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Veepstakes Heat Up; American Medical Association Apologizes For Past Discrimination; Siblings Reunited After Decades Apart

Aired July 11, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Two Western states are ground zero for firefighters. Several thousands are making a stand outside Paradise, California. And they're keeping a close watch on the winds.
Now, if they pick up, the flames could race right across fire lines. And that's what happened overnight in a suburb of Spokane, Washington. At least seven homes and another structure burned before the winds died down. Folks who live in that neighborhood are now taking stock of what burned and what didn't burn.

KHQ reporter Ana Cabrera joins us now from Spokane.

Tell us what you know, Ana.

ANA CABRERA, KHQ REPORTER: Good morning, Don.

It is an incredible fight against this fire right now that has consumed 1,200 acres. And I do have an update for you. We have now been told at least eight homes have been destroyed and several outbuildings. And fire officials say they fear there could be many more homes that they haven't been able to yet that have also been destroyed.

Now, yesterday, there were intense winds fueling that fire, making it impossible for firefighters to protect some of those homes. That's why Governor Christine Gregoire did declare a state of emergency. And now 48 different agencies are helping out from across the state in fighting this fire.

I want to show you some video of the fire today and the leftovers, basically, of what has been destroyed, complete devastation of some of those homes. We had a moment to get out there and take a look. And all you can see there is a pile of rubble, really just burning ashes. And so the residents obviously facing a very tough situation. In fact, they have not been able to go up to their homes yet today because firefighters are fearful that winds could change once again and make those homes a dangerous place to be.

And so, that's what firefighters are focusing in right now today. They are going through that area that has been most devastated, continuing to work on the fire line surrounding this fire. It's about a two-mile perimeter, we're told. And they have had some success because the winds that we told you about were so strong yesterday, have calmed down today, really almost ideal conditions at this moment for those firefighters. So, they're making some good use of building that fire line and are putting out some hot spots. They just did an aerial view, did an aerial flyover and got a view of the fire specifically. And right now we're told the main hot spots are in areas where there are no residential homes. So, that could be a bit of good news, if there is any in this.

The other piece of good news is there have been no injuries, so, despite such a scary condition, so far, as far as people staying safe -- back to you.

LEMON: Hey, Ana, real quickly, do we know if there is a cause yet?

CABRERA: You know, that's one of the big questions today. Fire investigators believe they have a point of origin for this fire.

And at the time this fire broke out yesterday, there was no thunder, no lightning. So they have don't believe it was caused by Mother Nature. There weren't any power lines in that specific area. But at this point, they are not going so far as to say this fire is suspicious or that it is for sure human caused. That's one of the questions we're trying to answer today.

But, again, the good news is they are making some progress on this fire and at this point, residents are staying safe, although they have lost several homes.

LEMON: Very informative and concise report. Thank you, KHQ reporter Ana Cabrera.

Now, we hope to speak to Washington's governor in just a few minutes on this.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we're just hearing that President Bush will survey the fire damage across California next Thursday.

It's not clear yet exactly where he will go. But Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants more firefighting National Guard troops in Butte County.

CNN's Reynolds Wolf has more on the crews that are already there trying to save paradise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm coming to you from along Highway 70 up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Butte County.

And right behind me, you can see some fire crews. These guys are working over 24 hours straight. What's amazing is that they're on a 24-hour shift. There's over 3,000 firefighters in this stretch of hill. It's not always going to be the case you're guaranteed to work that one period. In fact, some of these fellows, if they happen to be in the vicinity of a roaring fire, will work through their shift, but they may have to work several hours over. There is a possibility these guys may work 30, 34, 35 hours or so. It's unbelievable.

Some of the fight has not only been in this hill, where you see this new plume that is coming up. (INAUDIBLE) popped up among these (INAUDIBLE) three homes.

And then, if you were to go down this hill, Parts of Highway 70, the blaze continue here, too. Take a look at this video that we shot just an hour or so ago. You can see it. I'm sure if you have Smell- O-Vision at home, you can almost smell the embers.

It is a battle that is going to continue throughout much of the afternoon, into the evening, the weekend, and possibly for weeks to come. At this point, though, it is 50 percent contained. But if the wind continues and that low humidity sticks around, it may be a battle that will be very tough to fight for quite some time.

That's the latest we have got for you from Butte County, California. Let's send it back to you in the studio.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

LEMON: All right, we're now in the final hour of the trading day on Wall Street. And the sell-off, well, it is continuing. As a matter of fact, I think the Dow is rebounding now.

Can we get a shot of the Big Board real quick before we go to all this? We are going to tell you about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Before we do that, let's sort of change this, because the Dow is rebounding.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

LEMON: You heard Susan talking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Let's get a little bit more about that, the government-sponsored mortgage giant that hold the guarantee of about half of America's mortgage debt. On Capitol Hill, Senate Christopher Dodd says there is no reason to panic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), CONNECTICUT: There is no reason for the kind of reaction we're getting. These fundamentals are sound. These institutions are sound. They have adequate capital. They have access to that capital. And this is a reason for people to have confidence in these GSEs, in Fannie and Freddie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right, so, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are funny sounding names for two very important financial firms. Fannie Mae is officially the Federal National Mortgage Association. Freddie Mac is the Federal Home Loan and Mortgage Corporation. The two government-sponsored companies were created by Congress to help Americans buy houses.

Now, they're exempt from state and local income taxes and also Security and Exchange Commission registration and fees. In 2004, here's what happened. Then Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned their rapid growth needed to be curbed, because their expansion threatened the financial markets.

One analyst says, if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had been created in the private sector, they have wouldn't look like this. He says they have a public mission to expand housing and run what is essentially an insurance company -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, we're following another mystery involving a female soldier assigned to Fort Bragg. Second Lieutenant and Nurse Holly Wimunc has been missing since yesterday when fire damaged her apartment in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Now, arson investigators believe that fire was deliberately set. Wimunc told a court in May that her husband held a loaded gun to her head, choked her, and threw her around the living room. And that is what affiliate WRAL is now reporting.

Her disappearance comes three weeks after a pregnant soldier was found dead in her Fayetteville motel room. Today, Army investigators say a second autopsy confirms that Megan Touma was killed.

Keith and Kaylynn Garcia will be buried tomorrow. They're the twins who died in that neonatal intensive care unit at a Texas hospital after receiving overdoses of a blood thinner called heparin. The Garcia family is unhappy with the way that the hospital has been handling the case.

And last hour, attorney Bob Patterson told me that the family only learned about the heparin connection from a hospital press release. Hospital officials say it's not clear yet whether the overdose is what killed the twins.

LEMON: All she wants is to be a normal American teenager. But a Pennsylvania girl could be separated from her family and forced to move to Guatemala. We will find out why the U.S. government thinks she may not belong here.

PHILLIPS: And it's like walking on eggshells and the stakes couldn't be higher. As John McCain and Barack Obama look for a running mate, one wrong move could spell big trouble in November.

LEMON: OK, racism in the medical ranks for more than a century. Now an apology from the American Medical Association. We will hear what that means to two prominent doctors.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Don Lemon.

Police thought a Texas teen put drugs in the treats he left for them, but they're tainted Toll House cookie, well, the case has officially crumbled. A recipe for wrongly accused straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Now an unusual, you might even say unprecedented apology from the nation's most influential doctors group. The American Medical Association is formally apologizing for more than a century of policies that discriminated against African-American doctors.

With me now to talk about is Dr. Ronald Davis, the immediate past president of the AMA, and also Dr. Clive Callender of Howard University Hospital.

Gentlemen, thank you both for being with me.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Clive, I wanted to start with you, if you don't mind, because I was reading about your personal story.

My guess is that, for a number of years, you were probably the only black doctor in a number of these medical meetings.

DR. CLIVE CALLENDER, HOWARD UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: That's correct.

And it was quite interesting to be able to talk about causes that were particularly relevant to the community that I served and also to be so outnumbered and often to be treated as an invisible person.

PHILLIPS: What was it that you were fighting for, Clive, that made other white doctors uncomfortable?

CALLENDER: Well, I was fighting for equality among African- Americans receiving organ transplants. The organ donation among the -- in the United States of America is -- the number-one -- the shortage of donors is the number-one problem. And minorities needed to donate more.

And as I was fighting for this, it was important to have a just system, because with a just system, then more African-Americans and other minorities would donate. So, as I was trying to make the system fairer, often my message was unheard of.

Actually, we fought and fought. And, as a matter of fact, the system has changed, and it is fairer and the allocation of organs is better than ever before. But that was the battle that I fought outnumbered. With the help of Tom Stozzle (ph) and some others, we were able to change things around so that the system now is fairer than ever before. PHILLIPS: So, interesting, Ron, that changes have been made, as we hear from Clive, yet the AMA still wanted to come forward now and make an apology. Before I get to that part of it though, why did you even decide to study this racial divide within organized medicine?

DR. RONALD DAVIS, FORMER PRESIDENT, AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: We had heard stories from Dr. Callender and many physicians like him that problems had existed in the past. And so we decided to take an in-depth look at the situation. We put together an independent research team and writing team in 2005, asked them to look at all of our internal documents from our AMA archive dating back to when the AMA was founded in 1847.

And after a few years of research and writing, they presented their findings to a variety of health care stakeholders late last year...

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: What did it find?

DAVIS: ... and found that through the years, in the decades from the post-Civil War period to the 1960s, African-American physicians had been disenfranchised from the AMA, both in terms of membership and participation. And it was that reason that our AMA leadership felt profound regret and issued a heartfelt apology.

PHILLIPS: Is this an apology enough, Clive?

CALLENDER: Oh, it's a wonderful and gigantic first step.

And I think it's something that I'm very thrilled by, because I think, with everything, whenever you make a mistake, the first part of the solving process and the healing process is an apology.

So, I am thrilled to hear what he is sharing with us and the fact that the apology is stated. This is so important as we fight a giant of an opponent, which is racism. Racism institutionalized, covert racism is perhaps one of the major causes for the majority-minority health disparity.

And so this is a great first step towards addressing this problem, which requires majority and minority community participation.

PHILLIPS: All right, and let me take it another step further. And we're talking about, of course, having more of a diversified doctor force.

Let's just talk about health care for minorities. And the reason why I want to ask this question, just last week I covered this story, this horrific videotape played over and over again. This is Esmin Green, black woman. She collapsed face down and died in the Kings County Hospital psyche emergency room in Brooklyn.

And nobody did anything about this. And this woman died. And then last year, I remember covering another story, it was a Hispanic woman, Edith Rodriguez. And it was the MLK Harbor Hospital in Los Angeles. And once again, videotape showed this woman in the emergency room falling out of her chair, dying in the emergency room, while people were mopping up the blood around her.

So, I guess my question is -- and maybe, Ron, I will start with you and, Clive, I would love for you to chime in -- if there are more minorities in the medical force, will this improve health care for people like Esmin and Edith that nobody cared about in these emergency rooms?

DAVIS: Well, part of the message from our apology is that the AMA today has zero tolerance for any prejudice in health care, whether it's against physicians or patients.

And we have looked to the past in order to embrace a positive future. And with Dr. Clive Callender and others, we hope to do that.

Now, disparities in health care by race and ethnicity have been around for a long time. And it's only in recent years that we have begun to look at this seriously and how can we fix the situation.

The AMA has partnered with the National Medical Association, which represents African-American doctors, to form a commission to end health care disparities. We now have more than 50 national health care organizations that are part of the commission. And we're looking at how can we have equity in treating cancer, in offering pain medication to those with cancer, in treating heart disease, in getting African-Americans or others on transplantation lists?

And, first, we're building awareness. Second, we're developing and implementing strategies to make that happen. And that's part of where we're going with this apology and -- and building a positive future.

Now, on diversity in the medical profession, we only have 2.2 percent of practicing physicians and medical students who are African- American, compared to 13 percent in the overall population. So, we aim to have as much diversity in the physician population as we have in the overall population.

(CROSSTALK)

DAVIS: To accomplish that -- just quickly, to accomplish that, one thing that we're doing is, we're sending doctors back to school, especially minority physicians, to elementary schools, high schools, middle schools in minority communities to talk to kids about how they can aspire to become doctors, too.

It's not all about becoming a professional athlete or a rock star. They can go into a profession like medicine, so that we can get more minorities into the physician pipeline to take care of people in their own communities.

PHILLIPS: And, Clive, you know how important that is. And I just think about us in the news business and how diversity is so important. And we're covering the world and we have got to have all cultures and colors in our newsroom. So we want to see more Hispanic and black and Asian doctors because there is something that can be contributed and can help with overall health care.

CALLENDER: I applaud everything that he has stated, because that's the way to do it.

In addition to what he stated -- and I couldn't more agree with him in terms of what he's done already with the commission and with going to elementary schools -- in addition to this, though, we have to recognize that this is a national problem. The AMA did not invent these problems. Our society created these problems.

The AMA is now intervening to try to get the whole community, the majority and minority communities alike, to participate in their solution. And in addition to what they're doing, there needs to be some funding included to allow us to address this as the crisis it is, because whenever we have a crisis in this country, we address it with all of our resources, not some of our resources, not a little bit of our resources, but a lot of our resources.

And that is the only missing element that I haven't heard about. But I think what he's talked about is wonderful. And I applaud it. And this is exactly the ways we ought to go. But I would add to it the fact that we need in addition resources to help us make a difference to eliminate this tremendous opponent, which is institutionalized racism.

PHILLIPS: Well, and, Dr. Davis, you will probably agree with me. Clive should be the one in those classrooms telling those kids they to become doctors.

Dr. Clive Callender and Dr. Ronald Davis, gentlemen, thanks so much for your time.

CALLENDER: Thank you.

DAVIS: Thank you.

LEMON: Grim news for two families more than a year after two American soldiers were kidnapped in Iraq. We will have details for you.

And siblings celebrated by heartbreak and history reunited after decades apart -- their story straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, the uncertainty is over, but so is the hope. The bodies of U.S. Army Private Byron Fouty and Sergeant Alex Jimenez have been found in Iraq 14 months after they were kidnapped.

Fouty and Jimenez were among seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter who were ambushed in an area south of Baghdad known as the Triangle of Death. Four troops and the interpreter were killed. The body of a third kidnap victim, Private Joseph Anzack Jr., was found a few days after the ambush. The Fouty and Jimenez families got the grim news yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMON "ANDY" JIMENEZ, FATHER OF KILLED U.S. SOLD (through translator): It's closure that now we know what's happening. But I don't know if it alleviates it for me. We now know what it is, if it's one thing or the other. He decided since he was young to join the Army. I'm very proud of my son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The father of Sergeant Jimenez speaking from his home in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

In Waterford, Michigan, Private Fouty's stepfather, Gordon Dibler, says he's still in shock. He says he had always held out hope his stepson would be found alive.

PHILLIPS: At least a dozen U.S. troops have died horrible, painful deaths while serving in Iraq, but they didn't die in combat. They were electrocuted by faulty wiring on U.S. bases, in some cases, simply by turning on water to take a shower.

Senate Democrats today held a policy meeting to hear more. And one soldier's mother said it's time for the military and its civilian contractors to take responsibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHERYL HARRIS, MOTHER OF FALLEN U.S. SOLDIER: I stand before you today to demand accountability, to implore that preventive measures be adopted, and to ask for your commitment that no military family will have to endure the paralyzing pain of this type of senseless tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, last hour, Don spoke with a woman who lost her son to an electrocution in Iraq nearly three years ago. Larraine McGee told him that the troops have enough to think about in a combat zone without having to worry about their safety on base.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRAINE MCGEE, MOTHER OF FALLEN U.S. SOLDIER: Grounding of the equipment over there takes so little. It's just inexcusable that they are not doing it properly, so that our soldiers over there are protected when they're doing as simple thing as taking a shower or doing their job in the motor pool, in a place where they should be safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, CNN's Special Investigations Unit has been reporting on this story for several months. Military contractor KBR declined to speak on camera to CNN. But the company says it has found no evidence of a link between the work that it's been asked to perform and the reported electrocutions.

Also, the Defense Contract Management Agency, responsible for handling the contract with KBR, also declined to answer CNN's questions.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in New York.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Time now to tell you some of the stories we're working on for you today right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Sudan's president faces war crime charges. Diplomats say prosecutors at the International Criminal Court will seek a warrant against President Omar al-Bashir, charging him with genocide in Darfur.

A federal appeals court has ruled against the Bush administration in a fight over White House visitor laws. A government watchdog group wants to know how often religious conservatives visited the White House and Vice President Cheney's office.

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s children are fighting each other in court. Bernice King and

Martin Luther King III have filed suit against Dexter King. They say he is withholding information about their father's estate.

PHILLIPS: All she wants to be a normal American teenager. But a Pennsylvania girl could be separated from her family and forced to move to Guatemala. We'll find out why the U.S. government thinks she may not belong there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's all about the economy. As they've done all week, Barack Obama and John McCain talking with voters about issues that affect their pocketbooks. Today, both presidential candidates are on the trail in the Midwest.

And McCain is courting voters in Wisconsin. He spoke at a town hall in Hudson. While the presumptive Republican nominee talked a lot about jobs and taxes, he also focused on an issue affecting all of us -- spiraling oil prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll do everything in my power to get those offshore reserves exploited -- explored, discovered and...

(LAUGHTER) MCCAIN: ...explored and exploited and we will send a message -- we will send a message all over the world that the United States is on the road to become independent of foreign oil and America will stand on its two feet again.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Speaking to working women in the audience, McCain claimed Obama's tax policies would place a heavy burden on them and their families.

LEMON: High gas prices were Barack Obama's focus at a town hall in Dayton, Ohio, among other things. The Democrat said oil companies are not effectively using the land they already have rights to drill on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we started drilling today, the first drop of oil wouldn't come for another seven years. And even then, it wouldn't have a lot of impact on prices because it would go to a world oil market -- the Chinese and the Indians, they'd be buying that oil just like us. You would not see a significant savings. Everybody agrees with that.

Meanwhile, the oil companies currently have the rights already to drill 68 million acres of land in offshore areas that they haven't touched.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Obama says America's addiction to fossil fuel is one of the most serious threats to national security.

Here's what's coming up at the top of the hour in the CNN's "SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.

CNN's Fareed Zakaria just spoke with Barack Obama. He'll be joining Wolf at the top of the hour to discuss their conversation. It's your one stop newscast for all things political, all things happening -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: A Pennsylvania teen only knows life in America. But an adoption issue could force her to leave behind her family and everything else she holds dear.

Her story now from CNN's Zain Verjee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Allie Mulvihill turns sweet 16 next month. She's ready to drive and wants an after school job. But she's afraid she can't do either because the U.S. government won't grant her legal status. ALLIE MULVIHILL, FIGHTING DEPORTATION: All along I've really known that I'm not like everyone else.

VERJEE: Scott and Lori Mulvihill legally adopted Allie from Guatemala in 1994. The U.S. government told them they were worried the child was stolen. Still, the Mulvihills were allowed to bring Allie to the U.S., but her immigration status expired two years later. Getting citizenship has turned into a 14-year battle.

(on camera): Do you feel scared sometimes?

A. MULVIHILL: Yes, because I don't know where I'm going to end up after all this.

LORI MULVIHILL, ALLIE'S MOTHER: You know, letters back and forth to Immigration, it's the State Department, the American Embassy.

VERJEE (voice-over): The Mulvihills won't stop fighting.

(on camera): What is really the brick wall that you're running up against when you boil it down?

L. MULVIHILL: Immigration.

SCOTT MULVIHILL, ALLIE'S FATHER: The climate of immigration right now is such that the immigration office is going to hold on to whatever cards they have because it's such a hot -- it's such a hot topic right now.

VERJEE (voice-over): The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services told CNN they've been trying to work with the Mulvihill family "and we continue to urge them to provide evidence that this minor is eligible for permanent residency."

What the government has been demanding all along is DNA evidence proving the woman who gave Allie up for adoption was her biological mother and not a baby trafficker. The agency that arranged the Mulvihills' adoption has since gone under. And the couple says they have no way of tracking down Allie's biological mother.

L. MULVIHILL: That's an impossibility, to find her now. They said that is your only option.

VERJEE (on camera): What would be the consequences if, after all of this, you still don't get the citizenship, you don't get the visa?

L. MULVIHILL: She faces deportation.

VERJEE: Wow!

L. MULVIHILL: So that's, you know, that's hanging over our head.

VERJEE (voice-over): A frightening reality for a teen who only knows Allentown, Pennsylvania as home.

A. MULVIHILL: It's been great growing up here. My parents mean everything to me. And we have so much fun together. They treat me as if I was the same as like my sister.

VERJEE (on camera): What would it mean for you to have U.S. citizenship?

A. MULVIHILL: It would mean the world to me because I'd be able to be a normal teenager.

VERJEE (voice-over): Zain Verjee, CNN, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Talk about getting better with age -- this mom is 40 plus. She rules the pool and is about to make Olympic history.

How on earth does she do it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Earlier we talked with Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau. He is not letting a cancer diagnosis keep him from competing in Beijing.

Well, here's another great Olympic story. A 41-year-old mother taking kids half her age to school in the pool as she heads back to the Olympics.

If you haven't heard of Dara Torres, well, chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has your introduction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nine-time Olympic medalist, world record holder, mother of a two-year- old. And perhaps most astonishing of all, Dara Torres is set to become the oldest female Olympic swimmer ever.

JOEL STAGER, INDIANA UNIVERSITY: She's a 41-year-old female that's right now the best in the United States.

DARA TORRES, NINE-TIME OLYMPIC MEDAL WINNER: It doesn't really matter how old you are. If I'm the fastest and I'm faster than the younger kids, then I should go.

GUPTA: In a sport where the average age of national championship competitors is just 20 years old, Torres is shattering the odds.

TORRES: I kind of forget that sometimes I'm so much older than them. But the minute I'm on the blocks, I feel like I'm their age.

GUPTA: And she's taking regular blood and urine tests to answer any suspicions of doping. So far, she's clean.

Her Olympic career began 24 years ago. Over the years, she's battled bulimia, knee surgeries and bone spurs.

So how is she still dominating? Her height, long arms, big hands -- an exercise physiologist says she has the perfect swimmer's genes. STAGER: Genetics does play a role. We're talking about 1 -- 1 percent or less of the population that has that genotype.

GUPTA: But good genetics aren't enough. Her training regimen is custom-tailored for her age.

TORRES: My body is a 41-year-old body. And I just can't get in the pool nine times a week. The biggest obstacle I have is recovery. It's about allowing my body to recover so I can come back the next day and perform at a high level.

GUPTA: She swims five times a week, often with her daughter looking on. Her team includes coaches, a chiropractor, masseurs, stretchers who use their feet and hands to knead her limbs. She calls resistance stretching her secret weapon -- muscles are contracted and stretched at the same time to increase flexibility and power.

STAGER: Dara is definitely working smarter. A sprinter has to be smart.

GUPTA: Which is why the 50-meter free style, a race that can be as quick as 25 seconds, may be best suited for somebody in their 40s. Longer races may be tougher with age, as endurance tends to decrease.

TORRES: I am proving that you can be 41 and you can follow your dreams and that age is just a number.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, police in North Texas are eating crow after they claimed a teenager delivered drug-laced cookies to their department. Test results on the cookies actually found no traces of LSD or marijuana. As the case crumbled, 18-year-old Christian Phillips got to leave jail and go home. But his dad is not pleased with the public's rush to judgment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN PHILLIPS, FATHER OF EXONERATED TEEN: And I'd just hate to see something like this, you know, stop him from being the person that he can be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the police chief says that his department went by the book. And the teen delivered the treats as part of a community service sentence. He was arrested last year on charges of assaulting a police officer, by the way.

LEMON: So what happens to the Police Department?

Do they -- are they forced to eat the cookies now?

PHILLIPS: I'm sure they're enjoying them. I just want to make a point. I'm not related to that Phillips family.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: There you go.

All right, Kyra.

Well, a brother and sister reunited after more than 50 years apart. We'll have an incredible story of family and hope.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, to the world they are activists, leaders, icons. But these women know them as dads -- the daughters of King, Ali, Malcolm X, Johnnie Cochran and Sidney Poitier in their first conversation together. "The Daughters of Legacy," CNN Saturday and Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

LEMON: A brother and sister separated by more than half a century by war, by politics, by history. Now, through the efforts of others, they have been reunited.

And CNN's Matthew Chance reports from the Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It's been 66 years since they last embraced. But now a family torn apart by the Nazi Holocaust is together again. Irene has traveled to the Ukraine from Philadelphia. She last saw her brother Sever (ph) when he was just seven. He told her how he had survived a lifetime without her.

IRENE FAMULAK, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: He thinks he will see me someday. And he had been locked up (INAUDIBLE), you know. And he make a song for me, you know, and then he go to sleep and he sing every night the song and crying.

CHANCE: Today he sings the words with joy.

But memories run deep of the day the Nazis split up their family. It was 1942 and a 17-year-old Irene was seized by German troops as they swept into Ukraine. The Nazis came late at night, she told us, and took her to a labor camp.

FAMULAK: They said you and you, we take you into Germany to work for six months. And then after six months, you're coming back. That's why I was there and then they come (ph).

CHANCE: By the war's end, the entire family was lost. But Sever never stopped searching for his big sister. Now he's overwhelmed that she's found.

"When the Red Cross told me they'd found her in America, it was such a joy," he says. "I don't believe anyone's ever known such happiness," he told us. And it's happiness that's being shared between so many after so long.

(on camera): So after a lifetime apart and years spent searching for each other, this family is at last reunited. But, of course, there are countless others that aren't so lucky, who still haven't found each other. And for them, time is running out.

(voice-over): Time for more remarkable family reunions like this and more dreams to be fulfilled.

Matthew Chance, CNN, in Eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That's unbelievable.

OK. Well, we'll put an end to the misery on Wall Street today. Straight ahead, the closing bell.

PHILLIPS: And the king of talk is now the king of the block. Word on the street about CNN's own Larry King.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, the king of talk -- now he's also king of the block. CNN's own Larry King gets a street renamed in his honor -- the intersection of Sunset and Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles. It's now Larry King Square. The street was named after King to honor his 50 years in broadcasting. It's just adjacent to the CNN Los Angeles bureau, where LARRY KING LIVE is based. By the way, it's Cahuenga Boulevard, folks. That's my old stomping grounds. I shouldn't have tried to read that promo in the parentheses.

LEMON: Point taken. I got it.

Oh, so, listen, what about -- Kyra, what do you think about a congratulations to Larry, by the way, but a Wolf Way or a Wolf Boulevard, what do you think?

PHILLIPS: Oh, it needs to be like Wolf Blitzer Highway...

LEMON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Because life is fast with Wolf Blitzer.

LEMON: Yes, high -- speedway.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Not, happening, guys.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: Thanks very much.

Let me tell you what's coming up at the top of the hour. Barack Obama speaking out on major foreign policy issues. He's speaking exclusively with CNN today about how he would handle world affairs if he wins the White House. You're going to want to hear specifically what he has to say about Osama bin Laden.

And powerful New York Congressman Charlie Rangel is now fighting back. He's angry after published reports about his New York apartments and how much he's paying for them.

And NASCAR is usually Republican country. Now, Barack Obama might get into the racing game in a major way.

All that guys, and a lot more, coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Wolf.

LEMON: I still like the Wolf Blitzer Motor Speedway, Kyra. I don't know about you. Something like that.

PHILLIPS: He lives fast, that's for sure.

LEMON: Yes, he does. He lives fast and works a lot.

All right, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.

PHILLIPS: Susan Lisovicz is standing by with a look at the final look -- or the final look, rather, at the trading day.

Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra and Don.

We can exhale in just a couple of minutes. You know, summer Fridays can be as interesting as watching paint dry. But not this Friday.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LISOVICZ: Have a great weekend, Kyra and Don.

LEMON: Yes, have a great weeked.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Susan.

LEMON: Go get us an autograph, will you Susan?

PHILLIPS: That's going to do it for us. I'm Kyra Phillips.

LEMON: Kyra, have a great weekend.

I'm Don Lemon.

Now let's throw it over to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Mr. Wolf Blitzer --take it away, Wolf.