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Fatal Fall of a 20-Year-Old Model; John McCain Courting Evangelicals; Covert Operations in Iran; Too Racy to Read?
Aired June 29, 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: Cozying up to the reverend. Billy Graham shares a very personal memory with John McCain, but what about an endorsement?
Police have a person of interest in that pregnant soldiers' suspicious death. We are learning more about the fellow they are investigating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Little girls, they love motorcycles. I mean, they have a real passion for bikes and it grew up into this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't you say you rode a motorcycle one time?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: They are revved up. The energy at the annual Gay Pride Parade. We are there. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
First thing we want to do as we start this newscast is try and bring you up to date on a story that we're just really now getting in. These are pictures that have come to us within the last 15 to 20 minutes. It's the very first video coming into CNN of what really has been a bizarre event that's taken place in Alabama. This is an air show that was under way at the Huntsville International Airport when suddenly and seemingly, out of nowhere, according to witnesses, a severe storm just blew through, somewhat unexpected and started knocking over some of the tents.
As a result of this, a child was killed. Police aren't releasing any names right now. But you see the people there scurrying about trying to spend a Sunday afternoon at an air show, as many Americans often do. Some of the information we're getting now is the child may have been six or 7-years-old. Thirteen other people had to be taken to the hospital.
We've just gotten this i-Report as well from the scene. Somebody who is there, took this shot and just sent it to us, just moments after the storm passed. Just looking at it, you don't see anything extremely peculiar other than some of the tents there on the left that apparently have been put in the area where -- near the tarmac where apparently the death occurred and where some of the people were injured. Severe weather that caused this may do more damage as it moves east, we're told. More on that now. Let's go to Karen Maginnis. I guess I should ask you first, as we got this report, it didn't sound like it was anything that folks there were expecting. Should they have been?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It looked as if the weather had been threatening most of the day. Although those images appeared to be a little deceptive. There were thunderstorms in the area, although, I can't imagine that the Blue Angels would take off if there were thunderstorms. I don't know that they did take off, but they were scheduled to for this big air show.
I want to zoom in across this area and let you know, I print off all the observations from that airfield. The highest wind gusts that we have is between 20 and 25-miles-per-hour. Is that capable of blowing a tent over? If you get a sudden gust, it certainly is and those things are very easy to lift.
So it's possible that the tents were somehow the affecting mechanism for those injuries there. I want to zoom in a little bit more closely. Here's Huntsville. Further to the south, we have thunderstorms. A thunderstorm watch has been in effect across much of the southeast throughout much of the day. Right now we've got mostly cloudy skies and it's breezy with the passage of the frontal system. So Rick, there was weather all across the southeast, in particular for Huntsville. They were expecting about a 40-50 percent chance of thunderstorms there, and they did see thunderstorms.
SANCHEZ: Hey Karen, stay with me for just a moment. Roger if you could, put those pictures back up. I want Karen to look at these with me because as we look at these pictures, we can't help but ask questions about what really could have happened.
I can understand the idea of people being injured, but the idea that there would fatalities as a result of something like this? We're talking about tents. Can you -- I know I'm asking you to do something as a meteorologist, I'm not asking you to try and guess here, but can you draw a picture in our heads as to how this could have come about, how bad it could have been, what actually happened here?
SANCHEZ: Rick, you know, those tents, you can imagine if a swift gust of wind came in and caught that. It's almost like a balloon, it takes it off. And you saw all those stakes that were grounding the tent there. Perhaps, somehow, those stakes or those poles were blown around. I'm guessing they certainly could have. I didn't see anything like 40, 50, 60-miles-per-hour winds.
SANCHEZ: Well you know, we always get reports when we do tornadoes and hurricanes of things being picked up and literally turned into missiles when you have sudden wind gusts like this. Would this be the kind of wind that could have caused something like that? I mean look, if you're next to a speaker and it gets knocked over and it hits you flat on the head, I guess it could do an awful lot of damage. MAGINNIS: Exactly. You can have F-5 tornadoes and no fatalities. You can have an F-0 tornado that could kill a dozen people. So it is -- I'm using that just as an example to show that it doesn't have to be the most powerful to cause damage, injuries and fatalities and that sort of thing. And certainly I'm not seeing the observations that would support something that you might expect with a 60-mile-per-hour wind gust. But with the tents blown over, certainly, the cause and effect, 25-miles-per-hour wind gust that could do it. Could have blown those poles, those stakes over, certainly.
SANCHEZ: That's interesting that you would explain it that way. We're going to stay on top of this as we get more information, we're going to be sharing it with you. By the way, a caveat to this story, we have been told that the air show itself was canceled. That's why you may have seen in some of those pictures a lot of folks have been going home. But again, Karen Maginnis is there, we hope to get a report from the scene. We'll let you know what's going on. As we get more, we will provide it.
Meanwhile, the candidate and the evangelist spending time together today. This is in the North Carolina mountains. Senator John McCain, who's made no secret about his need for religious voter support, met with Billy Graham and his son Franklin Graham. It was private, no television cameras. But we hear that Billy Graham told McCain about meeting his dad, Admiral John McCain, a top commander during the Vietnam War. The two prayed for the younger McCain, who was a prisoner of war at the time. Senator McCain said he did not ask for Billy Graham's vote and it wasn't offered.
But you can interpret this state from Reverend Graham however you like. Here it is. He says, "While as a Christian minister, I am not endorsing a candidate for president, I do endorse the responsibility of men and women of faith everywhere to vote and to be involved in the political process. I encourage people to vote for the candidate at every level who best represents their values and convictions, and then to pray for those in authority over us as required in scripture."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're known to my family, they know of me for many years. They're great leaders in this nation. And I appreciated the opportunity to visit with him and I'm very grateful for the time they spent with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Some would ask why McCain is so actively courting churchgoing voters. They almost always support the conservative candidate anyway, right? Well they have a label, the religious right. This year, it looks like neither party has a lock on the evangelical vote. Here's CNN's Kate Bolduan with this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call them political misfits, the post-religious right or even the next evangelicals. No matter the label, these voters are anything but easy to define.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found the light of the world. We found the hope of the planet. And it burns much brighter than McCain or Obama or America.
BOLDUAN: Shane Claiborne is the perfect example. We caught up with Claiborne, a Christian activist and author on his book tour in Pittsburgh. The title says it all, "Jesus for President."
SHAINE CLAIBORNE, CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST: Over and over we're hearing things like, I knew there was more to Christianity than what I saw on TV, than televangelists and patriotic pastors and cover-up bishops.
BOLDUAN: He represents a new movement of young evangelical voters. They care about traditional issues like abortion and gay marriage, but say their agenda is far broader: poverty, social justice and the environment are moving to the forefront.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the kingdom of the poor and broken.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pledge allegiance.
CLAIBORNE: It's getting harder and harder to find good grease.
BOLDUAN: Claiborne's tour bus even runs on veggie oil.
CLAIBORNE: And it's cheap.
BOLDUAN: In 2004, about three quarters of evangelical voters supported voted George Bush, a solid voting block political analysts say may not be such a lock this year because of these young evangelicals.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: The impact is likely to be that they will dilute the evangelical support for the Republican Party. The evangelical vote will be more up for grabs than it has in many years.
AMANDA WIDING, UNIDENTIFIED VOTER: I'm very undecided. There's certain issues where I identify more with the Republicans and others where I identify more with the Democrats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I grew up in a very Republican family. But my growth in my faith has kind of led me in a different direction.
BOLDUAN: Back on tour, Shaine Claiborne says it's more about how you live your life November 3rd and 5th than how you vote on November 4th, Election Day.
Is the religious right, wrong?
CLAIBORNE: What a lot of us are doing is trying to learn from the mistakes of the generation that's gone before us. We are not going to endorse a candidate or a party. This is not about going left or right, but going deeper. BOLDUAN: Kate Bolduan, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, Senator Obama is treating this Sunday as a sabbatical from the campaign trail. Last night after both he and John McCain addressed the Latino Leadership Conference of Washington, the presumptive Democratic nominee took his wife Michelle out for a night on the town in Chicago. Earlier, McCain said Obama's word can't be trusted because he pulled out of the public financing system. Now, Obama is firing back, accusing McCain of flip-flopping on immigration reform.
Well, the latest campaign news is at your fingertips. Just go to CNNPolitics.com. We also have analysis, by the way, from the best political team on television. It's all there at CNNPolitics.com.
San Francisco, across Eastern Europe and South America, the flag flying most this weekend was rainbow colored as big cities threw their annual gay pride parades. San Francisco, a record turnout with plenty the for gay and lesbian community to celebrate this year, especially. Just this month, they won the right to marry in the state of California. In Chicago, a smaller, lower key turnout than on the West Coast. Still, 400,000 people turned out for the city's 39th annual pride parade. Big turnout as well in Mexico City yesterday, but it wasn't all celebration. Gay and lesbian marchers there are demanding some major civil rights and crime reforms from Mexico's president.
I've got two new twists to tell you about in the suspicious death of a pregnant soldier in North Carolina. Police have been trying to run down leads ever since Megan Touma's body was found last week. Now, all of a sudden, we're hearing about a bizarre letter and that's not all. Here's WRAL's Brian Mims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN MIMS, WRAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An official at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg confirms that one of it's students is being questioned in the death of Specialist Megan Touma. She was 23-years-old and 7 months pregnant when she was found dead in a hotel room.
Lieutenant Colonel John Clearwater says, the soldier is a male, but not would not release his name, and we're not sure (ph) whether he's related to Specialist Touma. He says the soldier has not been charged with anything and decline to comment further.
This development came the same day that the "Fayetteville Observer" published the letter claimed to be written by the killer. The person calls the murder a, quote, "masterpiece" and threatens to kill again. At a bottom of the letter is a symbol like the one used by the Zodiac killer, a serial murderer from the 1960s who was never caught.
Dr. Michael Teague, a forensic psychologist and former criminal profiler for the Raleigh Police Department says there's a variety of reasons someone would use that reference.
MICHALE TEAGUE, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: I'm thinking it's probably more a chance of somebody wanting some publicity or having a very kind of an estranged sense of humor or maybe even the actual perpetrator trying to confuse the police.
MIMS: A Fayetteville police official told the newspaper he believes the letter was written to try to mislead police. Specialist Touma had been staying at this Fairfield Inn by Cross Creek Mall when a hotel employee found her decomposed body in the bathtub last Saturday. Search warrants released Friday night show two sections of dry wall in the hotel room had what appeared to be blood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: That's Brian Mims out of Raleigh following that story for us. By the way, "Fayetteville Observer" says that same symbol used in the letter was drawn in lipstick on the mirror in Touma's hotel room. So what that would tell you and me is it was either somebody who had inside information on the investigation, or it would have to be the killer himself who wrote the letter. Otherwise, how would he have known that that symbol as also in the hotel room?
By the way, this next story, it's just hard to tell. You go to an amusement park and you're all ready to have a day of fun, right? Not the case yesterday in Six Flags in Atlanta. A teenager scaled two fences and ended up underneath a roller coaster. Wrong place, wrong time. The 17-year-old was decapitated. Bystanders were there and they saw it happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of them ducked under the ride. The other got caught in between the ride and it picked them up and slammed them into the pole. And you heard a big pop and he just laid there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Now some witnesses say that the victim was trying to track down a lost hat. Park officials stress the 17-year-old jumped over two six-foot fences, was in a restricted area. That ride, by the way, is still closed today.
First it was fear among the fast moving flames. Now, health fears are topping the list as firefighters battle wildfires from California to New Mexico. And how would you like to fill 'er up for free? You won't believe the lengths that some will go to get a tank of gas on the house.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Time to check the gas prices once again for you and let you know what's going on with Americans who may be staying home in bigger numbers this Fourth of July. We have checked the new figures than just about any years past. We have just checked AAA's new figures, here they are. Gas prices climb seven tenths of a cent overnight. The new national average for a gallon of regular is now at $4.08. Now in light of that, AAA says there's going to be fewer people traveling next weekend. But listen, the roads are still going to be pretty crowded. An estimated 34 million Americans are planning to travel somewhere. Air travel also slightly down.
Remember this time last year when gas prices were hovering around $3 a gallon? It seems like a bargain by today's terms, but don't think American retailers are just standing idly by. Their answer? Well, some call it free gas. Here's CNN's Allan Chernoff.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a lousy economy, you've got to motivate consumers and the motivator of the year is free gas. The promise of free fuel is how businesses are selling everything from candy bars to cars.
VINCENT TEPEDINO, BAY RIDGE CHRYSLER: It brought a lot of customers in that may not otherwise have bought our product.
FRED AUSTIN, CHRYSLER CUSTOMER: This is a good bargain, this is a good deal. You know? We as Americans, we all are looking for deals.
CHERNOFF: There are deals at the ballpark, $25 of gas if you buy four tickets to the San Francisco Giants. Free gas for less wholesale entertainment in Nevada. The women of the Shady Lady Ranch, a legal brothel, offer $150 gas cards for those who indulge in three hours of pleasure.
(on camera):Free gas promotions are in the supermarket, too. The Shop Rite chain is offering $25 gas cards to shoppers who buy $75 worth of major brand name products, so you can fight gingivitis and get free gas at the same time.
(voice over): For these pharmacists, gas is also a lure to take business from competitors. Transfer prescriptions to Rite Aid, the pharmacy will enter you into a weekly drawing for a year's worth of fuel.
MIKE POIRIER, RITE AID PHARMACIST: The more prescriptions they transfer with the coupon, the more chances they have to win.
CHERNOFF: And free gas is motivating good deeds. Connecticut's Red Cross enters blood donors in free gas raffles.
PAUL SULLIVAN, AMERICAN RED CROSS: The gas cards these days are highly valued and we're finding it to be a successful promotion.
CHERNOFF: The more you spend, the more gas you get. Buy Callaway's (ph) best driver, get it? -- and you'll have a fuel tank to get to the golf course.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the FTI, which is their square driver, also a composite head and this one is $500 and gets a $100 gas card rebate. CHERNOFF: Or if you can afford it in this economy, rent a yacht for $20,000 an get $500 of gas. Let's not even think of how much gas that yacht is burning.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: It's the economy. It's issue number one. We're going to bring you the very latest financial news weekdays at noon. It's info that you need on the mortgage meltdown, the credit crunch, the gas prices, shall we go on? "ISSUE #1" weekdays at noon Eastern.
Now to the raging wildfires that we've been telling you about out west. Fast moving flames, not the only concern. Smoke and ash are now filling the skies over northern California from more than 1,000 wildfires, many sparked by lightning. There's a red flag warning in effect signaling an extreme fire danger. More storms and lightning are in the forecast, we understand. Now, wildfires are also scorching parts of Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Firefighters are making progress against a blaze in Park County, Colorado, where about 100 people have been allowed back home after evacuating Thursday. Let's go back to Karen Maginnis and find out about this, now. Are these the kind of fires that you would expect to see this time of the year anyway?
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: Your son falls in love with someone that you think is the wrong race, so you hire somebody and have her killed. An amazing story, that's ahead.
Crushed by cops and mad about American meat. Riots, they are next as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back, I'm Rick Sanchez. Tonight, a long, unsolved murder is finally solved. And this week, the man responsible was sent away for life. His son married somebody that he simply didn't approve of because she was black. So he had her killed. Think about that, as you watch this story by CNN's Don Lemon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chiman Rai did not even flinch at his fate.
UNIDENTIFIED JUDGE: I hereby sentence to life imprisonment without parole for the murder of Sparkle Rai.
LEMON: Not surprising, considering the cold-blooded nature of his crime, hiring a hitman for $10,000 to kill his daughter-in-law, the mother of his granddaughter. Because she was black, the 68-year- old native of India believed it cast shame on his family. Ricky Rai hired Sparkle Reid as a clerk at his family's hotel. They fell in love, had a baby and married in March of 2000.
Sparkle's family welcomed Ricky with open arms but knowing his family wouldn't accept Sparkle as his wife, Ricky tried to keep the marriage secret. Even telling his new wife that his parents were dead but his family found out. And Tim Rai harassed the couple to the point they had to move from Louisville to Atlanta.
RICKY RAI, VICTIM'S HUSBAND: We were brought up that, you know, we should marry, you know, Indian, same race.
LEMON: One month after they married, 22-year-old Sparkle at home alone with her seven-month-old daughter when the hitman using a young girl as a decoy knocked on the couple's front door.
Sparkle's dad and stepmom says she never stood a chance.
DONNA LOWRY REID, VICTIM'S STEPMOTHER: She was tortured. The testimony came out, it's very difficult to hear, that he wrapped a vacuum cleaner cord around her neck and put his foot on her head and pulled and thought she was dead and when she came back to life, and reached toward her child, he got a knife out of the kitchen and stabbed her 13 times.
LEMON: For four years, Sparkle's murder went unsolved until the girl the killer brought with him now all grown up was arrested for another crime and confessed to witnessing the murder.
BENNET REID, VICTIM'S FATHER: The hardest thing about it now is as I speak to her daughter, and trying to relay things that I hope that Sparkle would have said, not having Sparkle here to say it herself.
LEMON: Eight years after their daughter's murder, the truth in its tangled details all rolled out in an Atlanta courtroom. The years of wondering suddenly turned into the ultimate lesson in racism.
B. REID: I think as individuals we should be able to talk to each other and let's work things out. Don't let it get to the point where it makes anger and hatred.
D. REID: I guess we just didn't realize that the extent of the racism within this other culture and it has been shocking to us. That anybody would go to such lengths to get rid of somebody who is considered an embarrassment to their family. It's just mind boggling to imagine that.
LEMON: The Reids have adopted their granddaughter who now has no recollection of her biological father, Ricky. Ricky is now married to an Indian woman.
Don Lemon, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: By the way, later tonight at 10 Eastern, the other family destroyed by all of this. What is Ricky Rai up to now? And why is skin color so important in Indian society? Don is going to have more. We'll have it for you at 10:00.
Maryland police tonight are trying to piece together what happened to an accused cop killer arrested on Friday, dead on Sunday. You see these two suspects on the ground? One is 19-year-old Ronnie White (ph). This video taken as White (ph) was being arrested for allegedly running down a county police corporal in Upper Marlboro, Maryland with a truck. Early this morning, White (ph) was rushed to the emergency room after officers found him unconscious in his cell. Police say they are baffled. Emergency room personnel say they found no visible signs of trauma.
Happening right now around the country, let's try to catch you up on some of the stories that we're following. San Francisco's gay pride celebrate or a honeymoon for the newlyweds. It was a full show today, veils, tux and all thanks to the court ruling declaring same- sex marriages legal in the state.
She graced runways and top fashion magazines. Sadly today, she's front page, 20-year-old model Ruslana Korshunova fell nine stories from her high-rise apartment in New York's financial district. Investigators rule the death a suicide.
And John McCain has met with Evangelist Billy Graham and his son Franklin at their home in North Carolina. The Grahams and McCains said good things about today's meeting.
But Franklin made it clear there was no endorsement yet.
A secret war? We're getting word the Bush administration has increased covert operations inside Iran and in a big way.
Also, can you feel the excitement? Soccer fans around the world celebrating as who wins the European championship? We'll tell you in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: There, you see the words. The candidate and the Evangelist spending time together today in the North Carolina Mountains. Senator John McCain, who's made no secret about his need for religious support, met with Billy Graham and his son Franklin Graham.
It was private, no television cameras but we heard Billy Graham told McCain about meeting his dad, Admiral John McCain. A tough commander during the Vietnam War, the two prayed for the younger McCain, who was a prisoner of war at that time. Senator McCain said, he did not ask for Billy's vote, by the way, it wasn't offered.
But you can interpret this statement however you'd like from Reverend Graham. Here it is, "While as a Christian minister I am not endorsing a candidate for president, I do endorse the responsibility of men and women of faith everywhere to vote and to be involved in the political process. I encourage people to vote for the candidate at every level who best represents their values and convictions, and then to pray for those in authority over us as required in the Scripture." And guess who else wants to hear from John McCain? Conservative voters; they want to know just how right he is for the Oval Office.
Here's CNN's Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this Cincinnati town hall, John McCain talked about a lot of issues from Iraq to taxes to gas prices.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wanted to give Americans a little tax holiday.
BASH: He spoke for more than an hour, but never mentioned issues social conservatives skeptical of McCain want to hear; his opposition to abortion and gay marriage or appointing conservative judges. Conservative activists say that's a big problem.
PHIL BURRES, CITIZENS FOR COMMUNITY VALUES: John McCain needs to talk about life more often; he needs to talk about marriage. If the senator thinks he's going to run the campaign appealing to the middle by avoiding to talk about the social issues; he's going to lose Ohio.
BASH: Phil Burress delivered that warning to McCain personally. One of a handful of Ohio conservatives invited to meet privately with McCain.
BURRESS: He did take detailed notes and he was very sincere about telling us that he heard us loud and clear.
BASH: McCain downplayed the meeting to reporters.
MCCAIN: I think it's just a normal thing to do. We all know that Ohio is a very crucial state.
BASH: But he has reason to worry about conservatives coming out for him. In a new "L.A. Times" poll out this week, nearly one in five self-described members of the religious right said they would vote for someone other than McCain. The same amount are undecided. And more voters who attend weekly religious services say they'd vote for Obama over McCain.
That's especially worrisome for McCain in Ohio where George Bush won the state and re-election was vote from social conservatives.
McCain is out of step with his base on some issues like stem-cell research, but for the most part they agree. The problem, say activists is rank-and-file conservatives don't know it.
BURRESS: We can't deliver that message completely by ourselves. Senator McCain is going to have to put his hand on the wheel of the ship.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: That seems to be one of the most important topics this week.
I'm going to be talking a lot more about these candidates reaching to the right or needing to. Barack Obama, also being accused by many on the left of going too far to the right just within the last couple days, in fact just this morning.
Also, how gas prices have become one of the biggest campaign issues of 2008. We're going to go beyond the White House to the guys in your own backyard who want your votes. They're pulling out all the stops and so is our senior political editor, Mark Preston. He's on "Politics" tonight at 10:00 Eastern.
Also, some very strong accusations from a journalist from the "New Yorkers", Seymour Hersh is telling CNN that Congress authorized up to $400 million for covert operations in Iran. Get this it says the program is being stage from Afghanistan.
Listen to what he told Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEYMOUR HERSH, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: This president did escalate the covert war, the secret war inside Iran. We've been doing stuff inside Iran since '05 pretty much, pretty heavily. You know looking at the nuclear facilities, collecting intelligence, trying to undermine the regime, et cetera, et cetera.
But there was a significant escalation this year. We had personally got a great deal of authorization to spend up to $400 million. It doesn't mean he spent it all yet. But he's got that kind of authorization from one of the secret committees --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: By the way to that, a White House spokesperson says, "No comment."
Israel has approved a deal to exchange five Lebanese Hezbollah prisoners for two kidnapped Israeli soldiers. The prisoners include the man shown on these banners; he's serving four life terms for a brutal attack that left two Israeli children dead.
Before the deal was okayed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet he's not sure if the two soldiers are still alive. As part of the deal, Israel will also return the remains of dozens of Hezbollah members to Lebanon.
No surprise, Zimbabwe's electoral officials say President Robert Mugabe won yesterday's discredited run-off election. Mugabe won -- or pardon me -- was the only candidate following a campaign of violence against the opposition, he was sworn in today. President Bush calls the government illegitimate and is considering a possible arms embargo.
Robert Mugabe led an uprising against the white government of Rhodesia in the late 1970s. He was elected prime minister of the newly-named Zimbabwe in 1980. That was the country's highest office and the title was later changed to president in 1987. Now, 84 years old, Mugabe is the only Zimbabwe leader the country has ever known.
All right at this point, South Korean officials aren't trying to stop protestors, they are just trying to control them and keep the peace as best they can.
A couple thousand people marched the streets of downtown Seoul chanting slogans and demanding the government to back its position to lift the ban on U.S. beef. U.S. beef imports have been banned since 2003 when a diseased cow was discovered in the United States.
Viva Espana. It's not because I said it. It's because they just won. That's right, the European championship. It's about time, too. Spain won that championship 1-0 over Germany today for it's a major title first time in 44 years. They have kind of always been the little engine that could. Today, they were the big engine that did.
A teacher kicked out of the classroom for getting her students to read.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONNIE HEERMAN, SUSPENDED TEACHER: They were reading. They were engaged. And then I read that e-mail again. I looked at my students and I decided I want them to read this book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Why the controversy? We'll read between the lines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: It's considered a major victory when a teacher gets students excited about reading, right? Well, this book or rather what's on these pages in this book you see right there behind me, I should say, right there behind me, thank you, causing a lot of drama at a school in Indiana. We've been looking into it.
Here's CNN Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Connie Heerman has been teaching school in Indiana for 27 years. But because she used this book in her English class, she's been kicked out.
TUCHMAN: It's your feeling they were banning the book?
HEERMAN: Yes.
TUCHMAN: The book is called the "Freedom Writers Diary" a collection of journals by inner city teenagers in California. It became a motion picture, last year with Hillary Swank playing a real life teacher who convinced the kids to write.
HILLARY SWANK, ACTRESS: My name is Erin Gruwell. Welcome to freshman English.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll give this bitch a week.
TUCHMAN: The movie and the book are sometimes graphic and crude, but also inspirational. Almost all the students went from the ghetto to college. This is the real Erin Gruwell.
ERIN GRUWELL, AUTHOR: A teacher has never been removed from a classroom, suspended and or terminated for using our book. So this is the first case.
TUCHMAN: Gruwell traveled to Indiana and testified before the Perry Township school board about how the writing program turned kids' lives around. But the board was not swayed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All those in favor just signify by saying Aye.
PUBLIC: Aye.
TUCHMAN: Connie Heerman was suspended for a year and a half without pay.
HEERMAN: They come to know through reading and through literature that they are not alone in the problems that they face. That's the beauty of the book.
TUCHMAN: Her union says this is censorship, a violation of the first amendment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not the American way.
TUCHMAN: The school board feels the language is very inappropriate.
JON BAILEY, PERRY TOWNSHIP SCHOOL BOARD ATTORNEY: The people who know the school district, who live in this community, who are elected by the voters of this community, looked at this content and said that it will do more harm than good.
TUCHMAN: Your fat blank don't need to be eating blank. Then it says, blank was the first word that came to mind when I saw those stupid mother blanks, coming toward me today after school. And that's some pretty graphic language for kids, right?
HEERMAN: That's the way they talk.
BAILEY: The adults that teach kids that function as a role model for kids don't talk like that. And if they do, they need their head examined because they are terrible role models for these kids.
TUCHMAN: The board says Heerman is out because she was insubordinate that she was told she could not use the book. Heerman says for three months nobody would make a decision. So she sent 150 permission slips home.
How many parents agreed that it was ok for their kids to read the book?
HEERMAN: 149.
TUCHMAN: So in this high school classroom Heerman passed out the book; that day she received an e-mail from her superior saying you must take the books back.
HEERMAN: They were reading, they were engaged. And then I read that e-mail again and I looked at my students and I decided I want them to read this book. So I did nothing. I allowed them to keep the book.
TUCHMAN: That's when the school took action. Many students of Perry Meridian High are bussed in from poor often dangerous neighborhoods. Tasha Whatley says she got the book and did not give it back.
TASHA WHATLEY, STUDENT: It just more poems and there's humor was there. She gives us excitement for English class.
TUCHMAN: And you don't really have that excitement anymore?
WHATLEY: No.
TUCHMAN: Gloria Whatley is Tasha's mother.
GLORIA WHATLEY, TASHA'S MOTHER: If the parents are ok with it, then it should be all right. Because it's a good story and it helps kids.
TUCHMAN: I can't see how this would have made kids worse kids. And it could have made them a lot them better. Does that trouble you at all?
BARBARA THOMPSON, PERRY TOWNSHIP SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT: No, what troubles me is that Connie Heerman made a conscious choice to send our children a very poor message and that if you're told no, do it anyway. If it feels good, do it.
TUCHMAN: Ironically, you can find "The Freedom Writers Diary" in Perry Meridian school library. The administration says there's a lesser standard for library books than for textbooks.
Connie Heerman will be allowed to come back to work here in September, 2009. Her attitude about her return will not amuse the school board.
HEERMAN: I will not go back into the classroom unless I am allowed to use that book.
TUCHMAN: Her return may not be pretty.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Indianapolis.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: You have to stick around to hear what this mother did. She took on an alleged peeping-Tom preying on her daughter in a Wal- Mart.
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SANCHEZ: We have got some I-reports coming in we want to share with you. These are from I-reports from people just like you who have been taking pictures and sending them in. This is a photo of the waters around Elbury, Missouri. Take a look at the water how it's gone over the levee. It was taken Saturday by Bill and Tami Leverett. Thanks.
Also this is another picture showing a bit of a soggy mess as flood waters covered the Missouri road there.
Also check out the windy weather, this is near the windy city. Pictures of the damage around Evansville, Illinois after some of those gusty winds blew through that area. Those pictures are compliments of Shayan Shamsaie. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
Karen Maginnis can share a lot with us tonight because there's a lot going on. Do we start with the winds or the fires?
KAREN MAGINNIS, METEOROLOGIST: Fires. This is where we're starting this hour. Any other hour, it could be the severe storms across the east. We have had some reports of strong winds across the northeast.
I want to show you that ring of fire in Northern California. We spoke with Mike Jarvis a couple hours ago. He said they are making slow progress. It is very slow-going.
You have to remember, the terrain is not always in the firefighters' favor because it's very steep in some cases, you have to get access somehow. But, these are the temperatures that we've seen. I've looked at Las Vegas, 108. Yuma and Palm Springs both reporting 114 degrees.
It's been tinder-dry. They hardly see any rainfall during the month of June. Some of the rainfall reports have been 0 from Bakersfield to Modesto and to Los Angeles, you see no rain fall.
Right now, red flag warning. Critical fire, weather conditions breezy, low humidity, chance for thunderstorms. Could be some dry thunderstorms.
Take a live look at what's going on in Sacramento now. And what you're looking, it's not really haze, it's smoke. And they're saying it's PM 2.5. And that is the particulate matter that they have in the atmosphere, it floats in the air. It's very capable of going deep into your lungs.
And Rick, they're saying it could be very, very damaging for folks in the long run. They are telling them stay indoors as long as that smoke is hanging around. Back to you.
SANCHEZ: By the way, what's going on with the situation down there in -- it was Alabama wasn't it -- where they had the situation with the wind storm? What do we know?
MAGINNIS: It was in northern Alabama, in Huntsville. They were supposed to have an air show; this is from earlier. But about 2:00 a line of storms moved through. They had a significant weather alert.
I saw a peak wind gust at the Huntsville International Airport of 25-miles-per-hour. They had tents and we think the wind may have gotten caught up in those tents, blown them away and maybe pulled out some of those poles that tethered down. That's just a guess on my part, but it's certainly capable of doing that.
But around the area, Rick, there were reports of 30-35-miles-per- hour winds. But that specific area, 25-miles-per-hour wind gust.
SANCHEZ: It could happen just like that. One person killed, possibly only 6 years old; 13 people injured as result of that as well. Thanks so much Karen. We'll keep checking in.
Meanwhile, the hits just keep coming in for singer Amy Winehouse. This latest hit isn't going over so well. Last night she put up her dukes, so to speak and took a swing at one of her fans.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
Time to tell you now about a momma you don't want to mess with. A North Carolina woman at a Wal-Mart saw a man taking pictures of her daughter inside a dressing room while she was undressing. Did she call security? Yes. But not before serving up a knuckle sandwich to the guy.
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GUADELUPE JIMINEZ: He said in the floor, "Help me, help me." And the one man looking, "No."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She handled it well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You go, Lupe. This is the guy police found nursing his bloody nose after she put him on his backside. Police say he is being held on bond. They have a cell phone, computers that they found in his car by the way. They are investigating.
North Carolina moms weren't the only ladies throwing punches this weekend. Britain's favorite bad girl pop star was caught on camera scuffling with a festival goer.
Did you catch that? It's hard to see Amy Winehouse mixing it up with fans at the Glastonbury music festival. Witnesses say a guy grabbed her and then she shoved him right back. Security helped a wobbly Winehouse back on to the stage after it happened. By the way, she was in finer form the evening before, no fighting in front of 40,000 people at London's Hyde Park. It was a concert in honor of Nelson Mandela's 98th birthday.
Here's a summertime question for you. What do you least want to see on the beach? How about a bear? Folks in Florida beach were a bit alarmed when this nearly 400-pound black bear suddenly showed up.
They called animal control who shot the bear with a tranquilizer. Then it got interesting. The bear got really confused after all it was doped up. And it walked into the water and passed out.
He would have drowned if not for this guy. A wildlife biologist named Adam Warwick; isn't that a great name for wildlife biologist. He dives in, he grabs the drugged-out bear and hauls him to the beach. Long story short, the bear was able to sleep it off. Now he's dealing with the hang over at his new home in the National Forest. You go boy.
I'm Rick Sanchez. Thanks again for being with us. See you soon.
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