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McCain Speech Interrupted by Protesters; U.N. Says Iran Still Hiding Info on Nukes; Air Force Moving Towards Coal-to-Oil Fuel; U.K. Truckers Protest Fuel Prices; Hot Fuel a Problem for Consumers

Aired May 27, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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

WILLIS: Good to see you. We'll see you here tomorrow, noon Eastern, for another "ISSUE #1." Time now to get you up to speed on other stories making headlines.
VELSHI: CNN NEWSROOM with Brianna Keilar and T.J. Holmes starts right now.

T.J. HOLMES, CO-HOST: The quake lakes are rising and so is the danger in southwest China. Two weeks after the earthquake, thousands of survivors are facing the prospects of catastrophic floods. We'll see what they and the government are doing about it.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CO-HOST: What Iran is doing in this facility and others like it. That is what U.N. inspectors want to know. They say Iran is still not coming clean about its nuclear research and ambitions. And CNN's Christiane Amanpour will be joining us this hour with the inside story.

Hi, there. I'm Brianna Keilar at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

HOLMES: And good afternoon to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

John McCain said stopping the spread of nuclear weapons will be one of the most serious issues the next U.S. American president will face. In a speech you saw live right here on CNN a short time ago, the presumptive Republican nominee outlined his policy for reigning in nukes.

CNN's Mary Snow covering McCain in Denver for us.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, T.J.

And you know, Senator John McCain also was forced to address an issue that was not on the table. And that is Iraq.

While he was delivering this speech here at the University of Denver, a relatively small crowd, a couple of hundred people. And he was interrupted four times by antiwar protesters. And at one point he addressed one of the protesters talking about Iraq. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is -- this may turn into a longer speech than you had anticipated. By the way, I will never surrender in Iraq, my friends. I will never surrender in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Senator John McCain just a short time ago diverting from the script. You heard him say he will never surrender from Iraq.

This comes after he had taken some pretty hard targets at his potential Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, in an A.P. interview yesterday, trying to portray Obama as being too inexperienced. And also had floated the idea of the two of them possibly going to Iraq together.

But also taking a dig at Obama, pointing out that he had not been to Iraq since 2006. McCain trying to highlight the fact that he has been there more recently. And he is trying to make a case to keep troops there.

Separately, though, he did focus on nuclear security. And two of the countries, of course, that came up in this speech today, North Korea and Iran.

And also, T.J., in today's "Wall Street Journal" and the Asian section of the Asian paper, he also had an editorial that he wrote with Senator Joe Lieberman, saying that America needs leadership on North Korea. Kind of stressing that the U.S. needs to be tougher when it comes to North Korea.

Here's a little bit of what he had to say in his speech today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: Syria. It's a vital national interest for the North Korea nuclear program to be completely, verifiably and irreversibly ended.

Likewise, we've seen Iran marching -- marching with a single- minded determination toward the same goal, authenticated again today by the IAEA. President Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and represents a threat to every country in the region, one we cannot ignore or minimize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: And John McCain stressing the need for allies to work together, also mentioning Iran, saying that perhaps Russia can influence Iran to make its disclosures or, in his words, perhaps Iran could change their minds before it is too late -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. John McCain focusing on foreign policy today. Out in Denver, Mary Snow for us. Thank you so much, Mary.

And McCain is counting on President Bush to help them pad his campaign war chest just a bit. The two are making a rare joint appearance tonight at a fundraiser in Phoenix. This is a private fundraiser.

It's been almost three months since McCain and the president were last seen together in public. That's when the president endorsed the nominee-to-be. You're seeing video of that. That was back in March. Next hour we'll get a live report from CNN's Ed Henry, who is traveling with the president.

KEILAR: Iran's newly elected hard-line parliament convened today under western suspicions that Iran is still trying to develop nuclear weapons. A new U.N. report accuses Iran of withholding critical information.

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour has interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad twice now, most recently last September. She's joining us now from New York.

Thanks for being with us, Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, hi.

KEILAR: And I'm just wondering, because I know that you've been in touch with your IAEA sources. How much evidence do they have here about these Iranian nukes?

AMANPOUR: Well, look, I think we need to be very clear and make sure that we're reading this report accurately. It is complicated, and it is difficult.

What's happening here is that, if you remember, a few months ago the NIE, the U.S. NIE basically said that it had concluded, after much study, that Iran abandoned a specific military nuclear program back in about 2003.

Now this had come as some surprise to Europeans and to the IAEA. They have not yet had the full disclosure that they want from Iran. And so this report that the IAEA has put out again refers to outstanding questions that the IAEA and the rest of the international community have about Iran's program.

They basically accuse Iran of continuing to stonewall. They are not suggesting in this report that there is new evidence of a march towards a military program, but that they still do not have the answers to all the questions that they want. And that, of course, is important.

KEILAR: ... intentions, though. The U.S. government, of course, fears that Iran's nuclear ambitions are for -- not for peaceful purposes, even though Iran insists that they are. Can the IAEA shed any light on this?

AMANPOUR: Well, it's trying. And that's the whole point of the IAEA inspections. They are pretty upset, because they have constantly tried to be the objective broker in these talks with Iran.

The head of the IAEA himself about a year or so ago put forth sort of his own deal with Iran that they had to come forth with all the verifiable information that the IAEA demanded. And all this has not yet happened.

In terms of intentions, the IAEA says that it still cannot say whether Iran's program is simply peaceful, as it continues to claim. And it cannot say whether it is military, as the U.S. and Israel and others have always accused Iran. So there are still a lot of outstanding questions.

But the key here is that -- is a black mark against Iran that it has not come up with answering the questions that the IAEA, the U.N. Atomic Energy Agency, had wanted it to do.

But European leaders, including the top foreign policy leader in Europe, Javier Solana, is still planning to go to Iran with a whole set of demands and requests on this program and also to talk about how to move forward on this.

Just one other note: even though President Ahmadinejad of Iran constantly talks about the pace of the Iranian enrichment, the IAEA says that that enrichment, while it's proceeding, is not proceeding as fast. Nor are the cascades being put in as fast as Ahmadinejad keeps claiming.

KEILAR: CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. Thank you so much.

And China is ordering tens of thousands of earthquake survivors out of their homes. They're downstream from a lake that was created by landslides from the quake 15 days ago. Engineers are trying to drain the lake before the newly-created dam gives way, flooding the whole area.

And aftershocks aren't helping. Two more rattled the region today, collapsing more than 420,000 homes. That is according to the official China news agency.

We'll be taking you live to the quake zone in a few minutes.

And later, we're going to update you on these couples. They will never forget the day that these wedding photos were shot.

HOLMES: Well, severe weather, again, a possibility in the plains, from the plains to the East Coast rather. Meteorologist Chad Myers here. And same old story, same old song.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Couldn't see much other than about 90th Street there on the West Side -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes. You have to use your imagination a little bit. We can make it out a little. All right, Chad, we appreciate you keeping an eye on things. We'll see you again soon.

MYERS: All right.

KEILAR: Squeezed by soaring gas prices, the U.S. Air Force is fighting back. It's looking into an alternative source. We're going to tell you how it works.

HOLMES: And if you want to be at your best, you might need to get some more sleep. We'll tell you what a new study says about sleep and brain power.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: If you think it costs a lot to fill up your SUV, well, pity the Pentagon. Actually, that's your money going into all those Humvee tanks and fighter jet tanks and tank tanks. So you'll be glad to know that the Air Force at least has a battle plan.

CNN'S Ali Velshi reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The United States Air Force uses 2.6 billion gallons of jet fuel a year. That's a gas bill of roughly $10 million a day.

According to the Air Force, a 10 percent increase in the price of a barrel of oil costs them and American taxpayers $660 million a year. Given those prices and the need to become more energy independent, the Air Force is on a mission.

BILL ANDERSON, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, U.S. AIR FORCE: We are testing multiple aircraft within the Air Force aviation inventory on a blended fuel that includes a 50 percent portion of normal jet aviation fuel made from petroleum and a 50 percent blend of synthetic fuel made through via Fischer-Tropsch method.

VELSHI: Fischer-Tropsch (ph) is a method of converting natural gas or coal into liquid fuel. The process was named after two German scientists who developed it in 1923. Later, the Germans used this technology to convert coal to fuel during World War II.

South African company Sasol has been turning coal into gasoline using the Fischer-Tropsch method for decades. They supply Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg with a synthetic blend for commercial flights.

So far, the U.S. Air Force has certified the B-52 to fly on a synthetic fuel blend made from natural gas, but they say they hope to use coal in the future.

Performance-wise, they say there's been no down-side. In fact, the synthetic fuel burns cleaner. The United States has the world's largest known coal reserves, more than a quarter of a trillion short tons. That's about 545 trillion pounds.

ANDERSON: If you look at available in the ground resources that this country has, we are considered, based on the amount of coal that's in the ground, to be the Saudi Arabia of coal.

VELSHI: And Montana has the country's largest reserves of coal. The Air Force is prepared to lease out 700 acres of Maelstrom Air Force Base to anyone qualified and willing to build and operate a plant to make jet fuel out of coal. The price tag, though, could be $1 billion.

Ultimately, the Air Force hopes the coal to fuel model crosses over into the commercial aviation industry.

ANDERSON: We're working with the commercial aviation industry, and we're working with other air forces around the world as we kind of build a consortium to understand how to do this best and also how to do it in the most environmentally friendly way.

VELSHI: And that's the rub. Environmentalists worry that taking this mainstream could have devastating effects on the environment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coal to liquids are bad for the environment, from the time the coal is torn from our mountains to the time it's burned and producing carbon dioxide in our tail pipes. It's a really dirty process that uses a lot of water. It creates a lot of global warming pollution. And it's not a smart option to move forward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: So one hurdle, Brianna, is to figure out a way to make coal into fuel without that dirty process. And there are technologies for that. Whether they're viable or not remains to be seen.

The other thing to watch out for, Brianna, is the unintended consequence. We saw this with ethanol out of corn. A good idea to diversify into ethanol, but what it did is it caused -- it contributed to the price of corn going up and our food prices going up.

So we want to make sure half the country's electricity right now is generated by coal. We want to make sure that everybody's electricity prices don't double because coal becomes a popular gasoline.

But these are, you know -- with gas prices at $3.93 and change, everything is on the table.

KEILAR: Three ninety-three. How many days in a row are we talking gas prices have gone up, 21?

VELSHI: Twenty-one days going up and 20 days have been records. I think the first day wasn't a record.

KEILAR: When might we see a little relief here? Is there any expectation?

VELSHI: Typically 10 to 14 days after the price of oil stops peaking. When I say peaking, I mean, we're still around $130. We'd have to see a break in that to see a break in the price of gas.

It's unclear. We know some of the price of oil is speculation and some is because of supply and demand. But we are really in uncharted territory at this point. It's hard to know. We've got some people saying this is a bubble. We have somebody else from CIBC saying it could be $200 next. At Goldman Sachs, it's $147.

T. Boone Pickens, the legendary oil investor, says $150. So this is anybody's guess. I'd trade down to a smaller car if that is an option.

KEILAR: My goodness. My goodness, indeed. All right. Ali Velshi for us in New York, thanks so much.

And the economy, course is issue #1. We're going to bring you all of the latest financial news weekdays at noon Eastern. This is information that you need on the mortgage meltdown, the credit crunch and much more. That's "ISSUE #1" at noon.

LEMON: And of course we all know gas prices usually go up in the summer, especially this summer. Did you know you may be paying more but actually getting less?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Many Americans are crying foul over gas that costs $4 a gallon. But across the Atlantic the Brits don't want to hear your complaints, because they're paying a whole lot more. Well, they've actually taken to the streets about it today.

Stephanie Elam at the New York Stock Exchange for us this day with details of these protests.

Good afternoon to you, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, T.J.

Yes, I don't really think too people overseas are really feeling too sorry for us over here and how much we're paying to fill up our Tahoes and our Suburbans and all of our cars. You know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, truckers in the U.K., they're paying more than $9 a gallon for diesel. That's 30 percent more than they were paying last year and double the price here in the United States.

So British truckers, as you said, they're making their voices heard today. Hundreds of truck drivers are parking the rigs on a major roadway in London, making it look like a long and narrow parking lot. That cannot be pretty if you're behind that.

They also delivered a petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, asking for a tax rebate to ease the burden of high fuel prices. In the U.K., taxes make up 2/3 of the cost of fuel.

Can you imagine your commute if you had to do that, T.J.?

HOLMES: If we had to do that. Maybe we should do that here. We should all line up our Tahoes and Suburbans, instead of taking them along the highway.

ELAM: If I had one, yes, perhaps. HOLMES: Yes. All right, well, what about these studies out that say what would it take? What price does gas need to get to before people would actually change their lifestyle, makes them change? We're at $4 for regular now. So are people starting to make changes in what they do and how they drive?

ELAM: I think we're getting close to that tipping point. More and more people are leaving their cars at home and taking public transportation. Ridership on commuter buses in one D.C. suburb surged more than 20 percent in April, compared to the year before. So city officials are putting more buses into service.

The Metro rail system in D.C. is also seeing more commuters. It's part of a nationwide trend. Ridership on Charlotte, North Carolina's, regional express route jumped $30 percent in April. Commuter rail lines coming into New York City from New Jersey and Connecticut are also experiencing increases. So people seem to be putting on the sneakers, walk to the train station and doing it the old-fashioned way.

(STOCK REPORT)

ELAM: All right. Coming up next hour, sales of new homes show an unexpected gain, but unfortunately it's not all good news. I'll explain when we talk again -- T.J. and Brianna.

HOLMES: Couldn't you just leave us on a positive? They showed some gains. We'll talk to you later.

ELAM: They showed some gains. Yes, I could. But you know, I've got to keep it honest. It's my job to be informative to you.

HOLMES: Don't keep it real all the time, Stephanie. All right. We'll see you shortly.

ELAM: Sure. OK.

KEILAR: Well, we do have to keep it real, though, because gas prices are up again today. Just a touch, of course. AAA says the new national average for a gallon of regular unleaded, almost $3.94. This is a tenth of a cent higher than yesterday and, of course, another record.

Now along with the price, the gas itself is heating up as we head into summer. And Susan Candiotti reports that could be dangerous to your wallet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When gasoline heats up, molecules expand, and experts say that means you get less energy for every gallon of fuel. Which raises the question when you gas up, are you getting what you're paying for in hot weather?

(voice-over) As if pain at the pump wasn't bad enough...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gas prices are going through the roof right now.

CANDIOTTI: ... now add summer heat to the equation. When gasoline gets hot, its molecules expand, so there's less energy per gallon.

JOAN CLAYBROOK, PUBLIC CITIZEN: So if you think you're buying ten gallons of gas you may not be buying ten gallons of fuel. The consumer is overpaying for that gasoline.

CANDIOTTI: Consumer Public Citizen group estimates Americans are forking over an extra $3 billion a year in hidden charges because of hot fuel. For years the oil industry has used 60 degree gas as its price-setting standard.

Using that figure, a car getting 25 miles per hour per gallon would go 500 miles. But that same car using 90 degree gas would go only 490 miles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 78.9 degrees. This is right from the tank.

CANDIOTTI: Florida trucker John Mason (ph) drives his rig 25,000 miles a year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just being 70 degrees I'm paying $1,200 more a year at today's prices.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Eighty-four point six degrees. That sounds -- that's a high temperature.

(voice-over) Miami fuel distributor Max Alvarez just got a hot fuel delivery, but he says the oil supplier shaved 75 gallons off to compensate him for the heat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If that was not adjusted to me, I would probably have to charge more so the consumer is getting exactly what they're paying for.

CANDIOTTI: Consumer groups don't buy it and are urging Congress to mandate retrofitting gas pumps to adjust for temperature. Canada has done it for years to compensate for cool weather.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody wants to do something. Well, here's something. It's right there. The door's open. Get it done.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Is it worth to it retrofit gas pumps to compensate for hot fuel? Many people in the oil industry say in the end you'd only wind up saving pennies. But these days consumer groups say every penny counts.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Hollywood, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, a day to remember. Wedding parties running for their lives as the church crumbles in a quake. We'll show you how it was all captured by -- who else -- the wedding photographer. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hello, everyone. OK, good afternoon to you.

I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarter in Atlanta, Georgia.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Kyra Phillips.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

It is half past the hour. And here are three stories we are working on.

President Bush is condemning Myanmar's decision to keep Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Ki, confined. Ignoring global appeals, the country's military rulers have reportedly decided to extend the democracy activist's house arrest by six months.

A new report from the U.N. Nuclear Agency says Iran is withholding key information about it's nuclear program. Iran says it will keep cooperating with the agency and denies that it is secretly building nukes.

Jeers and cheers for John McCain at the University of Denver. Anti war protesters there heckled the presumptive GOP presidential nominee four times as he laid out his nuclear security policy. In one incident the hecklers chanted "endless war." The crowd responded with chants of "John McCain." and he responded that he would never surrender in Iraq -- T.J.

HOLMES: Well, there's a new threat to talk about still from that earthquake in China that happened on May 12th. Would you believe after everything the people have gone through, everything they're having to deal with now, they have a threat of flooding because of the so-called quake-lakes that have been formed. These lakes have been formed after that massive earthquake. And tens of thousands now, have had to actually flee their homes and certain villages for fears of flooding.

Our Hugh Riminton, is actually in Chengdu right now, keeping an eye on this.

Hugh, tell us, where do people have to go? A lot of people are still recovering anyway. They have to flee their homes. Do they have places to go?

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely right. It's not just in the villages. It's in the big city of Miangyang, which is a major regional center here. People fleeing from down near the river, being ordered by the Chinese authorities to get up and seek higher ground.

This is because the quake lake, which is up in the mountains as you accurately described, now has water piled up behind -- the biggest of these has water piled up behind that is half a mile deep. Half a mile deep. That is an awful lot of water to be stacked up behind a fundamentally unstable rock wall. The deep fear of the authorities here, is that rock wall will suffer a catastrophic and sudden collapse.

There will be a massive deluge of water and rocks, mud flying down stream and sweeping everything away in its path reaching even down into the cities of the plain. That's why they've made this precautionary evacuation order, ordering everybody out by midnight local time. That passed an hour and a half ago. They have the potential plan to order the evacuation of 1.3 million people. They don't think it's that bad yet but they have that plan in their back pocket -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Hugh Riminton, on top of things there for us, as we continue to show you this new video.

But Hugh Riminton, thank you again. Coming to us from Chengdu, in China. Thank you so much.

Also when that earthquake happened, now some 15 days ago, there was actually somebody on assignment at the time at a wedding. It was a photographer who was capturing you know, the beautiful moment for the brides and grooms at the time of that earthquake. He got a chance to capture more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CNN's Kyung Lah, now has the story and has the incredible pictures.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Frozen in time. The moment the quake struck. A bride in her wedding dress, her church in ruins. Young couples who had all scheduled wedding photos taken months before their wedding day, as is Chinese custom. They hope to capture their joy and were now immortalized in horror. This is one of the young couples, minutes after the quake.

I heard people shouting earthquake, she says. I couldn't run anywhere. I fell forward, crawling on the ground, until I found my fiance. He held my hands tightly as the ground was shaking and shaking.

Photographer Wang Qiang, never stopped taking pictures. I could hear the walls crashing, but my mind was blank. I started taking pictures out of instinct. Through the aftershocks, they managed to crawl out of the rubble. Their shoes, wigs, and wedding veils left behind. They made it to this village, or what was left of it.

Jiang You Cong's home was destroyed, but that night he shared everything he could. Clothes, food, and a fire to stay warm. They're not local, says Jiang, but we are all one nation. How could I not help them?

A coal truck gave them a lift out of the village. Back home, their families were all safe. Their homes, still standing. (on camera): There were six couples having their wedding pictures taken that day. Some 33 people were inside this building. All of them somehow managed to make it out alive. There are very few signs that this was once a church, but a few remain.

(voice-over): The story of this church and the images have made their way around the world on the Internet, embraced as a symbol of hope amid ruins. They're something we'll keep nor the rest of our lives, says the groom. They're the most important wedding photos for us. It's a moment that's changed them as a couple forever. They do have a few photos before the quake hit. But it is the ones after and their life together that they will cherish.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Bailu, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, in the hearts of China's earthquake zone, grief- stricken parents lash out. They want to know why their children had to die.

That story coming up in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

KEILAR: Leading out political ticker, Barack Obama's pitch to working class and rural voters in South Dakota. There is a new ad there, it features Obama supporter and former South Dakota Senator, Tom Daschle. And in this 30-second spot, the former Senate majority leader says Obama is rooted in the same values as most South Dakotans. The state's Democratic primary is a week from today.

And in Puerto Rico, a raucous rally for Hillary Clinton. The New York senator drew a big crowd at yesterday's union event in Ponce. This is six days before the island's Democratic primary. Puerto Rico can help choose nominees, but it cannot vote in the general election. Clinton has events this evening in Montana, whose Democratic primary is a week from today, as well.

President Bush and John McCain are appearing together tonight in Phoenix. Mr. Bush is helping McCain raise money at a private event that initially was meant to be public. And the campaign and the White House both insist the change had nothing to do with Mr. Bush's low poll ratings.

All of the latest campaign news is available at your fingertips. Check it out at CNNpolitics.com. Where we also have analysis from the best political team on television. Again, that's CNNpolitics. com

Are you sleepy?

HOLMES: A little bit?

KEILAR: A little bit? Yes, well you may need more than coffee to get you through the day.

Medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is going to be here to tell us how a lack of sleep is affecting your brain. My brain for sure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Feel a little tired?

HOLMES: I'm always a little tired.

KEILAR: Yes, a little sleepy?

HOLMES: A little bit.

KEILAR: Yes, well you may need more than coffee to get through your day, T.J., and to all of our viewers.

Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will be here to tell us how a lack of sleep is affecting your brain, and T.J.'s.

HOLMES: Well, I'm a mess right now.

Well a flash of light and trail of smoke, right in front of a commercial airliner. Why the FBI is questioning model rocket hobbyists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, we need to get right to our Severe Weather Center.

Chad, keeping an eye on something -- a funnel cloud. Not good to hear this.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, really, and in St. Louis City, itself. Obviously eastern St. Louis County. But this is near Page Avenue and the I-70, right near Woodson Trace (ph). This is moving east at 10 miles per hour. The storm really, is a very small storm. These are probably what's called cold air funnels because it's cold air aloft that's sucking the air up. Almost like what you consider a water spout, but it's over land, and it's over St. Louis.

So if you are in that area, moving to the east, kind of to the southeast at 10 miles per hour, you would see the funnel in the sky. Take some precautions. It's not an F-4 tornado, but it certainly can do damage if it touches down. Right now, no confirmation it's on the ground. But St. Louis City, you need to take cover now.

HOLMES: All right, we appreciate you keeping an eye on it.

We appreciate you, we'll check in with you if we have some more developments.

Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: Sure.

KEILAR: Well if you have trouble sleeping? What you're about to hear, well it won't help, unfortunately. Even one night spent tossing and turning can affect your brain. And medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here.

So Elizabeth, what happens in the brain when you're not getting enough sleep?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When you're not getting enough sleep, I think what we all know instinctively, that your brain doesn't feel right. But what's really interesting is there are new images, Brianna, that really illustrate what happens to a sleep-deprived brain.

So for example, take a look at this brain. This is a normal brain. And you'll see that certain areas are lit up. But I want you to pay particular attention to this one right here. This yellow dot right here. That yellow dot is in the frontal lobe. And so this is a person who is not sleep deprived. And they have activation in that frontal lobe.

But then, what we're going to see is the image of someone sleep deprived. They don't have -- there is nothing here. Look at this. There is nothing going on. That is not good. This area of your brain, there is lots that goes on there, there's communication, there's other things. And nothing's happening with the sleep-deprived person. You can also tell that this looks -- these two areas, they're lit up in a different way than they were for the normal person.

So here it is in black and white, and orange and yellow and green, what happens when someone is sleep deprived -- Brianna.

KEILAR: That's interesting. And next time T.J. asks me if I'm tired, I'm going to say, yes you know, I don't have that yellow dot in my frontal lobe.

But you know, it makes me wonder. Is your brain giving out the way a muscle gives out when it's fatigued? What's happening?

COHEN: You know what, that is a term that could you use. The brain sort of starts to give out. For example, let's take vision. When you are sleep deprived, you still see, your eyes are still open. But the electrical signals in your brain that are supposed to process what you see, they're not working right. They're kind of haywire.

So yes, in a way, your brain is starting to give out when you're fatigued.

KEILAR: Is the susceptibility to sleep deprivation the same in everyone?

Because T.J. and I were just talking in the break. He says he can go on four hours a sleep. And I said, I know that I need seven and a half. I mean, if I get six and a half, I can feel the difference.

COHEN: T.J., congratulations. You're in the top 15 percent of the population.

HOLMES: Yay.

COHEN: Yay. So what scientists have found is that approximately 15 percent of the population, they do OK when they are sleep deprived. They don't suffer all that much. And then on the other end, there's about 15 percent of the population that really suffers when they're sleep deprived. They feel every minute of sleep they didn't get. And then the rest of us are somewhere in the middle.

So yes. Sleep deprivation affects different people differently.

KEILAR: Very interesting. I know -- almost anecdotally, you know that's the case,

COHEN: Right, you just feel it.

KEILAR: Yes, Elizabeth Cohen, for us. Very interesting. Thanks.

COHEN: Thanks.

HOLMES: Can't even tell, can you? Four hours.

KEILAR: Can't tell. Seven and a half..

HOLMES: Watch me read this flawlessly now.

KEILAR: No pressure.

HOLMES: No pressure at all.

But they'll forgive me and you'll understand why if I mess this up.

Well, we need to talk about a mystery 5,000 feet above Texas. Just what was it that crossed the path of a Continental Airlines jet that carried 148 passengers?

Well as Jeremy Desel, a CNN affiliate, KHOU reports, investigators think it may have been a model rocket.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DESEL, KHOU REPORTER (voice-over): John Etgen could have been doing plenty of things this holiday.

JOHN ETGEN, MODEL ROCKET ENTHUSIAST: I was outside doing yard work at the time.

DESEL: Being on the business end of the phone call from the FBI wasn't on the radar. Agents found him because of his hobby. So how did the FBI and John Etgen, come together?

Let's start at Bush Intercontinental. The pilot of Continental Flight 1544, took off at 10:17. 148 passengers and six crew on board the Boeing 737-800 in route to Cleveland. Not long after, 11 miles east of the airport and climbing through 5,000 feet, the pilot reported back to the tower, reported seeing a fast-moving object with a thick smoke trail nearing his air space.

While the plane continued on without incident to Cleveland, both the FAA and Houston area Joint Terrorism Task Force immediately launched investigations. The regional FAA spokesman, based in Oklahoma City, told me he believed that the object was some high- powered model rocket.

That's what led us and the FBI to John Etgen.

ETGEN: This is completely outside of all our safety codes and all of our practices. We actually behave a lot like visual flight rules pilots. And that is, if we can't see clear air space and already have permission to be in that air space, we're not allowed to launch and we don't.

DESEL: Model rocketry is supposed to be fun. But it's also regulated from the explosives used to power the rockets, to the FAA who regulate the flight. Pilots get shaky seeing something like this at 5,000 feet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Yes, that's a little scary.

KEILAR: Yes.

HOLMES: That was Jeremy Desel, of CNN affiliate, KHOU.

Well, model rockets can, in fact, soar as high as 40,000 feet. The FAA says it's had reports of it crossing paths with planes before, but no collisions have ever been reported.

KEILAR: A minor league baseball team is famous for its wacky promotions. They may have finally hit one out of the park at Senator Larry Craig's expense.

We're going to take you to Bobble Foot day at the ballpark.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, his films are smart, stylish and beloved by fans and critics. He was beloved himself as well. Sydney Pollack once said, great directors didn't also have to be actors, as he was, but it's an enormous help. Pollack died yesterday a few months after being diagnosed with cancer at the age 73.

CNN's Kareen Wynter now with more on his glittery career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY POLLACK, ACTOR: Just scare him to death, come on. The man was a bull.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sydney Pollack's ability to go toe-to-toe with stars on camera as with George Clooney and last year's Michael Clayton was matched by his talent at guiding them from the director's chair. Pollack met Robert Redford in the early 60s and round up directing him in seven films. Most notably 1985's "Out of Africa".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you heard (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I haven't. Have you?

WYNTER: The last drama brought Pollack Oscars for best director and best picture. He also steered Paul Newman to an Oscar nomination for "Absence of Malice." And sent Tom Cruise sprinting through the streets of Memphis in "The Firm".

POLLACK: I can't help but get affected by this place, too. It's still looking pretty grand place.

WYNTER: Even when Pollack's films weren't hits, they often broke new ground. His 2005 thriller "The Interpreter" was the first film ever permitted to shoot inside United Nations headquarters in New York.

POLLACK: You're a tomato. A tomato doesn't have logic. A tomato can't move.

WYNTER: His most famous double duty may have been "Tootsie," battling with Dustin Hoffman both as director and the title character's exasperated agent. The gender bending comedy earned ten Oscar nominations, including one for Pollack.

As a director, producer and actor, Pollack enjoyed both critical and commercial success over distinguished five decade career.

POLLACK: My biggest achievement? Surviving, I would say.

WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Severe weather in the Midwest. Our Chad Myers actually tracking a funnel cloud spotted in St. Louis minutes ago. And a scene like this might make some folks run for cover, but not our Oklahoma storm chaser. You can check out the riveting scene of nature's power.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

KEILAR: Bobble head dolls has depicted everyone from sports figures to political candidates. Now comes a twist.

Here's CNN Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bobble her again. JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one thing to bobble Senator Hillary Clinton's head. But Senator Larry Craig's foot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It bobbles up and down and taps.

MOOS: Just when you'd thought you heard the end of bathroom stall jokes...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All that little tappy, tappy on the tootsie.

MOOS: They're back, thanks to what one Web site called the greatest minor league giveaway of all time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It reminds me of that senator from, what was it, Oregon?

MOOS: Idaho, actually. But the bathroom Senator Craig got arrested in was at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport and the St. Paul Saints decided it would be a great publicity stunt to have Bobble Foot Day. What a giveaway. There were only enough for the first 2,500 fans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did have a lineup that began at about 10:00 o'clock in the morning for a game that began at 7:00 o'clock.

MOOS: Things could have been worse. Last May, the Milwaukee Brewers had Rectal Exam Day. Or, as one Web site put it, "turn your head, order a bear and cough." The idea was to promote prostate cancer awareness by offering two free tickets to a future game if you let a proctologist do a quick exam.

Bobble Foot Day stirred up some complaints.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question was, how do I explain this to my kids?

MOOS: Here's what happened if you didn't explain it.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: He's going to the bathroom.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: He's going to the bathroom.

MOOS: The stall even included some graffiti: "For a good time, call this number."

(on camera): Hey, I like a good time.

(voice-over): But the good time number was just more self- promotion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for calling the St. Paul Saints baseball club.

MOOS: This team is famous for oddball giveaways, like a doggie chew toy dedicated to dog fighting organizer Michael Vick and a seat cushion that allows you to sit on the face of either the baseball commissioner or the players union leader. We always thought the Larry Craig talking doll would be the ultimate dumb toy from this scandal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not gay. I never have been gay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could even put him in his famous wide stance, which has been in the press so much.

MOOS (on camera): The bathroom stall not included?

(voice-over): Now the bathroom stall is practically all that's included -- plus that spring-loaded foot. And some fans who got them free are trying to sell them on eBay for around 200 bucks. Now, that's mind-boggling.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: So many children killed, so many schools collapsed, yet so many other buildings survived the quake in China. Heartbroken parents blaming shoddy construction and officials who turned a blind eye. We've got the story.