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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

East Coast Prepares for Hurricane Isabel; Ninth Circuit to Reconsider Recall Election; Bush Promotes Environmental Program

Aired September 16, 2003 - 19:00   ET

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

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Hurricane Isabel, tonight we fly into the eye of the storm.

John Edwards makes it official. Is Wesley Clark next?

Are U.S. raids in Iraq breeding a new generation of hate?

A child commits suicide. Is his mother to blame?

How quickly we forget. Murder by Mercedes, an update on Clara Harris.

And Ellen, Sharon, Ali and Jack, why TV talk has gone from naughty to nice.

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And a good evening to you. Thanks for joining for us. We've got lot to you talk about tonight.

On the trail of a fire starter. A rash of arson in the Washington, D.C., area and a very public push by authorities to draw out the culprit.

And justice served or denied for an 18-year-old Naval Academy freshman who says she was raped. The charges dropped. We'll talk with Court TV's Lisa Bloom, who says it is outrageous.

And the chilling photo that is sending one sister across the globe to find her brother, an American, missing in Liberia. We'll tell you the tale.

All that ahead.

First Hurricane Isabel, up and down the East Coast people are racing to get ready and get out of the way. It has been downgraded to a category two storm, which is a little bit like saying a smaller Mack truck is heading right for you.

A lot of coverage tonight of Isabel. Susan Candiotti in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina; Rob Marciano at the CNN weather center; and we begin with Jeff Flock, doing what TV reporters have done, since TV immemorial, chasing the storm. Today he found it. He's reporting tonight from Wilmington, North Carolina -- Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Anderson. Tonight an interesting look at the storm.

We are spending this hurricane with a team of hurricane hunters and researchers, men who say this is an extraordinary opportunity to learn, if only they can get in the path of the storm.

We spent much of our day doing just that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Maybe you see the hurricane intercept research team, quite a vehicle. Looks like something, maybe, out of that movie "Twister," doesn't it?

(voice-over): After a morning live report on CNN, the hurricane intercept research team heads for the Outer Banks and a rendezvous with Isabel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The forecast track has shifted a little bit further to the west and to the south.

FLOCK: But it doesn't take long for the plans to change. Team leader Mark Sutton (ph) checks the 11 a.m. advisory on his wireless Internet connection and finds the forecast track shifted west and south.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we redirect down from Newburn (ph) down, straight down to the coast to, like, Morehead City or Atlantic Beach. That sounds good to me.

FLOCK: As we head down Route 70 the roof mounted animometer (ph) betrays Sutton's (ph) eagerness to get to the coast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we can hide from the wind and from the water you should be OK.

FLOCK: As mark does a phone interview as he drives with a producer for "Good Morning America," who had seen his appearance on CNN, we check his supplies in the back street: straps to lash down equipment, batteries, light sticks in case the power goes out, and of course, plenty of food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're about 45 minutes from Atlantic Beach.

FLOCK: We stop for a last top off of the gas tank in case we can't get back to the mainland.

Finally, the causeway to the barrier island off Morehead City approaches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where I got my first taste of the hurricane phenomenon, as I call it.

FLOCK: As we arrive we learn of a mandatory evacuation of the town of Atlantic Beach Wednesday morning. Authorities will let us stay, but our hotel will likely be shut down. But the hurricane team has thought of everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got us another place to stay if we get kicked out of here.

FLOCK (on camera): Excellent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I put some bait out earlier and somebody took it. The owners, Jeff.

FLOCK: Of the Segal Motel (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the end of the street.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Anderson no one wishes a hurricane on anyone, but this is, indeed, an opportunity to learn and that is just what this team is trying to do. And we will be with them throughout the storm.

Anderson, that's the latest from here.

COOPER: All right, Jeff, hope you got some rain gear and a sleeping bag. You're going to need it. Thanks very much, Jeff.

The question now, where is Isabel headed? Let's go right to the CNN weather center and Rob Marciano.

Rob, what's the latest?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Anderson, it has come down in intensity just a little bit. But as it get closer to the shore line, I don't think we're going to be talking much about how much it's been downgraded because it is still a formidable storm.

Category two status, winds of 105 miles per hour. But the big thing with this thing is that hurricane force winds extend up to 160 miles from the center. So it is a wide storm and will be affecting a lot of people in a very highly populated area.

The forecast track has not changed all that much. It's expected to make landfall around the central part of North Carolina up the coastline and then actually some of the rainfall from this, Anderson, will make it the way all the way to Canada.

We'll watch this as it approaches. But the forecast track has not changed all that much in the last 24 hours.

Back to you.

COOPER: All right. We'll check back in with you later. Isabel may not look so pretty up close, but from high above, take a look. It's another story. These satellite pictures come to us from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, closing in on the eye of Isabel as it moves closer to making landfall.

Back on the ground, it is all about plywood. It is the hottest thing you can get your hands on. While many are simply getting out of town, many others are getting ready to ride it out.

That's what Susan Candiotti is covering from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a nice day. Couldn't ask for any better.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A perfect day for yard work for Amos Hall and his wife Doris.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just thought we'd get the yard mowed in case -- before the rains came.

CANDIOTTI: Even with Isabel possibly knocking on their door, the retirees, married 56 years, are fairly sure they'll ride out the storm inside their vacation home.

(on camera): They're talking about an eight- to 10-foot storm surge. Does that worry you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.

CANDIOTTI: So if you stuck around what would happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it won't come over in the yard, I don't think. It won't be over this far.

CANDIOTTI: Don't look for any hurricane shutters either. None of these windows is protected. In the 30 years they've been coming here from their other home in Virginia, the Halls say they've avoided any flooding. Their home is just across the road from the ocean and a waterway is behind them. If the halls say, they say they've got plenty of food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have enough to last us for weeks.

CANDIOTTI: And they suggest a safe place. Their living room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stay here because we don't have any windows in this room. It's in the middle of the house.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: If residents don't evacuate, police won't force them out. But they want residents to know if they don't leave, it might take some time to get help to them if they need it. And as for the Halls, well, if power goes out they don't have any portable radios and, Anderson, they don't have a phone. Back to you.

COOPER: Susan, are a lot of people choosing to stay and just ride this thing out?

CANDIOTTI: Well, it's hard to gauge how many of them are going to stay because a lot of them are holding off making a final decision about that until tomorrow.

COOPER: All right. Susan Candiotti, thanks very much.

Now a flashback for you. The last major hurricane to hit the mid-Atlantic coast was Hurricane Floyd, the most destructive category two storm in history. Seventy-seven people died in the storm. Damage totaled $4.5 billion; 2.6 million people had to be evacuated.

Hurricane Floyd hit the North Carolina coast in September 1999. It continued on to New England before blowing itself out.

Moving on to other stories. The California recall circus, though we don't like that phrase; way over used, if you ask me. We prefer the phrase crazy train. Today the big question was which court would the crazy train pull into next? For now, it looks like it's staying right where it is.

In California more from CNN's Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One day after sending the already chaotic recall race into turmoil, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals makes another move. It calls for arguments to be filed by tomorrow over whether more justices on the court should reconsider Monday's decision by three judges on the panel, all Democratic appointees, to halt the election.

ELIZABETH GARRETT, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, USC: It wouldn't surprise me that other members of the circuit who have a different view of the law, those judges would have said, "Hey, wait a minute, let's have more of us listen to this case and make this decision."

WALLACE: The California secretary of state abruptly canceled a news conference, saying the state would file its argument with the Ninth Circuit. The state has said the election should be held October 7.

Proponents of the recall moment, who had planned to go immediately to the U.S. Supreme Court, reversed course saying they, too, would go to the federal appeals court.

And some analysts predicted the ruling could very well be overturned.

GARRETT: Remember, every judge who has heard this case, except for the three judges yesterday, said the election should go on. WALLACE: But if it's delayed, who wins, who loses? Most analysts believe that GOP front runner Arnold Schwarzenegger would lose by coming under increased scrutiny and that a delay would help embattled Governor Gray Davis's efforts to defeat the recall.

GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: But in this wild hatter's ride, the conventional wisdom has turned out to be in error almost every time. So nobody knows for sure.

WALLACE: But we should get some answers in the next 48 to 72 hours about what the federal appeals court will do and whether the U.S. Supreme Court may be asked to ultimately get involved -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Kelly Wallace thanks for the update.

A few more political stories to catch you up on tonight. One a bit of a cliffhanger, the other anything but.

North Carolina Senator John Edwards formally launched his presidential campaign. He did it at the textile mile mill where his father worked for 36 years and where he had once mopped the floors.

Senator Edwards appeared also last night on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, insisting his presidential ambitions were really a closely held secret.

JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW" HOST: Do you have plans to announce it in another, let's say, more -- what's the word I'm looking for -- professional environment?

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I'm counting on you.

STEWART: What? How do they -- are you already in the race? Why do you have to announce it?

EDWARDS: Well, I don't know if you've been following the polls, but I think it will actually be news to most people that I'm running for president of the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Now, the cliffhanger, kind of. Former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark, General Clark has told CNN that he will seek the Democratic nomination for president. He's been playing hard to get for months.

General Clark is set to launch his candidacy in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, tomorrow.

Well, President Bush tried to boost his environmental program again today. He called on Congress to get behind his plan to reduce pollution from coal burning power plants with a system of emission caps and credit trading. Environmental groups are skeptical.

Senior White House correspondent John King reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president calls it the Clear Skies Initiative and makes it sound anything but controversial.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll have more affordable energy, more jobs, and cleaner skies.

KING: And in case you missed the jobs argument...

BUSH: One way to make sure that the job supply is steady and growing in the long term is to have a realistic energy policy, coupled with realistic environmental policy.

KING: The president says his initiative would cut air pollution from power plants by 70 percent over the next 15 years, dramatically reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury.

But major environmental groups say the cuts in pollution and dangerous emissions would be more dramatic under existing law and say the administration initiative does nothing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions they blame for global warming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know how to stop them but the government won't. They're dirty power plants.

KING: The president's recent focus on environmental initiatives is in part to push Congress to act and in part an effort to raise his profile on an issue Democrats consider a major Bush weakness.

Mr. Bush's higher profile is also stirring up his critics, who say this White House was too cozy with industry groups in drafting its energy policy and is putting the environment at risk by easing pollution standards on power plants and proposing oil and gas exploration at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other sensitive areas.

ERIC SCHAEFFER, FORMER EPA OFFICIAL: This administration is essentially operating as an agency of the energy industry to try to change the laws that we were trying to enforce.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: They have little hope here at the White House that they will win over what they call liberal leaning major environmental groups, but they do believe the president's argument about creating jobs or protecting jobs has sway at the moment, more sway than perhaps normally, because of the struggling manufacturing economy -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. We'll see if that's true. John King, thanks very much.

International stories to tell you about now. Let's check the uplink. Nagoia (ph), Japan, a man in a pay dispute set off an explosion. He killed himself, a hostage and a police officer. Seventeen people were hurt. The blast -- you see it right there -- blew out windows. The fire burned for more than an hour.

Sao Paolo, Brazil, a riot in an infamous prison for minors. Teenaged inmates took over the high-rise compound. Several inmates and prison guards were taken hostage. The prison is designed to hold 700 prisoners, but guess what? It houses more than twice that number.

Stockholm, Sweden, police arrested a 35-year-old man in last week's assassination of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. He has a history of violent crimes and drug offenses. Lindh was stabbed to death out shopping. Not known whether the man in custody is the same one seen in store surveillance video.

New York, the U.N. vetoed a -- excuse me, the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution demanding that Israel back down on its threat to remove Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Eleven Security Council members voted in favor.

And Kawojimi City (ph), Japan, a special birthday, Kamato Hungo (ph), thought to be the world's oldest woman. She's 116 today. She partied like a rock star, maybe more like a rock star who's 116. She slept most of the day.

And that is tonight's uplink.

Coming up next on 360: there's a game of cat and mouse between investigators and a fire starter near the nation's capital. Just who is leading whom in the chase to find a suspected serial arsonist?

And scandal at the Naval Academy. The charge was rape. The case dismissed. The alleged victim says there are some questions she should not have to answer.

And north of the border, the weed is wack. Complaints over Canada's medicinal marijuana efforts.

But first, before we go to break. Inside the box, a look at the top stories on tonight's network newscasts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back to 360.

The task force investigating the 28 arson fires in the Washington, D.C., area believe they have figured out a few things about their prime suspect, and they are reaching out to him. Actually reaching out in an effort to try to get him to talk to them.

They believe this man is acting out of stress and frustration. It's similar to an effort made during last year's sniper investigation.

In the meantime you want to hear about stress and frustration, just talk to D.C. area residents.

Here's Patty Davis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the man fire officials are looking for -- African American, salt and pepper hair -- who they believe is the serial arsonists terrorizing the Washington area.

He was spotted early Sunday morning outside this D.C. home, acting suspiciously, a milk jug filled with flammable liquid found nearby.

But investigators aren't relying just on physical evidence and witnesses.

RONALD BLACKWELL, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY FIRE CHIEF: The task force would like the person responsible for these fires to contact us.

DAVIS: They're asking the serial arsonist for help, saying they understand he may be setting the fires to relieve stress, frustration or anger and may feel powerless.

BLACKWELL: He does control his own destiny and a good first step toward him making things right would be to contact us.

DAVIS: It's a public appeal much like that made to the Washington area snipers last fall. A tactic psychiatrists and profilers say may pay off.

DR. AJEM SALERIAN, PSYCHIATRIST: We're speaking to that island of sanity and saying, please, you know, part of your sickness and doing these crazy things, then get help before getting -- hurting others.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: This is the home of Lou Edna Jones, the only person killed in the series of 28 fires.

Now, investigators say they have received numerous tips since releasing the sketch. But as for their direct plea to the arsonist, they say he has not yet called them -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Patty Davis, thanks very much for the update.

Want to check some stories right now making news across country.

Washington, D.C., an update on a major media controversy from the summer. The Senate voted to get rid of rules recently adopted by the FCC, to relax media ownership rules. The vote was 55-40.

Seattle, Washington, an all-out assault on the Caramel Marchiatto (ph) and its brethren. Voter in the caffeine capital -- you can tell I'm not an espresso drinker -- were deciding the fate of a 10-cent tax on espresso drinks. The tax would raise millions of dollars each year for early childhood education.

And one more from Seattle, Washington, a less than welcome home for Army Private Juan Escalante (ph). He is back after a four-month tour of duty in Iraq. He's also an illegal immigrant from Mexico. If military authorities decide to discharge him, he could be deported.

That's a quick look at stories making news across country.

In Iraq now, three U.S. soldiers were wounded south of Baghdad. Their vehicle drove over an explosive device.

Two hundred and ninety-four U.S. troops have now died since the Iraq war began in March. One hundred fifty-five of them have died since May 1, the day President Bush declared major combat operations over.

U.S. commanders say two Iraqis were killed, two wounded and another captured in a gun battle at an ammo dump in Tikrit. This happened late yesterday.

Now of course, Tikrit is Saddam Hussein's hometown. And U.S. forces have been conducting intensive operations there. Official say frequent raids have slowed attacks by Saddam loyalists but the problem is those raids also appear to be deepening Iraqi distrust of Americans.

Jason Bellini has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't take any chances, surprise your target, don't let him surprise you. Those are still the rules of the raids.

Iraqis ask, why bust the doors down when all they had to do was knock? Officers of the 4th I.D. in Tikrit say their tactics work. Rarely are shots fired. The suspects almost never get away.

This night, when 12 suspects were detained, was no exception. But while U.S. Soldiers may be accomplishing this mission, Iraqi critics say they're losing the mission to win over the Iraqi people.

One reporter on the scene of this raid quotes a 10-year-old as saying, "I will become an Iraqi fighter and I will kill Americans."

Women shouting words the troops can't understand, gesturing violently at the men points M-16s at their husbands, raise tensions and soldiers voices in scenes played out dozens of times daily in Iraq.

Commanders tell us yes, innocent Iraqis are sometimes rounded up. On this night it wasn't known whether any of the 12 blindfolded men were the ones sought. But were told after interrogation any of these men determined to be innocent go home, where they can join the course of critics irate over the coalition's tactics.

Jason Bellini, CNN, Tikrit, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: A chorus of critics.

Coming up next: the Naval Academy rocked by a charge of rape. Why were the charges dropped just a week before a scheduled court marshal? We're going to have the answers to that.

And an office in the Colorado court system is looking for answers after it posts sensitive information on its Internet page giving the sensitive information about the alleged victim in a high profile Kobe Bryant sexual assault case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Has justice been served or denied to an 18-year-old freshman at the U.S. Naval Academy? One's a freshman.

A senior midshipman at the academy had been charged with raping and threatening to kill this freshman. And now, just days before the court marshal was to begin all the charges have been dropped. Why?

The freshman, the alleged victim, wouldn't testify about her past relationships or about something that happened during her childhood.

Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom has been following the case. She joins us now.

Lisa, thanks for being with us.

LISA BLOOM, COURT TV ANCHOR: Hi, Anderson.

COOPER: How surprised are you by this ruling, dropping the charges?

BLOOM: Surprised and outraged, absolutely outraged. The military law is completely out of step with the majority of states, which have rape shield laws.

To subject a young woman, a 19-year-old woman to questions about prior child sexual abuse, which is what this has to be, reading the tea leaves in this case, in order for her to go forward with rape charges is absolutely outrageous, Anderson.

COOPER: In a civilian court this would not happen because of rape shield laws.

BLOOM: Absolutely. That is true. That is the case. And she shouldn't have to choose between the confidentiality of unrelated childhood incidents in her past and reporting a rape.

Keep in mind what the charges are here. She's reporting not only a rape by this Naval Academy senior...

COOPER: Two rapes, really. BLOOM: ... but an attempted rape after she reported it, violation of her protective order and that he threatened to kill her. If those charges are true this guy is walking around scot-free.

COOPER: Right. The allegation is that once the original rape apparently occurred, he then -- and word got out, he then threatened to kill her and attempted rape again.

BLOOM: Right. And this hearkens back to in the spring you'll recall at the Air Force Academy, there were charges by dozens of Air Force Academy women, who said that they were retaliated against for reporting sexual assault.

The military has a long way to go to assure rape victims that justice will be done.

COOPER: What happens to this man now? I mean, he has, by the way -- has denied, of course, all these charges, all along...

BLOOM: Yes.

COOPER: ... said he is completely innocent and feels vindicated by the fact the charges have been dropped. His lawyer says he's happy.

BLOOM: Well, he could graduate on time, he could. She has left. She's gone to another college.

COOPER: She's enrolled in another college. Not military.

BLOOM: Now, she could sue him civilly. That would still be an option. But realistically what kind of assets does a 24-year-old have? Probably not a lot. She's probably not going to pursue that course.

The state of Maryland would pursue criminal charges against him. That remains to be seen.

COOPER: The question also is what sort of message does this send to other young women out there who may be considering bringing allegations or who this might happen to in the future?

BLOOM: Well, I think it sends a pretty clear message they're going to have to make terrible choices if they want to come forward with rape charges. And we've seen in the Kobe Bryant case, we've seen in the Air Force Academy and now in this case how women who come forward tend to be harassed, tend to have their past, all of their history uprooted, upturned and subjected to cross-examination. We've still got a long way to go.

COOPER: According to this ruling in the military that's OK.

BLOOM: I guess so.

COOPER: All right. Lisa Bloom, thanks very much.

BLOOM: Thanks, Anderson.

COOPER: More justice served in the Kobe Bryant case.

You all know several privately run Internet sites tried to identify the Colorado woman who accused NBA star Kobe Bryant of sexual assault. But it turns out an official web site of the office of the state court administrator in Colorado posted the alleged victim's name and address.

It happened just this morning at about 10:30, and they were unaware of it until The Smoking Gun web site contacted them about an hour and a half later. The document has been reposted with the name and address of the 19-year-old woman blacked out.

Next up: getting ready, getting out of the way. We'll talk with one North Carolina mayor about what she's telling her city to do and what she's doing herself. All about Isabel.

Also tonight, one image that sent a sister on a global hunt to find her brother, an American, missing in Liberia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: 7:30. Time for the reset a review of what's going on. In the Carolinas and Virginia preparations continue for Hurricane Isabel. The storms wind's have dropped to about 100 miles per hour. And it's classification has downgraded to category two. Forecasters say Isabel could reach North Carolina Thursday and regain strength before landfall.

In Orlando, Florida (AUDIO GAP) was in a custody dispute with his estranged wife when he tried to kill himself and all four of his kids. Randall died in a car wreck yesterday. Today one of his son who was in the car with him died in a hospital. A daughter died on Sunday, drowned in a lake. Two other sons remain hospitalized.

In Washington, the government says has a new tool in the war on terror. A terrorist screening center. While individual agencies will continue to prepare their own terrorist watch lists, government agents will be able to use the center to gain access to all of those lists.

And in Canada, parliament has narrowly defeated a non-binding motion that would have defined marriage as a union of heterosexuals. The unsuccessful motion was offered by the Conservative Canadian Alliance party as a rebuke to recent court rulings legalizing gay marriage. Since the governing liberal party has not appealed the ruling gay marriage expected to become an election issue.

In Washington, rock star and AIDS activist Bono says he's depressed after a meeting with President Bush. Bono wants to see more funding for the fight against aids. He says he and the president had a, "good old Raul over a look at spending."

That is a look at the reset.

Recently, we told you about a chilling photo that ran in the New York Times. This picture we're about it show it to you shows a Liberian rebel leader wearing a U.S. Army jacket. Now if you look closely on the jacket is the name, Nabil (ph) Hage. An American missing in Liberia for more than a month. What is this leader doing wearing this man's jacket? His family says he's alive and being held by rebels. Nabil's sister, along with her mother are going to Liberia on Thursday on a personal quest trying to win her brother's freedom. The State Department wouldn't comment on this case to us citing privacy laws, but Meatta joins us tonight from Washington.

Thanks you very much for being with us. I know it's going to be difficult. I know, you're about to embark on this trip. What are you going to do when you get there? How are you going to try to find him?

MEATTA HAGE, BROTHER OF CAPTIVE SOLDIER: At this time I really don't know what our plan of action is going to be. Being there, showing our support, letting the people know who have him that he does have family that love and care for him, that is our main focus at this time.

COOPER: Do you feel the U.S. State Department has been helpful enough in this case? I think a lot of Americans are unaware there is an American citizen being held somewhere in Liberia.

HAGE: No, I don't believe they have been as helpful as they could. And that's one of the reasons why I decided to interview with you all on CNN today, because we need to get this story out. I need to get people who know Nabil, his friends, his relatives, to start calling the State Department and other dignitaries in order to get this out so that we can find Nabil, and they can get in there and rescue him.

COOPER: Well, he's an American Citizen. He was working in Liberia. He was even helping the U.S. Embassy, helping to guard the U.S. Embassy in at one point. I guess that's why he had this military jacket. When you saw this photograph and this Liberian rebel leader with your brother's jacket on, what went through your mind?

HAGE: It was absolutely chilling because actually another brother of mine brought the article to my attention and then we in turn started investigating and found out that my mother had not spoken to him in over two weeks.

COOPER: So you didn't even know he was missing until you saw the photo in the "New York Times"?

HAGE: That is correct.

COOPER: Unbelievable.

HAGE: That is correct.

COOPER: And the State Department had not contacted you?

HAGE: The State Department didn't contact us and from what we know from speaking to the State Department, they were aware that Nabil was in trouble at the time. He had called them personally on his phone telling them detail by detail as to where he was and what the soldiers were doing, what the rebel forces were doing.

COOPER: You have gotten any word of where he may be?

HAGE: Well, from what we understand he's been held in Liberia. And basically that is rebel territory at this time. And we know he is alive and we do -- we need the American government -- we have Marines out there on the ship, and when they were pulled out and sent back on to the ship, that was devastating to us because they knew at that time that Nabil was missing.

COOPER: Well, it's going to be a tough trip for you. We would like to stay in contact with you. Like to do whatever we can, try to help you find your brother. Good luck to you on Thursday when you depart for Liberia. We hope to talk to you again.

HAGE: Thank you very much.

COOPER: All right, more on Hurricane Isabel. Storm threats are not really new to the folks who live in the path of Isabel and a lot of them are getting out because they know what to expect. Others are staying for the very same reason. One of the community's right in the path of the storm, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, evacuations were ordered earlier today.

Sherry Roliason, is mayor, she joins us now. Mayor, appreciate you joining us.

Are you going to evacuate your town?

MAYOR SHERRY ROLIASON, KILL DEVIL HILLS, NORTH CAROLINE: Our town was under the Dare County evacuation order that was given this morning for the mandatory evacuation at -- that took place at 12:00 noon. Kill Devil Hills is part of Dare County. We're the largest municipality. There are six municipalities in unincorporated area's of Dare County. So yes we have...

COOPER: Are you going to be leaving?

ROLIASON: No. I have the responsibilities to the town to remain here, so I'm staying.

COOPER: Are you worried a lot of residents now that this has been downgraded they're not going to get out?

ROLIASON: That is true. There is some concerns with the storm surges that we are going to be having from the ocean side as well as the sound side, and there is some concern that the ones that are staying.

COOPER: You know, when you look at a map of where your town is, it is very vulnerable.

What is your biggest concern?

Is it the hurricane itself or possible storm surge? ROLIASON: The storm surge itself. With the hurricane having been downgraded, it's not so much with the winds and all, but with the storm surge because as you can look on the map and see, we are very vulnerable. We have the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the sound to the west.

COOPER: Mayor Sherry Roliason, I know you have a big job ahead of you in the coming days. We appreciate you joining us tonight. Good luck to you.

ROLIASON: Thank you very much.

COOPER: Coming up next -- a child commits suicide and the painful question, is the child's mother to blame for not getting him enough help?

Also tonight, why patients getting medical marijuana from the Canadian government are smoking mad.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, there's a tragic story out of Connecticut where the mother of a boy who committed suicide is facing criminal charges. The boy, 12 years old. His name, Daniel Scruggs. He hanged himself last year. Prosecutors blame his mother, Judith, saying she failed to get counseling for her son. The mother blames the school, saying bullies made her son suicidal. Jury selection is under way.

Jeanne Milstein is Connecticut state child advocate. She joins us from Hartford.

Jeanne, appreciate you being with us on this difficult case.

I got to ask you -- the school new this kid was in trouble. The state knew it. His mother knew it. Did everybody fail this little boy?

JEANNE MILSTEIN, STATE CHILD ADVOCATE: Yes. And my responsibility, my job is to determine whether public agencies and professionals who are responsible for protecting children and keeping them safe when parents are unable or unwilling to do so, can do a better job.

COOPR: And it's not like this was big mystery. I mean, this little boy was soiling himself in school. You know, bullied. Everyone seemed to know, school official seemed to knew he was a bully -- I mean, he was being bullied. And his own mother worked in the school.

MILSTEIN: That's correct. The schools -- the school was aware that this child was being bullied. The child soiled himself in school. He was constantly teased. His life was threatened. In fact, the child protection agency was also aware of the circumstances of this child, and closed his case four days before he died. In fact, they told the child, if he would just clean himself up, he could go back to school and he probably wouldn't be teased anymore.

COOPER: And not an easy thing to do, because I understand this little boy's home was just -- I mean, a mess of, you know, clothes piled up to the level of his bed, dirt everywhere, no place to cook.

MILSTEIN: The police described this home as appalling, disgusting and unsafe. The bathtub was filled with clothing and toys. So he was unable to take a shower even if he wanted to.

COOPER: And I mean, the other ridiculous irony on this is that the mother's working in the school. She's going to the school. But the little boy stops going to school because he's being teased so much.

MILSTEIN: That's exactly right. The little boy was afraid to go to school. His mother went to school every day, yet no one questioned why isn't the child in school? Teachers by law are supposed to report suspected neglect or truancy to child protection officials, which they finally did. And again, the child protection agency went into this appalling home to talk to the child about truancy, and somehow missed all of the filth that was surrounding this home.

COOPER: What was Daniel like?

MILSTEIN: When he died, he was -- he weighed 63 pounds. He was a child with exceptional intelligence, yet he had learning disabilities. He had poor hygiene. He never brushed his teeth. He never took a shower. He was bullied. He was very, very lonely. His only male role model, his grandfather, had died within the last year.

It's (AUDIO GAP) like this we can prevent other tragedies from occurring. People need to pay attention, particularly those folks in the schools and the child protection agencies, who by law have to pay attention and do something about these warning signs.

COOPER: You know, I mean, at times what makes this case so tragic, so just unbelievable, is, you know, you hear stories about parents who have neglected their children, but as you point out in the beginning of this thing, it seems like on the face of it, everyone saw what was going on and no one took the next step. What should have been done? What could have been done differently?

MILSTEIN: Well, certainly when the child started to have some behavior difficulties in school, when he was having difficulty learning and performing well, when he was starting to not fit in with other children, the school should have made a report immediately.

Finally, when the child protection agency was notified, they needed to do a much better investigation of the risks that were facing this child. Certainly the mother was unable to care for this child. She didn't get the help that she needed. So services needed to be either but place or this child probably should...

COOPER: Well, there are a lot of questions still to be asked about the mother. I know you cannot answer them because of the ongoing case and your involvement in it. But we do appreciate you coming in and talking about just this horrible case.

Jeanne Milstein, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

MILSTEIN: Thank you very much. Thank you.

COOPER: Well, suicide is difficult to understand at any age. But in a young person, it can be even more perplexing.

Here's a news note for you. In the U.S, the number of kids aged 10 to 14 who have committed suicide has doubled over the past two decades. They now account for about 300 deaths each year. Hard to believe.

Now, from time to time, we want to update you on some of the stories we the media once couldn't get enough of. We call it "How Quickly We Forget."

COOPER: Remember the Clara -- the -- remember the Clara Harris murder case? It was a story tailor-made for Lifetime TV. Even came with a perfect title, "Murder by Mercedes."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. A Houston dentist is charged with murdering her husband by running over her multiple times with her Mercedes.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Clara Harris, a Houston dentist, is accused in the death her husband last July.

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: A jury in Texas today convicted Clara Harris of murder for running over her cheating husband with a car three times. Harris claimed the killing was an accident. She could be sentenced to life in prison.

COOPER (voice-over): Clara Harris was the former Houston area beauty queen convicted of murder for running over her husband after a nasty fight with him and his mistress at a tony Texas hotel. Gruesome, salacious tragic, now a judge has decided her former neighbors will have custody of the couple's 5-year-old twin sons. She'll have some say over how they're raised, but that will be from prison where she's serving 20 years.

And how quickly we forget the story of Buddy Myers, the little North Carolina boy who disappeared three years ago. Remember in May, a 7-year-old boy turned up, abandoned at a Chicago hospital and the Myers family hoped it was him? DNA tests said it wasn't.

HAVEN MYERS, MOTHER OF TRISTEN "BUDDY" MYERS: We have a void in our life and we're still trying to fill it with hope that now that he's nationwide somebody will recognize him.

COOPER: There's no miraculous development to report for the Myers family. But at least one child has found a home. The abandoned child, known then as Eli Quick, has been placed with his aunt in southern Illinois and is said to be adjusting well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: How quickly we forget.

Coming up, "Playboy" goes shopping at Wal-Mart. But are Wal-Mart staffers selling what "Playboy" wants to buy?

Also tonight, is there anything comic about history? The Library of Congress thinks so. We'll tell you why.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right. Take a quick look inside the box. Two TV titans of the recent and not so recent past are taking a stab at daytime talk TV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Ellen Degeneres, who caused such a fire storm when she and her sitcom character came out as lesbians, is now causing more of a well-controlled campfire with her light and breezy new chat show.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a welcome mat.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Then there's Sharon Osbourne, partner in crime of heavy metal icon Ozzy. Here's how she brought the heat on "Today's Show."

SHARON OSBOURNE, OZZY OSBOURNE'S WIFE: We share something else in common. You like to do a little bit of shopping on the side. right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I love shopping, baby. That's my thing.

COOPER: Is this really the same woman who once said...

OSBOURNE: Look at it, there's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) big chunk out of it there. Mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Where is he?

COOPER: Why the new love of bland banter? Well, it worked for Rosie O'Donnell, and Ellen and Sharon would love her audience.

Cloning is common in TV. Regis and Kelly is a hit. So now there's Ali and Jack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, Regis and Kelly.

COOPER: It's a show hosted by two folks about as well-known as, well, me, actually, which may explain why they seem so hard up for guests starting out. No telling if all this smiling niceness is what daytime audiences still want. In the end, they might just turn back to Jerry Springer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Who knows. Time for a quick check of the tonight's current.

In the midst of preparing to defend their World Cup title, the U.S. women's soccer team got a doozy of a distraction. The cash- strapped Women's United Soccer Association called it quits. Yesterday, the WUSA, which a dozen members of the current American team helped found, ceased operations.

Playboy.com is asking female Wal-Mart employees to pose nude, but in a classier way than my writers asked them to. And the site is posting accounts from alleged Wal-Mart employees of their own sexy in- store sexual sexcapades. You may recall, the store refuses to sell "Playboy" and some other magazines, because, well, it basically boil downs to sex is bad.

Canada's new plan to sell medical marijuana directly to patients has reportedly hit a snag, namely that their stash is totally swag. Some users told the Associated Press they plan to complain about the bunk quality of Canadian government-issued weed. You may be aware that Canada's health care system makes no provisions for alternatives, such as Thai sticks or mind-blowing (UNINTELLIGIBLE) herb.

The John Ritter sitcom "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" will continue despite Ritter's death. Mediaweek.com reports ABC will put the show on hiatus after Ritter's last episodes air, and then retool the show to resume without him.

And the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says the new TV season marks a critical step forward for gay visibility on TV. Several sitcoms feature long-term gay couples.

Still under-represented on TV, however, are fat people, old people, ugly people, smart people and kids who are not precocious.

And speaking of which, a lot of reading material that used to be considered just kids stuff is now heading for a very grownup venue. CNN's Bruce Morton reports on Uncle Sam's new habit, collecting comics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Library of Congress has a brand new treasure trove of great old stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This collection, first of all, is enormous.

ART WOOD, CARTOONIST: 36,000 to 40,000 drawings. It includes everything.

MORTON: Art Wood, who collected it, ought to know. It has got animation from movies, Mickey, Tom, Jiminy, autographed, that's rare. It's got comics, Charles Schulz's Linus pondering a run for office. It's got the all-American kid. And it's got political cartoons. Why not? Wood drew those himself for 50 years and knew everybody else who did.

WOOD: I've known most every artist that's in the collection, and that's why I feel like the work I've given to the library is the best because I've selected it.

MORTON: Rube Goldberg was a friend. This is his idea of a machine for getting boats. Cliff Berryman drew Teddy Roosevelt pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey presidents get. And the bears, teddy bears, of course. Thomas Nast drew this Liberty Bell. Gene Payne (ph) did Lyndon Johnson in a bear trap called Vietnam.

Doesn't matter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we're going to examine the American past, we really have to understand what people thought at points of time, and while you can get that from a newspaper editorial, a cartoon hits home.

MORTON: They sure do. Bill Maulden. Herb Block.

Wood's retired now, but if you push him he can still draw some. Watch.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Next up on "360" -- if renaming fries has power, why stop there? We'll look at what's on the menu for 21st century diplomacy.

And tomorrow we'll go inside the storm, bring you pictures from the heart of Hurricane Isabel. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, taking the power of food-based diplomacy to the Nth degree. Last spring, House Republicans renamed french fries and french toast as freedom fries and freedom toast in the House cafeteria. The reason was French opposition to U.S. policy on Iraq.

But now, when the U.S. wants international help in Iraq, a House Democrat wants to go back to the original names.

If culinary nomenclature has become a powerful diplomatic tool, shouldn't the U.S. act quickly to use it to full effect? Just returning foods to their original French names might not be enough. We could give existing foods French names to win France's help.

For instance, what has General Tso ever done for us? Who wouldn't prefer a plate of General de Gaulle's chicken? Or a hearty shishka-robert (ph). And for breakfast, nothing beats a big stack of flapjacques (ph). We can do it if we start now, with help from the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Emeril Lagasse. Or who knows, maybe the Iron Chef.

Alors, bon nuit. That wraps up our show tonight. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Reconsider Recall Election; Bush Promotes Environmental Program>


Aired September 16, 2003 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Hurricane Isabel, tonight we fly into the eye of the storm.

John Edwards makes it official. Is Wesley Clark next?

Are U.S. raids in Iraq breeding a new generation of hate?

A child commits suicide. Is his mother to blame?

How quickly we forget. Murder by Mercedes, an update on Clara Harris.

And Ellen, Sharon, Ali and Jack, why TV talk has gone from naughty to nice.

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And a good evening to you. Thanks for joining for us. We've got lot to you talk about tonight.

On the trail of a fire starter. A rash of arson in the Washington, D.C., area and a very public push by authorities to draw out the culprit.

And justice served or denied for an 18-year-old Naval Academy freshman who says she was raped. The charges dropped. We'll talk with Court TV's Lisa Bloom, who says it is outrageous.

And the chilling photo that is sending one sister across the globe to find her brother, an American, missing in Liberia. We'll tell you the tale.

All that ahead.

First Hurricane Isabel, up and down the East Coast people are racing to get ready and get out of the way. It has been downgraded to a category two storm, which is a little bit like saying a smaller Mack truck is heading right for you.

A lot of coverage tonight of Isabel. Susan Candiotti in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina; Rob Marciano at the CNN weather center; and we begin with Jeff Flock, doing what TV reporters have done, since TV immemorial, chasing the storm. Today he found it. He's reporting tonight from Wilmington, North Carolina -- Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Anderson. Tonight an interesting look at the storm.

We are spending this hurricane with a team of hurricane hunters and researchers, men who say this is an extraordinary opportunity to learn, if only they can get in the path of the storm.

We spent much of our day doing just that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Maybe you see the hurricane intercept research team, quite a vehicle. Looks like something, maybe, out of that movie "Twister," doesn't it?

(voice-over): After a morning live report on CNN, the hurricane intercept research team heads for the Outer Banks and a rendezvous with Isabel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The forecast track has shifted a little bit further to the west and to the south.

FLOCK: But it doesn't take long for the plans to change. Team leader Mark Sutton (ph) checks the 11 a.m. advisory on his wireless Internet connection and finds the forecast track shifted west and south.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we redirect down from Newburn (ph) down, straight down to the coast to, like, Morehead City or Atlantic Beach. That sounds good to me.

FLOCK: As we head down Route 70 the roof mounted animometer (ph) betrays Sutton's (ph) eagerness to get to the coast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we can hide from the wind and from the water you should be OK.

FLOCK: As mark does a phone interview as he drives with a producer for "Good Morning America," who had seen his appearance on CNN, we check his supplies in the back street: straps to lash down equipment, batteries, light sticks in case the power goes out, and of course, plenty of food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're about 45 minutes from Atlantic Beach.

FLOCK: We stop for a last top off of the gas tank in case we can't get back to the mainland.

Finally, the causeway to the barrier island off Morehead City approaches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where I got my first taste of the hurricane phenomenon, as I call it.

FLOCK: As we arrive we learn of a mandatory evacuation of the town of Atlantic Beach Wednesday morning. Authorities will let us stay, but our hotel will likely be shut down. But the hurricane team has thought of everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got us another place to stay if we get kicked out of here.

FLOCK (on camera): Excellent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I put some bait out earlier and somebody took it. The owners, Jeff.

FLOCK: Of the Segal Motel (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the end of the street.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Anderson no one wishes a hurricane on anyone, but this is, indeed, an opportunity to learn and that is just what this team is trying to do. And we will be with them throughout the storm.

Anderson, that's the latest from here.

COOPER: All right, Jeff, hope you got some rain gear and a sleeping bag. You're going to need it. Thanks very much, Jeff.

The question now, where is Isabel headed? Let's go right to the CNN weather center and Rob Marciano.

Rob, what's the latest?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Anderson, it has come down in intensity just a little bit. But as it get closer to the shore line, I don't think we're going to be talking much about how much it's been downgraded because it is still a formidable storm.

Category two status, winds of 105 miles per hour. But the big thing with this thing is that hurricane force winds extend up to 160 miles from the center. So it is a wide storm and will be affecting a lot of people in a very highly populated area.

The forecast track has not changed all that much. It's expected to make landfall around the central part of North Carolina up the coastline and then actually some of the rainfall from this, Anderson, will make it the way all the way to Canada.

We'll watch this as it approaches. But the forecast track has not changed all that much in the last 24 hours.

Back to you.

COOPER: All right. We'll check back in with you later. Isabel may not look so pretty up close, but from high above, take a look. It's another story. These satellite pictures come to us from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, closing in on the eye of Isabel as it moves closer to making landfall.

Back on the ground, it is all about plywood. It is the hottest thing you can get your hands on. While many are simply getting out of town, many others are getting ready to ride it out.

That's what Susan Candiotti is covering from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a nice day. Couldn't ask for any better.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A perfect day for yard work for Amos Hall and his wife Doris.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just thought we'd get the yard mowed in case -- before the rains came.

CANDIOTTI: Even with Isabel possibly knocking on their door, the retirees, married 56 years, are fairly sure they'll ride out the storm inside their vacation home.

(on camera): They're talking about an eight- to 10-foot storm surge. Does that worry you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.

CANDIOTTI: So if you stuck around what would happen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it won't come over in the yard, I don't think. It won't be over this far.

CANDIOTTI: Don't look for any hurricane shutters either. None of these windows is protected. In the 30 years they've been coming here from their other home in Virginia, the Halls say they've avoided any flooding. Their home is just across the road from the ocean and a waterway is behind them. If the halls say, they say they've got plenty of food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have enough to last us for weeks.

CANDIOTTI: And they suggest a safe place. Their living room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stay here because we don't have any windows in this room. It's in the middle of the house.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: If residents don't evacuate, police won't force them out. But they want residents to know if they don't leave, it might take some time to get help to them if they need it. And as for the Halls, well, if power goes out they don't have any portable radios and, Anderson, they don't have a phone. Back to you.

COOPER: Susan, are a lot of people choosing to stay and just ride this thing out?

CANDIOTTI: Well, it's hard to gauge how many of them are going to stay because a lot of them are holding off making a final decision about that until tomorrow.

COOPER: All right. Susan Candiotti, thanks very much.

Now a flashback for you. The last major hurricane to hit the mid-Atlantic coast was Hurricane Floyd, the most destructive category two storm in history. Seventy-seven people died in the storm. Damage totaled $4.5 billion; 2.6 million people had to be evacuated.

Hurricane Floyd hit the North Carolina coast in September 1999. It continued on to New England before blowing itself out.

Moving on to other stories. The California recall circus, though we don't like that phrase; way over used, if you ask me. We prefer the phrase crazy train. Today the big question was which court would the crazy train pull into next? For now, it looks like it's staying right where it is.

In California more from CNN's Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One day after sending the already chaotic recall race into turmoil, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals makes another move. It calls for arguments to be filed by tomorrow over whether more justices on the court should reconsider Monday's decision by three judges on the panel, all Democratic appointees, to halt the election.

ELIZABETH GARRETT, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, USC: It wouldn't surprise me that other members of the circuit who have a different view of the law, those judges would have said, "Hey, wait a minute, let's have more of us listen to this case and make this decision."

WALLACE: The California secretary of state abruptly canceled a news conference, saying the state would file its argument with the Ninth Circuit. The state has said the election should be held October 7.

Proponents of the recall moment, who had planned to go immediately to the U.S. Supreme Court, reversed course saying they, too, would go to the federal appeals court.

And some analysts predicted the ruling could very well be overturned.

GARRETT: Remember, every judge who has heard this case, except for the three judges yesterday, said the election should go on. WALLACE: But if it's delayed, who wins, who loses? Most analysts believe that GOP front runner Arnold Schwarzenegger would lose by coming under increased scrutiny and that a delay would help embattled Governor Gray Davis's efforts to defeat the recall.

GOV. GRAY DAVIS (D), CALIFORNIA: But in this wild hatter's ride, the conventional wisdom has turned out to be in error almost every time. So nobody knows for sure.

WALLACE: But we should get some answers in the next 48 to 72 hours about what the federal appeals court will do and whether the U.S. Supreme Court may be asked to ultimately get involved -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Kelly Wallace thanks for the update.

A few more political stories to catch you up on tonight. One a bit of a cliffhanger, the other anything but.

North Carolina Senator John Edwards formally launched his presidential campaign. He did it at the textile mile mill where his father worked for 36 years and where he had once mopped the floors.

Senator Edwards appeared also last night on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, insisting his presidential ambitions were really a closely held secret.

JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW" HOST: Do you have plans to announce it in another, let's say, more -- what's the word I'm looking for -- professional environment?

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I'm counting on you.

STEWART: What? How do they -- are you already in the race? Why do you have to announce it?

EDWARDS: Well, I don't know if you've been following the polls, but I think it will actually be news to most people that I'm running for president of the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Now, the cliffhanger, kind of. Former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark, General Clark has told CNN that he will seek the Democratic nomination for president. He's been playing hard to get for months.

General Clark is set to launch his candidacy in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, tomorrow.

Well, President Bush tried to boost his environmental program again today. He called on Congress to get behind his plan to reduce pollution from coal burning power plants with a system of emission caps and credit trading. Environmental groups are skeptical.

Senior White House correspondent John King reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president calls it the Clear Skies Initiative and makes it sound anything but controversial.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll have more affordable energy, more jobs, and cleaner skies.

KING: And in case you missed the jobs argument...

BUSH: One way to make sure that the job supply is steady and growing in the long term is to have a realistic energy policy, coupled with realistic environmental policy.

KING: The president says his initiative would cut air pollution from power plants by 70 percent over the next 15 years, dramatically reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury.

But major environmental groups say the cuts in pollution and dangerous emissions would be more dramatic under existing law and say the administration initiative does nothing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions they blame for global warming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know how to stop them but the government won't. They're dirty power plants.

KING: The president's recent focus on environmental initiatives is in part to push Congress to act and in part an effort to raise his profile on an issue Democrats consider a major Bush weakness.

Mr. Bush's higher profile is also stirring up his critics, who say this White House was too cozy with industry groups in drafting its energy policy and is putting the environment at risk by easing pollution standards on power plants and proposing oil and gas exploration at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other sensitive areas.

ERIC SCHAEFFER, FORMER EPA OFFICIAL: This administration is essentially operating as an agency of the energy industry to try to change the laws that we were trying to enforce.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: They have little hope here at the White House that they will win over what they call liberal leaning major environmental groups, but they do believe the president's argument about creating jobs or protecting jobs has sway at the moment, more sway than perhaps normally, because of the struggling manufacturing economy -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. We'll see if that's true. John King, thanks very much.

International stories to tell you about now. Let's check the uplink. Nagoia (ph), Japan, a man in a pay dispute set off an explosion. He killed himself, a hostage and a police officer. Seventeen people were hurt. The blast -- you see it right there -- blew out windows. The fire burned for more than an hour.

Sao Paolo, Brazil, a riot in an infamous prison for minors. Teenaged inmates took over the high-rise compound. Several inmates and prison guards were taken hostage. The prison is designed to hold 700 prisoners, but guess what? It houses more than twice that number.

Stockholm, Sweden, police arrested a 35-year-old man in last week's assassination of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. He has a history of violent crimes and drug offenses. Lindh was stabbed to death out shopping. Not known whether the man in custody is the same one seen in store surveillance video.

New York, the U.N. vetoed a -- excuse me, the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution demanding that Israel back down on its threat to remove Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Eleven Security Council members voted in favor.

And Kawojimi City (ph), Japan, a special birthday, Kamato Hungo (ph), thought to be the world's oldest woman. She's 116 today. She partied like a rock star, maybe more like a rock star who's 116. She slept most of the day.

And that is tonight's uplink.

Coming up next on 360: there's a game of cat and mouse between investigators and a fire starter near the nation's capital. Just who is leading whom in the chase to find a suspected serial arsonist?

And scandal at the Naval Academy. The charge was rape. The case dismissed. The alleged victim says there are some questions she should not have to answer.

And north of the border, the weed is wack. Complaints over Canada's medicinal marijuana efforts.

But first, before we go to break. Inside the box, a look at the top stories on tonight's network newscasts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back to 360.

The task force investigating the 28 arson fires in the Washington, D.C., area believe they have figured out a few things about their prime suspect, and they are reaching out to him. Actually reaching out in an effort to try to get him to talk to them.

They believe this man is acting out of stress and frustration. It's similar to an effort made during last year's sniper investigation.

In the meantime you want to hear about stress and frustration, just talk to D.C. area residents.

Here's Patty Davis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the man fire officials are looking for -- African American, salt and pepper hair -- who they believe is the serial arsonists terrorizing the Washington area.

He was spotted early Sunday morning outside this D.C. home, acting suspiciously, a milk jug filled with flammable liquid found nearby.

But investigators aren't relying just on physical evidence and witnesses.

RONALD BLACKWELL, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY FIRE CHIEF: The task force would like the person responsible for these fires to contact us.

DAVIS: They're asking the serial arsonist for help, saying they understand he may be setting the fires to relieve stress, frustration or anger and may feel powerless.

BLACKWELL: He does control his own destiny and a good first step toward him making things right would be to contact us.

DAVIS: It's a public appeal much like that made to the Washington area snipers last fall. A tactic psychiatrists and profilers say may pay off.

DR. AJEM SALERIAN, PSYCHIATRIST: We're speaking to that island of sanity and saying, please, you know, part of your sickness and doing these crazy things, then get help before getting -- hurting others.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: This is the home of Lou Edna Jones, the only person killed in the series of 28 fires.

Now, investigators say they have received numerous tips since releasing the sketch. But as for their direct plea to the arsonist, they say he has not yet called them -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Patty Davis, thanks very much for the update.

Want to check some stories right now making news across country.

Washington, D.C., an update on a major media controversy from the summer. The Senate voted to get rid of rules recently adopted by the FCC, to relax media ownership rules. The vote was 55-40.

Seattle, Washington, an all-out assault on the Caramel Marchiatto (ph) and its brethren. Voter in the caffeine capital -- you can tell I'm not an espresso drinker -- were deciding the fate of a 10-cent tax on espresso drinks. The tax would raise millions of dollars each year for early childhood education.

And one more from Seattle, Washington, a less than welcome home for Army Private Juan Escalante (ph). He is back after a four-month tour of duty in Iraq. He's also an illegal immigrant from Mexico. If military authorities decide to discharge him, he could be deported.

That's a quick look at stories making news across country.

In Iraq now, three U.S. soldiers were wounded south of Baghdad. Their vehicle drove over an explosive device.

Two hundred and ninety-four U.S. troops have now died since the Iraq war began in March. One hundred fifty-five of them have died since May 1, the day President Bush declared major combat operations over.

U.S. commanders say two Iraqis were killed, two wounded and another captured in a gun battle at an ammo dump in Tikrit. This happened late yesterday.

Now of course, Tikrit is Saddam Hussein's hometown. And U.S. forces have been conducting intensive operations there. Official say frequent raids have slowed attacks by Saddam loyalists but the problem is those raids also appear to be deepening Iraqi distrust of Americans.

Jason Bellini has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't take any chances, surprise your target, don't let him surprise you. Those are still the rules of the raids.

Iraqis ask, why bust the doors down when all they had to do was knock? Officers of the 4th I.D. in Tikrit say their tactics work. Rarely are shots fired. The suspects almost never get away.

This night, when 12 suspects were detained, was no exception. But while U.S. Soldiers may be accomplishing this mission, Iraqi critics say they're losing the mission to win over the Iraqi people.

One reporter on the scene of this raid quotes a 10-year-old as saying, "I will become an Iraqi fighter and I will kill Americans."

Women shouting words the troops can't understand, gesturing violently at the men points M-16s at their husbands, raise tensions and soldiers voices in scenes played out dozens of times daily in Iraq.

Commanders tell us yes, innocent Iraqis are sometimes rounded up. On this night it wasn't known whether any of the 12 blindfolded men were the ones sought. But were told after interrogation any of these men determined to be innocent go home, where they can join the course of critics irate over the coalition's tactics.

Jason Bellini, CNN, Tikrit, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: A chorus of critics.

Coming up next: the Naval Academy rocked by a charge of rape. Why were the charges dropped just a week before a scheduled court marshal? We're going to have the answers to that.

And an office in the Colorado court system is looking for answers after it posts sensitive information on its Internet page giving the sensitive information about the alleged victim in a high profile Kobe Bryant sexual assault case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Has justice been served or denied to an 18-year-old freshman at the U.S. Naval Academy? One's a freshman.

A senior midshipman at the academy had been charged with raping and threatening to kill this freshman. And now, just days before the court marshal was to begin all the charges have been dropped. Why?

The freshman, the alleged victim, wouldn't testify about her past relationships or about something that happened during her childhood.

Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom has been following the case. She joins us now.

Lisa, thanks for being with us.

LISA BLOOM, COURT TV ANCHOR: Hi, Anderson.

COOPER: How surprised are you by this ruling, dropping the charges?

BLOOM: Surprised and outraged, absolutely outraged. The military law is completely out of step with the majority of states, which have rape shield laws.

To subject a young woman, a 19-year-old woman to questions about prior child sexual abuse, which is what this has to be, reading the tea leaves in this case, in order for her to go forward with rape charges is absolutely outrageous, Anderson.

COOPER: In a civilian court this would not happen because of rape shield laws.

BLOOM: Absolutely. That is true. That is the case. And she shouldn't have to choose between the confidentiality of unrelated childhood incidents in her past and reporting a rape.

Keep in mind what the charges are here. She's reporting not only a rape by this Naval Academy senior...

COOPER: Two rapes, really. BLOOM: ... but an attempted rape after she reported it, violation of her protective order and that he threatened to kill her. If those charges are true this guy is walking around scot-free.

COOPER: Right. The allegation is that once the original rape apparently occurred, he then -- and word got out, he then threatened to kill her and attempted rape again.

BLOOM: Right. And this hearkens back to in the spring you'll recall at the Air Force Academy, there were charges by dozens of Air Force Academy women, who said that they were retaliated against for reporting sexual assault.

The military has a long way to go to assure rape victims that justice will be done.

COOPER: What happens to this man now? I mean, he has, by the way -- has denied, of course, all these charges, all along...

BLOOM: Yes.

COOPER: ... said he is completely innocent and feels vindicated by the fact the charges have been dropped. His lawyer says he's happy.

BLOOM: Well, he could graduate on time, he could. She has left. She's gone to another college.

COOPER: She's enrolled in another college. Not military.

BLOOM: Now, she could sue him civilly. That would still be an option. But realistically what kind of assets does a 24-year-old have? Probably not a lot. She's probably not going to pursue that course.

The state of Maryland would pursue criminal charges against him. That remains to be seen.

COOPER: The question also is what sort of message does this send to other young women out there who may be considering bringing allegations or who this might happen to in the future?

BLOOM: Well, I think it sends a pretty clear message they're going to have to make terrible choices if they want to come forward with rape charges. And we've seen in the Kobe Bryant case, we've seen in the Air Force Academy and now in this case how women who come forward tend to be harassed, tend to have their past, all of their history uprooted, upturned and subjected to cross-examination. We've still got a long way to go.

COOPER: According to this ruling in the military that's OK.

BLOOM: I guess so.

COOPER: All right. Lisa Bloom, thanks very much.

BLOOM: Thanks, Anderson.

COOPER: More justice served in the Kobe Bryant case.

You all know several privately run Internet sites tried to identify the Colorado woman who accused NBA star Kobe Bryant of sexual assault. But it turns out an official web site of the office of the state court administrator in Colorado posted the alleged victim's name and address.

It happened just this morning at about 10:30, and they were unaware of it until The Smoking Gun web site contacted them about an hour and a half later. The document has been reposted with the name and address of the 19-year-old woman blacked out.

Next up: getting ready, getting out of the way. We'll talk with one North Carolina mayor about what she's telling her city to do and what she's doing herself. All about Isabel.

Also tonight, one image that sent a sister on a global hunt to find her brother, an American, missing in Liberia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: 7:30. Time for the reset a review of what's going on. In the Carolinas and Virginia preparations continue for Hurricane Isabel. The storms wind's have dropped to about 100 miles per hour. And it's classification has downgraded to category two. Forecasters say Isabel could reach North Carolina Thursday and regain strength before landfall.

In Orlando, Florida (AUDIO GAP) was in a custody dispute with his estranged wife when he tried to kill himself and all four of his kids. Randall died in a car wreck yesterday. Today one of his son who was in the car with him died in a hospital. A daughter died on Sunday, drowned in a lake. Two other sons remain hospitalized.

In Washington, the government says has a new tool in the war on terror. A terrorist screening center. While individual agencies will continue to prepare their own terrorist watch lists, government agents will be able to use the center to gain access to all of those lists.

And in Canada, parliament has narrowly defeated a non-binding motion that would have defined marriage as a union of heterosexuals. The unsuccessful motion was offered by the Conservative Canadian Alliance party as a rebuke to recent court rulings legalizing gay marriage. Since the governing liberal party has not appealed the ruling gay marriage expected to become an election issue.

In Washington, rock star and AIDS activist Bono says he's depressed after a meeting with President Bush. Bono wants to see more funding for the fight against aids. He says he and the president had a, "good old Raul over a look at spending."

That is a look at the reset.

Recently, we told you about a chilling photo that ran in the New York Times. This picture we're about it show it to you shows a Liberian rebel leader wearing a U.S. Army jacket. Now if you look closely on the jacket is the name, Nabil (ph) Hage. An American missing in Liberia for more than a month. What is this leader doing wearing this man's jacket? His family says he's alive and being held by rebels. Nabil's sister, along with her mother are going to Liberia on Thursday on a personal quest trying to win her brother's freedom. The State Department wouldn't comment on this case to us citing privacy laws, but Meatta joins us tonight from Washington.

Thanks you very much for being with us. I know it's going to be difficult. I know, you're about to embark on this trip. What are you going to do when you get there? How are you going to try to find him?

MEATTA HAGE, BROTHER OF CAPTIVE SOLDIER: At this time I really don't know what our plan of action is going to be. Being there, showing our support, letting the people know who have him that he does have family that love and care for him, that is our main focus at this time.

COOPER: Do you feel the U.S. State Department has been helpful enough in this case? I think a lot of Americans are unaware there is an American citizen being held somewhere in Liberia.

HAGE: No, I don't believe they have been as helpful as they could. And that's one of the reasons why I decided to interview with you all on CNN today, because we need to get this story out. I need to get people who know Nabil, his friends, his relatives, to start calling the State Department and other dignitaries in order to get this out so that we can find Nabil, and they can get in there and rescue him.

COOPER: Well, he's an American Citizen. He was working in Liberia. He was even helping the U.S. Embassy, helping to guard the U.S. Embassy in at one point. I guess that's why he had this military jacket. When you saw this photograph and this Liberian rebel leader with your brother's jacket on, what went through your mind?

HAGE: It was absolutely chilling because actually another brother of mine brought the article to my attention and then we in turn started investigating and found out that my mother had not spoken to him in over two weeks.

COOPER: So you didn't even know he was missing until you saw the photo in the "New York Times"?

HAGE: That is correct.

COOPER: Unbelievable.

HAGE: That is correct.

COOPER: And the State Department had not contacted you?

HAGE: The State Department didn't contact us and from what we know from speaking to the State Department, they were aware that Nabil was in trouble at the time. He had called them personally on his phone telling them detail by detail as to where he was and what the soldiers were doing, what the rebel forces were doing.

COOPER: You have gotten any word of where he may be?

HAGE: Well, from what we understand he's been held in Liberia. And basically that is rebel territory at this time. And we know he is alive and we do -- we need the American government -- we have Marines out there on the ship, and when they were pulled out and sent back on to the ship, that was devastating to us because they knew at that time that Nabil was missing.

COOPER: Well, it's going to be a tough trip for you. We would like to stay in contact with you. Like to do whatever we can, try to help you find your brother. Good luck to you on Thursday when you depart for Liberia. We hope to talk to you again.

HAGE: Thank you very much.

COOPER: All right, more on Hurricane Isabel. Storm threats are not really new to the folks who live in the path of Isabel and a lot of them are getting out because they know what to expect. Others are staying for the very same reason. One of the community's right in the path of the storm, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, evacuations were ordered earlier today.

Sherry Roliason, is mayor, she joins us now. Mayor, appreciate you joining us.

Are you going to evacuate your town?

MAYOR SHERRY ROLIASON, KILL DEVIL HILLS, NORTH CAROLINE: Our town was under the Dare County evacuation order that was given this morning for the mandatory evacuation at -- that took place at 12:00 noon. Kill Devil Hills is part of Dare County. We're the largest municipality. There are six municipalities in unincorporated area's of Dare County. So yes we have...

COOPER: Are you going to be leaving?

ROLIASON: No. I have the responsibilities to the town to remain here, so I'm staying.

COOPER: Are you worried a lot of residents now that this has been downgraded they're not going to get out?

ROLIASON: That is true. There is some concerns with the storm surges that we are going to be having from the ocean side as well as the sound side, and there is some concern that the ones that are staying.

COOPER: You know, when you look at a map of where your town is, it is very vulnerable.

What is your biggest concern?

Is it the hurricane itself or possible storm surge? ROLIASON: The storm surge itself. With the hurricane having been downgraded, it's not so much with the winds and all, but with the storm surge because as you can look on the map and see, we are very vulnerable. We have the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the sound to the west.

COOPER: Mayor Sherry Roliason, I know you have a big job ahead of you in the coming days. We appreciate you joining us tonight. Good luck to you.

ROLIASON: Thank you very much.

COOPER: Coming up next -- a child commits suicide and the painful question, is the child's mother to blame for not getting him enough help?

Also tonight, why patients getting medical marijuana from the Canadian government are smoking mad.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, there's a tragic story out of Connecticut where the mother of a boy who committed suicide is facing criminal charges. The boy, 12 years old. His name, Daniel Scruggs. He hanged himself last year. Prosecutors blame his mother, Judith, saying she failed to get counseling for her son. The mother blames the school, saying bullies made her son suicidal. Jury selection is under way.

Jeanne Milstein is Connecticut state child advocate. She joins us from Hartford.

Jeanne, appreciate you being with us on this difficult case.

I got to ask you -- the school new this kid was in trouble. The state knew it. His mother knew it. Did everybody fail this little boy?

JEANNE MILSTEIN, STATE CHILD ADVOCATE: Yes. And my responsibility, my job is to determine whether public agencies and professionals who are responsible for protecting children and keeping them safe when parents are unable or unwilling to do so, can do a better job.

COOPR: And it's not like this was big mystery. I mean, this little boy was soiling himself in school. You know, bullied. Everyone seemed to know, school official seemed to knew he was a bully -- I mean, he was being bullied. And his own mother worked in the school.

MILSTEIN: That's correct. The schools -- the school was aware that this child was being bullied. The child soiled himself in school. He was constantly teased. His life was threatened. In fact, the child protection agency was also aware of the circumstances of this child, and closed his case four days before he died. In fact, they told the child, if he would just clean himself up, he could go back to school and he probably wouldn't be teased anymore.

COOPER: And not an easy thing to do, because I understand this little boy's home was just -- I mean, a mess of, you know, clothes piled up to the level of his bed, dirt everywhere, no place to cook.

MILSTEIN: The police described this home as appalling, disgusting and unsafe. The bathtub was filled with clothing and toys. So he was unable to take a shower even if he wanted to.

COOPER: And I mean, the other ridiculous irony on this is that the mother's working in the school. She's going to the school. But the little boy stops going to school because he's being teased so much.

MILSTEIN: That's exactly right. The little boy was afraid to go to school. His mother went to school every day, yet no one questioned why isn't the child in school? Teachers by law are supposed to report suspected neglect or truancy to child protection officials, which they finally did. And again, the child protection agency went into this appalling home to talk to the child about truancy, and somehow missed all of the filth that was surrounding this home.

COOPER: What was Daniel like?

MILSTEIN: When he died, he was -- he weighed 63 pounds. He was a child with exceptional intelligence, yet he had learning disabilities. He had poor hygiene. He never brushed his teeth. He never took a shower. He was bullied. He was very, very lonely. His only male role model, his grandfather, had died within the last year.

It's (AUDIO GAP) like this we can prevent other tragedies from occurring. People need to pay attention, particularly those folks in the schools and the child protection agencies, who by law have to pay attention and do something about these warning signs.

COOPER: You know, I mean, at times what makes this case so tragic, so just unbelievable, is, you know, you hear stories about parents who have neglected their children, but as you point out in the beginning of this thing, it seems like on the face of it, everyone saw what was going on and no one took the next step. What should have been done? What could have been done differently?

MILSTEIN: Well, certainly when the child started to have some behavior difficulties in school, when he was having difficulty learning and performing well, when he was starting to not fit in with other children, the school should have made a report immediately.

Finally, when the child protection agency was notified, they needed to do a much better investigation of the risks that were facing this child. Certainly the mother was unable to care for this child. She didn't get the help that she needed. So services needed to be either but place or this child probably should...

COOPER: Well, there are a lot of questions still to be asked about the mother. I know you cannot answer them because of the ongoing case and your involvement in it. But we do appreciate you coming in and talking about just this horrible case.

Jeanne Milstein, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

MILSTEIN: Thank you very much. Thank you.

COOPER: Well, suicide is difficult to understand at any age. But in a young person, it can be even more perplexing.

Here's a news note for you. In the U.S, the number of kids aged 10 to 14 who have committed suicide has doubled over the past two decades. They now account for about 300 deaths each year. Hard to believe.

Now, from time to time, we want to update you on some of the stories we the media once couldn't get enough of. We call it "How Quickly We Forget."

COOPER: Remember the Clara -- the -- remember the Clara Harris murder case? It was a story tailor-made for Lifetime TV. Even came with a perfect title, "Murder by Mercedes."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. A Houston dentist is charged with murdering her husband by running over her multiple times with her Mercedes.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Clara Harris, a Houston dentist, is accused in the death her husband last July.

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: A jury in Texas today convicted Clara Harris of murder for running over her cheating husband with a car three times. Harris claimed the killing was an accident. She could be sentenced to life in prison.

COOPER (voice-over): Clara Harris was the former Houston area beauty queen convicted of murder for running over her husband after a nasty fight with him and his mistress at a tony Texas hotel. Gruesome, salacious tragic, now a judge has decided her former neighbors will have custody of the couple's 5-year-old twin sons. She'll have some say over how they're raised, but that will be from prison where she's serving 20 years.

And how quickly we forget the story of Buddy Myers, the little North Carolina boy who disappeared three years ago. Remember in May, a 7-year-old boy turned up, abandoned at a Chicago hospital and the Myers family hoped it was him? DNA tests said it wasn't.

HAVEN MYERS, MOTHER OF TRISTEN "BUDDY" MYERS: We have a void in our life and we're still trying to fill it with hope that now that he's nationwide somebody will recognize him.

COOPER: There's no miraculous development to report for the Myers family. But at least one child has found a home. The abandoned child, known then as Eli Quick, has been placed with his aunt in southern Illinois and is said to be adjusting well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: How quickly we forget.

Coming up, "Playboy" goes shopping at Wal-Mart. But are Wal-Mart staffers selling what "Playboy" wants to buy?

Also tonight, is there anything comic about history? The Library of Congress thinks so. We'll tell you why.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right. Take a quick look inside the box. Two TV titans of the recent and not so recent past are taking a stab at daytime talk TV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Ellen Degeneres, who caused such a fire storm when she and her sitcom character came out as lesbians, is now causing more of a well-controlled campfire with her light and breezy new chat show.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a welcome mat.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Then there's Sharon Osbourne, partner in crime of heavy metal icon Ozzy. Here's how she brought the heat on "Today's Show."

SHARON OSBOURNE, OZZY OSBOURNE'S WIFE: We share something else in common. You like to do a little bit of shopping on the side. right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I love shopping, baby. That's my thing.

COOPER: Is this really the same woman who once said...

OSBOURNE: Look at it, there's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) big chunk out of it there. Mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Where is he?

COOPER: Why the new love of bland banter? Well, it worked for Rosie O'Donnell, and Ellen and Sharon would love her audience.

Cloning is common in TV. Regis and Kelly is a hit. So now there's Ali and Jack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, Regis and Kelly.

COOPER: It's a show hosted by two folks about as well-known as, well, me, actually, which may explain why they seem so hard up for guests starting out. No telling if all this smiling niceness is what daytime audiences still want. In the end, they might just turn back to Jerry Springer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Who knows. Time for a quick check of the tonight's current.

In the midst of preparing to defend their World Cup title, the U.S. women's soccer team got a doozy of a distraction. The cash- strapped Women's United Soccer Association called it quits. Yesterday, the WUSA, which a dozen members of the current American team helped found, ceased operations.

Playboy.com is asking female Wal-Mart employees to pose nude, but in a classier way than my writers asked them to. And the site is posting accounts from alleged Wal-Mart employees of their own sexy in- store sexual sexcapades. You may recall, the store refuses to sell "Playboy" and some other magazines, because, well, it basically boil downs to sex is bad.

Canada's new plan to sell medical marijuana directly to patients has reportedly hit a snag, namely that their stash is totally swag. Some users told the Associated Press they plan to complain about the bunk quality of Canadian government-issued weed. You may be aware that Canada's health care system makes no provisions for alternatives, such as Thai sticks or mind-blowing (UNINTELLIGIBLE) herb.

The John Ritter sitcom "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" will continue despite Ritter's death. Mediaweek.com reports ABC will put the show on hiatus after Ritter's last episodes air, and then retool the show to resume without him.

And the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says the new TV season marks a critical step forward for gay visibility on TV. Several sitcoms feature long-term gay couples.

Still under-represented on TV, however, are fat people, old people, ugly people, smart people and kids who are not precocious.

And speaking of which, a lot of reading material that used to be considered just kids stuff is now heading for a very grownup venue. CNN's Bruce Morton reports on Uncle Sam's new habit, collecting comics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Library of Congress has a brand new treasure trove of great old stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This collection, first of all, is enormous.

ART WOOD, CARTOONIST: 36,000 to 40,000 drawings. It includes everything.

MORTON: Art Wood, who collected it, ought to know. It has got animation from movies, Mickey, Tom, Jiminy, autographed, that's rare. It's got comics, Charles Schulz's Linus pondering a run for office. It's got the all-American kid. And it's got political cartoons. Why not? Wood drew those himself for 50 years and knew everybody else who did.

WOOD: I've known most every artist that's in the collection, and that's why I feel like the work I've given to the library is the best because I've selected it.

MORTON: Rube Goldberg was a friend. This is his idea of a machine for getting boats. Cliff Berryman drew Teddy Roosevelt pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey presidents get. And the bears, teddy bears, of course. Thomas Nast drew this Liberty Bell. Gene Payne (ph) did Lyndon Johnson in a bear trap called Vietnam.

Doesn't matter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we're going to examine the American past, we really have to understand what people thought at points of time, and while you can get that from a newspaper editorial, a cartoon hits home.

MORTON: They sure do. Bill Maulden. Herb Block.

Wood's retired now, but if you push him he can still draw some. Watch.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Next up on "360" -- if renaming fries has power, why stop there? We'll look at what's on the menu for 21st century diplomacy.

And tomorrow we'll go inside the storm, bring you pictures from the heart of Hurricane Isabel. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, taking the power of food-based diplomacy to the Nth degree. Last spring, House Republicans renamed french fries and french toast as freedom fries and freedom toast in the House cafeteria. The reason was French opposition to U.S. policy on Iraq.

But now, when the U.S. wants international help in Iraq, a House Democrat wants to go back to the original names.

If culinary nomenclature has become a powerful diplomatic tool, shouldn't the U.S. act quickly to use it to full effect? Just returning foods to their original French names might not be enough. We could give existing foods French names to win France's help.

For instance, what has General Tso ever done for us? Who wouldn't prefer a plate of General de Gaulle's chicken? Or a hearty shishka-robert (ph). And for breakfast, nothing beats a big stack of flapjacques (ph). We can do it if we start now, with help from the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Emeril Lagasse. Or who knows, maybe the Iron Chef.

Alors, bon nuit. That wraps up our show tonight. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

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