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CNN Live Saturday
Tropical Storm Ernesto Growing in Strength; Ernesto Could Hit New Orleans; Crime Returns to New Orleans in Staggering Forms; Oprah's Promise; NASA Sets New Timetable for Atlantis Liftoff
Aired August 26, 2006 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Iran's president toured a new heavy water production facility today that he says is for agriculture and scientific needs. He denied it would be used to make nuclear weapons after being connected to a reactor in just a few years. We have a full report from Tehran, coming up.
Well, it looks like the Shuttle Atlantis won't launch tomorrow. We heard this just a short time ago. NASA decided to delay lift-off for 24 hours to make sure the launching pad wasn't damaged by a lightning strike yesterday.
And a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the "Chicago Tribune" faces spy charges in Sudan. Paul Salopek was arrested by pro- government forces in Darfur three weeks ago along with his driver and interpreter. The "Tribune" insists Salopek is not a spy and they're calling for his immediate release.
New information also on the fate of those Fox News journalists kidnapped in Gaza. The Palestinian prime minister, also a member of Hamas, says that he is hopeful the men will be released within hours. Now, we're following this story, because it could break any moment now. We're going to report any new developments as soon as they happen.
In the meantime, to Kenya. A rock star's reception for U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets as a Illinois Democrat visited a village where his late father and grandfather once lived. More on Obama's emotional visit to Kenya later this hour.
In the meantime, there was a fire at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch in California. Well, it's now fully contained. That fire started Friday and burned 40 acres of land, but it didn't spread to the main house or harm any of the singer's animals. By the way, Michael Jackson wasn't even there.
ANNOUNCER: CNN, your hurricane headquarters.
LIN: All right, it's still days away, but looking more and more like trouble. Tropical Storm Ernesto headed toward the Gulf. That is our top story.
Emergency officials are also mapping out plans for New Orleans. That's right, New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina hit a year ago Tuesday. Ernesto is hundreds of miles away and its path still far from certain. But after Katrina, no one is taking chances.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: We had to rescue 60,000 people that remained behind who found themselves in dangerous positions. We don't want those 60,000 or any number like that to remain here and to remain in danger. We hope not to have to rescue any souls. We want to be able to come back altogether and pick up whatever the hurricane delivers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: All right, so the latest there from the scene of the disaster from a year ago.
Let's find out where Ernesto is right now.
Jacqui Jeras tracking him from the CNN Weather Center -- Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Carol, it's in the middle of the Caribbean right now. And despite upper level winds that are rather strong to the west of the storm, which tends to break down and weaken systems, Ernesto has a mind of its own and it's continuing to strengthen.
The maximum sustained winds now are up to 60 miles per hour. That's up from the 2:00 advisory, at 50 mile per hour winds.
It's also slowed down just a little bit in forward speed, west- northwest at 13 miles per hour. And you can see a lot of purple. That's the area of the most intensity on this storm system. We're expecting it to continue to get stronger.
And there has been a little bit of a change now in the forecast track. I having had the opportunity to read through everything from the 5:00 Eastern time advisory that just came in, but you can see there's been a little bit of a shift on off to the right. Still looking at the Gulf of Mexico-coast for a potential hit maybe five to seven days from now. But if this continues, if this holds true, the Eastern Gulf would be a little bit more vulnerable than, say, the Western or the Central Gulf.
So we'll have to wait and see how this all plays out. But this is the best thinking at this time.
Here is the current position of the storm. It's moving west- northwest and expected to continue on that track. The good news is for Jamaica right now, if this continues to hold true, the storm will be passing just to the north of there, potentially. So they would be getting more of the easy side of the storm, so to speak. But still very concerned about some heavy rainfall through this area.
Intensifying into a hurricane and then moving over parts of Cuba and then into the Gulf of Mexico-and we'll see where it will go from there.
Here are the warnings and the advisories which have just been updated at this hour.
I apologize for -- just at the tail end of the last hour I said Western Cuba was under the hurricane watch. It's actually eastern parts of Cuba, as well as the Cayman Islands and then tropical storm warnings for Jamaica and southern parts of the coast of Hispaniola.
I also want to show you real quickly from Puerto Rico, feeling the effects right now already of Ernesto. There you can see the northern part of the island. Here's San Juan. Some very heavy rains pushing through there, on the range of one to three inches. We're expecting maybe four to eight as it moves toward Jamaica -- Carol.
LIN: Lots of possibilities there, Jacqui.
Thank you very much.
Now, it's kind of ironic. As if on cue, bad weather is threatening the first events commemorating Hurricane Katrina's anniversary. People linking hands at the Superdome today had to brave a heavy shower and predicted thunderstorms are threatening other events.
In the meantime, we want to find out how the Gulf Coast is planning for the possibility that Ernesto may actually make landfall along the Gulf Coast.
Susan Roesgen just came out of an emergency meeting, or emergency officials meeting there, talking about this possibility -- Susan, what did you learn there?
SUSAN ROESGEN, GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this is an ironic situation here. I'm at the media center that was set up for the Hurricane Katrina anniversary events and it's now been turned into the main briefing area for the press for the city's emergency management team.
Just a few minutes ago, Colonel Terry Ebbert, the head of New Orleans emergency management here, said basically don't panic, but do get ready. The city is watching Tropical Storm Ernesto very carefully.
In the meantime, the head of the local National Guard said that National Guardsmen are already at the Convention Center, Carol, getting prepared for possible evacuation procedures.
At the same time, we also checked with a couple of other cities along the Gulf Coast since we don't know yet, of course, which way this storm might go.
In Beaumont, Texas, the sheriff's office told me about 20 minutes ago that they, too, are watching this very carefully. It was last year that Hurricane Rita devastated the Beaumont, Texas area. They had terrible evacuation problems, as both that city and Houston were trying to evacuate at the same time.
And we also checked with Pensacola, Florida. They, too, are watching this and the emergency management person in Pensacola said it was his understanding that this tropical storm, when and if it becomes a hurricane, might be leaning farther east. Now, I know that our meteorologists here at CNN have the latest track on it, but he was very concerned that Ernesto might be heading toward Pensacola.
So you have cities all along the Gulf Coast, Carol, and especially here in New Orleans, very concerned and very closely watching Tropical Storm Ernesto.
LIN: We have all of us watching very closely. But those folks out there, you especially, Susan, for good reason. It could be a big news cycle coming up.
A lot of danger ahead.
ROESGEN: It could be.
LIN: Well, coming up at the half hour, the return of crime to New Orleans. We're going to talk about that with Charles Foti. He is the attorney general of the State of Louisiana. The Feds are actually having to send reinforcements to try to keep New Orleans safe.
In the meantime, stay with CNN throughout the weekend and the next week as we take you back to the scene of destruction. You're going to hear stories from the people affected and see how their lives have changed. Katrina one year later -- live, extensive coverage beginning Monday.
We're not leaving Ernesto for long, but we want to take you to the Middle East and tell you about another act of defiance by Iran.
Today, President Mahmood Ahmadinejad toured a new heavy water production facility at a nuclear plant. The visit comes days before a U.N. deadline demanding Iran suspend uranium enrichment.
More now from CNN's Aneesh Raman, the only U.S. TV network reporter working in Tehran.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He came to congratulate his country, to unveil an expansion of Iran's nuclear program days ahead of a U.N. deadline to stop, which is why when it was time to speak, President Mahmood Ahmadinejad spoke to the West.
"We are no threat for anyone," he said. "The issue of making nuclear weapons has no place in Iran's policy. Making nuclear weapons is not on Iran's agenda."
Ahmadinejad toured a nuclear plant that now, he says, has a completed heavy water production facility. When in a few years joined with a reactor, this project could be used to make atomic warheads.
Iran denies that's the aim, saying they are in pursuit of nuclear power and are now eager to allay fears.
The same man who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map this day spoke of other means.
"We are no threat to the Zionist regime," he said, "which is a definite enemy for the people of the region. The solution is elections. To solve the problem of Israel, we have said that a free election attended by all Palestinians must be held.
For a hard line president, it was a softer stance, a sign that Iran, while intent on defying the U.N. deadline, is eager to show it wants a peaceful solution, that it wants to talk, which is just the type of sentiment countries like Russia and China may use to keep the U.N. from taking any immediate action against Iran in early September.
(on camera): Iran's president is set this week to hold a rare press conference. Nobody here expects him to change course, to suddenly announce Iran will suspend its nuclear program. Instead, expect more talk of peace. More reasons, the government here hopes, for the U.N. to take pause before sanctioning Iran.
Aneesh Rahman, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Coming up, CNN investigates how DNA, not a confession, is likely to unlock the mystery of the Ramsey murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: This is my daughter Sarina who drowned on Hurricane Katrina. She was five years old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: This segment coming up is going to really touch you. The horror of Katrina one year later.
Filmmaker Spike Lee takes on the Bush administration in a new documentary and CNN has a one-on-one interview.
Oh, you're looking at Oprah's promise. The talk show host makes dreams a reality for some girls in South Africa. A heartwarming story you will only see right here on CNN.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Hey, these are some of the most popular stories that you're clicking on CNN.com.
Tropical Storm Ernesto now getting strong and it could reach the Gulf of Mexico-next week. And by then, it could be a hurricane. Now, one possible path could take it to New Orleans. But right now it is still too early to tell. Also, kicked out -- Chad is ordering U.S.-based Chevron an another oil company out of the African nation. The president claims they didn't pay their taxes, but Chad is also trying to set up its own nation oil company.
And blame the weather. NASA has delayed tomorrow's Shuttle Atlantis launch for 24 hours. The reason? A lightning strike yesterday and more storms in the forecast.
JonBenet murder suspect John Mark Karr has not officially been charged yet. But the legal wrangling in his case has already begun. Karr's court-appointed attorney in Boulder, Colorado is trying to suppress DNA samples taken from his client. And given the staggering amount of media attention, he's also asking the judge for a gag order.
Well, today the "Rocky Mountain News" is reporting a witness allegedly saw someone who resembles Karr in Boulder the day JonBenet's body was found. Now, that sighting is in direct contrast to what Karr's own family is saying.
CNN's Susan Candiotti investigates the theories about where Karr was that night.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seth Temin, a public defender, has already spent hours with his new client and made his first legal maneuvers. He's asking to keep Karr's handwriting on any new documents under court seal, like this recent signature on his extradition papers, and now found on a new handwritten application to prove he can't pay for a private lawyer.
Legal experts say the defense wants to force investigators to go to court to get more handwriting samples from Karr, to compare with JonBenet Ramsey's ransom note.
Meanwhile, questions remain over whether Karr could have been in JonBenet Ramsey's neighborhood in December 1996. Today, his family again said he was with them every Christmas.
Karr's father and brother told ABC's "Good Morning America": "From the time that John had children, he has never missed a Christmas with his family. And that's any Christmas," said his father.
His brother Nate added, "If he was away from his family during Christmas, it would have been a family scandal."
If Karr flew from home in Atlanta or Alabama and back again, with no one missing him, it would have been tough. CNN obtained Delta's 1996 flight schedule. To get to Denver to hide in the Ramsey house by 5:00 p.m. as he allegedly claims, Karr would have to, for example, leave Birmingham at 9:10 on Christmas Day and arrive in Denver at 11:20 a.m. Karr would then have to drive at least another hour to Boulder.
Coming home after allegedly murdering the 6-year-old, Karr would have had to leave Denver at 6:40 a.m. change planes in Cincinnati and get back to Alabama at 1:40 in the afternoon.
Overall, he would have been away if his family for about 30 hours, most of it on Christmas Day.
BOB GRANT, FORMER BOULDER ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The answer in this case comes from the DNA. If the DNA is his DNA, then he was in that basement on that night, no matter what family says. If it's not his DNA, then the prosecution's going to have to explain why they believe he was in Boulder at that time.
CANDIOTTI: Again, whether Karr's DNA matches appears to be the key.
(on camera): The defense asked the court to prevent investigators from taking any new DNA samples from Karr without a court order and to prevent investigators from using any previously taken DNA samples without legal permission. And all this before Karr has been formally charged.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Boulder, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Other news across America, New York City police arrested a suspect in last night's shooting rampage in Queens. Matthew Colletta is facing charges in the crime spree that left one person dead and several others injured.
And new developments in the so-called Liberty 7 case. This FBI surveillance tape was obtained by CNN affiliate WFOR in Miami. And it purportedly shows the group planning an attack in the United States. Now, the faces are blurred because CNN cannot verify the identities of the people on the tape. All of the suspects have pleaded not guilty. Officials say they planned to blow up the Sears Building in Chicago and other federal buildings in Miami.
The father of a man in federal custody for allegedly bringing dynamite on a flight from Argentina to Houston says his son made a stupid mistake. Well, the FBI doesn't think terrorism is involved. The partial stick of dynamite was discovered in the man's checked luggage. He said he bought it as a souvenir from a man from a mine in Bolivia.
Up next, when Spike speaks, many listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you believe there is a conspiracy to wipe out the poor black population of New Orleans?
SPIKE LEE, DIRECTOR, "WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE": I don't put anything past this administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Coming up, the outspoken and controversial filmmaker Spike Lee on his new documentary. Find out why he thinks Hurricane Katrina was such a disaster.
And Mother Nature, well, delays the Shuttle Atlantis lift-off.
So, when is it going to head to space?
CNN is live at the Kennedy Space Center.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE," COURTESY HBO FILMS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I saw them going down and I saw my neighborhood, it was like looking at a friend who had been like disfigured. You know who you're talking to, you just don't recognize them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are destroyed. I've seen Beirut. I've seen Calcutta. I've seen downtown Jakarta. I've seen Aceh. They have nothing on us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Wow!
The damage from Hurricane Katrina is still pretty evident nearly a year after the storm of a lifetime whips the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Well, that was just a small piece of the Spike Lee new documentary, "When The Levees Broke." The four-hour long film gives you an all too honest sentiment from New Orleans.
Now, CNN's Randi Kaye sat down and spoke with Lee on his chronicles of a natural disaster and tragedy of epic proportions.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
KAYE (voice-over): Sit down for an interview with director Spike Lee and get ready for an earful.
(on camera): Do you believe there is a conspiracy to wipe out the poor black population of New Orleans?
LEE: I don't put anything past this administration. That would not surprise me.
KAYE (voice-over): That pretty much captures the tone of HBO's Spike Lee documentary, "When The Levees Broke." It's a four-hour emotional roller coaster of a film.
UNIDENTIFIED NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: This is my daughter Sarina, who drowned on Hurricane Katrina. She was five years old and I never got a chance to say good-bye.
KAYE: The documentary centers on the failings of the Bush administration, some that can be documented, like FEMA's fumbling effort to deliver trailers, and some that have the earmarks of urban legend, like the claim the levees were breached on purpose so poor folks would be flooded while the rich folks stayed dry. After all, it had happened once before -- in the 1927 flood.
(on camera): What did people tell you about their beliefs that there really may have been a conspiracy to blow up the levees?
LEE: Well, people didn't use the word conspiracy. What they told me and what you see in this film is that they heard an explosion. More than one person said they heard an explosion.
KAYE: Why would they do it?
Why would the government blow up the levees?
It sounds crazy.
LEE: Why would the government give syphilis to negroes in the '40s untreated and see what would be the effect on them?
KAYE (voice-over): In his trademark style, subtle but with a bite, Lee suggests President Bush and his team were busy doing other things rather than focusing on Katrina.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dick Cheney fly fishing. Fellow (ph) Karl Rove nowhere around. You have Chernoff going to Atlanta on a disease prevention kick.
What was Dr. Condoleezza Rice doing that looked very poorly?
She was at Ferragamo's buying shoes.
KAYE: Spike Lee does not make the government's slow response a black-white issue, but an issue of class.
UNIDENTIFIED NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I'm not -- this is how low income (UNINTELLIGIBLE). These people, poor people, it's about people.
KAYE: He uses this clip of Barbara Bush touring the Houston Astrodome to make his point.
BARBARA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway. This is -- this is working very well for them.
LEE: It was amazing that the president's mother said that, that somehow that by having this hurricane and the breach of the levees and losing lives and losing their businesses and families, this is a form of social upheaval and they make out better.
KAYE: When Lee first started filming in New Orleans last November, he couldn't believe what he saw.
LEE: It looked like a movie set. It looked like a set on the back lot of an end of the world, apocalyptic movie. KAYE (on camera): Because the television -- the television didn't do it justice.
LEE: You can't.
KAYE (voice-over): And he's still surprised, he says, by what little, in his opinion, is being done to make New Orleans safe, such as rebuilding the levees to pre-Katrina status. He recalled one interview with the Army Corps of Engineers.
LEE: I looked at him like he was crazy. Whoo-hoo, pre-Katrina safety? It wasn't safe before pre-Katrina. I'm like...
KAYE: Members of the Bush administration turned down Lee's interview request. But he'd like to force them to watch his film, which brought to mind a scene from one of his favorite movies, "Clockwork Orange."
LEE: And I'd like to do that. I'd like to get -- to have a screening room. I'm going to have Bush, Cheney, Condoleezza, all of them guys, they're handcuffed...
KAYE: And their eyelids held up.
LEE: Yes. Yes, the eyelids. And so if they want to fall asleep, they can't. They have to watch this for four hours.
KAYE (voice-over): Tough as he is on the administration, Lee doesn't put all the blame on Washington.
(on camera): How do you think Mayor Ray Nagin did overall?
LEE: He dropped the ball. Overall, I would say the same thing with Governor Blanco.
KAYE (voice-over): Spike Lee says his goal in making the film is to get the Gulf Coast much needed attention and strengthen the American spirit, which he says survived the storm.
LEE: Just come with it with an open mind, just as a citizen of the world. Like not even a citizen. I'm not saying come as an American, just as a citizen of the world, being a human being that cares for other human beings. That's the way I think you should approach it.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Gulf Coast recovery and the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina were the two big topics of the president's weekly radio address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The federal government has conducted a thorough review of its response to natural disasters and we're making reforms that will improve our response to future emergencies.
With help from Congress, we've committed $110 billion to the recovery effort and we're playing a vital role in helping people clear debris, repair and rebuild their homes, reopen their businesses and schools and put their lives back together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: And this just in to the CNN Center.
You're looking at a map of Gaza City, where Palestinian sources are telling CNN that Israeli missiles have struck the car carrying a Reuters wire cameraman. Thirteen people wounded. We are looking into this story.
As well, as you also might recall, we're following a story in Gaza where any minute now, we heard from the Palestinian prime minister, that two Fox journalists may be released imminently, within hours.
Those two journalists there, Olaf Wiig, a photographer, and Steve Centanni, the correspondent there, released these images -- these images were released of them just this past Wednesday.
So, Olaf Wiig's wife, we do know, also is in Gaza City, awaiting word to see if she will see her husband soon. We're following that story, as well, in Gaza.
In the meantime, where is he and where is he headed?
Tropical Storm Ernesto could be in the Gulf pretty soon.
That's next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: And we all (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: OK, so was that a senator or a saint?
Thousands greet Barack Obama in Kenya.
Why he's there and what he did.
That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Boy, what a way to mark the upcoming anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Tropical Storm Ernesto could become the season's first hurricane and reach the Gulf of Mexico next week.
Our Jacqui Jeras tracks the storm live in just a minute.
And overseas, Iran is not backing down. The president unveiled a plant today that could make plutonium. All this as Iran faces a Thursday U.N. deadline to roll back its nuclear enrichment program.
And this was just in moments ago to the CNN Center. CNN has confirmed that an Israeli air strike has struck a Reuters cameraman's car, a Reuters wire service photographer, and has wounded 13 others.
This is a developing story out of the Middle East. We're going to stay on top of it.
In the meantime, Chad has told U.S.-based Chevron and a Malaysian-based oil company to leave. The president claims they didn't pay their taxes. Chad is also trying to set up a national oil company which could be a direct competitor to two companies.
George Allen can't get the monkey off his back. The Virginia senator skipped the campaign stop when these costumed protesters -- hopefully coming up -- there you go. Well, they showed up. Allen drew fire for calling an opponent's aide "macaca," a type of monkey. Some consider it a racial slur.
Our top story now. Tropical Storm Ernesto on the way to what could become the season's first hurricane.
Standing by with the very latest, Jacqui Jeras at the CNN weather center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LIN: Well, a hint of irony to the Hands Around the Superdome event today in New Orleans. It rained as people joined hands in an attempt to encircle the building. Many of them were storm survivors who had taken refuge inside that dome.
Now, it's a topic few people want to talk about in New Orleans' ongoing recovery. Violent crime has returned to the Crescent City. You'll recall that crime actually dropped dramatically after Hurricane Katrina.
But as CNN's Sean Callebs reports, it's coming back in staggering forms in a city still reeling from the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Crime tape, police lights and another bloody weekend in post-Katrina New Orleans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. There's nothing going on. They got my grandbaby. Please bring him to me.
CALLEBS: Six people dead in three separate shootings this weekend. And this after five teenagers were killed a month and a half ago in a bloody shooting. Authorities blame the recent violence on the drug trade. New Orleans is struggling to rebuild, bring its residents back, and see tourists once again fill the French Quarter. But ask Mayor Ray Nagin about a perceived crime problem and he offers this rosy assessment...
MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: The National guard, state troopers and the NOPD have done an incredible job. Crime is dropping dramatically.
CALLEBS: City leaders say fewer people were killed this year in New Orleans compared to the same date last year. But there are far fewer citizens in the city right now.
In an effort to allay fears that could cripple the rebuilding effort, police are telling tourists and law abiding citizens they aren't being targeted.
WARREN J. RILEY, NEW ORLEANS POLICE SUPT.: But it is clearly, clearly people who live the life that are involved in drugs and violence who are killing each other and who are dying.
CALLEBS: And they say the spate of killings also coincides with government benefits running out for Katrina victims.
JOHN BRYSON, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPUTY SUPT.: What is happening is that they have no jobs, they have no place to stay, so therefore they take to the streets and try to support themselves through the narcotics trade, which is dangerous.
CALLEBS: In fact, police say this sign is right on the mark.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I don't know what's next, what we're going to do with the young people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Federal officials are responding to the rising tide of crime in New Orleans. This week, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced the temporary reassignment of 10 U.S. attorneys to help prosecute federal weapons and drug and immigration cases. Both ATF and federal marshals will send more agents to joint New Orleans' violent crime impact team, and all of this as they brace for more cases for the fraud task force.
More than 380 individuals are facing criminal charges, and most are accused of trying to get federal aid money when they weren't actually entitled to it.
Joining me now is Louisiana attorney general, Charles Foti, also the former longtime sheriff for Orleans Parish.
Good to have you, Mr. Foti.
CHARLES FOTI, LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's a pleasure to be with you today. LIN: For those taxpayers around the country who see the feds once again coming in, sending all these additional resources, explain to people why it is that New Orleans cannot get a handle on its own crime problem right now.
FOTI: Well, the devastation was so dramatic and so intense that it basically wiped out about 80 percent of the city. The police stations, the fire stations, the jails, government structures were all down, and most of these have not reopened at the present time.
I went to Washington with Lynn Ross from the National AG's Association and we got money to give to both Mississippi and Louisiana, about $62 million to Louisiana. So those resources just came in within the last two and a half months. But we talked to the attorney general of the United States, and he was very supportive. And he showed support by coming down here.
At the same time, we're rebuilding the court system, rebuilding the prosecution system, the corrections system and the police...
LIN: All right. So there's no infrastructure.
FOTI: Right.
LIN: I mean, no -- you know, hardly a place to try a case, much less get your files together.
FOTI: And -- but it's also human resources. The men and women that work for these agencies, most of them don't have housing. And a lot of them that stayed on the job, their families are in another state and they can't get back and forth. And so all of that -- all of that is taking its toll.
LIN: Clearly.
FOTI: Also, what we have is we have an increased drug trade which is sort of coming in from...
LIN: Yes.
FOTI: ... from Texas...
LIN: Mr. Foti, I mean, I come from Los Angeles, and I've covered a lot of these drug cases stories, and you see these -- these shootouts where kids are getting gunned down. This looks like a classic case of a turf war going on.
Is that what you're seeing in New Orleans?
FOTI: I think that what you see is that because turf was destroyed, the new people -- old drug dealers and new dealers came in and now are fighting over new areas to do. The police department is working very closely with federal authorities, FBI, DEA, the AG's Office, the state police. We're working very closely in a regional effort, because it only affects not only New Orleans, but it affects are entire region... (CROSSTALK)
LIN: Are these gangs -- sir, are these gangs, or are you seeing organized crime moving in, taking advantage of the situation?
FOTI: We are seeing some indication that there's some organized gangs that have moved in that weren't here before, but we don't have lots of crime from that now. We just see the indications. And the intelligence-gathering forces are going on right now.
And that's one of the things we centralized, is intelligence- gathering, the feds, the state and the local authorities in the four- five parish area. So we're working very closely on that. We're working very closely with DEA to identify those people that are in leadership positions and take them out.
LIN: You bet.
Charles Foti, good luck with the effort. Thank you very much.
FOTI: Thank you very much.
LIN: Now, in case you need a reminder, Oprah Winfrey still has the magic touch. The talk show host fulfills a promise and makes dreams a reality for some girls in South Africa.
Straight ahead, it's an inspiring story, and it's only right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: We've got more information coming on that Israeli missile strike that struck a journalist. A Reuters cameraman was inside an armored vehicle that was hit by one of the Israeli missiles.
CNN has Palestinian sources telling us that at least 13 people were wounded there and that also the Israeli army was still checking out this report. But according to witnesses, this photographer was filming an Israeli raid in Gaza.
Also, we're waiting for word out of Gaza as well as to whether these two FOX journalists are going to be released tonight. The Palestinian prime minister announced earlier that it could happen at any moment. And if it does, we're going to bring it to you first.
In the meantime, Oprah Winfrey made a promise years ago to Nelson Mandela to promise to help educate young girls in South Africa, and now that promise is a reality.
Our Jeff Koinanage has more in a story you will only see right here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twelve- year-old Palessa (ph) and her 13-year-old cousin Lebohang (ph) live in this three-roomed house, along with four other family members, in Soweto, one of Johannesburg's sprawling townships. They've heard U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey is in town and she's looking for a few good girls to be part of her new project. What they don't know is that Oprah's about to pay them a visit.
Word spreads fast about Oprah's presence in Soweto and the visit is no longer top secret. After all, this is Oprah. Oprah has been coming to South Africa for the past several years, determined to fulfill a promise she made to former president Nelson Mandela or Madeva to most here.
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: So I said to Madeva, I would like to build a school and I would like to commit $10 million. This was five years ago. And he said, yes.
KOINANGE: And just like that the two broke ground for a girl's school just outside Johannesburg in what began as a $10 million project. It's since grown to $40 million and counting.
(on camera): Less than four years later this is the result, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. Set on more than 50 acres of land, it houses more than two dozen buildings and Oprah says she was personally involved in the design and layout of most of them.
WINFREY: The dream for me was to create a school that I would most want to attend. So from the very beginning I sat down with architects and I said, we have to have a library in the fireplace so that the girls can, it can be a place of learning as well as living for them. We have to have a theater because this is a school for leaders and in order to be a leader you have to have a voice. In order to have a voice you need oration. So the idea for the school came about based on what I felt would be an honor for the African girls.
KOINANGE (voice-over): And all this for free. Free uniforms, free books, free meals. Everything is free at Oprah's school, which brings us back to Soweto and Palessa and Lebohang's house. Lebohang's mother died of AIDS nearly two years ago. Palessa's mother and grandmother now help feed five hungry mouths. But Oprah sees potential here, the right ingredients for leadership in her leadership academy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The future awaits you.
WINFREY: The future awaits you, I agree. I think your future awaits you. Your future is so bright it burns my eyes. Yeah, that's how bright your future is.
KOINANGE: Palessa's mother is overwhelmed by Oprah's philanthropy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was thinking that angels are white and they have wings and you only see angels in heaven. So now I can see we are living in this world with angels. Oprah, you are an angel. Angel from God, I believe in that. KOINANGE: And outside the word had spread like wild fire. The Oprah Fan Club had instantly multiplied. Oprah insisted on personally interviewing all the prospective students from schools around the country. Her requirements were simple, the girls had to have better than average grades and they had to come from under privileged homes, much like she did.
WINFREY: I look in their faces I see my own. The girls who came from a background just like my own. I was raised by a grandmother, no running water, no electricity, but yet because of a sense of education and learning I was able to become who I am. And I want to do the same for these girls and so I think there's no better place than Africa because a sense of need, the sense of value for education and appreciation for it could not be greater.
KOINANGE: And in true Oprah fashion, she invited all the finalists to what was supposed to be an informal get together and dropped this bombshell.
WINFREY: I brought you all here today to tell you that you will be a part of the very first class of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy. And just like that, 150 young lives were transformed in an instant. What does this mean, this moment right now, what does it mean?
WINFREY: It is a complete full circle moment in my life. It is -- I feel like it's what I was really born to do. And that's what all of that fame and attention and money was for. It feels like the complete circle of my life.
KOINANGE: As for cousins Lebohang and Palessa...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm overwhelmed. I don't know what to say. I'm that happy, I'm just waiting for next year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just waiting for that date.
KOINANGE: It seems that date can't come soon enough for South Africa's best and the brightest here, an all expenses paid top class education. And all because one woman wanted to help out an old man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES: We love you, Oprah!
KOINANGE: Jeff Koinange, CNN, Johannesburg.
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LIN: That is so cool.
All right. It is ready for liftoff, but is Mother Nature ready to let it happen?
Daniel Sieberg standing by at the Kennedy Space Center, where the space shuttle Atlantis gearing up, still, Daniel?
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. That's right, Mother Nature has forced us inside. It's also forced NASA managers to scrub the launch for at least 24 hours. We'll tell you about this very current story when we come back.
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LIN: Well, amid worries about the weather and the effects of a lightning strike on the launch pad, NASA has set a new timetable for the liftoff of the space shuttle Atlantis.
Our technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg, standing by live at the Kennedy Space Center with more details.
Daniel, what would a lightning strike do to the launch pad that would cause so much concern?
SIEBERG: Well, that's precisely what they're looking at and what they're concerned about. There has been some inclement weather, some stormy weather here at Kennedy Space Center in the last few days. It forced us to come inside. But the storm they were most concerned about happened yesterday afternoon at about 2:00 p.m.
Lightning struck the launch pad, 39B, where shuttle Atlantis is ready to go. They basically now at this point are looking at the data from that strike. They're concerned about some possible -- again, I say possible -- damage to the mechanical structure there, as well as possibly to the orbiter itself.
They're saying this may have been the largest lightning strike to hit the launch pad here at Kennedy Space Center. So they're going to have to go through that data a bit more. They announced that today at a NASA briefing.
And here's what Leroy Cain, one of the NASA managers, had to say about how they're going to look through this information.
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LEROY CAIN, LAUNCH INTEGRATION MANAGER: What we decided today at the mission management team is we know just enough to know that we don't know enough to be able to press on into a launch situation tomorrow.
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SIEBERG: There are a lot of lightning strikes here. And Florida as the lightning capital of the United States. It has happened before here at Kennedy Space Center a number of times, including when the shuttle was on the launch pad.
Just a few incidents to show you there from the past, including back in 2000 with Atlantis. Also in 1995, and with Challenger in 1983, just to name a few.
They, of course, are prepared for this type of thing here. There is a wire that runs up a 70-foot insulated mast, in a sense, that's part of the launch pad structure. It's meant to ground any electricity that comes down from -- from if a lightning strike.
Now they're going to just have to go through all that data. That could take them until at least tomorrow afternoon, early afternoon before they'll make any kind of an announcement. They have delayed at this point the launch to the earliest -- the earliest would Monday afternoon at 4:04 in the afternoon Eastern Time.
So, Carol, we'll wait until tomorrow to possibly hear something more.
LIN: All right. Thanks very much, Daniel.
Well, there's so much more ahead right here on CNN.
Next, "This Week at War." From Baghdad to Afghanistan, CNN's Tom Foreman is going to take you inside the international war on terror.
And then a special two-hour investigation. At 7:00 Eastern, Christiane Amanpour and the life of the world's most wanted terrorist.
"CNN PRESENTS," "In the Footsteps of bin Laden."
The day's top stories next, and then "This Week at War."
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