Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
President Bush Awards Medal of Honor; Hollywood Studio Burns; Designer Yves Saint Laurent Died at Age 71; Senator Kennedy's Critical Surgery Underway; Clinton Picks up Momentum in Puerto Rico
Aired June 02, 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 COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: Breaking news, critical surgery for Senator Ted Kennedy scheduled to start right now.
COLLINS: The patriarch of the Kennedy dynasty battling a cancerous brain tumor.
Senator Kennedy's operation taking place at Duke University Medical Center. His doctor, one of the nation's top surgeons in the field.
We want to go straight to our Rusty Dornin in Durham, North Carolina. She is standing by to cover the story for us today from there.
Rusty, what do we know right now?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know, Heidi, is that the surgery is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m.
Now rumors were flying over the last 24 hours about the surgery. But Senator Ted Kennedy laid that to rest this morning when he did issue a statement.
He talked about the research that he and his doctors and his family had done nationwide to find the right place to do this surgery.
In his statement he said, "The best course of action for my brain tumor is targeted surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation. This morning I will be undergoing surgery with Dr. Alan Friedman at Duke University Medical Center and expect to remain there to recuperate for approximately one week."
He then will go to Massachusetts General to undergo that radiation and chemotherapy, and, of course, very much like Senator Kennedy, who is not one to step back from taking the political stage, he talked about that he will return to the Senate as quickly as possible and also that he plans to work towards the election of Senator Obama to the presidency -- Heidi? COLLINS: Boy, isn't it amazing to think -- you mentioned this one week that he will have -- you know, to recover in the hospital. Amazing to think about the type of surgery he's going to have and he'll only be likely in the hospital for a week.
What do we know about the doctor who's going to be performing this surgery, Dr. Friedman?
DORNIN: Dr. Friedman has been here at Duke. He does his residency here. He has been for more than 30 years.
And what's interesting is the brain tumor center here was one of the first in the country. It opened in 1937 and has been really on the cutting-edge. And Friedman -- when you go to his Web site, he talks about -- prize himself on the fact that he tries to do new things, that he wants, you know, his patients to be comfortable, he wants to bond with them. But that he's not afraid to try new things.
He did e-mail CNN this morning saying that he couldn't really talk about the surgery because the family is the one that is issuing all the statements. And that basically what the hospital has told us, Heidi, that it's very -- it is very shut down in terms of the information that's going to be coming out of here.
We don't know if there's going to be any kind of press conference. The surgery is supposed to take about six hours, give or take an hour or so, and there will be some kind of an update. But we're not sure if there will be any kind of a press conference. It's up to the family -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes, understood.
All right, CNN's Rusty Dornin for us this morning.
Thank you, Rusty.
HARRIS: Senator Kennedy's team of brain surgeons will try to remove as much of the tumor as possible.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is a practicing brain surgeon. And he will be with us live shortly. Listen to how he explained the operation on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It sounds like what the senator has done is found a team of neurosurgeons who can do it -- what's known as are -- what's at least colloquially called targeted brain surgery.
In this case, most likely one of the things that Dr. Friedman, Duke are known for being able to do what's called motor mapping. You find that area of the brain that's responsible for movement and you map it. You actually -- you know, you notice where it is. And you stay away from that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta says throughout the surgery doctors will ask Senator Kennedy a series of questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Oftentimes it's that feedback that the patient in this case himself gives that's so crucial. Squeeze your right hand, Senator. Move your right arm. That sort of thing. Can you say the following words? That sort of stuff is very crucial. So it may be very possible that he's going to be awake during this operation.
Again, this is one of the things, you know, Duke is known for. Obviously Massachusetts General where the senator was getting his initial treatment is a good hospital for so many things but you do have sort of centers around the country that are known for certain things. And Duke is known for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: So today is just the first step in the process. A critical first step.
CNN medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us now.
Elizabeth, great to see you. If you would, break this down for us. What does this surgery involve?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's keep it really simple.
HARRIS: Great.
COHEN: Simply put, what this surgery involves is the doctors want to go in there and get as much of the tumor as they can and be as aggressive as they can without harming crucial areas of the brain.
In other words they want the senator to be able to talk after this surgery. They want him to be able to communicate. They want him to be able to process information. They want him to be able to move around as much as possible in the ways that he always has.
So that is the challenge here.
Now he may be awake. He may not be awake. We don't know that absolutely for sure. There are different ways of doing it. The doctors have different techniques and a lot of it is based on the awake or not awake decision. It's based on where the tumors are...
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: ... the age of the patient, the condition of the patient, all of those things come into play.
HARRIS: Let's look at the senator's statement for just a moment.
He says he will follow surgery with chemotherapy and radiation. The next usual steps?
COHEN: Those are.
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: That's completely usual. That is standard operating procedure. And if you remember at first when we talked about this story a couple of weeks ago, they -- the folks at Mass General didn't talk about surgery, and we all thought that was a little bit strange.
So this is going the way that it's supposed to go -- surgery, radiation, chemotherapy. He will have those second two at Mass General Hospital in his home state. That also -- that often happens. Oftentimes people will go just for the surgery...
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: ... to a different location because they found a surgeon who does something that they want to do and that's just, you know, a week or so, and they go back to their home state for the rest of the treatments.
HARRIS: Talk to us about the choice of Duke for the surgery?
COHEN: All right. Duke is definitely known for being one of the top places to have brain surgery. It's not clear why the senator chose Duke over Mass General. They do these surgeries all the time over MD Anderson, over other places that are also terrific places to have brain surgery if you need to have it.
One thing definitely that Duke is known is they do a lot of clinical trials. Those are experiments under, of course, supervision, and, for example, there's a big cancer reading going on right now, and Duke is presenting some information, some of the new stuff that they're doing with brain surgery.
So it's certainly a place that is known for doing...
HARRIS: On the cutting edge.
COHEN: ... experiments on the cutting-edge. New stuff.
HARRIS: Yes. OK. Elizabeth Cohen with us this morning.
Elizabeth, great, great news.
COHEN: Thanks.
HARRIS: Thank you for that detail and the bottom lining it for us. Appreciate it. Thanks.
COHEN: Thank you.
COLLINS: You may remember news of Senator Kennedy's diagnosis came suddenly. Last month Kennedy had a seizure at his Massachusetts home. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors ran a series of test.
The cancer found on the left side of his head. After Kennedy recovers from today's surgery he does face chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
And as we have mentioned, the doctors treating Senator Kennedy are from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Duke University Medical Center.
Leading the team in the operating room today, Dr. All Friedman. He is chief brain surgeon at Duke and the co-director of the Neuro- Oncology Program. Friedman's biography says he's particularly interested in brain tumors, skull base tumors, peripheral nerve surgery, and pituitary tumors. He is currently researching hemorrhaging malignant tumors and epileptic seizures.
Seems like he is the guy for this.
We're going to be talking more about the surgery with our own neurosurgeon. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on his way to the studios now. We're going to talk with him just as soon as he arrives.
HARRIS: A lopsided victory for Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The final primaries tomorrow but are they really the finish line?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
It may last six hours, Senator Ted Kennedy in surgery for a cancerous brain tumor.
Breaking news in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Quickly, we want to get you up to speed on the breaking news of the day. Certainly we'll be following it very closely here today.
Senator Ted Kennedy will, in fact, be undergoing brain surgery for a malignant tumor. It's going to be treated at Duke University Medical Center. We understand the surgery will last approximately six hours. Of course, you never really know until that surgery is well underway. But that is the estimation. It's going to be known as targeted surgery and will also be followed by chemotherapy and radiation.
Again, this is the story of the day we are following here at Duke University Medical Center. Senator Ted Kennedy undergoing brain surgery.
Our own brain surgeon, neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to be joining us very shortly -- 15 minutes or so from now -- to sort of break it down for us. A great person to have on to make it all -- make sense for us here today.
HARRIS: Primary season twilight. Just two more contests to go. Montana and South Dakota vote tomorrow.
Hillary Clinton with momentum from another big win. This weekend's Puerto Rico primary, she took 68 percent of the vote, Barack Obama 32 percent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: It's not over until the votes are cast. It's not over until there's actually a tally that gives somebody the nomination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Also (INAUDIBLE) weekend the Democratic National Committee's rule maker decided to let Florida -- to let Florida and Michigan back in the race. But their delegates will have only a half vote at the convention. The Clinton campaign is not happy with the Michigan math and may appeal the ruling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAROLD ICKES, SENIOR ADVISER, CLINTON CAMPAIGN: They took the 55 from the uncommitted slots and gave them to Barack Obama. Even more outrageous and egregious, they reached out and hijacked four delegates won by Hillary Clinton and gave them to Barack Obama, a man who withdrew, voluntarily withdrew, his name from the ballot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Well, let's keep looking forward if we can. Two primaries on the slate for tomorrow -- the last two, in fact -- Montana and South Dakota.
CNN's Jim Acosta is live at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota this morning.
A beautiful shot behind you there, Jim. Senator Obama was in South Dakota over the weekend. As you know, Senator Clinton is in the state today. This is the last stretch, is it not? What do we expect to see?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, we're almost there. We're almost to the finish line after five months, yes. South Dakota and Montana hold these final primaries. The voting will start in about 24 hours from now. The polls will close in Montana. Just after the polls close in South Dakota and then that will be it.
And Barack Obama -- he was in Mitchell, South Dakota yesterday, stood in front of a place called the Mitchell Corn Palace, which was a sports gymnasium with corn mural paintings on the outside of that building, murals that are essentially in the shape of different people who work in South Dakota -- firefighters, teachers and so forth -- but made out of corn. So that was an interesting backdrop for Barack Obama.
And he paid a compliment to Hillary Clinton yesterday trying to draw down the rhetoric as this campaign comes to a close, praised her as an outstanding public servant. And that was it for Barack Obama. He's is leaving the state heading to Michigan today and then to Minnesota to wrap up this primary calendar on Tuesday night at the sight of the Republican National Convention later this fall, essentially throwing down the gauntlet to the GOP.
As for Hillary Clinton, she'll be in South Dakota over the next couple of days. She is very much hoping to pull off an upset sweep of these last two states to send a message to those last-minute undecided superdelegates that she's the more electable candidate -- Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, so the big question -- what's it going to take to win, Jim?
ACOSTA: Well, that is the million-dollar question at this point.
Senator Obama over the weekend told reporters and he was a little cagey about this but he said, if he gets the number of delegates to clinch the nomination that he plans to announce that he's the nominee at the event in Minnesota on Tuesday night.
But as for Senator Clinton, she is saying, hey, don't write my political obituary yet. She actually praised one of those superdelegates down in the Virgin Islands who, over the weekend, announced that after supporting her initially and then switching to Barack Obama, he is switching back to Hillary Clinton.
COLLINS: Yes.
ACOSTA: So she sent a message out to the superdelegates saying, hey, just so you know, superdelegates, your votes aren't cast in stone, not like these faces up here on Mount Rushmore.
COLLINS: Yes.
ACOSTA: And speaking of which, since we're in South Dakota, at Mount Rushmore, Hillary Clinton worked in a visit late last week to Mount Rushmore here, and then Barack Obama visited the faces here over the weekend. He was asked the question, Senator Barack Obama, do you expect to see your face up there joining the likes of Washington and Lincoln? His response, no, my ears are too big. So keeping a sense of humor out here on the campaign trail -- Heidi. COLLINS: Yes, there's not much rock left, is there? I wonder if they took that helicopter ride where you get really, really close to the faces? It's probably too dangerous.
ACOSTA: Exactly. I asked if I could climb up there like Nicholas Cage and they just -- they ruled that out. They say this is not happening.
COLLINS: There's no way, Acosta.
All right, Jim. Thanks so much.
ACOSTA: That's right.
COLLINS: Live from Mount Rushmore, as you can see, South Dakota.
HARRIS: It is cleanup day for people who rode out this weekend's storms in the D.C. area. Firefighters reported seeing a possible tornado touch down in Prince George's County. The funnel ripped up some trees and tore power lines down. No reports of injuries.
In Oklahoma, powerful thunderstorms slammed Tulsa. It dumped a lot of rain and knocked out power to nearly 70,000 customers. And emergency workers say at least five people were injured.
It may be Wednesday before everybody gets their power back on.
COLLINS: Well, it's always something it seems like. I guess that's sort of the way it goes in the weather department, right, Rob Marciano?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is.
COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE)
MARCIANO: Hey, guys, you know, we're going transfer our transitioning, I should say, out of severe weather season which is still going on for the next few weeks. It's a hurricane season which is happening right now.
HARRIS: That's right.
COLLINS: Is that a good thing?
MARCIANO: Well, you know, for job security in the weather department, it certainly helps.
COLLINS: I guess so.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: Day two of hurricane season.
HARRIS: OK.
MARCIANO: (INAUDIBLE) our first main storm. COLLINS: Is it bad that it started on my birthday? I wish (INAUDIBLE).
MARCIANO: Well, it starts on your birthday every year so.
COLLINS: Yes, I know. I guess I only notice it this year, though.
MARCIANO: Happy birthday, Heidi.
COLLINS: I'm talking about the birthday and talked about the hurricane season.
MARCIANO: Did you get the gift from Tony and I?
COLLINS: I didn't get that. I'm still looking?
MARCIANO: Really? Because I gave him a hundred bucks. Did you not go buy her a gift?
HARRIS: I -- it's in the mail.
COLLINS: Yes. Super. All right. Thanks, guys.
MARCIANO: All right.
HARRIS: Your birthday, huh? Happy birthday.
COLLINS: Thanks.
HARRIS: All right. It is the story of the day for us here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Senator Edward Kennedy scheduled for surgery this morning, Duke University Medical Center. The surgery is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. -- don't know for sure -- scheduled to last anywhere from a couple of hours up to six hours. And then after that, a course of radiation and chemotherapy.
It's a story we'll be following throughout the day right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Feeling the pain. Boy, let's talk about gas prices for a moment and traffic jams. Forcing employers to help out their workers. Find out how just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Quickly a reminder about the story of the day. Breaking news, in fact.
Senator Ted Kennedy is, in fact, undergoing brain surgery. It's going to happen today, this morning. Expected to be about a six-hour surgery for that malignant brain tumor that we learned about a few days ago. This was after the seizure that he had that we reported here on CNN. This is known as targeted surgery. Very exact surgery, as you might imagine, when we're dealing with the brain, very certain area they will be looking at and trying to treat where this tumor is. Also going to be followed by chemotherapy and radiation.
I just watched Dr. Sanjay Gupta come into the NEWSROOM. He's getting ready to come up here and talk a little bit more about exactly what is going to go on today with Senator Ted Kennedy at Duke University Medical Center.
HARRIS: High gas price and snarled traffic. You are certainly feeling the pain.
Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
And it is just -- it's tough. It's getting tougher, Stephanie. We're at a national average just about $4 across the country.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Tony, if you're going to look for the little tiny, very infinitesimal silver lining...
HARRIS: Yes, OK.
ELAM: ... gas prices didn't go up from yesterday to today.
HARRIS: That's right.
ELAM: It stayed at that record high.
HARRIS: It's stopped at, what, 35 days in a row of new record...
ELAM: Twenty-six, 26 days.
HARRIS: Twenty-six, OK.
ELAM: Yes -- so -- but, you know -- it's 10 percent higher from a month ago and it's up 26 percent from a year ago. So I don't think anyone's going to be clapping their hands just at this point. But you know, that is a little bit of relief here because it just seems like every day we were going higher and higher.
So you got to take the little things as you get them.
HARRIS: I'm willing to do that. You know this sounds like a big deal here if we can make it happen. What is this idea of a four-day work week, Stephanie?
ELAM: I don't think (INAUDIBLE), Tony.
HARRIS: Oh OK.
ELAM: No, no, no. But across the country, this is happening. And a lot of different businesses, a lot of schools are doing this because it saves on gas.
HARRIS: Cool.
ELAM: And here's a few things that you can look into on this one. This one means 20 percent fewer to and fros, right? If you're going to work...
HARRIS: Sure.
ELAM: ... cuts it back 20 percent there. Also cuts consumption by 40 percent, and overall it's saving 65 million gallons of gas a day with this whole idea of cutting back.
Now as far as schools, high schools and even some colleges, community colleges, going to four days a week as well, it takes some stress off of students' wallets, but it's also helping out school districts, which are having to deal with high heating oil costs which all factors in there as well, as far as bringing teachers in. Everything rippling down and affecting everyone there.
And they say if they don't do this, they would have to have cut programs or they have to cut jobs.
HARRIS: Yes.
ELAM: So this is a better way to go about doing that.
Now as far as you were mentioning what are employers doing as well? Let's take a look at a chart...
HARRIS: Great. Great.
ELAM: ... we have to kind of break it down. Higher mileage reimbursement, look at that. Forty-two percent of companies from the survey that we have saying from the -- the Society for Human Resource Management, saying that flexible work schedules, 26 percent of companies doing that. Telecommuting, 18 percent -- again, sorry, you guys don't get to do that.
HARRIS: No.
ELAM: Public transportation discount, that's 14 percent. And -- this is a good one -- rewarding good performance with gas cards. Everyone has to like that one.
HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE) now.
ELAM: Yes.
COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE) the time here.
HARRIS: No, it doesn't.
ELAM: I would like -- really?
HARRIS: It's a...
ELAM: Maybe I need to work out of Atlanta. HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: You need to be better, nicer.
ELAM: Nicer. Yes, you're right because I'm so mean. That's what -- I'm known for my meanness, yes.
COLLINS: Yes, you are.
ELAM: And here I was just about to wish her a happy birthday.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
ELAM: That's OK, happy birthday anyway, Heidi.
HARRIS: Well, there she is. Stephanie Elam, "Minding Your Business," in for Ali Velshi.
Good to see you, Stephanie. Thanks.
ELAM: Good to see you, too.
COLLINS: Quickly a reminder here that we are following the story of Senator Ted Kennedy and his surgery. We don't have confirmation yet but it was estimated that he would be beginning the surgery, going under a surgery at 9:00 a.m. this morning.
Obviously it is now 9:26 Eastern Time. Trying to confirm that four. But in just a moment we're going to have Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our own neurosurgeon here, at CNN. He'll come up and talk a little bit more about what exactly is going to take place in that operating room today. It's a great luxury to have him on staff.
Also the ultimate sacrifice. He jumped on a grenade in Iraq to save his fellow soldiers. Today this fallen soldier is honored with the nation's highest military award.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Bottom of the hour, welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. Very busy day in the NEWSROOM.
In fact, first up, we want to get to you the opening bell, getting ready to ring the day in here on a Monday -- a lot of clapping going on -- June 2nd.
There you go. I knew if I talk long enough, we would hear it.
Listen, on Friday those numbers went down just a little bit, though, almost eight points down. The Dow Jones Industrial averages closed the day off at 12638. NASDAQ was up, however, about 14 points.
So we will be watching those numbers very closely today. And of course we're going to talk more about gas prices as you might imagine not the greatest of news there.
HARRIS: And breaking news this morning. Right now in North Carolina, Senator Ted Kennedy is having brain surgery at Duke University Medical Center. A team of doctors trying to remove as much of a malignant tumor as possible. The operation is expected to take up to six hours. Once Kennedy recovers, he faces chemotherapy and radiation.
COLLINS: Surgeons today will attack the tumor on the left side of Senator Ted Kennedy's brain. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a neurosurgeon and he is joining us now with more information on all of this.
All right. Let's back up if we could just a little bit. Because there are many people out there who really have no idea what is going to take place in that operating room.
GUPTA: That's right. And a lot of it is speculation. We know that he is going to have surgery which is new information in and of itself. You remember when they had that statement out of Boston, they said most likely the Senator is going to go chemo and radiation. They didn't talk about surgery at that point.
We now learn that the family -- they looked around at several different hospitals around the country, trying to find a hospital that can do the operation that they wanted which is to remove as much of the tumor as possible. And then he's still going to get the chemo and radiation that they talked about initially.
COLLINS: Does that always happen?
GUPTA: Yes. That's pretty standard, Karen (ph). You know, when I say that, Heidi, it's interesting because this is a very much evolving field. You know, brain tumor has been around for a long time but the exact best way to treat them is still evolving.
In fact, just over the last two years, they say surgery first. If you can do it. Surgery first is always sort of the best option.
COLLINS: Wow. I didn't realize that.
GUPTA: Yes. And the goal is, you know, just try and remove as much of that tumor as possible. That gives the chemo and radiation a best chance to work. With these malignant gliomas, I'll tell you, almost never can you get the entire tumor out. And that's why they almost always plan on radiation and chemotherapy afterwards.
Let me just show you here real quickly.
COLLINS: Yes, definitely.
GUPTA: Because this is so important. This is a model of the brain. This area here in light purple is the area to sort of focus in. And that is the parietal lobe. We know the tumor is somewhere in there. The reason that people are paying so much attention to this is because just in front of it, in these areas, is where you have your motor strength. That's where you get the strength for the right side of your body. And this area down here is where you get a lot of your speech.
COLLINS: The yellow, OK.
GUPTA: That yellow area, that's called the temporal lobe. And that's an area of the brain that potentially could be affected by the surgery. At Duke, where he is having his operation, they really focus on those areas to try and map them out, protect them so they are not injured at all during the operation.
COLLINS: Yes. And I guess, it seems a little surprising just in laymen's terms thinking that surgery would always be the first step because you think about, you know, doing more harm and that, obviously, in this case, anyway, is not the way to put that.
GUPTA: Yes. Well, you know, this is something that's come about as a result of studies. I mean, what you're saying is exactly right. There was thought at one time that trying and shrink the tumors as much as possible first with chemo and radiation, then go do surgery.
But again, you know, the data that exists on these sorts of malignant gliomas pretty much all say if you do surgery first, follow it up with chemotherapy and radiation. You have the best outcome in terms of survival.
COLLINS: OK. And we've heard that word so that you're the perfect person to tell us. Glioma, what is that?
GUPTA: A glioma -- basically, all that means is a tumor that comes from the brain itself. And that's in distinction to a tumor that comes from elsewhere in the body and spreads to the brain. That's called a metastatic tumor.
Glioma is a type of tumor that comes from some of the cells in the brain itself. We know from Senator Kennedy's statement that it's a malignant glioma. They are benign tumors. They are malignant tumors. He has a malignant tumor, which means that if you work to envision this tumor, it probably looks something like an octopus. It would have a sort of core, then it would have these tentacles that sort of reach out.
And you can imagine, just thinking about anatomically, why that would be so hard to remove.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes. Wow. I didn't realize that either. We have so many questions for you. We know you'll be back a little bit later on. Before we let you go, I am fascinated by the possibility of the Senator being awake during all of this.
We've heard about that before with surgeries where they involve the proximity to these motor areas that you pointed out and the speech areas. They have to keep checking with them, the patients at certain times to make sure that they are still able to speak and understand, right?
GUPTA: That's exactly right. And we don't know if he's awake or not awake for this operation. But what you're saying is right. I mean, the idea that someone could actually respond to you as a surgeon in the operating room, squeeze their hand, move their arm, say words.
You don't have to be as awake to do the motor mapping. You can actually put a little stimulation on the brain and find out where the motor areas are. But for speech areas, speech mapping, you really do have to have the patient awake. So again, we don't know if the tumor is closer to the speech area or if it's up here. If it's closer to the motor area, that all makes a difference.
COLLINS: OK. Well, we're going to be talking with you more. Still trying to find out and try to confirm whether or not he is, in fact, having surgery at this moment. It was suppose to start at 9:00.
GUPTA: Yes. If we get the details, we'll obviously bring it to you as well.
COLLINS: Perfect.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you. Glad you're here.
GUPTA: Thanks. Sure. Thanks.
HARRIS: The ultimate sacrifice, the highest honor. This hour President Bush will pay tribute to a fallen soldier killed in Iraq while saving lives. A preview from CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
Barbara, take a couple of minutes here and talk to us about Private First Class Ross McGinnis.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A really remarkable story, Tony. About 15 minutes from now, President Bush at the White House will award the nation's highest medal for combat to the parents of 19-year-old Specialist Ross Andrew McGinnis.
It will be awarded to this young man posthumously. His parents, Tom and Romayne McGinnis will be there to accept the Congressional Medal of Honor on behalf of their son. Let's leave this young man's picture up so everyone can see him.
According to the official report, it was on the afternoon of December 4, 2006 when Specialist McGinnis was in his vehicle with four other troops. They were part of a patrol.
A fragmentation grenade was thrown into his vehicle Specialist McGinnis at that moment, when that grenade entered his vehicle, instantly threw his body on it to shelter his buddies. He was killed instantly. His actions saved the four other men in that vehicle.
And, Tony, you know, that's what we see so many times over the months and years now in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These young people, when they are out there on the line, they fight for each other, they fight to keep their buddies alive, and that is what this young man did. This is only the fourth Medal of Honor awarded since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Barbara, reading an account of the story in his local paper there in Knox, Pennsylvania. Boy, by all accounts, this young man had an opportunity to escape. Everyone was -- he was free and clear. He could have made his escape and yet he turned around to save his buddies. It's just amazing.
STARR: Absolutely. And we will watch the president at the ceremony in just about 15 minutes at the White House.
HARRIS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Barbara, appreciate it. Thank you. Hero saluted for sacrifice. President Bush awards the Medal of Honor to Private First Class Ross McGinnis this morning. His parents will receive the medal in a White House ceremony. See it here live 9:50 a.m. Eastern in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Want to head on over to Rob Marciano now, standing by in the weather center. Getting ready to talk about all kinds of things. Second day of hurricane season. But first it is really hot in Texas.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: On to this story now. Actress busted. Why? Oscar winner Tatum O'Neal ended up in jail.
HARRIS: Well, the housing market continues to cool but for investors things are beginning to heat up.
CNN's Ali Velshi is "Right on Your Money."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RON DRALUCK, MORTGAGE EXPERT: A lot of people think it's a terrible time to invest. Well, that's not so at all.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mortgage expert Ron Draluck says money and good credit could have you cashing in on today's real estate market.
DRALUCK: Interest rates are close to a 45-year low, which means your house payments on the new mortgages will be low. And since we are in a crisis, the mortgage banks and companies have tightened up in their criteria to qualify for loans.
VELSHI: Draluck believes it's also a good time to turn your new real estate into rental property.
DRALUCK: People that normally could have bought a house maybe two years ago can't do it anymore. There's more renters out there than almost ever before.
VELSHI: To get the most bang for your buck in this unstable housing market, Draluck suggests investing in locations where property values are likely to go up.
DRALUCK: Areas that may be fast appreciating may be close in to work, shopping centers, and hospitals and that sort of thing.
VELSHI: No matter where you buy, the best time to invest in real estate may be right now.
Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A Hollywood studio burns. Some of your favorite movie sets gone in a flash.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It was a very stubborn fire that took more than 14 hours to put out. But not the (INAUDIBLE) firefighters sustained minor injuries and a good portion of a Hollywood landmark was reduced to ashes.
(voice-over): Shortly before dawn, a spectacular firelights up the sky above Universal Studios, Hollywood.
JOHN HARTMANN, RESIDENT: It was nasty. Very nasty.
GUTIERREZ: John Hartmann awakens to several explosions and grabs his camera.
HARTMANN: With the sound of automobile tires exploding on trucks. Whatever it was, it was loud.
GUTIERREZ: A dark plume of smoke shoots hundreds of feet into the air as flames raced through the backlot of Universal, consuming famous city facades on New York Street and the Courthouse Square we remember from "Back to the Future."
This is what happened to the King Kong attraction. Part of the tram ride at Universal, completely destroyed.
CHIEF MICHAEL FREEMAN, LOS ANGELES COUNTY, FIRE DEPARTMENT: We had essentially two city blocks on fire at the same time.
GUTIERREZ: Four hundred firefighters attacked the flames from the ground. From rooftops and ladders, trying to keep the fire from spreading through the park.
FREEMAN: They were flowing in excess of 18,000 gallons of water per minute.
GUTIERREZ: Firefighters and studio employees carried boxes of recordings to safety before the video vault burned down. A huge relief for Universal president Ron Meyers because the main vault of the motion picture negatives was not affected.
RON MYERS, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSAL: Fortunately, nothing irreplaceable was lost. We have duplicates and obviously there's a lot of work to replicate what's been lost, but it can be done.
GUTIERREZ: How it started is still a mystery, but before it was over, arson investigators began to sift through the damage.
As for the thousands of tourists who came to visit, the gates remained closed as clouds of smoke billowed into the air.
(on camera): Universal Studios city walk will be open for business later today. Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Universal City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, she wrote about her struggles with addiction. Today, Tatum O'Neal appears before judge on drug charges. New York police say O'Neal was arrested for buying crack cocaine. The actress has been charged with a misdemeanor. O'Neal won an Oscar for 1973's "Paper Moon." She was just a child then. She discussed her long road to sobriety in a 2004 memoir.
A designer ahead of his time. Yves Saint Laurent died in his Paris home last night. He was 71.
CNN's Kristi Lou Stout looks back at his story of career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTI LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yves Saint Laurent's name was synonymous with the glamour of the Paris catwalk and the elegance of old couture.
At just 21, he took the reigns of Christian Dior's fashion house when that fashion icon died and the Algerian born Saint Laurent promptly to Paris by storm with his masculine trouser suits for women called le Smoking (ph), the French term for the tuxedo jacket. They featured for the first on the catwalk see through shirts that shocked and delighted the public.
Within years, Saint Laurent was head of his own fashion house. Fashion designer Ben De Lisi told CNN that Saint Laurent was an inspiration for a whole new generation of designers.
BEN DE LISI, FASHION DESIGNER: Way back in the '60s, he was doing for couture, you know, crocodile biker jackets based on Marlon Brando with, you know, and terms of me. He was doing alligator trousers. And that was just unheard of.
STOUT: In 1969, Saint Laurent pioneered designer men's wear. He was thinking of the media stars of the day -- Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Andy Warhol.
Out went the pin stripes -- in came something modern men wanted to wear. Saint Laurent took as his muse, the actress Catherine Deneuve who would wear only his designs.
And he found a champion on American Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland. Vreeland mounted a retrospective with Yves Saint Laurent's work in 1983 at the Museum of Metropolitan Art in New York. The first time a living fashion designer had been so honored.
But as the new century dawned after years in the business, Yves Saint Laurent was increasingly dogged by ill health and was slowing down. Some critic said his work was becoming repetitious.
DE LISI: Once he's an incredible legend and a very successful designer. And he gave fashion so much. The collections have just been re-colored and re-worked but the same thing.
STOUT: In 1999, he sold the rights to his brand to Gucci for $70 million, retaining control of Sanofi Beaute. In 2002 he retired all together. He's described as a designer who defined fashion for the second half of the 20th century, but it was not without some well publicized facts that designers who did not share his vision.
So it was no accident that at the January 2000 show, Yves Saint Laurent chose the hit song "I Will Survive" to accompany him down the catwalk. Saint Laurent received a standing ovation for that collection as he has done for every collection he has ever produced.
Kristi Lu Stout, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: It may last to six hours, Senator Ted Kennedy in surgery for cancerous brain tumor. Breaking news in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And right now, President Bush awarding the Medal of Honor posthumously to Private First Class Ross McGinnis. The award being given to his parents -- Tom and Romayne. The ceremony at the Eisenhower Executive Offices.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First battalion 26 Infantry including Charlie Company that's with us today. We're also joined by Private McGinnis's vehicle crew, the very men who witnessed his incredible bravery. We welcome Sergeant First Class Cedric Thomas, Staff Sergeant Ian Newland, Sergeant Lyle Buehler, and Specialist Sean Lawson.
Special welcome to the prior recipients of the Medal of Honor. Your presence here means a lot to the McGinnis Family. Thank you for coming. The Medal of Honor is the nation's highest military distinction. It's given for valor beyond anything that duty could require or a superior could command.
A long tradition presented by the president or any president, doing so is a high privilege. We enter our country's history, Ross McGinnis came of age in the town of Knox, Pennsylvania. Back home, they remember a slender boy with a big heart and carefree spirit.
He's a regular guy who loved playing basketball. He loved working on cars. He wasn't too wild about school work. He had a lot of friends and a great sense of humor. High school and the Army Ross became known for his ability to do impersonations. A buddy from boot camp said that Ross was the only man there who could make the drill sergeant laugh.
Most of all, those who knew Ross McGinnis recall him as a dependable friend and a really good guy. Ross was your buddy, and he needed help, you got in trouble, he would stick with you and be the one you could count on.
One of his friends told a reporter that Ross was the type who would do anything for anybody. That element to this character was to make all the difference when Ross McGinnis became a soldier in the Army.
One afternoon 18 months ago, Private McGinnis was part of a Humvee patrol in the neighborhood of Baghdad. From his position, (INAUDIBLE), he noticed a grenade thrown directly at his vehicle. In an instant the grenade dropped to the gunner's hatch. He shouted a warning to the four men inside. He find that tiny space the soldiers had no chance of escaping the explosion.
Private McGinnis could have easily jumped from the Humvee and save himself. Instead, he dropped inside, put himself against the grenade and absorbed the blast with his own body. In that split second decision, Private McGinnis lost his own life and he saved his comrades.
One of them was Platoon Sergeant Cedric Thomas who said this, he had time to jump out of the truck, he chose not to. He's a hero. He was just an awesome guy. For his actions, Private McGinnis received the Silver Star, posthumous promotion in rank and a swift nomination for the Medal of Honor.
But it wasn't acclaim or credit that motivated him. Ross's dad has said I know medals never crossed his mind. He was always about friendships and relationships. He just took that to the ultimate this time.
When Ross McGinnis was in kindergarten, a teacher asked him to draw a picture of what he wanted to be when he grew up. He drew a soldier. Today, our nation recognizes him as a soldier and more than that, because he did far more than his duty.
In the words of one of our commanding generals, four men are alive because this soldier embodied our Army values and gave his life. The day will come when the mission he served has been completed and the fighting is over. Freedom and security have prevailed.
America will never forget those who came forward to bear the battle. America will always honor the name of this brave soldier who gave all for his country and was taken to rest at age 19. No one outside this man's family can know the true weight of their loss. But in words spoken long ago we were told how to measure the kind of devotion that Ross McGinnis showed on his last day. Greater love hath no man than this, than a man laid down his life for his friends.
Gospel also gives us assurance blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. May the deep respect of our whole nation be a comfort to the family of this fallen soldier. May God always watch over the country he served and keep us ever grateful for the life of Ross Andrew McGinnis.
And now I would like to invite Mr. and Mrs. McGinnis to please come forward for the presentation and the military aide will read the citation for the Medal of Honor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of Congress the Medal of Honor to Private First Class Ross A. McGinnis, United States Army for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.
Private First Class Ross A. McGinnis distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an M2 50 caliber machine gunner, first platoon C company, first battalion 26 infantry regimen in connection with combat operations against an armed enemy in Atamiya (ph), Northeast Baghdad, Iraq, on 4 December, 2006.
That afternoon, his platoon was conducting combat control operations in an effort to reduce and control sectarian violence in the area. While Private McGinnis is a man in the M2 50 caliber machine gun, a fragmentation grenade from by an insurgent fall through the gunner's hatch into the vehicle.
Reacting quickly, he yelled grenade, allowing all four members of his crew prepared for the grenade's blast. Then, rather than leaping from the gunner's hatch to safety, Private McGinnis made the courageous decision to protect his crew in a selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded. Private McGinnis covered the live grenade pinning it between his body and the vehicle and absorbing most of the explosion.
Private McGinnis' gallant action directly saved four men from certain serious injury or death. Private First Class McGinnis's extraordinary heroism and selflessness at the cost of his own life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
(APPLAUSE)
