Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Flight Makes Emergency Landing at LAX; Interest Rate Decision; Fly Me to the Web; McCain and Obama Rip Each Other Over Energy Plans

Aired August 05, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Everybody out of the plane! This isn't how these American Airlines passengers expected their flight to Honolulu to end. It isn't Honolulu either.
We'll see what went wrong.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: And nobody wants a tropical storm, but Edouard brings some sorely-needed rain to parts of Texas, and a break from the triple-digit heat. We'll see what else it's up to.

Hello, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye, at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

KAYE: We are following a developing story at Los Angeles International Airport. These American Airlines passengers had to slide off their flight earlier today after an emergency landing.

Our Ted Rowlands is at LAX with the very latest.

Ted, what have you been able to find out?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi, right now these passengers which had a very interesting beginning to their Hawaiian vacation are back here in Los Angeles, and they are being put on another plane, and they are going to try to do this again.

About 8:30 this morning, this plane took off from Los Angeles. It was in the air a total of 57 minutes, according to American Airlines, and at some point there was smoke or a haze in the cabin area of the plane.

The pilot made the decision to return to Los Angeles, and he did exactly that. They landed without incident on the tarmac here at LAX. But boy, what a dramatic scene when they did land.

The chutes, the evacuation chutes, were deployed, and each of the 188 passengers and seven crew members got off of that plane as soon as possible because of the potential of danger in the plane. That was a call that was made by the pilot to request an emergency landing.

Everybody used the chutes. They came off one by one, very orderly if you look at the video, but dramatic, nonetheless, getting off of this plane as soon as they could.

They were then put into buses and taken away. And now we understand that they're back here at the terminal at LAX and they are waiting to get back on another flight.

There were two injuries, according to the airlines. Two minor injuries. Not from the smoke in the cabin, but from the deploying of those chutes and from passengers that came down. Just minor scrapes and bruises, apparently, to a couple folks as they hit the pavement there.

According to American airlines, the 757 aircraft in question here had no problems of this nature over the past 30 days. That's typically what they do when something like this happens, immediately they look at the history of the aircraft. No problems with this aircraft.

This was the first flight of the day for this aircraft. Obviously, they're going to look at this aircraft as these passengers are put on a different one. And they're going to try their Hawaiian vacation all over again here in the next few minutes to the next hour. They'll be back on their way.

KAYE: And Ted, before we let you go, earlier we spoke with the L.A. City Fire Department, Brian Humphrey (ph), and he said that firefighters went on board with this thermal imaging device to actually see if there was any evidence of a fire. They didn't find any.

Is that still the case as far as you know?

ROWLANDS: Well, we have not had an update from that point, so that is still the case at this point. It's kind of mysterious whether this was an actual fire, where it was located, or if it was more of an odor/haze.

It was obviously something significant. It was in the cabin, and there was enough to it that the pilot from the cockpit -- and this didn't happen in the cockpit -- made the decision to not only come back to Los Angeles, but to deploy the emergency evacuation chutes and get the people off the plane as soon as possible.

KAYE: Some scary moments, but certainly good to see that everybody is safe.

Ted Rowlands for us, live at LAX.

Thanks for the update.

LEMON: All right. That was Los Angeles. We want to get you to Griffith, Indiana. It is a disaster area.

Look at this. These pictures will show you why.

Strong storms raked the town overnight, ripping off roofs and toppling trees and power lines. One tree fell on a car, killing the driver. It was a man. An apartment complex was also evacuated.

Thousands of homes are still without power. More rain is in the forecast, which could mean flooding.

And rain, lots of it, it is what Tropical Storm Edouard is bringing Texas. We're seeing flooding around Houston, and some places could get three to six inches before it's all over, and most of it is welcome after so much of a drought that happened there. Edouard made landfall right around rush hour this morning between Galveston and the Louisiana border, and it is not quite a hurricane.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: Don, jolted again. A strong earthquake hits central China's Sichuan Province today, leaving rubble and shaking people in the streets hours before the Olympic torch made its way through parts of Sichuan, a region still recovering from a far deadlier quake back in May.

Today's quake was a magnitude 6.0. An emergency official tells CNN at least one person was killed, five others seriously hurt.

The May 12th quake, magnitude 7.9, killed almost 70,000 people. More than 18,000 still listed as missing.

And take a look at this, a live look at Beijing, lit up and fired up for Friday's opening ceremonies. You're seeing a live bird's eye view of the Chinese capital just after 2:00 a.m.. They're 12 hours ahead of us, so just after 2:00 a.m. Beijing time. It looks pretty dark, but we're sure it's pretty down there.

But athletes fear it's masking an ugly problem, and that is pollution. These arriving Americans are actually wearing masks despite Beijing's claim it's cleaning up the air for the games.

President Bush in Asia, protesters in the streets. Take a look at Seoul, South Korea. Riot police fire a water cannon at protesters today as Mr. Bush kicks off his Asian tour. Other demonstrations were more peaceful but just as packed.

The president's trip also takes him to Beijing for the Olympics. Critics of China's human rights record don't think he should go, but the White House says it is good for U.S./Chinese ties.

LEMON: What do you say we talk some politics, shall we, and the race for the White House. Energy tops the agenda again today for Barack Obama and John McCain.

The Democrat is pushing his new energy for America plan at two town hall meetings in the tossup state of Ohio. Now, among other things, Obama accuses McCain of being part of the problem, he says, instead of the solution, as the country deals with an energy crunch. We'll hear from Obama in his own words straight ahead this hour, right in the CNN NEWSROOM.

John McCain is also talking about America's energy crunch as he campaigns today in Michigan. The Republican candidate is touring a nuclear power plant this hour. His visit to the battleground state comes after a quick stop at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota. McCain says his plan, not Obama's, will help the country achieve energy independence.

We'll hear a lot more from the Arizona senator in his own words, also straight ahead this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Which candidate would do the better job reviving the economy? Find out what voters are saying when we unveil the latest Poll of Polls, also later this hour.

KAYE: Vice President Cheney may sit out the Republican convention next month. Party officials cite a desire by the McCain campaign to turn the page on the Bush/Cheney years. One source tells CNN of a mutual understanding between Cheney's office and the McCain camp that the vice president probably won't attend. Another official says both sides are still trying to work things out.

He beat the rap three times, but can he do it again? Junior Gotti back in custody, facing new charges.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The feds are trying again to send John "Junior" Gotti back to prison. Gotti was arrested today at his home on New York's Long Island. Prosecutors will try to link him to three murders in the 1980s and '90s.

Gotti served time for racketeering several years ago, but more recent attempts to put him away have ended in mistrials. Gotti's father, the boss of the Gambino crime family, died in prison six years ago.

A military jury is deciding the fate of Osama bin Laden's one- time driver. The panel of six U.S. military officers got the case after a two-week trial at Guantanamo Bay. They've recessed for the day and plan to resume tomorrow. Salim Hamdan is accused of helping bin Laden carry out the 9/11 attacks and could face life behind bars. Hamdan's lawyers say he was just part of bin Laden's motor pool and never joined al Qaeda.

LEMON: We have new details to share with you about the government's top suspect in the anthrax investigation before the book is finally closed on that case. Now, in the week since 62-year-old Army scientist Bruce Ivins committed suicide, we're learning more about him.

The FBI has documents showing that Ivins signed out equipment that could be used to make a powdered form of Anthrax. Ivins also had an obsession with the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma, apparently from an unrequited love back in his college days. The anthrax-laced letters were mailed from a Princeton University mailbox back in 2001, not far from the sorority's office.

An arraignment is expected in Massachusetts today for a man accused of kidnapping his daughter. The defendant has used a number of aliases, but his attorney says his real name is Clark Rockefeller. He reportedly claimed to be a member of the famed Rockefeller dynasty, but the family denies any relationship.

The defendant is accused of snatching his 7-year-old daughter in Boston and taking her to Baltimore, where he was arrested over the weekend. The little girl is OK.

KAYE: Two dangerous forces hitting Americans: rising prices and a slowing economy. What will the Federal Reserve do with interest rates? Policymakers are about to reveal their decision, and it affects you and your money, of course.

Allan Chernoff is following the story for us from New York, and Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange.

Susan, let's start with you.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: OK. Well, we just got the decision a second ago, and the Federal Reserve, as expected, held its key overnight interest rate steady at 2 percent. The phenomenon you were talking about, Randi, is something known as stagflation, where we have a stagnant economy even as prices rise. And that's basically left the Fed powerless to do anything at this point.

They had been cutting rates aggressively since September, but that's when prices such as oil started shooting up. In its accompanying statement, the Fed said, "The inflation outlook remains highly uncertain, spurred by higher oil prices." This, as labor markets are softening and financial markets remain under considerable stress -- Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Susan, I'm just looking for the Federal Reserve statement over here. And the Fed is repeating a lot of what it had said previously, that it remains concerned about the economy and also remains concerned about inflation. And that's really the reason that the Fed is not doing anything here.

The Federal Reserve would perhaps like to raise interest rates, some policymaking members would like to do that, because they're worried about this dramatic increase that we've all seen in inflation, not only at the gas pump, at the supermarket, in services, on and on and on, but if you raise interest rates, well, that could choke off the economy a bit. And if you do just the opposite, continue to lower interest rates, well, you could -- then, of course, you could fuel inflation, which is a big problem for the Federal Reserve. So this is really something that impacts all of us as consumers, as Americans, and that's why the Fed is just standing still right now, hoping that the economy is going to pick up and that inflation is going to cool off.

LISOVICZ: You know, and Allan, you were talking about how it affects all of us. The Fed Funds Rate affects many consumer interest rates. So here's the "me" factor. We're going to show you some numbers comparing the Fed rate to 30-year fixed mortgage rates. It shows that mortgage rates did start coming down as the Fed started cutting rates in September, but then went up, even as the Fed went lower. And that speaks to another problem that many of us have experienced.

That is the credit crunch. Credit is critical for us to spend, for businesses to invest, and that is one of the problems that also cane into factor here.

And one thing -- we're talking about inflation. Stocks are inflated today. Why is that? Because oil prices continue their dramatic decline.

Right now down nearly $1.50 below $120 a barrel. And stocks have actually gone even higher since the rate decision. It's very unusual to see this kind of action ahead of a rate decision, but the catalyst of course has been oil prices.

CHERNOFF: Right. And in terms of the impact on all of us, the Federal Reserve, let's remember, controls short-term interest rates. That Fed Funds rate is an overnight rate that the banks lend each other money. And based upon that, they then will set their prime rate and the interest rates that we pay.

But that 30-year long-term mortgage rate that we were just looking at, that's really not set by the Federal Reserve. That is a function of the bond market responding to inflation expectations. And as we've been saying, inflation has been going up. As a result, those long-term mortgage rates going up. So even if the Fed is cutting those short-term rates, which it did earlier this year, long-term interest rates can still rise, which is exactly what's happened.

KAYE: All right. Thank you, both.

Allan Chernoff, Susan Lisovicz, thank you for all of that insight. Appreciate it.

And if you long to log on after takeoff, Delta has got just the ticket. The airline hoping you'll want to fly its Wi-Fi skies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. Well, you know, people who fly a lot know this, like Randi. It can be big trouble flying into the Big Apple.

The latest flight stats report, well, that just came out. And New York and New York area airports had the most late arrivals last month.

The worst was JFK, as Randi nods her head...

KAYE: Shocker.

LEMON: ... with just more than just half of all flights landing on time. July's best performer, Salt Lake City International Airport. Breaking things down by airline, here we go. JetBlue was worst of the major carriers, on time about 65 percent of the time. American, Delta and United did just a hair better, not much. The most punctual folks were over at Frontier and Southwest.

KAYE: I'm going to make a note of that.

LEMON: Yes, Frontier and Southwest, yes.

KAYE: Good to know.

These days, it is rare to find anything airlines are doing that travelers actually approve of, but Delta is hoping to connect with some new business wirelessly.

CNN's Rusty Dornin explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can get wireless Internet here, but except on a few test flights you can't up here. So passengers scramble, frantically texting and e-mailing before the doors close, but next month Delta says it will offer a Wi- Fi service called gogo on some of its domestic flights.

TIM MAPES, DELTA AIR LINES: People are going to be able to get on Delta Air Lines and on 330 planes by the time we're done on over 1,000 flights a day, open up their laptop and be able to access the Internet every time we're above 10,000 feet.

DORNIN: The airline says the service won't interfere with electronics and communication, but could the thing most passengers dread most be next? Cell phones during flights?

MAPES: People will not have the ability to connect to their cell phone. And that is very much at the request of our passengers.

DORNIN: Some members of Congress are supporting a bill that would continue the cell phone ban, but this new service would be allowed.

REP. JERRY COSTELLO (D), ILLINOIS: We are not limiting the use of BlackBerrys, e-mail. This would only restrict and prohibit voice communication in flight.

DORNIN: For some flyers, it's worth paying the fee, between $10 and $13, for longer flights.

LESTER RIDEL, BUSINESS TRAVELER: Most of us work off of our laptops, and the ability to continue to do that on the airplane, especially considering some of the delays that some of the airlines have been having, that would be fantastic.

DORNIN: Most crew members say they're happy to have passengers entertain themselves, but... (on camera): This will allow people to open Internet sites that have music and potentially sound and noise. Could that be a problem for you, maybe?

KAY BILREATH, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Well, it could be. But any time anybody uses any kind of device like that on the aircraft, they are supposed to use headphones.

DORNIN (voice-over): Most of the other major airlines are testing and planning to roll out similar systems, making getting connected in some cases easier than making a connection.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: OK, so who is your guy, Barack Obama or John McCain? We've got an idea which way Americans are leaning right now and whom they trust more with the energy problem.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back, everyone. It is approaching 2:30 here on the East Coast, and here are some of the stories we are working on it the CNN NEWSROOM.

Everybody out. One hundred eighty-eight passengers had to evacuate on inflatable slides after their American Airlines flight made an emergency landing at Los Angeles Airport. Evidence of smoke in the cabin prompted the Hawaii-bound plane to head back to L.A. Five passengers had some minor cuts and bruises from getting out of the airplane.

A military jury has recessed for the day in the first U.S. war crimes trial since World War II. Tomorrow, they'll resume deliberating the fate of Salim Hamdan, the man believed to be Osama bin Laden's driver.

Ripped up buildings, downed trees, piles of debris -- the aftermath of wind and lightning filled storms that ripped through Illinois and Indiana last night. One Indiana man was killed when a tree fell on his car.

LEMON: In the race for the White House, Barack Obama maintains his slight lead over John McCain in our latest national Poll of Polls. Forty-eight percent of registered voters support Barack Obama, 44 percent support McCain. Eight percent haven't made up their minds. And both candidates are on the trail today, taking swipes at each other over the energy crunch.

Joining us now from Washington is CNN's deputy political director, Mr. Paul Steinhauser.

Before I get to energy, I want to ask you about this. We've been hearing about, you know, the McCain camp saying that the media has a love affair for Barack Obama. You've been hearing about all of these people showing up for Barack Obama's rallies, and then some saying not many are showing up for John McCain. But these poll numbers are not showing a landslide here.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Not at all. You know, it's interesting. You would think with the climate right now, an unpopular war in Iraq, an unpopular president, and a very tough economy right now all working against Republicans, it's a great climate for the Democrats, they expect to make major gains in Congress. But the race for the White House, as you just saw from our latest Poll of Polls, is really tight.

Four points is not much. That's basically a statistical dead heat, just about. And if you looked on at some of the crucial battleground states, Ohio and Florida among them, it's dead even.

LEMON: Yes.

STEINHEISER: And a lot of people are asking why is Barack Obama not far ahead. I think maybe one of the reasons could be Americans are still -- they don't know him that well. You think they would after a year and a half.

LEMON: And not just far ahead. I mean he was before. This is tightening, Paul.

STEINHEISER: It has tightened a little bit.

We had Barack Obama in our poll of polls, up by about seven or eight points, as little as a week or two ago. It's been fluxuating. Anywhere from about eight points, down to four or five. It's been that way for quite some time. And it could be that way for a while.

LEMON: OK. We've been talking about overall, the poll of polls. Let's talk about energy now.

Who do people think can handle the energy problem we're having better? John McCain or Barack Obama?

STEINHEISER: You know, we asked that in our latest CNN opinion research corporation poll.

We asked first, who would do a better job in the economy. Take a look at these numbers. It is Barack Obama over John McCain, by about 11 points when we asked registered voters who would do a better job in the economy. We asked specifically about gas prices because boy, they've been talking about energy this week. Barack Obama, as well, about 11 points ahead of John McCain on gas prices, who would do a better job lowering gas prices. It's what the candidates are talking about this week. It's what's on voters' minds.

LEMON: Yes. And lots of talk among the two campaigns about offshore drilling.

What about that? Did you poll those -- did you poll people about that?

STEINHEISER: Sure. We asked people about that as well, what they thought.

John McCain for two months now, is saying lift the ban on offshore drilling. We asked Americans what they think about that. You can see there; 7 in 10 Americans favor lifting the ban. John McCain has been in favor of that for two months now. Barack Obama slightly altering his position now saying, he could maybe accept that. He just said that in the last couple days.

LEMON: All right. Our deputy political director Mr. Paul Steinheiser. Always interesting stuff.

Thank you very much.

Were you kind of filling in today for Bill Schneider?

STEINHEISER: Yes. I'm the substitute teacher.

LEMON: Yes. But you know what? You did a very good job. Bill better watch out.

All right. Thank you very much, Paul.

KAYE: John McCain and Barack Obama are taking swipes at each other over energy issues. McCain is touring a nuclear power plant in Michigan, this hour. Earlier, the Republican candidate slammed Obama and drilled Congress at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: May I say to you, is there anybody that's tired of paying $4 a gallon for gasoline? Is there anybody who is sick and tired of it? Is there anybody who wants to become energy independent? Well, I'm telling you right now we're sending $700 billion every year and your Congress just went on vacation for five weeks. Tell them to come back and get to work. Tell them to get to work!

(APPLAUSE)

When I'm President of the United States, I'm not going let them go on vacation. They're going to become energy independent and we're not going to pay $4 a gallon for gas because we're going to drill offshore and we're going to drill now. And we're going to drill here and we're going to drill now.

(APPLAUSE)

My opponent doesn't want to drill. He doesn't want nuclear power. He wants you to inflate your tires.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Earlier in Pennsylvania, McCain had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MCCAIN: We're going to solve the energy crisis that's affecting businesses like National Label Company and we need an all of the above approach. We need to aggressively develop alternative energies like wind, solar, tide, biofuels and geothermal. But we also need to expand our use of existing energy resources here at home.

That means we need more nuclear power. It means we need clean coal technology. And that means we need to offshore drill for oil and natural gas. We need to drill here and we need to drill now. And anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources, either doesn't have the experience to understand the challenge we face, or isn't giving the American people some straight talk.

Unfortunately, Senator Obama continues to oppose offshore drilling. He continues to oppose the use of nuclear power. These misguided policies would result in higher energy costs to American families and businesses and increase dependence on foreign oil. We're not going to achieve energy independence by inflating our tires. I'm going to lead our nation to energy independence and I'm going to do it with a realistic and comprehensive all of the above approach that uses every resource available to finally solve this crisis.

As a lot of Americans know, the Congress doing nothing, decided to go on a five-week recess without addressing the energy challenge that's affecting Americans every single day in their ability to go to work, in their ability to do their jobs, in their ability to keep inflation down as they're trying to do here at the National Label Company. And they need a Congress that will act.

Congress should come back into session. Congress should come back into session and I'm willing to come off the campaign trail. I call on Senator Obama to call on Congress to come back into town and come back to work. Come off their recess. Come off their vacation. And address this energy challenge to America and don't leave until we do.

Republican and Democrat joining together and a very vital part of that is nuclear power and another vital part of that is offshore drilling. We have to drill here and drill now. Not wait and see whether there's areas to explore. Not wait and see whether there's a package that needs to be put together, but drill here and drill now. And let's start working for the American people and not for ourselves.

So, I hope that Senator Obama will call on Congress and the leaders, Harry Reid and Speaker Pelosi. Call Congress back into session. Let's get this energy crisis solved. As Americans have been able to solve every challenge that's faced us and move forward and work for America and put America first.

Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Democrat Barack Obama is also talking energy as he stumps in Ohio. And he's placing part of the blame for the country's energy problems on John McCain.

Here's what Obama had to say at a town hall meeting just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, you remember when George Bush took office he had an energy policy. He turned to Dick Cheney and he told Cheney go take care of this.

(LAUGHTER)

And Cheney proceed to meet with the renewable energy groups once and met with the oil and gas companies 40 times.

So John McCain's taking a page out of the Bush/Cheney playbook. He's offered a plan with no significant investments in alternative energy. He's offering a gas tax holiday that at best, would give you 30 cents a day for three months, for a grand total of $28. But that's only assuming that the oil companies actually passed on the savings. What do you think the odds of that are? Not much.

So, instead it pads oil company profits at the same time it's taking money out of the highway trust fund that Governor Strickland's going to be using to try to rebuild the infrastructure around the state and putting people back to work. McCain's offering $4 billion more in tax breaks to the biggest oil companies in America, including 1.2 million to Exxon Mobile. A company that just recorded the largest profits in the history of the United States.

This is a company that last quarter made the same amount of money in 30 seconds that a typical Ohio worker makes in an entire year. All the while, while here in Ohio, you're paying nearly $3.70 a gallon for gas and that's because it's gone down over the last couple of weeks. 2 1/2 times what it cost when George Bush took office. 2 1/2 times what it cost when George Bush took office. They had a plan.

(LAUGHTER)

They had a plan. The problem was it was the oil company plan. And the gas company plan. It wasn't a people plan. And we need a people plan. Which is why I'm running for President of the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

Senator McCain not only wants oil companies to keep every dime of that money that they've been making, he wants to give them more. Well, I don't know about you but I don't think that's the change that we need right now. Instead of offering a real plan to lower gas prices, the only energy plan that he's really promoting is more drilling. This is what he talked about yesterday. I want to drill here, I want to drill now. I don't know where he was standing.

(LAUGHTER)

I mean, I think he was in a building somewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And remember you can always hear the candidates in their own words live and uninterrupted on the campaign trail at CNN.com/live.

LEMON: Gorillas. Gobs of them. And scientists didn't even know they were there. We'll tell you more about the astonishing find.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Boy, it's not monkey business, it's an astonishing discovery and it changes everything scientists believe about endangered gorillas. In a remote area of the Republic of Congo, scientists have found more than 125,000 western lowland gorillas. They didn't even know the primates were there. That's double the number that was believed to exist in the whole world.

KAYE: From the jungles to the water, let's go on a ride with our own Anderson Cooper for some shark tagging off the South African coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Early each morning, Alison Kock (ph), a marine biologist, heads to the seas around Cape Town, hoping to uncover some of the mysteries surrounding great white sharks, the most feared predators of the sea.

(on camera): There's a lot about sharks that we just don't know, right?

There's so much we don't know. And you know, every day I spend I find something new and that's what really keeps it interesting.

COOPER (voice-over): She heads to a small island, home to thousands of seals. The seals attract great white sharks.

(on camera): Early in the morning it's the riskiest time for the seals. It's light enough for the sharks to be able to see the shadows of the seals moving, but it's still dark so that the seals can't see the sharks.

(voice-over): Alison turns off the motor and within minutes we witness a remarkable spectacle.

ALISON KOCK, MARINE BIOLOGIST: There's seals coming in, over there.

COOPER: Great whites leaping from the seas to catch the panicked seals. The water turns red with blood. Alison records each kill noting the time, the location and as much about the shark as she can observe. Birds quickly move in, eating what the sharks leave behind. While a shark circles our boat, a seal approaches. The shark makes its move. But the seal escapes and uses the boat as protection hiding in its shadow to confuse the shark.

(on camera): There's a nine foot shark circling the boat. And for some reason, I'm the only one who seems concerned.

(voice-over): This seal is lucky. The shark passes underneath the boat several times and then leaves. Great whites are rarely seen for very long. That's why so little is known about them and why they're so feared. Alison hopes to change people's understanding of sharks. She's tagging great whites with darts attached to transmitters. They can then track the sharks movements around these waters for months.

KOCK: I just aim it at the base of the dorsal fin and that's what it's like.

COOPER: She uses a tuna head to get sharks close to the boat.

(on camera): There are three sharks right now competing for this bait. But, before Alison and her team can tag the shark, they have to get a clear photograph of its dorsal fin, that way they can identify it in the future. But, to get a picture of the dorsal fin, the shark has to actually come out of the water.

(voice-over): It's a stunning sight to see. These massive, muscular great whites lunging out of the water at the bait. Finally after nearly a dozen sharks they get a clear photo. Now, they need to lure the shark into exactly the right position so the transmitter can be shot into the base of the dorsal fin, where it won't do any permanent damage. Luckily, the shark lines up perfectly.

KOCK: Yes. Here we go. Here we go. Keep it there. Keep it there. Tagged! There we go. Whoo hoo!

COOPER: Working for an organization called Save Our Seas, Allison has tagged more than 70 great whites in the last five years and identified more than 300 individuals.

(on camera): In terms of today, what you saw out there today, how was today?

KOCK: I think it was incredible. It was really incredible.

COOPER: Today was a good day?

KOCK: Yes, it was a brilliant day.

COOPER (voice-over): She's still a long way from uncovering much of the mystery surrounding great whites. How they mate, where they give birth. But she hopes to learn as much as she can and show people that great whites are more than just killing machines. They're a unique species vital to the ocean's ecosystem. In need of understanding and protection.

Anderson Cooper, CNN, Cape Town.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KAYE: A national tragedy. More U.S. troops are killing themselves. What's the government doing about it? I'll have one soldier's story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, our usual "Energy Fix" person, Poppy Harlow, is off, but we still have an energy fix for you today.

Oil prices fell below $120 a barrel, the first time we've been able to say that it fell in three months. The reasons, well, they run the gamut. First, you can thank Edouard, the tropical storm that landed on the Texas coast this morning. It did not disrupt oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and that has helped the price of oil drop more than $5 over the last two days.

Another reason oil prices are sliding -- unfortunately, the weak U.S. economy. A Commerce Department report shows strapped consumers cutting back in June as gas prices surged above $4 a gallon. As consumers cut back, demand suffers and that means lower prices. Gas prices have recorded their 19th straight decline. I can't believe I'm saying that -- 19th straight decline, and now sit at $3.87 per gallon.

Somehow that seems cheap, but it's really not. The AAA nationwide average is down about 24 cents, or 6 percent from the record high of $4.11 reported last month.

Still, last year at this time we were paying more than $1 less -- just $2.84 a gallon.

Experts expect gas prices to fall further if oil prices can hold at these levels. We want to hear what you're doing to solve your own energy problems. Send your videos, your pictures and your stories to ireport.com/energyfix -- again, ireport.com/energyfix.

And who knows? Your story might end up in our "Energy Fix" segment.

KAYE: Many soldiers die in combat, but there's growing concern about soldiers who die at their own hands 121 American soldiers may have committed last year, a 20 percent increase over the previous year.

So is enough being done?

The Pentagon now says it plans to spend $300 million to study soldier stress and trauma. Maybe that will help prevent stories like this next one.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (voice-over): He grew up on Fort Bragg, the son of a master sergeant. For Jason Scheuerman, joining the Army was the natural thing to do. He enlisted in 2004. A year later he was in Iraq.

In his first week there his parents say a soldier from his unit was killed, another committed suicide. This confident young man starts to unravel.

ANNE SCHEUERMAN, PFC. JASON SCHEUERMAN'S MOTHER: He said, I'm seeing things, mom. He goes, I guess I'm seeing visions.

KAYE: Private Scheuerman's military file, obtained by CNN, shows a soldier struggling. He's depressed and suicidal. One fellow soldier says he saw Scheuerman put his rifle in his mouth several times.

On June 22nd his platoon sergeant finds him "out of touch with reality" and recommends counseling. An Army chaplain advises, have his weapon and magazine "taken from him immediately," and send him for "psychiatric evaluation."

A week later this doctor's form shows signs of a nervous breakdown -- depression, hopelessness. It asks: Have you ever had any thoughts pertaining to the following? He checks, killing yourself.

(on camera): When somebody fills out a form saying that he's depressed, anxious, he's only sleeping three hours a night and has had thoughts of killing himself, what do you think should have been done?

CHRIS SCHEUERMAN, PFC. JASON SCHEUERMAN'S FATHER: He should have been on an airplane to Landstuhl, Germany, for the treatment that he needed.

KAYE (voice-over): Early in July, Mrs. Scheuerman gets an e-mail from her son which she interprets as a suicide note. She calls the Army and two days later Jason is back with a psychologist denying he feels suicidal. Despite it all, the psychologist writes, Jason doesn't "meet the criteria for any metal disorder. It is my opinion this soldier is capable of claiming mental illness in order to manipulate his command, shirk duty or avoid punishment."

C. SCHEUERMAN: I cannot fathom how my Army let my son down like that. His command had a duty to look out for his safety. They knew what was going on, and they failed him.

KAYE: Keeping them honest, we asked the Army if Private Scheuerman's case was handled properly? Army officials said steps had been taken to reduce the risk of suicide and added, "Our prevention efforts do help soldiers and their families deal with the war-time challenges they face every day."

(on camera): Would those efforts help this soldier? In the end, Private Scheuerman was pegged a phony. His behavior determined a hoax. Instead of getting help, he was threatened and punished, even humiliated in front of Iraqi soldiers by being forced to do push-ups.

(voice-over): Chris Scheuerman says the Army took away his son's dignity, made him feel like a coward.

C. SCHEUERMAN: In a million years I can't imagine this happening. Everyone who saw him saw how he was suffering and failed to protect him, to help him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: There is a lot more to this story, including the Army's response. I'll have it for you at 3:30 Eastern time.

LEMON: A death row inmate says he's in no shape to die. He says he's too fat for a clean execution. Is that kind of argument going to spare him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Here's one you probably haven't heard before. Defense lawyers say this man is too fat to execute. Richard Cooey, he is sentenced to die in Ohio this fall, weighs 267 pounds. I think he's like 5'7. So his lawyers say he's so fat executioners would have trouble finding his veins to give him a lethal injection. And even if they did, the lawyers say it might not be a clean, painless death. Cooey is 41-years-old. He was convicted of raping and murdering two young women back in the 1980s and prison officials say they haven't seen the lawsuit so they can't comment yet.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.