina as well?
LOTHIAN: In North Carolina, coming back here as well. They have been spending a lot of time in North Carolina and Indiana, going back and forth but as you know with just a few days to go, they are just trying to reach as many voters as possible.
WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Lothian, thank you so much there in Indianapolis.
LOTHIAN: OK.
WHITFIELD: With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, every delegate indeed counts. So, let's take a look at what is at stake in Tuesday's primary. Indiana, 72 delegates up for grabs for the Democrats. It is the second largest delegate prize left in the presidential race. The biggest remaining prize, North Carolina. Clinton and Obama are competing for those 115 delegates.
HARRIS: And, look, don't forget Guam. Look, the tiny U.S. territory playing a big role in deciding the Democratic nomination. The Guam Democratic caucuses are tomorrow and four delegates are on the line. Where exactly is Guam? Good question. I've got an answer for you. It is a tiny speck in the Pacific Ocean, about 5,800 miles west of San Francisco. Find more on the candidates at cnnpolitics.com. Cnnpolitics.com is your source for everything political.
WHITFIELD: All right. Three people are facing charges today. Accused of starting a wildfire near Grand Canyon National Park. The fire is about 80 percent contained. More than 2,000 acres scorched. Court documents say three people left a campfire unattended Tuesday and high winds spread the embers into the forest, burning through more than three-square miles. The three face -- three people that is, face several federal misdemeanor charges.
HARRIS: Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the "D.C. madam," found dead in her mother's backyard. What the blogs are saying about it. That's next in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Home alone. A teen hears a prowler and then texts mom for help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It says "Mommy, oh, my god, I'm scared. I think we are being robbed. I'm hiding. Help me."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was scared to death. I thought, oh my god, do they have her?
WHITFIELD: Wow. And undercover victim in the NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Declaring her innocence to the end, Deborah Palfrey, otherwise known as the "D.C. madam," was found dead yesterday. Police say she killed herself.
Here's CNN John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT(voice-over): The body of Deborah Jeane Palfrey was found by her mother in a small storage shed outside of her mobile home.
CAPT. JEFFREY YOUNG, TARPON SPRINGS POLICE: Blanch Palfrey discovered her daughter Deborah had apparently hung herself using a nylon rope from a metal beam on the ceiling of the shed.
ZARRELLA: Police say several notes were found and made it clear the woman known as the "D.C. Madam" wanted to take her own life. An author, Dan (Madia)ph, who is working with her on a possible book said he wasn't surprised. He told "Time" magazine, "she wasn't going to jail. She told me that very clearly. She told me she would commit suicide." Palfrey was to be sentenced next month for running a high- end prostitution service in Washington. Something she continued to deny.
DEBORAH PALFREY, "D.C. MADAM": No promises or claims directly or indirectly was ever made to a client that he should expect the associate to perform illegal acts for hire.
ZARRELLA: But authorities say that she ran the business for 13 years. Hiring polished college educated women and coordinating it all from her home in California. She allegedly brought in millions of dollars, most of which she spent on her defense. The 52-year-old Palfrey hinted at her state of mind in a recent interview with CNN's radio Lynette Sousa.
PALFREY: I am looking at 55 years in a federal penitentiary. And tt my age that is virtually a life sentence. ZARRELLA: John Zarrella, CNN, Tarpon Springs, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And of course, since Palfrey is dead, questions have popped up on the blogsphere over why she would take her life. It's definitely generating a huge amount of interest on cnn.com as well. Our Veronica de la Cruz has been online this morning and folks are talking.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Folks are talking, lots of conspiracy theories. You know, there are a lot of conspiracy theories out there. But we want to go and start now with Deborah Jeane Palfrey. It is said that her mother awoke from a nap to find her hanging from a steel beam in a shed in the backyard. And as you know, this all comes after she was found guilty on a couple of different charges like John Zarrella was just saying she was facing a maximum 55-year prison sentence. So, Fredricka since the news broke out, The blogs have been live with conspiracy theories over whether or not she did truly commit suicide. A lot of people are wondering. Because she had a lot of information.
WHITFIELD: Right. So what are people saying specifically? They are saying maybe there was a hit out on her? I mean are they going that far?
DE LA CRUZ: Let's go ahead and take a look at some of the blogs. Let's go start with a dailykos.com, a blogger by the name of Cats Paw lists these reasons, saying it's suspicious because number one, her body was found at a shed near her mom's home. Number two, police readily said it was a suicide without a thorough investigation. You know we are still waiting for the preliminary autopsy results. Three, her last public comments were defiant and she threatened to reveal her client list. Or sell it to the highest bidder. So, that's on dailykos.com.
Then a blogger from "Truth on the Market," finds the news sad and unfair saying "The D.C. Madam was left dangling by her neck in some shed in Florida while Vitter, Tobias and Ullman are out there happily employed," likely soon to put their affiliation with the blissfully deceased. Likely their view, the D.C. Madam far, far behind them. If I remember, Fredricka, David Vitter was the Louisiana senator on the call sheet along with Randall Tobias who resigned as deputy secretary of state and also Harlan Ullman, who is a military strategist. And then finally, there was also this perspective. Really interesting, it was posted as a comment on the talk left blog. "If a woman marries for money, she is respected. If she sleeps with a man for money, she is shamed. I'm sorry that this woman had to face the prospect of jail and even more sorry that she chose this way to avoid it." That's pretty much the consensus on the blog this morning.
WHITFIELD: It's been all over the Internet. I think as soon as it crossed wires, it really sent quite a buzz.
DE LA CRUZ: It did.
WHITFIELD: It had through the blogsphere, through the Internet as a whole. What's being said on cnn.com?
DE LA CRUZ: A lot of things said on cnn.com. it's one of the top stories since the news broke yesterday. One of the most click on stories. And besides the article, there's also lots of video. There's also this really interesting look at sex scandals, past and present that have plagued Washington. I mean, taking you back as far as 1976 when Ohio Democratic congressman, Wayne Hayes, resigned after he was caught his mistress on the payroll.
Also, the recent scandals, we remember these ones really well involving Florida Republican Mark Foley who allegedly traded sexually explicit instant messages, e-mails, congressional pages. You remember that, Fredricka. Also, this one, of course, Louisiana Republican David Vitter whose phone number turned up on the call sheet of the D.C. Madam at least six times. Here's the thing, Vitter remained a senator. He has not been censured. So, you know, you can find all of this available to you online at cnn.com. And you can also join in on a conversation. Send us an i-report. You can log on to Ireport.com and do so.
So again, the conspiracy theories are out there. There are theories saying that Palfrey herself predicted that she would be suicided. She did. I mean prisonplanet.com, there's actually audio of here from an interview where she says "I think this may happen to me."
WHITFIELD: Really.
DE LA CRUZ: There are other people out there who are saying that she said I would rather die than go back to prison. So -
WHITFIELD: Oh. Harsh stuff. All right.
DE LA CRUZ: It's all out there.
WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. Yes, it really is a lot information. Thanks, Veronica.
HARRIS: Your money. Your have questions. Gerri Willis has answers. Your e-mails in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Wouldn't it be nice to end the week on an up note on Wall Street after so much this week from the prime rate to the oil prices, gas prices? All of that, well some encouragement. The Dow up 79 points. Kind of fluctuating. The last time we checked it was like 111 points. Now down -- now up. Now, 81 points but down from the previous high of the day. And the Nasdaq of 12 points. We're continuing to watch the numbers for you all day here on CNN.
HARRIS: "Y/our Money," your questions. Time now for some answers. Among today's topics your tax rebate check and retirement savings. Where is Gerri Willis? There she is. CNN personal finance editor, Gerri Willis.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, happy Friday.
HARRIS: Happy Friday. Boy, if we can get a -- close the week up with the stocks. We got Gerri answering your e-mail questions. Life is good.
WILLIS: It's good news economy day.
HARRIS: Life is good. All right. Do you want to dive right in?
WILLIS: Let's go.
HARRIS: OK. Lori from Missouri writes, Gerri can you tell me the advantages and disadvantages of a homeownership accelerator loan program?
WILLIS: Lori, Lori, Lori. This not my favorite thing. There are disadvantages at almost every level. Look, in an accelerator program, here is how they work. You replace your mortgage with what they call a HELC, a home equity line of credit. The rate is adjustable on HELC. So the rate can do anywhere at any time. It's like a credit cared.
Here's how it works. Rather than having your paycheck deposited to your checking account you deposit your check into the line of credit. You pay all of your monthly expenses out of the home equity line of credit basically so that the balance of your mortgage goes up and you pay your other bills. Here is what's wrong. You know what, you don't want to pay your home on isn't rate that could increase any time and all the time. You also -- you have to know exactly how much you are spending on living expenses each month to make this make sense. Because you don't want to be spending more than your paycheck. And for many mortgage debt is the lowest cost debt that you have. Take the extra money. Here is my idea. Take the extra money you have each month and put it towards your high interest rate debt like credit cards. Get rid of that and don't forget you can always make additional payments on your mortgage.
HARRIS: Whatever we can do to get rid of those credit cards.
WILLIS: I know. I'm not a fan.
HARRIS: We got an e-mail from Jasper Florida, for you, Gerri. How are the rebate checks going to impact my taxes next year?
WILLIS: You know, how many times do I have to say, you know what, there is no impact on your federal taxes.
HARRIS: OK.
WILLIS: This money is not taxed at the federal level but the devil is in the details. You don't have to pay taxes on it but you may have to pay state taxes on it. Because the states are still deciding whether they are going to collect taxes on this. We will know by the end of the year, December 31st. They will have to tell us. But they could sneak in a little. They could take back some of those. We don't know yet. HARRIS: We just don't know at this point.
WILLIS: Yes. We are waiting to find out.
HARRIS: And we will find out soon enough. Probably sooner than most folks would like. We have another e-mail that -- here is the question for you, Gerri. "I am a 28-year-old man just starting a career. I have a very modest credit. How do I improve my credit to buy property while prices are low? You have always said there's an opportunity here. Yes.
WILLIS: I like this thinking. Going for the opportunity. The good news is now that you have a career, the most important thing you do is you want to bring up that credit score. Establish a good credit history. Pay your bills on time. Put money towards any high interest debt you have. That includes credit card debt or personal loans. And you want to -- don't want to open up a bunch of retail credit cards, you know, with big stores. You don't want to do that. All of these can ding your credit score. And if you are looking to buy property make sure you are putting cash away for a down payment. That's really going to help you get the best loan possible. These days you are going to need put to put down at least 10 percent, maybe more.
HARRIS: What's the good credit score. 680 to 720, in that range?
WILLIS: You're going to have to be in the 700s now. They really get the best terms on a loan.
HARRIS: Wow.
WILLIS: And you know, I think, Tony, may be we need to set up a 700 Club on a show.
HARRIS: 700 Club. I love it.
WILLIS: It is to get our credit score higher.
HARRIS: Isn't that the truth. Mark from Missouri has a question for you. Please explain the difference if you would between the rogue IRA and a traditional IRA. Well, great question Mark. Both are tax advantaged in ways to help you grow your retirement savings but they work a little differently. In a Roth I.R.A., you pay taxes on the amount you put into the account. However, when you take the money, you don't have to pay taxes on the amount that you withdraw or even the earnings. Now, in the traditional IRA., the money that you into the account is not taxed but when you take the money out, the money is taxed as income. If you are someone who expects to be in a higher tax bracket when you retire a Roth I.R.A. is your best bet. And of course, if you have any questions send them to us at toptips@CNN.com. We love hearing from you.
HARRIS: Hey, give us a sneak peek. "Issue #1," noon Eastern time today. Gerri. WILLIS: Well, we are going to be talking about a lot of different topics. We will be talking about these job numbers that came in.
HARRIS: That's right.
WILLIS: They were better than expected, big surprise. We had good news on the GDP front. What does it mean? Can you trust the numbers? What do you need to know? We will talk about that. And of course, we always answer your questions in "Issue #1." Send us an e- mail right now, "Issue #1" at CNN.com.
HARRIS: There she is, CNN personal finance editor, Gerri Willis. Great to see you, Gerri.
WILLIS: Thank you, Tony.
WHITFIELD: A fighter to his death. A marine succumbs to war wound after a three-year battle for his life. Live from the Pentagon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We've been talking about severe weather all morning. Tornadic activity and now we've got a new state being hit by the same scenario.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. We've already this morning. We've already had Kansas, we've had Missouri, we've had Arkansas and Texas. Now we're adding Illinois to the fray. Let's zoom in right now just to southeast of Springfield. We have a new tornado warning.
This one just -- let's see. Right near Taylorville. The latest from the National Weather Service. We have a confirmed -- visual confirmation, again, not Doppler indicated. This is now a visually confirmed tornado on the ground, moving to the northeast very quickly at around 55 miles an hour. These are quick moving storms.
Now, this -- let's see, will affect the community of say Christian, Montgomery and Sangamon counties. The towns of Assumption, back towards Taylorville, even Bulpitt and (INAUDIBLE). Once you take, if you can -- take cover immediately.
Well, we've been seeing with this storm that has been producing quite a bit of rainfall but moving very quickly. So that we don't really expect a great deal in terms of flash flooding. Hail has been associated with these storms. Strong, straight-lined winds, and of course, we have that tornado warning that is in effect.
This is not the only place we are watching. We also have some issues in other spots. Mainly down in Texas where we take you into parts of northeast Texas. Here is Willis Point back over to Canton. Tyler Texas northward. Where do we go into parts of the I-20 corridor? We have our tornado warning in effect very closely to the communities of Gilmore back over to Mineola. This tornado also moving to the northeast, doing so very quickly. Just over the past hour we've had several strikes. These storms -- that is within just a 20-mile radius of the storm itself. They're receiving greater lightning strikes in a widespread feature around this part of the world.
We abruptly -- let's see, 5,700 people affected. The storm expected to be near the Community of Hawkins. Winona and Big Sandy, 9:00 local time to about 9:50.
Maximum hail size, take a look at this -- 2.2 inches. Pretty significant. A true testament to the strong updrafts we have in these storms. If you take a look at this, you can just make out the path. Kind of veering off to the northeast, which is typical for the storms. Farther to the south and places like Tyler, just north of Tyler is where we have the strongest of the cell.
The possible tornado, again, drifting to the northeast near the communities of Winona, Hawkins. If you happen to be in Hawkins, you're tuning in, you certainly want to take cover immediately. Anyone here might near some of the -- near parts of I-20, you happen to be near the Winona exit or even you're your Lindale, you certainly don't want to get on the road right now. Take cover where you are, as fast as you possibly can.
Well, we've been talking about parts of the Midwest. We have been covering, let's see -- we got Illinois in the fray. We also have Texas. Don't forget about Arkansas, where we still have some problems in Arkansas, too. Heber Springs, northward. This is our latest tornado warning that we have in effect.
This was also a storm that was seen by trained storm spotter. A tornado scene by trained storm spotter. This one also veering off to the northeast. Another quick mover, around 40 to 50 miles an hour. Your tuning in from Batesville back over to Mountain View, Guion, or even the Cave Spring. You want to take cover immediately.
Just as a refresher, when I say take cover, you want to get into the lowest floor of your home away from outside windows. Certainly, your best bet.
Now, we don't have tornado warnings in places like Ida just yet or in Russellville or even into Perry. But there is that potential with these storms -- with these lines of storms. We have the history of these super cell thunderstorms spawning funnel clouds and of course this tornado. So you certainly want to be advised of that.
The same story for you in Little Rock where you currently are under that severe thunderstorm watch and, of course, that tornado watch. One other thing I want to show you.
The shot that we have from Little Rock. We saw this -- gosh. What do we see? What was it? About 20, 30 minutes ago. Conditions were not quite that bad. Maybe a little bit of haze in the sky. But now we're seeing more of the clouds beginning to build in. The winds are also picking up. We're going to see some of these winds spread into parts of the Ohio Valley, too. Because we zoom out a little bit if we can, on this computer, you will notice we have now at this point a new tornado watch that is now in effect for parts of the Ohio Valley. I'm going to switch back, I guess, to the other computer guys. Here we go.
Let see. We have got this one that's in effect that's going to be -- possibly move here towards the Memphis area. We've got this over in Clarksdale, Cleveland. You're in pretty much in the clear for the time being, but with all of this moving in your direction.
And still skies that are partly cloudy. And you've got plenty of time for the atmosphere over parts of Mississippi to destabilize. We could see more of these warnings in Washington beginning to pop up. This is just what I was talking about.
This new watch box that has been posted by the storm prediction center for parts of Evansville back towards Madisonville. We're talking about Kentucky, portions of Tennessee into Indiana and Illinois. It keeps going.
That's the latest we've got for you. More coming up as we speak. And we'll be getting to that throughout the rest of the afternoon.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're talking about hundreds of miles here.
WOLF: Yes. I mean, we're talking about a storm system that's stretching well over a thousand miles that without question is going to be affecting millions people as the day continues.
Take a look at this. And if you'll notice, this has got so many different faces to it. On this side, back on the Black Hills of the Dakotas, we're talking about blizzard conditions. However, when you make your way to the mid-Mississippi Valley and into parts of the Red River Valley and Texas, it's a tornado maker. So what a difference we're seeing with this thing chugging through the center of the U.S.
HARRIS: Five, six, seven states.
WOLF: Guys, bear with me. I'm going to step on the camera one second. I want you to see this.
HARRIS: OK.
WOLF: Here we go. These are all watches, warnings and statements that have just come off the printer in a very short time this morning.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.
WOLF: Just to give you an idea what we are dealing with here and what people are going to be dealing with through the midday hours. So, it happens. It's springtime, guys.
WHITFIELD: I guess a convergence of, you know, the extreme temperatures, too. All right, thanks so much.
All right, let's back up a little bit, if we could. Just kind of remind you of the kind of damage that the system has already caused. Here is the scene right now in Kansas City, Missouri. Severe storms with hurricane force winds. Hail, heavy rain. All moving through the state this morning.
Reynolds was talking about that. Now you're seeing the pictures to go along with it. Damaging at least 200 houses and businesses. Some homes turn into piles of rubble. Owners standing outside. Looking absolutely stunned in some cases.
And at least two suspected tornadoes ripped through parts of Oklahoma yesterday. Funnel clouds captured in this video right here. Always pretty ominous to see -- you can see it right there now, right? Wow. One suspected twister was believed to be 100 yards wide. Hey, it's max.
HARRIS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Severe -- several rather homes and buildings were damaged. And no reports of any injuries there. Good news. About 3,000 power outages are, however, reported across the state.
And then more rough weather to the north in Kansas. Deafening hail by the quarters, covering roads and yards, winds up to 75 miles an hour. Tore off the roofs there and knocked down power lines and the trees. All kind of underscoring hundreds of miles of states that have been targeted from this system.
That Reynolds was talking about. So when the weather becomes the news, as it is right now, remember to send us your I-reports. Go to cnn.com. Click on I-report or type ireport@cnn.com in your cell phone. But remember, we want you to be safe as you sent in these I- reports.
HARRIS: A story from Iraq that we want to share with you. Wedding day carnage. 35 people killed in double suicide attacks in the Iraqi City of Balad Ruz. The U.S. military says the first bomber was a woman pretending to be pregnant. She detonated on the street during a wedding convoy. Then when crews arrived on the scene, a male attacker detonated. U.S. officials blamed al Qaeda in Iraq.
The military also reports a crash of a U.S. Air Force drone like this one. The MQ-1 Predator drone is used mainly for reconnaissance. It went down today in Southern Iraq. Mechanical failure suspected.
Remembering an amazing marine. A young man severely burned in the Iraq war loses a three-year battle for his life. CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with us, live, with Sergeant Merlin German's incredible story.
Good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. Let me take a few minutes and tell everyone about this man. You know, the sad reality is the names and faces of the fallen go by us every day, so fast. Let's talk just for a minute about Marine Sergeant Merlin German.
He passed away a couple of days ago. We just got the notification at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. He was injured back in February 2005 when he was hit by an IED that was powered by gasoline apparently. Burned over 97 percent of his body at that point, given no chance of survival.
MedEvac back to the United States. He endured more than 100 operations. I don't think anybody can really fathom the pain this man went through, being burned over 97 percent of his body. Then perhaps another burn patient.
He was known around Brooke Army Hospital for his sense of humor, for his constant good faith in his survival. Other patients, other medical personnel, remember him as the miracle man. That's what they called him after this three-year battle for survival.
We want everyone to just remember him for a minute. Sergeant German was 22 years old when he passed away after enduring yet another operation for the burns that he suffered back in 2005.
Tony?
HARRIS: Sacrifices of these young people, these young men and women in the service of this country in a difficult war. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thanks for that reminder of this amazing story. This amazing young man.
Thanks, Barbara.
STARR: Certainly.
WHITFIELD: And Tony, you remember the name of Gary Hilton. He is the confessed killer of that Georgia hiker back in January, 24- year-old Meredith Emerson.
Well, now a Florida judge has cleared the way or rather a Georgia judge has cleared the way for the extradition of Mr. Hilton seen there in that videotape to be extradited to Florida where he faces murder and kidnapping charges of a nurse by the name of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap.
Her decapitated body was found in a national forest in Florida. And this man, Gary Hilton, is suspected in her death. And so this information just coming in. He will be extradited from Georgia to Florida to face those charges of yet another very gruesome case of murder and kidnapping.
HARRIS: And still to come, a town nearly flattened by a fierce twister, rises from the rubble with a whole new vision.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Boy, what a difficult, difficult day for so much of the country right now. Dealing with extreme weather to say the least. Just a number of tornado warnings. Already, we begin from Central Arkansas, North Central Arkansas, Northeast Texas. Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi. Did I mention Illinois? Some of this weather to be impacting the Ohio Valley as well. Boy.
So a lot of weather going on. A lot of people on the lookout for severe weather. And our Reynolds wolf is in the severe weather center keeping an eye and keeping track of all of this for us. We will check back with him in just a couple of minutes.
The people of Greensburg, Kansas, knowing all too well how devastating a storm can be. Exactly, a year ago, Sunday, a deadly F-5 tornado nearly blew their town off the map.
Joining us now, live, from Greenburg CNN and meteorologist Rob Marciano.
And Rob, just a tragedy for many of those folks in that town. But boy, what they are doing to turn that tragedy into a really triumphant story.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They have. It's been a long 12 months. I'm not going to lie to you. It's a good new story today. But there's still a long, long road ahead.
Twelve months ago, an EF-5 tornado went to 200 miles an hour, just blew apart this town. And they said, you know what, we are going to rebuild. Well, not only that, they said we are going to rebuild it the right way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO (voice-over): A massive tornado, almost two miles wide tears through a tiny town. Almost nothing is left.
One year later residents understand that how they rebuild will determine the town's future. And Greensburg is, well, going green. Windmills are popping up like the winter wheat and even conservative farmers are getting on board.
DANIEL WALLACH, DIRECTOR, GREENSBURG GREENTOWN: All you have to say to them is if you could save $200 a month on your utility bill by harnessing this wind, what do you think?
MARCIANO: Here green has no political party.
MIKE ESTES, BTI GREENSBURG: I don't think it's red or blue to be green. I think green is green, and green makes sense, and it also saves you green, you know. That's the other thing.
MARCIANO: For the Estes, the fourth generation family business is a John Deere dealership and the tornado hit them especially hard.
ESTES: Steel twisted inside the brick and the miles per hour that it had to have to pick combines up that weigh 20,000 pounds plus and that equipment that headed right into harvest, gone.
MARCIANO: Rebuilding the new John Deere site is just getting started, and you got it, it's going to be green.
ESTES: Below us is hydronic in-floor heating. We put hydronic heating in here so that the heat will be radiant from the base of the floor up.
MARCIANO: Is that more efficient than your other --
ESTES: Much, much more efficient. When we drain the oil out of our machines it's going to go into a tank. That tank will then house the oil that's going to be burned that will heat the water in this floor.
At present, that particular windmill is powering this job site, which to our --
MARCIANO: And when it's completed more than half of the dealership's electricity will come from the wind.
ESTES: My granddad would -- trust me, he liked to save energy, and he was an environmentally conscious person as was my dad. Farmers are environmentalists.
MARCIANO: And farmers here hope to turn their town's tragedy into an environmental triumph.
(END VIDEOTAPE) MARCIANO: You better believe that farmers are environmentalists. They live and die by the land so they have to take care of it. This farming community is trying to rebuild green in a big way.
And they continue -- even right behind me, right now. Homes and businesses continue to go up. A lot of these homes and businesses want to be lead certified. That's leadership and energy and environmental design, platinum certified. It's the highest certification possible. It's tough to do.
It is still a slow go. I mean, we got some new trees that are planted. But amongst the new building and new plantings, it is still the rubble that remains from this tornado last year. I would say a small percentage of this town is rebuilt at the moment.
This Boy Scout, headquarter, built it back in 1935. That's still just lying around. It's pretty torn up.
But beyond that, back where that cat, the front loader is, there is a neat building designed by Kansas University students using a lot of recycled materials that the wood siding from an armory that was being torn down. The glass donated. The roof is energy efficient. The run-off from the roof goes down to the ground and is filtered naturally without going into the (INAUDIBLE).
And on top of all of that, they are trying to cut themselves off from the grid if possible. A lot of their energy is going to come from three windmills that are powering that particular building at the moment. So they are trying to be lead certified as well. It is a struggle. But they are excited about it, Tony. They want to be the greenest town in America. And what better town than town called Greensburg.
HARRIS: Yes, that's so appropriate. And I have to tell you this idea that this triumph from tragedy and this town believing not only can we rebuild but guess what, we can possibly make it better. They are viewing this as an opportunity to be a town where this becomes a leading industry for the town that brings jobs and creates jobs for that community.
Is that part of the thinking as well?
MARCIANO: Oh, absolutely. They want to lead by example. They want to be a role model for other towns that are hit by tragedies like this. And they want to get the kids involved. I mean, this is like many rural towns across Middle America. The kids go to college and they don't come back.
HARRIS: Right.
MARCIANO: So they want the cool factor back. They want jobs to come back here. They want businesses to move here. So that if kids stay and may have that multigenerational family thing going on once again. That's the goal. And I tell you what. I'm not going to doubt them one bit. They seem to be on track for that.
HARRIS: Rob Marciano for us this morning. Rob, great to see you.
WHITFIELD: Well, this is a slow economy. For some while many states are struggling, one is thriving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, it's kind of fun to be here. You go hunting fish, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: From Wyoming boom to California bust.
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WHITFIELD: Well, Wall Street is finally out to good hands. The big jobs report released today, stronger than expected, and the Federal Reserve is once again taking steps to shore up global credit market. Stephanie Elam is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with details on that. Happy Friday.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy Friday, Fred. Yes, that's right. You know, we had a bit of euphoria here in the first hour or so of trading. That's because we did get some good news. Second day in a row.
Yesterday, it was because of oil prices and today it was about employment. Let me tell you the latest here. Employers actually cut 20,000 jobs in April. So we didn't still see negative growth for the month. However, many expected to see that number go to 75,000 jobs being cut. So this was actually some good news. Separately, the unemployment rate improves slightly to five percent.
So this is the fourth straight monthly decline in the jobs report. So obviously this is the reason why we saw some of that euphoria here. There were still some big job cuts that were related to the housing recession. But that was offset by some job growth in sectors such as government, health care, education, business services.
Those sectors all did pretty well here. And of course, this is just one month figures. But for some, it has given the idea that perhaps the cutback, the pull back that we are seeing here, the fears of a recession may not have been as steep as originally concerned. So because of that we saw the numbers moving upwards today.
Fred?
WHITFIELD: So the Fed Reserve, happy about this?
ELAM: Well, it does give them a little bit of wiggle room here. Because obviously what they have to do is take care of making sure that the economy is still growing and also watch inflation. So it is a very hard thing to balance that. And earlier this week, when they gave us that last rate cut, they kind of hinted that this would be the last time that they plan on cutting interest rates.
So this is obviously a good position for them to be -- to see some of this data coming out is not as difficult as we thought it might be. Now taking a look at what's going on here on Wall Street, the stronger than expected jobs report is not the only good news.
Take a look at factory orders in March, they actually were up. After falling two months in a row. So that's also a little bit of good news there as well. The Fed is also saying that as you were talking about earlier, they are going to join the Central Bank of Europe to inject an additional $50 billion into the global money market.
Also, gas prices they dipped ever so slightly. But still after 17 days --
WHITFIELD: Every bit counts.
ELAM: Yes, we will take it. One little tiny fraction of a bit, coming back down the other way. So right now, the Dow Industrial is off of their highs of the day. Up 38 points right now at 13,048. And taking a look at NASDAQ, it's dancing around the flat line. S&P 500 is also off of its highs of the day. So some of that euphoria has left us and moved on. But you know, there still have more hours and (INAUDIBLE).
WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, you know, as it pertains to oil and gas, pennies matter.
ELAM: Especially if you think about it. You know, 17 days with rises in gas prices, it's nice for a little bit. That adds up.
WHITFIELD: It definitely does. All right, thank you, Stephanie. ELAM: Sure.
HARRIS: Hiding from home invaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At times when they were so close to me that I couldn't breathe, I was scared. I didn't know what do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: But she did know what to do, Fred. She let her fingers do the talking.
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HARRIS: And good morning, again, everyone. You're informed with CNN. I'm Tony Harris.
WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
HARRIS: Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on this Friday, the second day of May. Here's what's on the rundown.
WHITFIELD: Tornadoes on the ground this morning. Dangerous weather. Tracking east. We've got the watches and the warnings.
HARRIS: Indiana, North Carolina, even tiny Guam are ready to make presidential choices at the beginning of the end for the Democratic duo.
WHITFIELD: And new credit card safeguard today. Will they keep banks from strong-arming you? Find out. There is no charge, in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And very quickly. Let's get to Reynolds Wolf in the severe weather center.
