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Gas Prices Skyrocket; Tragedy in Texas; Tornados Rip Through Midwest

Aired June 08, 2008 - 18:00   ET

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


RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, tornados rip through the Midwest and the threat is still not over. Tragedy in Texas today. A medical helicopter crashes, killing the patient and the entire crew. And a dubious record at the pump. It is official. The new national average is 4 bucks, $4 a gallon.
And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. The weather, it's a monster in the Midwest this weekend. There is no doubt that the insane storms, the tornados, the record flooding in fact, let's take a look. Here we go. This is early this morning in Omaha, Nebraska. That's where we'll start you off. A tornado stripped the roof off of this house. About a dozen others look just like it. This is bad. Look at this. This is outside waterlogged Indianapolis now. The water still rising.

And rescuers are still moving people to safety in boats. Look at the pictures from overhead. Eleven inches of rain Saturday pushed the White River over its banks. Indiana disaster officials say at least one person so far has drowned. And talk about scary. CNN i-Reporter Bob Potempa captures this twister scorching the ground. This is just near Chicago, by the way. Get this, nearly 50,000 homes in Illinois are still without power.

Now take a look at these live images that we're getting in. Flooding from the Milwaukee suburbs. These are the latest pictures that we've gotten. This is from WISN. We thank them for the video. But this is Milwaukee now. That's included in the list of so many other areas that are being affected either by the tornadoes or the flooding. In fact, let's go to Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui, I understand in Indiana, more than 40 counties are still being declared disaster zones.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's unbelievable how widespread, Rick, this is. It affects so many people, not just Indiana, not just Wisconsin, but really so much of the Midwest. And even just in the last 24 hours, we've seen additional rainfall coming down. All of this red that that you see here, all of that at a minimum three inches of rain in a 24-hour period. And every single drop of that has fallen immediately runs off because the ground is so saturated.

Let's look at some of those Milwaukee pictures because they're really incredible. They really tell the story all across the Midwest. Most of this is on the south side of Milwaukee. The Root River is out of its banks. You've got widespread flooding in the town of Franklin. The Root River is starting to crest in Franklin and now all that water is going downstream. You can see the flooding or are seeing the flooding as well, but you could see a record crest on the Root River by Tuesday.

That's going to, at a minimum, impact 250 homes near the river with basement flooding. So that's the situation that we're going to continue to watch very, very closely. Look at all the green on my map behind me. You can see we've got watches and warnings from Michigan exceeding all the way down towards Oklahoma. So very extensive flooding. We saw that picture by the way with a car in the stream. Don't do it. Don't even try to drive through this stuff. You never know how deep that is. we also have severe storms across parts of the Midwest, we've got tornado warnings for Benton, Buchanan, Clark and Union Counties in Iowa. Take shelter now. In addition to all of this, Rick, believe it or not, we've got a lot of heat to talk about. And we'll bring that to you coming up at the bottom of the hour.

SANCHEZ: All right, thanks a lot, Jacqui. We certainly appreciate it.

Last nigh when we were doing this newscast, we got word from some of the folks who do our research and answer the phones there behind me that there was a tornado sighting somewhere near Chicago. As we were going off the air, we weren't able to nail down that it actually had had been confirmed. Now we understand there actually was a tornado near Chicago caught by some people on camera. More now from our Chicago affiliate CLTV and Aaron Baskerville.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AARON BASKERVILLE, CLTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the aftermath of a tornado that ripped through the far south suburbs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think in your mind it's coming. It's real.

BASKERVILLE: Residents in this Richton Park apartment complex are assessing the damage and walking away with whatever they can.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thanked God. That's what I did last night. I just sat there and thanked God.

BASKERVILLE: Here's what the tornado looked like when it touched down near the Frankfort area, about a mile west of interstate 57. The storm sparked power lines, causing fires, toppling trees onto cars, and flipping over vans and semi trucks on the highway. Eyewitnesses rushed to the scene trying to keep others away from danger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once I saw the power lines going down, I went just into my protection mode and was trying to stop traffic from going over that main power line.

BASKERVILLE: Emergency crews worked around the clock restoring power while others assessed the damage from high above. Down below, passersby can look right into the homes of those hardest hit, the roofs completely torn off. All that's left to do is stare at the devastation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just had a fire here a year ago. And that whole unit there is missing from that fire. And all these poor people, it's a continuing thing right here. It's -- this is a bad luck spot here. I just feel really sorry for all these people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: That's Aaron Baskerville there. He's reporting from our Chicago affiliate CLTV.

Now this story that we mentioned just a while ago. It's a medical transport mission turned into a tragedy near Huntsville, Texas. An emergency medical helicopter goes down in a national forest while heading to a Houston hospital. All four people aboard were killed, including the patient who was being transported at the time. So far no word on what caused the crash. We're going to get a live report from the scene a little bit later this hour.

We have been creeping up to this point for weeks and well, we have reached it. The milestone, the average price of gasoline -- $4 a gallon now in the United States. Remember, that's the average. We know there are many of you out there are paying more than this, especially out around California. The Lundberg Survey has it at just a fraction under $4 for self-serve regular. AAA has it just over $4, essentially. Unfortunately, all indications show this number could still continue to grow. And Now the $4 a gallon question -- what can the U.S. government do to somehow ease the prices at the pump as we approach the summer months? CNN's Ed Henry asks that question.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new record for gas prices, and little relief expected this summer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would expect to see, though, a tremendous amount of volatility over -- certainly between now and the Fourth of July.

HENRY: So can the president and Congress do anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really. I mean, I was an economics major, and to be honest with you, it's basic supply and demand.

HENRY: That skepticism may be well placed.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Congress needs to pass legislation that expands and would allow for the expansion of American energy production.

HENRY: Republicans talk mostly about increasing supply through oil drillings in places like Alaska's arctic national wildlife refuge.

SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: Over and over and over again, democrats have said this is off-limits to production. You can't do it in the deep waters of the gulf, you can't do it off our shore, you can't do it in Alaska.

HENRY: Democrats do reject that on environmental grounds, focusing instead on lowering demand, but that will take a long time.

GOV. TIM KAINE (D), VIRGINIA: It's going to involve investing in alternative fuels so that we can have some alternatives to gas, and significant investments in public transit.

HENRY: With the parties deeply divided, a Senate bill requiring major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions failed last week. Only 48 of 100 senators voted for it, amid questions about whether it would really help lower gas prices. Six absent senators, including Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, said they would have voted yes to end debate and move forward on the bill, leading some to believe Congress will take action next year on reducing America's dependence on foreign oil.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: I hope that those companies, interesting groups, et cetera, who spent a lot of money and did a lot of work to defeat this bill will also get a message from the 54 votes. This is coming.

HENRY (on camera): So there's optimism the next president might be able to find an energy compromise in 2009. But that provides little comfort to consumers today. Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: We should mention there's something else that has been pumping up the price of gas in the last couple of days. In fact, Wall Street has gone haywire on this news that an Israeli paper has quoted a top cabinet member there in Israel talking about war with Iran being "unavoidable."

Israel's largest mass circulation daily quotes Shaul Mofaz as saying if Iran continues its program to develop nuclear weapons, we will attack. Today Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office is somewhat distancing itself from those comments, but there's a lot of caution and a lot of concern going on with this story. That's why we're going to be on it throughout the night. We're making calls. We're going to have Christiane Amanpour joining us. Mofaz is jocking to replace Olmert by the way, so there is some talk that this could be a lot of political blustering as well.

Again, we're going to break it down. We'll talk much more about this tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here.

And if 20-some days of gas price increases have you a little bummed, be thankful you don't live in Malaysia. Fuel prices there shot up by an insane 41 percent in one day. With record high global oil prices, both India and Malaysia's government decided to end fuel subsidies. Guess who is paying the difference?

How can you protect yourself and your family from a volatile economy? All day Monday hear on CNN there's a special look at "Issue #1: America's Economy." Ali Velshi and the entire CNN - I love saying his name, by the way. Ali Velshi and the entire CNN news team will be looking for answers. "Issue #1: America's Economy" all day long Monday right here on CNN.

All right, now this. It's a question the public and pundits are asking today. What went wrong with Hillary Clinton's historic presidential campaign? We will find out. Also -- take a look at this. Bring out the stick. Bring out the funk. What a way to greet a first lady.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Oh, so close. Senator Hillary Clinton got millions of votes, as you just heard, when she says 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling. But here's the thing -- they weren't enough to actually seal the deal.

So what went wrong? Best political team on television weighs in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: No campaign loses because of one thing. It loses because of everything.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When I first started covering all of the candidates, all the Democratic candidates, it was very evenly split. A lot of people loved Hillary Clinton in the beginning, and a lot of people turned. Their opinion of her changed during the campaign, and you asked them why and they just didn't think that she conducted herself in a way that they could relate to.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She was overtested, marketed, researched, and she was trying to be what people told her she should be instead of being herself. And she discovered herself too late.

CLINTON: Thank you!

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hillary became as some would say more human, more passionate, more emotional, as her message began to change.

CROWLEY: If you came out of a Barack Obama event and asked people what they thought, they'd say, ah, just he just gives me hope, makes me think I can make a difference.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDDIDATE: Ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

CROWLEY: You come out of a Hillary Clinton event and you say to people, what do you think about Hillary Clinton? What did you think about that speech? They would say, she's so smart. She knows so much stuff. So there was just a difference in that crowd. I think she underestimated it, I think we all underestimated it.

CLINTON: It's not over until the votes are cast.

YELLIN: I think the Clinton campaign folks are very frustrated because they think this is a campaign they could have won if they had had done things differently. If they had had rolled out the current Hillary Clinton back in Iowa, if she showed more of a personality let herself be passionate or strong or even shrill, got forbid. They were so worried about that. They kept her contained.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: She and her campaign apparatus were unprepared for a modern, post-millenial presidential campaign. Obama understood the process. That's why he won in the caucuses. 9t's why he spent his money wisely. That's why she squandered hers.

YELLIN: I mean, skipping the caucus states was bizarre. There's somebody who said to me, a close Clinton supporter, who said if only we knew those caucus states mattered, too. They were joking. But the point is, it was so in retrospect foolish of them and they know it to not invest time and effort in those states.

CROWLEY: She lost in those caucuses. She lost in those states they decided not to play in.

MARTIN: She made that comment, these are small states that we're not going to win in November. And I was sitting there saying, yes, but they're Democrats living there now who are actually voting. That was just a stunning blow-off. That's why she lost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: With Senator Clinton's endorsement in his pocket, Senator Barack Obama gets back to the campaign trail tomorrow. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is heading back to Tobacco Road for a campaign stop at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. He is kicking off what is described as a two-week economic tour titled "Change That Works For You."

Senator Obama's presumptive Republican opponent, John McCain, is going to hold not one but two fundraisers tomorrow as he tries to reload a comparatively light campaign war chest. McCain is holding fundraising events in Richmond, Virginia and Washington.

Meantime, both the Obama and McCain camps have quashed an offer from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ABC television to host a proposed town hall style meetings. Both camps say the idea of one network putting on the event is a non-starter.

In our league of first-time voters edition tonight, immigration. We looked for three people who are opposed and three people who are not opposed to some of the immigration talk that's been going on in this country. Six people who agree on practically nothing. Could I possibly get them to some middle ground on this contentious issue? That was my goal. Does it happen? Watch for yourselves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: What is it that some people don't understand that gets a guy like you riled up about the immigration problem?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are a sovereign nation and all sovereign nations in the whole world have their rules in regards to their borders. This isn't a white, brown, black, yellow, green issue. It's a strictly legal issue.

SANCHEZ: John, how do you argue with that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One point that I disagree with is, the way they're treating these issues as criminals, I don't agree with that.

SANCHEZ: So you're saying the people who are already here, they should find some kind of pathway for them. Is that what you're saying?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm saying that the federal government should come in and --

SANCHEZ: You're saying it should be one law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One law.

SANCHEZ: All over the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we want our country to be a totally constitutional, lawful nation, we have to do what's right. These people aren't here legally. They must be sent back if we're going to uphold the rule of law. The law is already written.

SANCHEZ: What do you say to those who say, look, essentially I was recruited to come to this country? I was all but invited to come to the country by the corporations who hired me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people I think that say that need to be put in jail because that's against our law. That's against our sovereign law.

SANCHEZ: Is it happening?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it does happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the government needs to take a step forward and put those people in jail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, Rick, he made a good point. If we're going to arrest those companies, we're going to have to arrest the Internal Revenue for giving the ITN numbers. The Internal Revenue is saying, we don't want you here, Rick, but in case you go to work, here's this ITN number, go ahead and use it and pay me taxes. Taxes that you will never see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rick, it all points one thing. Do we want a solution? Really, are we looking for a solution? Because when we hear Sandy say, they're here illegal, deport them. So I imagine the conclusion you draw is deport them all. Let's argue the merits as to whether or not it's possible to do it.

SANCHEZ: Is it? Let's go there. Is it possible to deport 12 million people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, one at a time. And as we come across people who are here illegally, the solution is deport them. Now, we have to work in tandem with all the federal government, the state governments and local governments to enforce those immigration laws that they're allowed to enforce.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we're starting with a premise that deportation of everyone here that's here illegal is the answer, you know what? We're not going to find a solution for this. You guys get stuck there. You never move to finding a solution. All you're doing is stuck on, let's deport them. That's it, that's your solution.

SANCHEZ: Let's try and deal with the issue of the people who are here. If they established a way where the good people, people who have never broken any laws other than coming to this country, you've got to pay $5,000 or $6,000 out front. You've got to go through a criminal record, you have to wait two years before you're even considered for citizenship. You have to first return to your country and then come back to this country. If they put all of those provisions in, would you guys say, OK, I'm willing to work within a system as long as there are rules to be followed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For that? That was the amnesty bill last year. If anything, if they are employed by an employer, then I would make the employer responsible for that family, OK? And in addition to the two years like you were proposing, I say five years. I wrote a proposal that said five years.

SANCHEZ: So you are willing to come up with something where there's a negotiable agreement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not negotiable. You either do it by the rules or you're out.

SANCHEZ: But we come up with rules, standard rules that say, you want to stay here? This is what you've got to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like we have right now. There are laws on the books.

SANCHEZ: But are there really laws on the books, you think, Craig? Are they rules that are working?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they're not being enforced.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have people waiting, good people like Rick described, a lady who's raised her children here, who's been law abiding citizen, been here 10 years, put it at 20 years because there are people who have been here 20 years. You're going to deport those folks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to deport them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's all I need to know it because you're not looking for solutions.

SANCHEZ: Why can't the United States of America, a sovereign country, come up with a plan to make sure it controls who comes in and who comes out of this country?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, we're all in favor of secure borders. The question is, you'll never secure it 100 percent to the satisfaction of 100 percent of Americans. You just can't do that. At what point do you move from securing the border to talking about trhe issue of immigration?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a moral responsibility that we have to have. And when I hear from this end, when I hear you guys, I hear hate. And maybe you don't mean it, but that's what I hear. So there's lack of communication between us, just even us agreeing a solution.

SANCHEZ: Can this be worked out?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like the whole country is going downhill as a result of this lack of enforcement, lack of rule of law. We've just all deteriorated to an amoral society.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm an optimist. I believe, yes, it can be worked out.

SANCHEZ: There is hope and there's hope with the group! Thank you very much!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: That is what we do with League of First Time Voters. Different groups all over the country who stand for or care about different things or who have never voted or who are newly energized. Join the League of First Time Voters powered by you, informed by CNN. Check in, join in, weigh in. Login for more info to CNN.com/League. Maybe I'll come visit you.

A record heat wave in the East Coast. Jacqui Jeras is going to tell us if there's any relief coming.

Also a daring rescue off the Gulf of Mexico and the Coast Guard is hoping for another one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We told you what's going on with all the tornadoes in parts of the Midwest, not to mention the flooding that's going on there as well. And now we've got some record heat waves that are developing in parts of the East Coast. Wow, trifecta, huh? (WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: We do know this though. We're just getting this information coming in now. CNN can now confirm now that, in fact, three people have been killed as a result of the flooding that we have been telling you about in parts of Indiana and Illinois.

So once again, we can now confirm that three people have been killed in those floods that we have been showing you. By the way, we should probably add that that number could possibly rise because there are still officials going home to home and car by car to search what's there.

The Coast Guard is also searching tonight for a missing sailor whose boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico while he was heading to regatta. His five crewmates were found and rescued early this morning. Look at this video. That's them being harnessed up to the helicopter. That's the boat. You can see it all the way down there. They spent hours floating hours off the Gulf Coast after their boat began taking on water yesterday. Most of the crew members are students at Texas A&M University. Officials say the keel of the boat was ripped off, indicating that the boat may have hit something in the water. A lone missing sailor is a safety officer, he still has not been found.

Investigators say an intense fire - there's also this story. Investigators saying an intense fire at the Governor's Mansion in Texas may have been arson. The home went up in flames early this morning causing part of the roof to collapse. It was empty at the time, undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation. The fire was so intense, it was too dangerous for firefighters to get on the second floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now what we've discovered and produced evidence here on the scene since we've been here, the state fire marshal's lead investigator, we have some evidence that indicates that we do have an intentionally set fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The mansion has served as the official residence of Texas governors and their families since -- pardon me, since 1856.

A heartbreaking story out of Georgia tonight. A 14-year-old, asleep in his bedroom, was killed when a woman crashed her pickup truck into his family's home overnight.

The truck entered the garage, ran over the boy, and actually pushed him through a wall into a second bedroom where his sister was sleeping, pinned the girl against another wall. And his sister suffered leg injuries. Firefighters spent hours trying to pull the teens from the wreckage.

Police say the driver was likely intoxicated at the time. They say that she also knocked down some mailboxes in the neighborhood as well. One Washington, D.C. neighborhood is fighting the fight of its life -- battling an upswing in murders. Police are using military-style checkpoint stops to try and stem the violence.

But as CNN's Kate Bolduan reports -- yes, a method that they are using has a lot of residents upset.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Even after the funeral, Anthony Mincey's family cannot believe it's real.

TAWANDA MINCEY, VICTIM'S SISTER: Disbelief. Still hoping he's going to come in. I have music of his I've been listening to just to hear his voice and I still think he's here. It's just unbelievable that he's gone.

SHIRLEY MINCEY, VICTIM'S MOTHER: He was just a straight, outgoing guy. Was never no problem to no one.

BOLDUAN: The 35-year-old son, brother and entertainer was shot and killed in northeast Washington, one of the most recent victims of a violent crime spree in the nation's capital. Seven deaths in one overnight period had D.C. police scrambling before the casualties increase. .

CHIEF CATHY LANIER, WASHINGTON POLICE: We're just going to just lock that area down. To the best of our ability we're going to lock it down and we're going to implement checkpoints.

BOLDUAN (on camera): The checkpoints are road blocks. Anyone driving into this neighborhood must have what police call a legitimate purpose. They live here, are visiting a friend or attending a community event. If not, police will turn them away.

LANIER: We will, very quickly, know when someone pulls up to the checkpoint, it's a resident who lives in the neighborhood versus somebody who has maybe been scanning the area but we're looking for anything that doesn't look right.

BOLDUAN (voice over): Police have used similar tactics in areas plagued by violence in New York, initiatives that may be fighting crime but are also stirring up controversy.

Civil rights activists call it a public relations stunt that borders on marshal law and violates residents' privacy rights.

MARK THOMPSON, NAACP POLICE TASK FORCE: Nobody should really be in a position when they come home in the evening or when they go to and from or when their friends and relatives come visit them that they need to be checked or surveilled or scrutinized.

BOLDUAN: The American Civil Liberties Union is considering legal action to fight the checkpoints.

But Anthony Mincey's family supports the initiative saying something must be done.

T. MINCEY: This will be with me until I'm buried in my grave, that the way they took my brother. He's now a statistic. He's now another number. He's now a part of this city's problem of murders that has to be solved.

BOLDUAN: Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Also this story, a bizarre stabbing rampage in a town square this. At least seven people killed. The story, next.

Also, people buried in rubble after a powerful earthquake jolts Greece. We'll bring you the video. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We could hardly believe what happened today in Tokyo. A 25-year-old man smashes a big truck into a mass of pedestrians. And that's not even the awful part of the story. Police say he then grabs a knife, gets out of the truck, and starts stabbing and slashing at people. Shocked on the street, he stabs 18 people, seven of whom died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS (Through translator): It was not really a traffic accident. A truck hitting about three people as it drove. Then I saw four to five people collapsing onto the street one after another. Someone shouting he was stabbed. Among them was some who are already unconscious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It is not yet known if the seven fatalities are from the truck crash or from the knife attack that followed. And these are some of the pictures that we've been getting in. Police overwhelmed the man alas and say that he is suicidal.

Fairly strong earthquake rattled the eastern Mediterranean today, flattening dozens of homes and killing at least two people, we understand, in coastal Greece.

This is the epicenter. We've put a map so you can see it. It's a little west of Athens. Geologists in Greece marked the quake at a magnitude of 6.5, which is considerably strong but not as strong as others, obviously.

There is some of the damage that we've been getting. Let me share some of these pictures with you. These are cracked walls on the houses that -- as you can see the house remains standing. So that's important. Many other buildings did collapse in the area, though. At last check, about 100 people were reported hurt. The shaking was felt as far away as southern Italy.

Update now on a story that we mentioned at the top of this newscast for you. An emergency medical helicopter crashed today while transporting a patient from Huntsville, Texas to Houston. All four people aboard are dead.

Christine Dobbyn of our Houston affiliate KTRK is joining us with more information.

Christine, what do you got?

CHRISTINE DOBBYN, KTRK REPORTER: Well, Rick, the NTSB arrived here on the scene in the last couple of hours to begin their initial investigation. The crash site is just over my shoulder beyond the trees here. This is a very heavily wooded area near the Sam Houston National forest just southwest of Huntsville. And we're about 75 miles north of Houston.

This helicopter was leaving a Huntsville hospital early this morning about 2:45 when the hospital says it lost contact with the pilot just minutes after takeoff. About 3:00, they tried to contact the pilot again and he did not respond. They did send search crews up in the air and around 8:30. A Texas DPS helicopter spotted the wreckage ear.

All four onboard were dead -- three crew members from the company and one patient that they were transporting to Houston. Now, the company that operates the helicopter, PHI Air Medical -- again, they confirmed that three of their crew members were onboard.

Investigators tell us there was not any bad weather. They did not even here a last-minute distress call from the pilot. So no word yet on the cause. The FAA is on the scene here, also the NTSB, to begin the initial phase of the investigation. We're also told that people are coming in from Dallas and Washington, D.C., and they say it will take a couple of days.

One of the biggest challenges is this wreckage is in such a heavily wooded area that it is going to take some time to try and find the cause -- Rick?

SANCHEZ: You know what strikes me about the story is the irony of it, Christine. Imagine the idea that somebody is being transported in a helicopter because they're trying to save their lives. The helicopter ends up going down and they die as a result, as well as all the people who were in the helicopter at the time.

Wow. Thanks so much for that report. We'll keep checking back to see what happens with this.

We're now getting this information -- breaking news out of Ohio. We understand it's northwest Ohio. Information coming to us now that there has been a plane crash there. Don't have any specifics, only that the plane is down.

Apparently it's a small plane. Six people apparently were affected by this. We -- as we get more information, we're going to be sharing it with you, and we hope to be able to do that very soon.

Meanwhile, Hispanic community members remember the loss of dear friend 40 years ago this week. What Bobby Kennedy meant to migrant workers next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right. We've got some more information to this story we shared you -- with you just moments ago about this plane crash in northwest Ohio.

We understand it was a single engine plane that crashed. Six people aboard, all of them, now according to the Associated Press, killed on that plane. It was a plane that had onboard a state lawmaker who took visitors for flights after a charity breakfast that had had taken place at the airport.

So the information coming to us now, all six people are dead, one of them a former state lawmaker. As we get more information on this story, we will be sharing it with you.

Meanwhile, the death of Senator Robert F. Kennedy gunned down by an assassin 40 years ago this week. It has a special significance for one group of Americans. Mexican Americans recall his struggle for their rights when few, if any, American politicians would have been fighting for them.

CNN's Ted Rowlands brings us their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, FMR. UNITED STATES SENATOR: That's my high regard to...

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dolores Huerta was standing next to Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel as he celebrated his 1968 win in the California Democratic primary.

KENNEDY: And on to Chicago and let's win there.

ROWLANDS: She was there because of Kennedy's close relationship with the United Farm Workers Union which Huerta helped start with Cesar Chavez.

DOLORES HUERTA, FARM LABOR ACTIVIST: One of the first things we could do...

ROWLANDS: Forty years later, Huerta who still works on behalf of farm workers, says Robert Kennedy was the first national politician to embrace them.

HUERTA: To have Robert Kennedy come to the farm workers, it really gave us a lot of legitimacy in terms of the union. It did. You know it really put us on the map.

ROWLANDS: Huerta says Kennedy believed in the farm workers' plight, standing with Cesar Chavez and marching with farm workers when other politicians at the time stayed clear.

DR. HARRY PACHON, TOMAS RIVERA POLICY INSTITUTE: The national focus on the Hispanic community is something that was new.

ROWLANDS: Dr. Harry Pachon of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California says Latinos really believed in Kennedy's pledge to fight for them and other working class citizens.

PACHON: He reached out and you felt that there was really a coalition that could be made of black, Latino and white working class of, you know, voters. We all have something in common. It was very powerful at that time.

ROWLANDS: Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, just 15 at the time, says Kennedy's legacy still lives on for many Latino Americans.

MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: He was the first, from the political establishment, to reach out significantly as he did to the farm workers. He will also be remembered fondly.

ROWLANDS: Minutes after that celebration at the Ambassador Hotel, Robert Kennedy was shot and killed in the hotel kitchen.

HUERTA: There were a lot of shots and I thought they were firecrackers because they were so fast. Then somebody grabbed me and people started screaming and said, no, those are bullets.

VILLARAIGOSA: I remember the chaos. I remember the bewilderment. I remember the pervasive pain in our city over this assassination of such a great American happened in Los Angeles.

PACHON: It was really a very powerful, emotional event that occurred, not only in the Hispanic community but in all communities that were supporting him and then saw him as a beacon of hope.

HUERTA: He really, you know, has empathy and concern and was one that would do something about it. So it was a tragic, tragic moment. Tragic loss.

BOLDUAN: A loss still felt in this community 40 years later.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: They are not exactly aviation experts, but their flying contraptions can sure draw a crowd.

We are going to show you an air show like you have never seen before. First, as I laugh, we have to show you this. There are welcome ceremonies going on right now.

OK, what in the world is that, you ask, right? They are the ceremonies and you couldn't see it there, but First Lady Laura Bush was in that picture as well. She was being welcomed to Afghanistan. So OK, you'll see her in a minute here, if we can run this again.

She's being welcomed to Afghanistan's Bamyan Province today by a soldier from New Zealand. What our for that -- see the first lady? That's her right there on the right, next to that another man. And the soldier comes up and does this whole (INAUDIBLE) thing with her.

The soldier is performing a traditional warrior or the haka dance, H- A-K-A dance. Other New Zealand troops also got involved.

New Zealand's troops took over security in the Bamyan Province from U.S. troops back in 2003 in this province. It's so splendid it befuddled us.

Back here in the U.S., no one ever escaped from Alcatraz, right? But triathletes this morning did the next best thing.

They dove off a ferry boat next to the former prison island in San Francisco Bay and swam a mile and a half back to the city. It was the first leg of the escape from Alcatraz triathlon -- doesn't that sound cool? -- which it includes an 18-mile bike race and an 8-mile run.

No, you don't have to break through concrete.

From Australia now, you've heard the dog-eating-your-homework story that my children have used? This is the dog-that-ate-the-poisonous- toad-and-lived-to-tell-about-it story.

Bella swallowed a cane toad, but luckily she didn't chew it. See, that's the trick, don't chew it. She was rushed to the vet, threw up the toad, and now the dog and the toad are safe and sound.

The vet says Bella was very lucky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA HANSEN, VETERINARIAN: If she had a mouth that had chewed on it or squished it in any way, shape, or form, she would be really sick now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: How do you swallow a toad without chewing it?

Sick is an understatement. The cane toad's toxins, by the way, can kill a dog in about 20 minutes usually.

And here's proof, in case you need it, that some people should just keep their clothes on. 200 cyclists in Mexico City took part in this weekend -- get this -- something called the World Naked Bike Ride. Naked Bike Ride. The Naked Bike Ride.

It's officially billed as a celebration of cycling's positive effects on the environment. At least most of them wore a helmet. Obviously, we can't show you the goods.

Finally, from London tonight, you might think that the Wright Brothers saw that whole flying thing back in the last century. But you haven't been to the not-so-serious competition known as Flugtag. Flugtag.

CNN's Linzie Janis reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINZIE JANIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's a yellow submarine trying to fly in London's Hyde Park. Luckily for this aircraft, there's a pond below.

Its creators, The Flying Aquanauts, were inspired by their favorite Beatles song.

They're competing against 40 other teams for prize money and the chance to get a real pilot's license.

(On camera): This team has spent months building and designing their flying machines. They'll each get 30 seconds to woo the judges with their (INAUDIBLE) for hurling themselves up a platform and attempting flight.

(Voice over): But most of their competitors aren't even remotely serious about flying.

STEVE RIDLEY, BAD HABITS: We are called Bad Habits. And we're two flying nuns. We have sinned and we do have a lot of bad habits which we'd rather not talk about.

JANIS: This group of guys modeled their contraption after a British dessert.

UNIDENTIFIED CONTESTANT: Well, it's guaranteed to fail really, so -- there's no expectation to fulfill, is there really? It's not like we've designed it to fly.

JANIS: And there are the self-proclaimed Blonde Bimbos and their giant flying handbag.

POPPET DEPP, BLONDE BIMBOS: We've always had difficulty finding buying enough bag big enough to put our beauty products. And so we made one. And while we are at we might as well, fly.

JANIS: Flugtag or Flying Day in German has traveled to dozens of cities. But one of the events' judges says it's a centric nature suits the British perfectly.

JODIE KIDD, JUDGE: I think it's just wonderful lunacy and I think it's fantastic that these people put so much time into these crafts and that everyone comes and it's such a fantastic day. And it's wonderfully English.

JANIS: The Gladwinners say they put a lot of effort into their aircraft.

PAUL HECKLES, GLADWINNERS: How do I say this? The one part we didn't think would fail failed.

JANIS: That didn't stop them from winning the day and clinching $10,000 in prize money. Serious cash for a bit of silly fun.

Linzie Janis, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Interesting stuff, huh?

I'm Rick Sanchez. Thanks so much for being with us. We have got a lot of prep tonight because our 10:00 newscast that we're going to be putting together for you including some of the stories that we have been telling you about, the flooding that's going on in the Midwest.

And also a quick look at the headlines after the break, and then my friend Lou Dobbs this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: I'm Rick Sanchez.

Lou Dobbs is coming up in just a little bit, but first here is what we are following right now.

Four hundred flights, we have just learned, cancelled at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.