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Drug Trafficking Scandal in Maryland; Potential New Leads For Madeleine McCann's Parents; Salim Halam, Osama bin Laden's Driver in Court Today; McCain Speaks About His Time as a POW
Aired August 07, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown. Searching for the cause. Recovering the remains. Eight firefighters and a pilot feared dead in a California chopper crash.
COLLINS: Let the good times gush. Oil prices put Stanley, North Dakota, and new millionaires on the map.
HARRIS: Police bust open a mayor's door, suspecting his home in a drug buy. Now the case goes to pot. The real suspects are in custody today, Thursday, August 7th. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Let's talk about drug raids. A dangerous, violent and sometimes putting innocent people at risk. That now includes the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland. You won't believe this story and what happened to the pets. Brad Bell with our affiliate station WJLA reports on a pot bust gone wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRAD BELL, REPORTER, WJLA: The fence outside the home of Berwyn Heights mayor Cheye Calvo, hangs a sign expressing the support of the community. His bashed-in front door has been repaired. But the controversy over the violent raid at his house last week has not diminished. ABC7 news has obtained a copy of the search warrant Prince George's Police had signed by a judge authorizing a search and seizure. It does not seem to authorize the kind of so-called no-knock entry made by a S.W.A.T. team. Patrick Murphy, the chief of police of the Berwyn Heights Police have reviewed the document.
CHIEF PATRICK A. MURPHY, BERWYN HEIGHTS, MD POLICE: There is no permission from the judge to treat this as a no-knock warrant. There is no affidavit of probable cause.
BELL: Mayor Calvo declined on-camera comment today but last week, but last week a S.W.A.T. team burst into his home without warning.
They bound me and force me to kneel in the corner. My mother-in- law was bound on the kitchen floor with the dogs.
BELL: The mayor in court documents talk about a mysterious box addressed to Calvo's wife and shipped from California. It was intercepted by police at the FedEx facility and found to hold 32 pounds of marijuana. The raid happened after officers delivered the box to Calvo's home. Now sources say police believe the pot had nothing to do with the mayor or his family and was to have been intercepted by someone else. The sources say an arrest could come soon. But in Berwyn Heights, anger lingers that police acted without proper investigation and perhaps without proper authority.
MURPHY: The mayor demanded that they show him the warrant and they never did so.
CHIEF MELVIN C. HIGH, PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, MD POLICE: This was not about the mayor, not about his home, but the place where drugs had been sent to and the officers had sufficient cause to enter that premise to address a criminal issue.
BELL: Now, under the law, police may enter a home without knocking if certain so-called exigent circumstances exist. And in this case the sheriff and the chief of police say that their experience in the past with drugs and the level of violence often associated with drugs was all they needed. Additionally, the sheriff said that his S.W.A.T. team heard someone in the house say, someone is running up to the house. They believed that that tip-off meant that they should enter without knocking.
As for clearing the mayor and his family of any involvement with the drugs, the chief would only say that this seems to make it highly unlikely that they were involved. In Palmer Park, Brad Bell for News Channel 8.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Pretty amazing, huh? Two people are now under arrest in the drug smuggling plot and police say they regret killing the mayor's two dogs during the raid. The mayor plans to speak out at a news conference this afternoon at 2:30 Eastern and CNN will bring that to you live. Count on it. We will also talk live with the mayor after the news conference at about 3:30 Eastern.
COLLINS: Your tax dollars at work. Police in Miami say a drug investigation nabbed more than 60 suspects, almost all of them government employees. The group includes school bus drivers, teachers assistants and even a woman who later became a police officer. Investigators say they took part in distributing the powerful prescription pain killer, OxyContin, across south Florida. More than 12,000 pills over the past three years.
A fourth search of the Orlando house where Caylee Anthony lived with her mom and grandparents. Investigators hailed away several items. Divers reportedly plan to search nearby lakes and ponds. The sheriff's office only says its dive team will be doing monthly training on Friday. Caylee hasn't been seen since early June. Her mother is still in jail for allegedly lying to police. She did not report the girl missing for almost a month.
Investigators for Madeleine McCann's parents are poring over potential new leads. We told you about this yesterday. They include an alleged sighting in this Amsterdam party store. The shop owner said she spotted girl who looked like Madeleine and called herself Maddie. The police recently had released a batch of evidence including tens of thousands of pages of documents. Madeleine disappeared during a family vacation in Portugal last year.
HARRIS: A remote California forest to search for bodies and answers this morning. Eight firefighters and a pilot are believed dead. Their helicopter crashed while shuttling crews battling wildfires. CNN's Dan Simon in northern California in the town of Weaverville. Dan, good morning.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. We are at the command post and we are expecting a press briefing at 3:00 p.m. local time. But you can just imagine what it must have been like at that scene. There were firefighters on the ground who were also waiting to be picked up. They witnessed what happened, they rescued the four survivors. Three firefighters and a co-pilot, they are all in serious condition at area hospitals with serious burns. This crash took place in a very remote part of the Shasta Trinity Forest. However, we are told that the pilot and his co-pilot were very experienced. They knew that area. They had made several passes where that crash occurred. The NTSB is investigating.
Meanwhile, we're trying to get a better sense as to what caused this crash. There will be several questions. These firefighters had just finished their shift when this crash occurred.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER D'AQUANNI, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: They had finished most of their work for the day and they were coming off the mountain. When the - excuse me.
KIM DUNCAN, RESIDENT: Heartbreaking. It's really just so sad. You know, I feel so bad for the families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: The National Transportation Safety Board is taking the lead in the investigation. A couple of the questions they'll be asking, they'll be looking at the maintenance records for the helicopter, they'll be looking at the crew. Did they have enough rest? Also, the winds. Could the winds possibly have shifted at the last moment and have caused that helicopter to crash during takeoff? Again, Tony, a press briefing at 3:00 p.m. local time.
HARRIS: Dan Simon for us this morning at Shasta. Thanks, Dan.
COLLINS: One surprising element of this story, most of the firefighters worked for a private company. CNN's Josh Levs is here now to fill in some of the blanks on that. Yes, I think a lot of people maybe surprised that these companies even exist. Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No kidding. If you think about it and if you see a fire you call 911. You don't realize that sometimes 911 brings in the private sector. That's why we've been looking into this today. And the simple idea here is that federal and state governments don't have enough fire crews to battle all these blazes so they call in basically these reinforcements.
Now, there's the National Wildfire Suppression Association. They represent a lot of the private firefighters across the country. During the peak season, they can field about 12,000 of them. Now, they're most often hired by government agencies, but insurance companies hire them, too, to scope out certain communities and help prevent fires there.
The pay they get, generally about $35,000 per hour, per person. This basically came about because of two things going on at the same time. You have these budget cutbacks in the '80s that reduce the number of fire crews employed by the government and then at the same time, there were conditions that led to more wildfires in the west.
So basically, this was a solution for the government. They didn't have to pay firefighters all year round but they did have them available to hire when they were needed. Now, obviously as you can imagine. This practice comes with controversy, a lot of controversy. You guys, have some questions, first of all about who pays the benefits, if one of these firefighters is injured or dies, private contractors do have insurance but government death benefits are generally higher. And some people also complained that private firefighters are hired by wealthier communities to protect their properties while less affluent ones are at the mercy of the elements.
Now, if you want to learn any more about this, we got some resources here at CNN.com. I'm going to show you. Let's start off with this story right here that says indeed free lance firefighters protect high-end homes, and these talks about people who work for these firefighting agencies. I highlighted one quote that I find really interesting that suggest us hearkening back. It says "the move towards private fire crews is in some ways a throwback to an earlier era when homeowners in colonial times join together to form fire clubs that protected them."
And we have video right here you can watch from our Brian Todd who reports on some of this. You can see some of these stories as well on CNN.com and CNN.com/video. And Heidi, I'll tell you this controversy is growing big-time. So we can expect to hear a lot more about it in the coming months and the coming years.
COLLINS: Well, my question would be, Josh, what about their experience level? I mean where are they getting their training?
LEVS: Yes. Well, in general, some of these people are people who worked for government-run fire fighting. Some of them were firefighters in the more traditional sense in the past. And also what these agencies say and the association that hires them is that they will not take on anyone who hasn't met the basic criteria to be a firefighter anywhere, including in one of these government situations. So they say that they're all operating at the same level. And so far we haven't seen any major evidence to the contrary.
COLLINS: OK. All right. We know you're looking into it. Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks.
MARCIANO: Carrying the U.S. flag at the Olympics and an unlikely runner who was once a refugee.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You know, sometimes politics takes a weird detour. Paris Hilton purrs about John McCain's wrinkles. She gets even. He gets some media attention. Go figure.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: President Bush is now in Beijing. Touched down just over an hour ago, his visit comes after a heated verbal exchange between him and China, the Chinese government defending its policies and saying outsiders should not interfere in its affairs. The statement coming after President Bush criticized China for oppression in human rights abuses. President Bush is in China, of course, for the opening of the Olympic Games.
New protests on the eve of the Olympics, this scene in Tienanmen Square today. American demonstrators kneeling on the ground, plain clothes Chinese police car them off using umbrellas to obstruct the cameras. Christian activists there to criticize a range of human rights issues, including what they call forced abortions and a ban of religious movement. Earlier the activist laid roses on Tienanmen Square in memory of those killed in the 1989 pro democracy protest.
HARRIS: Most Americans approve of President Bush's decision to attend the Olympics but they have big concerns about China. In a recent CNN opinion research corporation poll 70 percent of people questioned for the survey viewed China as an economic threat to the United States, 30 percent say no, it is not. Meet the athletes.
Given the honor of carrying the U.S. flag at the opening ceremony, Lopez Lomong. He came to America as a refugee. One of the so-called lost boys of Sudan. The 23-year-old middle distance runner overcame war and is now a member of Team Darfur. Athletes committed to raising awareness about violence in that region of Sudan. The bloodshed has left some 300,000 dead and millions homeless. Many criticize China for not doing enough to pressure its trading partner Sudan. The Olympic committees says teammates chose Lomong to be their flag bearer.
A beautiful city and residents on their best behavior that's what China wants the world to see when the Olympics begin. Emily Chang reports from Beijing's makeover and the hidden cost.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The banners are up. The streets are decked. And Beijing is showing its finest color. For seven years, since being selected for the 2008 Olympics, back in 2001, China has prepared to welcome the world to a modern city. Top architects were summoned. Bold, futuristic buildings rose up as old ones were torn down. To make way for redevelopment, the government ordered thousands of people living in old Chinese neighborhoods to move and bulldoze their homes. When we tried to cover part of the demolition, private security guards surrounded us.
They forcibly pushed us out of this area. This is a side of Beijing's transformation visitors won't see. They will see 40 million flower pots positioned precisely across the city. It's not just the way Beijing looks that's different but how it acts.
CHANG (on-camera): Chinese officials have passed out millions of these etiquette hand books with dos and don'ts for the locals, including do smile in public. Don't shake hands for more than three seconds. Don't wear more than three colors at once. And women with thick legs should wear dark stockings to hide their imperfection.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): As long as it educates people about being civilized and the Olympics, I think it's necessary, says this university student.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I don't think it's an order for me to do something, just a simple suggestion, says another woman.
CHANGE: Residents have also been told to stand in line at bus stops and not to spit in public. Taxi drivers advised to go easy on the garlic to control bad breath, and everyone has been encouraged to learn English.
Posters instruct people on how not to talk to foreigners. For instance, don't ask about their age, income, or love life. Foreigners may take offense. State surveys report good progress on improving manners and behavior. And as far as the government is concerned, this Olympic makeover deserves Olympic gold.
Emily Chang, CNN, Beijing.
COLLINS: Well, this certainly wasn't a good place to park. Strong thunderstorms make it crunch time in the northeast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We'll get you to the New York Stock Exchange right now. As you can see, the Dow is down 80. Boy, we are talking about a pretty sour start to the trading day. Out of the gait about an hour ago we were down in triple digit declines there. Oil is up. A lack luster sales report from Wal-Mart, all driving the market down. We're going to get a check of the markets with Susan Lisovic in just a couple of minutes right here in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: As you know, summer heat often leads to summer storms. Look at these pictures. This was a scene around St. Louis yesterday after storms dumped heavy rains and toppled trees. One elementary school lost its roof. HARRIS: And same story halfway across the country. Residents in Harrington Park, New Jersey woke up to find trees and power lines knocked down and strong winds. No injuries have been reported.
COLLINS: Thankfully. Reynolds Wolf is joining us now to talk a little bit more about this. Boy, it happens fast. Doesn't it, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really does. You want to hear what's going to happen quickly, kind of fast. All right. Let's show you. Over here Buffalo, we're going to zoom in towards Buffalo, where we have a special marine warning that just popped up. It has waterspouts sighted just to the west of Buffalo so any mariners that have to be going out maybe tuning in with a houseboat, you may want to get closer to shore. Certainly, it would be a good idea.
Some intense thunderstorms earlier this morning. This is really round three of the storms we've seen over the lake. Meanwhile, we're going to make way a little bit farther to the south and over parts of Jonesboro, Arkansas, and this morning, in Memphis, out near Biel Street, we had strong storms, some of these now moving to the east, not far from Columbia, just to the south of Nashville at this point.
And we've also seen some of the stronger storms with small hail is the potential for damaging winds also. Now, something else we're going to be dealing with with a lot of these storms, the potential of some flash flooding in a couple of location. Some of the ground is saturated in parts of Arkansas, back into Tennessee. So, you can't rule out the chance of having some flooded roadways. Shouldn't last too long. But still not fun to drive through.
Meantime, you get plenty of humidity in parts of the southeast, temperatures very oppressive. No question about that. With this frontal boundary moving through, you got chances and strong storms, some of those may be severe into the afternoon. We could see some spotty showers as far south as Miami. Hey, speaking of Miami, let's show you a great shot we have for you. Partly cloudy skies, you see a touch of blue, you see the freeway right there in the middle of the picture a nice lagoon and a beautiful, beautiful fountain. You'll be seeing some water coming from perhaps the opposite direction, from the sky downward, not coming up from the water. Nice fountain, though, everybody. Let's send it back to you.
HARRIS: Yes. That's wonderful.
COLLINS: Thank you, Reynolds.
HARRIS: Oil gushing all around. Life in a boomtown where there's wealth beyond your wildest dreams.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: CNN bringing you more of what the presidential candidates are saying in their own words, part of our commitment to help you make an informed choice coming election day. Here is Barack Obama now talking about energy and the economy in Elkhart, Indiana. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you need one more example of what's wrong with our energy policy, or George Bush's policies in general, there's a new report today, some of you may have read in the newspaper, Iraq has been getting a windfall because of rising oil prices. They have a $79 billion budget surplus.
At a time when we're spending $10 billion a month in Iraq, they've got almost $80 billion that's not being invested in services for suffering Iraqis or reconstruction. Some of this money is sitting in American banks in New York on Wall Street collecting interest while you the taxpayer are paying for reconstruction efforts in Iraq. That's why we've got to bring about fundamental change, because if we're going to solve the problems of the American people then we've got to have somebody in Washington who is fighting for the American people and listening to the voice of the American people, and that's why I'm running for president of the United States of America.
I know that Senator McCain likes to call himself a maverick, and the fact is there have been times that where in the past he did show some independence, but the price he paid for his party's nomination has been to reverse himself on position after position and now he embraces the failed Bush policies of the last eight years. The politics that helped break Washington in the first place. And that doesn't meet my definition of a maverick. You can't be a maverick when politically it's working for you and then not a maverick when it doesn't work for you and you're seeking your party's nomination.
By the way, while we're on the subject of Senator McCain contradicting himself, a few days ago somebody asked me what they could do personally to help America save energy. So I said something that some of you have heard, which is all of us could get better gas mileage and save oil in the process just by keeping our tires inflated. It turns out the experts agree. It turns out that we could save three to four percent on our total oil consumption just by keeping our cars tuned up, inflating our tires.
Senator McCain and the Republican National Committee, though, mocked the idea. They've been going around sending tire gauges to reporters saying "Barack Obama's energy plan." Well, you know, that sounded clever except last night, after all that, Senator McCain actually said he agreed that keeping our tires inflated was a good idea. Which makes sense because it turns out Nascar, which knows something about tires, apparently said the same thing. So did the AAA. And so in the coming days it's going to be interesting to watch this debate between John McCain and John McCain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Senator Obama in his own words.
HARRIS: John McCain recalling a fellow P.O.W. and an act of patriotism. Here's McCain talking with the Marshall University Football team in Huntington, West Virginia. SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the guys that moved into the cell with me was a guy by the name of Mike Christian who was born in a small town near Selma, Alabama, very poor family, didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. When he was 17 he enlisted in the navy and became an a-6 intruder bombardier navigator. He was shot down and captured sometime before I was. He had a very strong appreciation for this country.
The uniform that we wore in prison that they gave us was blue trousers that looked like pajama trousers, short sleeve, blue shirt. And the shoes that we had were sandals that were cut out of automobile tires. One pair lasted me 5 1/2 years. I recommend them. They're strong.
Anyway, Mike Christian took his blue shirt and got a piece of white cloth and a piece of red cloth and a piece of bamboo and made himself a bamboo needle and sewed on the inside of his shirt, the American flag. Every evening before we would have a bowl of soup that they gave us to eat, which was interesting content, we would put Mike's shirt on the wall of our cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
Now, saying the Pledge of Allegiance isn't the most important part of our day as we go about events and I understand that. I can assure you some of those guys had already been in prison for as long as six or seven years, that it was the most important part of our day to pledge our allegiance to our flag and our country.
One day the Vietnamese came into our cell, they searched the cell and found mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside of it. They removed it. That night they came back, opened the door of the cell and called for him to come out. He came out, they closed the door of the cell and they beat him for about the next two hours. And they beat him very badly. And then when they finished, they threw him back inside of the cell. He was in very bad shape, as you could imagine.
Well, the room in which we lived had a concrete slab in the center of it which we slept. There was four light bulbs, one in each corner of the room that shown 24 hours a day. We cleaned him up as well as we could. I went over to go down and sleep on the -- to go to sleep on the cell. And I happened as I did, I looked over in the corner of the cell. He was sitting there with a piece of white cloth and a piece of red cloth and a bamboo needle. His eyes were almost shut from the beating that he had received, was, of course, Mike Christian sewing another American flag. He knew that it wasn't so important to him, but he knew how important it was to pledge our allegiance to our flag and our country.
So, you are here in an institution that has a tradition of tragedy, of courage and greatness. And Americans are watching you. And I watch you. And millions and millions of people will be watching, including our soldiers and sailors and Marines and airmen that with serving in Iraq. They're going to be watching you this season and they're going to be proud of you. And they will know that this is a special institution because we we are Marshall.
Thank you and God bless you and God bless America. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And John McCain holding a town hall meeting next hour in a key swing state. In fact, Ed Henry is with McCain's campaign in Lima, Ohio, this morning.
So, Ed, what issues are on the minds of voters there?
ED HENRY CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Heidi.
You heard Senator McCain right there trying to speak positively about his life story. He also wants to speak positively about the issues. And I just spoke to some of the voters waiting in line, who are McCain supporters. You can see them lined up around this corner, in downtown Lima.
And they told me two main issues: The economy and gas prices, energy. A couple others mentioned immigration, as well, as a big issue. National security, as well. But, economy and gas prices were the big ones. And so I mentioned, those are the things where McCain is trying to lay out his plans, how he thinks he can fix the economy, he can fix the energy problems and speak positively, sort of a positive agenda for the American people.
On the negative side, McCain though, is trying to beat up on Barack Obama, very directly in these kind of town hall meetings, in his new ads on television. And basically say, Barack Obama is not prepared to be president. And what's at work there is that McCain is trying to battle Obama on the question of who can really be the change candidate, who can shake up Washington.
It's funny. We've got video of some of some of the campaign buttons being sold right behind me. But, right across the seat, just a couple hundred feet from where all these McCain supporters are, there's actually a Barack Obama campaign headquarters, you can see, with various Obama paraphernalia. And it has in big letters, "Real Change," up there.
That happens to be a coincidence that Senator McCain is going to be speaking in a short while, just across the street from where Obama's campaign headquarters are. But, that's what this is all about.
Basically, John McCain, hearing Obama on the campaign trail, say look, I'm the candidate of change. McCain is trying to say, look, I've been pushing change. He likes to say he's been a maverick in Washington. Obama fires back, he's been in Washington too long, for 26 years and he doesn't really want a change. That's where they're really going at each other -- Heidi.
COLLINS: You know, we've been hearing a lot about possibly candidates for VP lately. You and I have actually talked about that.
What is the latest now from the McCain camp?
HENRY: Well, it's interesting. Let me tell you first what I'm hearing the latest from the voters behind me. The McCain supporters very strong, I did an informal poll, a couple dozen people we walked through. Overwhelming favorite, Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. People are telling me far and wide, they think he's got the most national name I.D. and that he's got the experience on the economy, which is issue number one, obviously.
Another possible one out there is Tim Pawlenty.
And take a listen to what he said when he was asked about the potential vice presidential slot yesterday, at the National Press Club.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are the most important qualities in a vice presidential candidate?
TIM PAWLENTY (R), GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA: Discretion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: There you have it. Tim Pawlenty joking perhaps about discretion. Obviously the campaigns don't want you blabbing about whether you're going to be the vice presidential candidate.
But, maybe too discreet. I talked to a lot of people here. I said, what about Tim Pawlenty. Most of the people told me, I don't know who he is, tell me more about it. So, it's interesting. They say that if John McCain picks Pawlenty, he's going to have to really go national and explain who this guy is.
But two other quick names, somewhat surprising to me that I heard. Several people told me they want to see Newt Gingrich on the ticket, the former House speaker, conservative. And secondly, Condeleezza Rice. We've known that the secretary of state repeatedly has said she does not want to be a future vice president. But several people in this line told me they want John McCain to go back to her and try to convince her to be the VP nominee. They say for three major reasons, national security, also she's a woman and they think she would cut into some of Barack Obama's African-American support -- Heidi.
COLLINS: You know what, Ed? I don't believe any of it until it actually happens. That's kind of the way it seems to go, right?
All right. Ed Henry, we appreciate it. From Limo, Ohio. Thank you.
HENRY: Absolutely. Thank you.
HARRIS: Barack Obama is on the road, but out of the spotlight today. He heads to Chicago, but has no public appearances scheduled. Obama plans to travel to Hawaii this weekend for a little vacation and to visit family before the Democratic Convention at the end of the month.
COLLINS: Poppy Harlow is off today, but we still have an Energy Fix for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: My opponent doesn't want to drill. He doesn't want nuclear power. He wants you to inflate your tires.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Well, that's the latest squabble on the campaign trail, inflating your tires. Is it all a lot of hot air or a real energy fix? Let's put the politics aside if possible, and talk about saving you some money.
Here's the good news: Checking your tire pressure every month and keeping them properly inflated can of course, save you money. The Energy Department says if all Americans did this, we'd cut gasoline consumption by more than 3 percent. At $4 a gallon, that's a 12 cent per gallon savings.
Meanwhile, the nationwide average for gas continues to drift further below $4 a gallon. AAA says, the average has dropped for 21 straight days and it's now at $3.85 a gallon.
Now, getting back to the tires, how much is a 3 percent savings in terms of our gas consumption? Well, according to the Energy Department, here's where the rubber meets the road. We consumed 281 billion gallons of motor gas in 2007. So, three percent of that is nearly 8.5 billion gallons. At $4 a gallon, that's nearly $34 billion in savings for the American consumer just by keeping the tires inflated.
And, while it's an Energy Fix for you, it will only be a small step in the long road toward solving the nation's energy woes. So, tell us what you're doing for an Energy Fix. Send us your video, pictures and stories to iReport.com/energyfix. And your story just may end up being a part of our Energy Fix segment.
It's exciting.
HARRIS: Black gold gushing.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports on a North Dakota boomtown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THEMLA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stanley, North Dakota. A farming town of about 1,000, near the Canadian border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drive by Stanley and you go blink and you'll miss it.
GUTIERREZ: It's hard to miss what's happening here now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, you're talking hundreds and hundreds of wells.
GUTIERREZ: Everywhere we went the talk was about black gold. Oil that's sitting nearly two miles beneath the surface.
KEVIN FREDERICK, GEOLOGIST: The continual amount of oil we find in North Dakota is as much as three times as much as in Texas.
GUTIERREZ: It's called the Bakken Formation. A vast 200,000 square mile area from North Dakota to Montana, and into Canada. Rich with more than 3 billion barrels of crude. It was discovered in the '50s but it wasn't until recently that the oil companies have the technology to drill both vertically and horizontally to get it out of the ground.
GARY DAZELL, STANLEY RESIDENT: Oil fields have blessed us. We're making lots of money.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): Are you in the six-figure range?
DAZELL: Yes.
GUTIERREZ: Hauling water?
DAZELL: Hauling water. Don't get no better.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): That promise of money is bringing hundreds of workers in. The only housing crisis here is that you can't find any.
MIKE HYNEX, MAYOR OF STANLEY, NORTH DAKOTA: There's one hotel in town and that's full.
GUTIERREZ: What about an RV park?
HYNEX: RV parks are full.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Stanley's mayor is still reeling from the boom that started just eight months ago and the growing pains the town is experiencing. They need new roads, a new water and sewer system. But Stanley's share of oil tax revenues is under $300,000. The state gets the bulk of it.
HYNEX: We definitely need a library. With the amount of wealth being generated here, I would think if any place should deserve one, it should be here.
GUTIERREZ: Just about everyone who owns mineral rights here is hoping a well and royalty checks will soon follow.
HYNEX: I'm fairly certain that if they drilled a well here, they'd have oil. You know...
GUTIERREZ (on camera): Right where we're standing?
HYNEX: Yes.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): So how many potential millionaires did we run into? 24-year-old Aaron Scarguard (ph) now has a well on his farm. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My family has three. And there's more and more getting staked out every day.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): How many mineral acres do you have in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Enough that it would make me wealthy. You know, my family wealthy I should say.
GUTIERREZ: 48 years ago you were working on these rigs. Now it looks like there's going to be one on your property.
Could you have ever imagined that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not in a lifetime.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Robert Western is 74. He took us to his farm and pointed out a stake right in the middle of his canola field. A sweet sight for a man who grew up during the depression.
ROBERT WESTERN, GRAIN FARMER: We certainly won't have money problems in the future.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): Do you wish it would have happened sooner?
WESTERN: It would have been nice.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Better late than never. For a farmer who could become oil barren in a brand new boomtown.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: There you have a town prospering from oil prices today. Tomorrow, a city in pain. Jobs evaporate in the Arizona desert.
COLLINS: Iraq. You are paying to rebuild it. But Baghdad's leaders are amassing something else, a huge windfall of oil profits.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Quickly want to get this information to you that we are just receiving in the CNN NEWSROOM. According to the Associated Press, this story out of Detroit. Detroit's mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has now been ordered jail time after the judge has found that he violated his bond. Apparently Kilpatrick took a trip and did not notify the court that he would be taking that trip.
So, we don't know the amount of jail time quite yet. And we are just getting these details in. But once again, the headline here, according to Associated Press, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been ordered jail time by the judge for violating his bond.
We'll follow up for you and bring you more information just as soon as we get it.
HARRIS: You know, each month American taxpayers pay about $10 billion to help rebuild Iraq. Now, it turns out Iraq has amassed projected surpluses of about $80 billion from the rising cost of oil.
So what's the deal here?
CNN's Brianna Keilar explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR (voice-over): Record high oil prices. A pain at the pump for Americans but a windfall for the Iraqi government. A new report says Iraqi oil revenues since 2005 could total up to $169 billion. With the U.S. government on the hook for almost $50 billion in war reconstruction costs, members of Congress are fuming.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), CHMN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: This is not rocket science. They've got tens of billions of dollars of surplus in banks around the world. $10 billion in American banks alone. They wrote a check to get that money into the bank. They can write a check to reimburse us for these reconstruction costs.
KEILAR: Shortly after the U.S. invaded Iraq, a top Pentagon official told Congress rebuilding would be paid for with oil money.
PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: There's a lot of money to pay for this. It doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money.
KEILAR: But it didn't happen that way. Since 2003, the United States has largely funded security as well as infrastructure for oil, water and electricity in Iraq. Now news that Iraq is projected to have a surplus of as much as $80 billion this year. But White House Spokesman Tony Fratto said Iraq is now footing most of the bill for rebuilding and dismisses suggestions that Iraq reimburse American taxpayers.
TONY FRATTO, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The reimbursement to the United States is that we will have a long-term ally that will stand with us in this very critical part of the world.
KEILAR: And an Iraqi lawmaker tells CNN Iraqis should set aside that surplus money in case the price of oil, Iraq's primary source of revenue, drops significantly.
Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: We want to get to that breaking news immediately right now.
We have more information regarding the sentencing phase of Salim Hamdan. You remember yesterday we gave you the verdict -- a split verdict, in fact, coming from Guantanamo Bay, on Osama bin Laden's driver.
We want to get directly to Jamie McIntyre who's standing by with more details on this.
So Hamdan went before the court and had some things to say, Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Heidi.
You know, it's another hot, steamy day here in Guantanamo Bay. But in the courtroom, Salim Hamdan looked cool and calm as he gave an unsworn statement to the jury, making the case that he was just a lowly driver for Osama bin Laden.
He described his relationship with him as an employer and a quote, "director of the company." He also said that when he was in Yemen and the USS Cole was attacked, which the U.S. said was by al- Qaeda, that he believed the local news reports that the Israeli Masad was behind it. And he said he was shocked later on to discover what Osama bin Laden was actually up to.
Again, Salim Hamdan making these statements to the court, standing up, wearing his light jacket, white shirt and a traditional white headdress, as he was making a plea to the commissioners that he wasn't in the inner circle of Osama bin Laden and that the car he was driving that had missiles in it, was a car he borrowed to drive his wife to the border. And was about to return when he was captured by Afghan authorities back in November of 2001.
Again, an unsworn statement, but something the jury can consider as they weigh the sentence. The judge here has already given him credit for about five years time served. But, if he gets life in prison, that won't make much difference -- Heidi
COLLINS: You know, Jamie, I wonder, as the sentencing phase moves forward, which I guess we don't really have any idea as to how long it could take to actually finish up.
Did Hamdan say anything about whether or not he knew those missiles were in that vehicle?
MCINTYRE: He claimed that he was not aware that the missiles were in the vehicle.
He didn't address that directly in court today. But, he's claimed all along that he borrowed a car, the missiles were in it. He was going to return it with the missiles. Of course, the U.S. says he was actually carrying those missiles to the front lines for al-Qaeda to use in the attacks against American and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
As for how long the sentencing will take, it should be pretty quick. The military commission only took just over a day to reach a verdict. They may reach a sentence as soon as today.
COLLINS: OK. Very good. We will wait for more information on that from you.
Jamie McIntyre, our senior Pentagon correspondent, from Guantanamo Bay.
Thanks, Jamie.
HARRIS: Very quickly want to update the story on Detroit's mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick. As Heidi reported just a couple of moments ago, the mayor has been ordered to county jail. This after a judge found the mayor violated the terms of his bond by going to Canada and not informing the court. Now, the ruling from the judge came after the mayor apologized to the court saying it wouldn't happen again. But the judge said that he would have given the same treatment to any criminal defendant and Kwame Kilpatrick's attorneys say they will immediately appeal the ruling.
So again, Detroit's mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, has been ordered to county jail for how long -- it doesn't say here. But he has been ordered to county jail after a judge found the mayor violated the terms of his bond by going to Canada and not informing the court. We will keep you up to date with the latest on this story.
A football comeback and a mystery revealed. Where is Brett Favre going?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: At 38, he may be football's most talked-about comeback kid. Now word about Brett Favre's fate. Green Bay reached a deal to send its longtime legendary quarterback to the New York Jets -- gangrene (ph). Favre's long and ugly split with the Packers turned into a huge soap opera. It comes after 16 years with the team, including a Super Bowl win in 1997.
COLLINS: The red hot presidential race could get even steamier. How about adding a blonde in a bathing suit?
CNN's Jeanne Moos reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thanks to these two jokers, a funny thing happened to Paris Hilton.
PARIS HILTON, SOCIALITE: Then that wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I'm running for president --
MOOS: She did a parody response ad to John McCain's real ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: He's the biggest celebrity in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: And the response to Paris was good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm going to bump it up to maybe a seven.
HILTON: I'm just hot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine out of ten.
MOOS (on camera): This could be Paris Hilton's come back among the inteligencia, sort of.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she ever have something to come back from?
MOOS (voice-over): Now she does. These two made her a political star.
ADAM MCKAY, FUNNYORDIE.COM: Yes. We called her. We pretty much straight up gave her a call. She called back. We told her our idea, and she was into it.
MOOS: Adam McKay and Chris Henchy -- Chris happens to be married to actress Brooke Shields -- are the brains behind Will Ferrell's comedy Web site Funny or Die. They wrote the parody and shot it out in the Hamptons with Paris contributing lines.
CHRIS HENCHY, FUNNYORDIE.COM: Paint the White House pink, wasn't that hers?
MCKAY: That was hers.
PARIS: I'll see you at the White House. Oh, and I might paint it pink.
MOOS: But it was Paris' energy policy --
PARIS: Why don't we do a hybrid of both candidates' ideas?
MOOS: -- That went over big even, with real pundits.
JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST, "MORNING JOE": Her energy policy, if you just look at the words, really better than Barack Obama's and John McCain's.
MOOS: Her biggest laugh line included the word that rhymes with witches.
HILTON: I'll see you at the debates (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS: Even Jay Leno was impressed.
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Paris Hilton making sense. Wow!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a plunker. She really is a plunker.
MOOS: A whatter?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A plunker. She's an idiot.
MOOS (on camera): Now, if you think Paris Hilton is such an air head, consider this. She wasn't using a teleprompter like I am. She memorized all that and did it in about four takes.
(voice-over): Yes, she can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Paris for president?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Paris for president?
MOOS: T-shirts are already available. Vote Paris, not old dude.
HILTON: Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick out a vice president. I'm thinking Rihanna.
MOOS: Though there were other potential running mates.
MCKAY: We considered the 40-pound cat.
HENCHY: That's right.
MCKAY: It was one we talked about. The Montauk sea creature was mentioned.
MOOS: And speaking of sea creatures, what's with the leopard cut out swimsuit?
MCKAY: Classic Paris.
HENCHY: That was classic Paris.
MCKAY: She answered the door in that suit.
MOOS: As one person posted, "just be glad it's Paris talking politics and not McCain releasing a sex video."
That would wake up this faker.
HILTON: I'm Paris Hilton and I approve this message, because I think it's totally hot.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And certainly a story that we are following here in the NEWSROOM -- just into the NEWSROOM, just minutes ago. The embattled mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, ordered to jail. More on this story in just a couple of minutes at the top of the hour right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And good morning again, everyone. You're informed with CNN.
I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Developments keep coming into the CNN NEWSROOM on this Thursday, August 7th. Here's what's on the rundown.
