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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Hurricane Isabel Nears Land; Stock Exchange Chairman Steps Down; Man Takes Hostages in Tennessee University

Aired September 17, 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: Eye to eye with Isabel. Is the East Coast ready?

Live at the DMZ, crossing the line.

Wesley Clark runs for president. What are his odds?

How do you sleep? The answer may reveal secrets of your personality.

A prima ballerina, fired for being too fat?

And James Caan, Alicia Silverstone and Rob Lowe, inside the box.

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 us on 360.

A lot going on that we are following tonight. A late-breaking story, a hostage drama in a Tennessee college classroom. You see the picture right there. A man armed and holding students captive. We're going to have a report in just a moment.

President Bush admits at point blank there's no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11.

And a shake-up on Wall Street. The big board chairman Dick Grasso is out after the world learned just how much money he makes. All that to come.

We begin, though, with Hurricane Isabel. The unstoppable force about to collide with one very big immovable object, namely, the East Coast.

You are looking live at North Topsail Beach, North Carolina, the first place where Isabel is expected to make landfall over the next 12 hours. Those waves are likely to get a lot bigger.

There are states of emergency from North Carolina to as far north as Delaware, and President Bush was briefed today on Isabel's status. Here's a look from high above, satellite pictures closing in on the eye as the storm gets closer and closer to landfall.

Back on the ground, there may be only three kinds of people who actually look for the trouble instead of running away: surfers, reporters and storm chasers. Well, we have two out of three tonight.

Jeff Flock is with the storm chasers in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The plants are in, the boards are up, the flags are down. Those leaving are gone, those staying, prepared for quite a ride.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which would put us on the west eye wall.

FLOCK: Mark Sutton (ph), who heads the team of hurricane researchers we're traveling with. That's their latest forecast track while partner John Van Pelt (ph) sets up anemometers, one ironically latched to a speed limit sign that Isabel is sure to disobey.

Sutton (ph) rubs a special fluid on his windshield so he can see through the rain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're experienced. This is what we do for a job.

FLOCK: While one plots how to get closer to the storm...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd just rather be away from it than be in it.

FLOCK: ... most have gone the other way. Hotel guests getting notes like this under their doors, please leave. The place that sells wood to board up, boarded up itself. Inside, only the sign remains, and it wasn't cheap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A high price on it: $24 a sheet.

FLOCK: It was $8. Some recycle boards from storms past while others use an untried and unconventional alternative.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know whether it will work or not. We're going to find out. I'll let you know in a couple days.

FLOCK: Over at Frank Hampton's (ph) restaurant it looks like the end of the season.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as business, I think we're done. Yes. We're done.

FLOCK: For now, they can joke about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So when you see me again on TV, say, he's dead now.

FLOCK: Eva Jenkins' husband has been teasing her about being concerned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's says I'm worried for nothing. He's more worried than I am.

FLOCK: Good, because otherwise it could sneak up on you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Not much sneaking up going on tonight, Anderson. The storm's leading edge already beginning to be felt here. Ninety percent of the residents are gone. A curfew for the rest just began at this hour.

And we'll be spending the next 24 hours or so with the storm chasers and researchers, and we're going to have quite an unfolding tale to tell on your broadcast tomorrow night -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Jeff Flock, stay safe. Thanks very much.

As one North Carolina put it today, even a lot of old salts are bailing out. But one of our producers did not bail out. Instead, he went up in the sky with the storm chasers of the U.S. Air Force out to look at Isabel straight in the eye. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now we're flying at about 18,000 feet, which is our normal altitude that we track through the storm and away from the storm on.

When we're at 10,000 foot we'll try tracking in towards the center of the storm. We'll encounter spiral bands associated with the hurricane. As we do, of course, we'll encounter turbulence with that, a lot of rain, some lightning and then, of course, the worst part of the storm for us is that we track through the eye wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, personal opinion, compared to some of the ones I've flown in, this one has been pretty mild. We expected a little bit more out of it. But it's in a state right now where it's kind of leveled off. It's dropped off from what it was in its strength before.

It's been a pretty calm night. Maybe one -- I think our worst leg was the northeast to the northwest quadrant cross leg. It was probably where we encountered the most wind, turbulence and rain. I've seen much worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first time out, we thought we would go and see inside there. This ain't near as bad as that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Technology is unbelievable. We want to get the very latest on Isabel. When will it hit? Where?

Let's go to the CNN weather center and Rob Marciano.

Rob, what's the latest?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the track of this thing, Anderson, has not deviated away from the East Coast. Landfall looks imminent as we head through tomorrow.

These are the latest stats of the National Hurricane Center. It is currently 315 miles to the south-southeast of Cape Hatteras. Winds of 105 miles an hour. That makes it a category two. It is accelerating to the north north-northwest at 14 miles an hour. That will time it out to be along shore by tomorrow afternoon.

With hurricane force winds up through eastern parts of South Carolina, eastern parts of North Carolina, the DelMarVa, possibly. Tropical storm force winds into New Jersey. Gusts possible to hurricane strength into our nation's capital, where there could be some damage. Baltimore, also Philly will probably see some tropical storm force winds.

So highly populated area being affected by this storm. And it's a big storm, not only a strong one but a very wide one with circulation of 300 miles. We have tropical storm force winds.

Already tonight, winds gusting at 35 miles an hour, rain bands already making their way onto the outer banks of North Carolina. Tropical storm force winds expected after midnight.

Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: All right, Rob Marciano. Thanks very much.

A quick note for those of you planning to fly on the East Coast during Isabel, airlines will let you reschedule and/or get a refund for East Coast air travel between now and September 23. You should check airline web sites for more information. There will be no penalty apparently for making these changes.

Well, the preparations are going on up and down the East Coast, including the White House. Workers there were told to pack up early, take down awnings, check drains and lower the flags.

Officials in Washington also warned bus and train riders that at 11 a.m. tomorrow they expect to shut the entire subway and bus system in D.C., Virginia and Maryland. And sports fans may see a lot of schedule changes. Thursday night baseball games at Baltimore and Philadelphia have been changed to day games.

A late story that is just breaking tonight. The chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Grasso, has resigned. It is no overstatement to say that Grasso has been under siege in recent weeks after his enormous pay package was revealed.

Financial news correspondent Chris Huntington is working the story.

Chris, what's the latest?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, in the stock market perception always trumps reality and the perception about Dick Grasso is that in accepting that huge, nearly $140 million pay package, that he had in essence joined the ranks of the super greedy CEOs.

Carl McCall, who is essentially the acting director of the board of directors right now spoke to me just moments ago and said that Grasso called a conference call this afternoon of the NYSE directors and made it clear that he would resign if the board asked him to do.

And so the board went into executive session, worked out the wording to ask Grasso for his resignation, and here we have it. He is gone. He is no longer the chairman of the stock exchange. He has run that exchange for more than eight years, since the mid-'90s. He is widely regarded as having done a good job. There's no, almost no criticism. In fact, William Donaldson, the chairman of the SEC today, called him a superb manager.

But in accepting that huge pay package of deferred benefits and retirement pay, he really just did an unfortunate disservice to himself. And as McCall said, cast a pall of uncertainty and criticism over the exchange that was just unacceptable.

COOPER: But he gets the money, right now?

HUNTINGTON: He gets the money.

COOPER: All right.

HUNTINGTON: You know, he was due another $48 million that he gave back. And maybe now he's regretting that decision.

COOPER: All right, Chris Huntington. Thanks very much.

On to a story that broke late this afternoon, a hostage standoff playing out in west Tennessee. An armed man holding several people captive at a state community college. It is still going on.

Ursula Madden from affiliate WMC in Memphis joins us with the latest.

Ursula, what can you tell us?

URSULA MADDEN, WMC CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we're in the fifth hour of this hostage situation. It began at about 1:30 this afternoon.

I want to pan over to the building where all this is actually going on right now. That is an administration building where we believe that the gunman is holding between nine and 13 people hostage at this time. Police are telling us that he is armed with a 9- millimeter handgun. We also know that from police that three hostages have been released at this time, all of them female. One woman actually told the gunman that she was pregnant, and he allowed her to go. And he also allowed another female to escort her out. A third female said that she had to use the rest room. He said for her to go, but said that if she did not come back in about 15 minutes then he would start to hurt people in the hostage situation.

But that has not happened. Police tell us that so far no harm has come to anyone in this room.

Now we understand that from police this man is said to be suicidal, that he actually left the suicide note at his sister's house and that in that note he claims to be a member of al Qaeda. He claims that he does not like Americans and that he even claims to have spoken with Osama bin Laden.

Now, Dyersburg City police here are taking this very seriously. They have turned it over to federal authorities, who will be investigating this case.

At this time now, as you can imagine, there are several parents and friends and family members who are concerned about the children -- the students who are still in that classroom. A command center has been set up so that they can get briefings and be counseled about this situation.

That is the latest here from Dyersburg, Tennessee. And this is Ursula Madden reporting. Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: All right, Ursula. Thanks very much for the update.

Should point out that there are two SWAT teams that we know about on the scene. We're going to be monitoring this all evening and will bring you any updates as are warranted.

We turn now to tonight's terror watch.

Phoenix, Arizona, where pot, but no bomb was found on board a grounded UPS cargo plane. Explosive experts unloaded the plane by hand. This after the shipping company got two threatening phone calls about a suspicious package on board. One of the calls claimed the box was inside -- a bomb was inside a specific box.

Madrid, Spain. A judge has indicted Osama bin Laden and 34 others for terrorism charges and alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Authorities believe Spain was a key staging and planning area for those attacks.

New York, the American Council on Science and Health wants you to be better prepared to deal with terrorism. It released two new guidebooks -- showing them right now -- today on how to prepare and respond to a terrorist attack, whether it's chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear.

And in Germany, the terror watch continues. Senior government officials are warning the U.S. not to underestimate the continuing dangers in Afghanistan. They say given the danger of renewed Taliban and al Qaeda activity there, Afghanistan, not Iraq, should be on the front burner.

And that's the terror watch.

Still to come this evening: Saddam Hussein, no connection to 9/11. President Bush distances himself from an argument made before the war.

And you are looking at a live picture right now from the most dangerous place in the world. That's what a lot of people call it, the DMZ. We will take you there live when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: For months there has been speculation and allegations made by members of the Bush administration and other officials about Iraq's former leader, Saddam Hussein, and his involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In fact, as recently as last Sunday, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the Saddam/al Qaeda link was one reason behind the war with Iraq.

Today President Bush set things straight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th. The vice president said was that he had been involved with al Qaeda. And al Zarakawi (ph), an al Qaeda operative, was in Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, earlier today another purported Saddam Hussein audiotape was broadcast on Arab TV. And like all seven others before it, this one also tries to rally the Iraqis against the United States.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has more from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With interest verging on apathy, Iraq has tuned in to hear the latest apparent Saddam tape. The message, a mixture of the old, a call to arms for Iraqis to fight U.S. troops, and the new, a call for the U.S. troops to get out of Iraq.

SADDAM HUSSEIN (through translator): We call on you to withdraw your troops as quickly as possible and without any conditions, because there is no reason for more losses that will be catastrophic for America. ROBERTSON: The voice, which sounds like Saddam Hussein, advises President Bush to admit defeat and negotiate with former Iraqi officials in U.S. custody. It also urges Arabs to come and fight U.S. troops.

HUSSEIN (through translator): You can cannot whoever is representing the people of Iraq and the brave resistance all over great Iraq.

ROBERTSON: Outside the Baghdad Nights (ph) cafe, where only months ago crowds would gather to hear the latest tape reporting to be Saddam, patrons played dominoes, interest in the former dictator negligible.

"He's an idiot," says this waiter. "He's delirious, like an old person."

"In his 30 years, he was not able to accomplish anything for the Iraqis," says this writer. "So I doubt he'll be able to accomplish anything now."

A handful, however, clamor after the old days, including another waiter. "If Saddam wants to oust America, he can. We have Mujahadeen. We have Fedayeen, and we even have weapons."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Whether or not it is Saddam Hussein, it's worth noting the voice sounds old, tired and pauses, even repeating a paragraph in the statement. Possibly, it seems, the reader getting as tired delivering the message as the Iraqis are hearing it -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Nic Robertson, live in Baghdad. Thanks very much, Nic.

Now, a look at some other international stories on tonight's uplink.

Turning to Bosnia. Forensic experts digging up a mass grave have found hundreds of human skulls and bones, many belonging to women and children, who appear to have been killed execution style. How many bodies? Could be as many as 500.

Bogota, Colombia. The search is on. Colombia's military stepped up its manhunt for eight foreign tourists captured by Marxist rebels. The backpackers from Israel, Britain, Germany and Spain disappeared in the Colombian jungle last week.

And somewhere over Antarctica, the ozone hole has reach record size this year, nearly 11 million square miles. That from the U.N.'s weather organization.

That is tonight's uplink.

Well, the irony was duly noted recently in "The New York Times" that the only safe haven on the Korean Peninsula for rare animals and plants also the place that is as dangerous as you can get for humans. The DMZ, the demilitarized zone that separates north from South Korea.

CNN's Martin Savidge has gotten amazing, unprecedented access to one of the strangest places on earth. He joins us now with an exclusive look at the one spot, a U.N. building, where north and south sometimes come together without shooting -- Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Anderson. Good morning from the DMZ, where I am standing in North Korea.

That's right. I said North Korea. This is building T-2. You saw it on the outside a couple of days ago. And there are some remarkable stories to be told about the meetings that take place between North Korea and the United Nations command, such as South Korea and the United States.

For instance, in one story, the North Koreans before a meeting came into the room and actually sawed down the legs of the chairs belonging to the American delegation. When the Americans sat down, they looked like kids at the kitchen table. Pretty puny.

Then there's another story about how when the North Koreans came in for another meeting, the guards were suspected of having machine guns under their heavy winter coats. Instead of filing a protest, the South Koreans just turned up the temperature in the room to something like the Sahara Desert. The North Koreans wouldn't take off their coats, and they were forced to nearly drown in their own sweat.

Here's the fun thing about this particular room. You can cross the border safely as many times as you want. For instance...

COOPER: We just lost Martin Savidge's satellite from North Korea. We'll try to get it back a little bit later on. There's going to be more of Martin's reporting from the DMZ, if the satellite gets back up, on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" at 8 p.m. Eastern time. So you can look forward to that.

Let's take a quick trip right now across country.

Jacksonville, Florida. A 9-year-old girl recovering after a piece of candy exploded in her hands. Unbelievable. The girl has severe burns, with injuries to her arm, face and neck. She seems to be doing OK there. Investigators are trying to find out how and, more importantly, why the jawbreaker exploded.

Seattle, Washington, caffeine capital of America. Voters overwhelmingly rejected a 10-cent tax on espresso, considering it -- well, here's the cliche -- too much to swallow. There, I said it. The revenue would have gone to fund preschool and day care programs.

And Lexington, North Carolina. Tough-talking sheriff Gerald Hege is facing charges of embezzlement and obstruction of justice. He was arrested Monday on 15 felony counts. Hege is the sheriff who painted jail cells pink and put inmates in prison stripes. We'll see what happens there. Still to come this evening, fallen star, former basketball player Jayson Williams considers a surprising defense, bipolar disorder. The question is, will it work? A closer look at justice served.

Also tonight, how do you fall asleep? Does the position you sleep in reveal something about your personality? Well, get a pen and paper. There is going to be a test.

And a little bit later on, our midweek crisis: why are so many Brits blazing mad over David Blaine? The blitz of blame, later on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, justice served.

Lawyers for former NBA star Jayson Williams may have an explanation, not for why Williams may have shot a limo driver with a shot gun, but for why he tried to hide his responsibility after.

A psychiatrist says Williams may be suffering from bipolar disorder. And defense lawyers are trying to decide whether to use that information in Williams' manslaughter trial.

From San Francisco tonight, I'm joined by our 360 legal analyst and assistant district attorney Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom.

Kimberly, good to see you again.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you.

COOPER: What is fascinating about this purported defense strategy is that they're really not saying bipolar disorder had an impact on the shooting itself, it's more on the alleged cover-up.

NEWSOM: That's correct, Anderson. It's an important point here.

Basically the defense is going with the theory that this was an accident to explain the actual involuntary manslaughter charge that he is facing in this case. What they are saying is the fact that he covered this up and tried to help get his friends to help him cover up the crime afterwards and alter evidence was due to his mental state, to a mental disease or defect he was suffering from, such as bipolar disorder.

What is interesting is the fact that we haven't heard any information that he was, in fact, diagnosed with this prior to this incident occurring and, in fact, maybe a better to go was just to say he was in a state of shock having witnessed this accident occur.

COOPER: Why not just say he was in a state of shock? I mean, why go for bipolar disorder?

NEWSOM: Well, they probably feel that they have a better chance if they can get a defense psychiatrist to make a compelling case. But this defense psychiatrist has just said that there's a possibility that he was suffering from manic polar, bipolar disorder, manic depression and/or stress-related feelings.

So I don't think that this is going to go very well for them. They are also trying to go on another theory here, to suggest that the police were going after Williams, making race-based kind of profiling on him and maybe that there was some impropriety there in this case.

COOPER: Right. And I think the judge said that they can examine the records and the employment records of these police in question.

NEWSOM: That's based on a 1999 decision, where the attorney general there conceded that, in fact, officers, state troopers engaged in race-based stops, race profiling. And, in fact, 100 cases, criminal cases were dismissed and several lawsuits resulted from that.

There are three individuals that they're looking at in this case. But again, the police responded to his house, based on the fact that the crime occurred and they were summoned there to assist. So again, they got an uphill battle on that. It will be interesting to see what happens in the trial in January next year.

COOPER: Yes, it certainly will. Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, appreciate you joining us. Good to see you, as always.

NEWSOM: Thank you.

COOPER: All right. We still have a lot coming up tonight. The hostage situation, still under way in Tennessee at this hour. We are going to get the very latest on what's going on, briefly.

Also coming up...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Finish this man's name. General Wesley...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That's a problem. The new presidential candidate fights an uphill battle for name recognition.

And she ain't heavy. She's a ballerina. We'll explain, coming up. Three-sixty continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Let's "Reset" tonight's top stories.

Millions of people in the mid-Atlantic are bracing for the onslaught of Hurricane Isabel, now forecast to hit North Carolina tomorrow.

A gunman continues to hold a classroom full of hostages at a Tennessee college. Tonight, right now, police have said the man intends to kill himself. The Arab network Al-Arabiya has aired an audiotape purportedly from deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The tape calls for Iraqis to conduct -- quote -- "a jihad against American troops in Iraq." It also accuses President Bush of lying about his reasons for invading Iraq.

Mr. Bush today formally asked Congress for $87 billion to pay for the war in Iraq and reconstruction costs there, as well as Afghanistan. Democrats today introduced a bill to pay for some of those costs by reducing some of the tax cuts given to America's wealthiest citizens.

Lawyers for accused Washington sniper Lee Boyd Malvo lost their bid to get the death penalty off the table today. A judge ruled that international treaties banning executions for juvenile crimes are not binding on domestic U.S. courts.

And that's "The Reset" for tonight.

We go to politics now and the 10th Democratic candidate to make it official. Retired General Wesley Clark launched his campaign today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My name is Wes Clark. I am from Little Rock, Arkansas. And I am here to announce that I intend to seek the presidency of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, not sure General Clark is an honorary knight. Didn't know that, did you? And, OK, he did have that big, fancy title NATO supreme commander. But the next battle General Clark will have to fight is getting people to finish the question, General Wesley who?

Jeanne Moos posed the question to some potential voters today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His name may be up in lights, but he is still "General who?" to most folks.

(on camera): Finish this man's name, General Wesley...

General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, God!

MOOS (voice-over): No, not quite God, but he was supreme allied commander of NATO. General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.

MOOS (on camera): This is a hint. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: General Clark.

MOOS: Yoo-hoo, over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clark.

MOOS (voice-over): No wonder the Clark campaign plans to hand out 30,000 Clark bars in New York alone.

(on camera): General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Moreland.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Moreland.

MOOS (voice-over): Actually, that's General William Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam.

(on camera): Finish this man's name. General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Snipes.

MOOS (voice-over): Well, actor Wesley Snipes did make it to the White House as a detective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESLEY SNIPES, ACTOR: I've got a murder at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (on camera): General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clark.

MOOS: Thank God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's going to be very good, if you are a liberal and if you are a Democrat. I'm a Republican. Goodbye.

MOOS (voice-over): You just have to drum the name into them.

General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clark?

(LAUGHTER)

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Some perspective. A look at the history books shows it's hard to say what if anything those four stars mean for his General Clark's presidential run. In U.S. history, there have been 10 generals elected president, but only one in the last century, the year, of course, 1952, the president, General Dwight Eisenhower.

We want to talk more about the Clark candidacy. In the latest "New York" magazine, media columnist Michael Wolff writes about the general's prospects. He joins us now to talk about it.

Michael, thanks for being with us.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: It is an amazing article. In it, my favorite line, you write that -- you say, "George Bush is toast but for a toaster." General Wesley Clark, does he fit the bill?

MICHAEL WOLFF, "NEW YORK": He certainly fits the bill, at least on paper.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLFF: Go into a store and look for a toaster, this would be the really supersonic one.

COOPER: You say he fits it on paper because military background, Southerner?

WOLFF: Absolutely.

He's a Democrat that comes in -- I mean, this is an extraordinary moment. And it is probably the only moment when you could plausibly say, we need a general as president. What's more, this is a general who is a Democrat. That's incredibly powerful. One of the reasons generals don't get to be president is, they don't speak to most of the country.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: And not just a Democrat, a Southern Democrat at that.

WOLFF: Absolutely.

This country is -- we know about the blue and red line that separates this country. But here, we have this Democrat, nevertheless, who is a military man.

COOPER: But good on paper does not necessarily mean good running a campaign, getting elected. I mean, on paper is one thing. Can he win? Can he run well?

WOLFF: Actually, it could fall apart tomorrow.

Tomorrow can begin this process in which we say, oh, my God, what could this guy have been thinking? He can't run for president. He can't -- the campaigns are hard. Running is very difficult. But -- and this is what everyone is kind of holding their breath -- maybe he will be good. Quite possibly. I've spent time with him. And I've been, frankly, blown away. I thought, my God, this guy is -- he's smart. He's funny. His -- the breadth of his coverage of the issues is astounding.

COOPER: And while many people -- you saw Jeanne Moos' piece. Many people may not know his name on the streets. He's been laying groundwork now for quite some time. I think, in your article, you write, he's been going out speaking to just about any group that will have him.

WOLFF: Absolutely. And I'm not sure that the names -- Howard Dean, I still have trouble with that name.

So I think that there is. In the very short period of time, he has to accomplish a lot. But is it possible that he can do that? Yes, it is.

COOPER: The other interesting thing in your article, he apparently is in several times a week in consultation with former President Bill Clinton.

WOLFF: Yes. One of the interesting things about looking at this race is that you feel the presence of Bill Clinton everywhere.

COOPER: Yes, and more and more so. We just saw the other day Bill Clinton appearing with several of the Democratic candidates.

WOLFF: Right. And he's out there. I saw him this summer. And he is out there campaigning in his own way for, well, I think for a Democratic president, but also for a Democratic president who will very clearly say that the Clinton years were better than the Bush years.

COOPER: Do you think Al Gore is kicking himself right now?

WOLFF: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

COOPER: Because he got out thinking it was going to be about the economy, not about foreign policy?

WOLFF: Exactly. This is now playing -- this campaign could play directly to Al Gore's strengths, yes.

COOPER: Right. What a difference a couple months makes.

It's a fascinating article. It's "New York" this week. Michael Wolff, thanks very much.

WOLFF: Thank you.

COOPER: All right.

Still a lot ahead tonight, developing stories happening right now. Also, the stories to tell when you are asleep. You might be surprised by what experts say they can tell about you while you are tossing and turning.

Another burning question: Can you be too fat if you only weigh 109 pounds? Well, the boys from the Bolshoi say Anastasia is too heavy to heft.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right.

You know the cliche you are what you eat. But researchers in Britain say the more apt phrase is, you are how you sleep. We cannot vouch for the accuracy of this study. But they say that six sleep positions can tell you a lot more about your personality than, say, Dr. Melfi on "The Sopranos" can.

So the question is, how do you sleep?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Forty-one percent of us sleep, literally, like babies, the fetus position. Women are almost twice as likely to be fetuses than men. According to the study, fetus sleepers are tough on the outside, but actually sensitive souls right down to the inner coils of their Serta sleeper.

The second most popular sleeping position is the log. Logs are said to be easygoing, social people, who like being part of the in- crowd. The yearner position suggests an open nature. But according to the study, those folks are often suspicious and cynical. You may not be surprised to learn that twice as many men are yearners than women.

This position is the soldier. Frankly, we think the better title would be the corpse. Soldier sleepers are supposedly reserved people who can be very demanding, like they just have to have higher thread count in their sheets.

One of the more unusual and rare positions is the free-faller, face down, arms akimbo. Free-fallers are thinned-skinned and don't respond well to criticism. Perhaps that explains why their head is buried in the pillow.

Finally, the rarest position of them all, the starfish. These people are in tune with others' needs and always ready to listen and offer help. Typical. The nice guys finish last, even in bed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Me, I'm like a horse. I sleep standing up.

Time now for a check of "The Current." A growing number of Americans are reportedly leaving the country to go to college. Now, should we blame the government or blame society or should we blame the images on TV? No, blame Canada. That's right. Canadian officials say more Americans are going to college there for reasons ranging from lower tuition to political discontent. The downside, of course, spring break in Saskatchewan.

Mattel is introducing the Flavas line of dolls, Flavas, including such Flava features as hair extensions and piercings. Sadly, however, none of them the Flava dolls comes with a kung fu grip.

The Bolshoi ballet has fired one of Russia's best-known ballerinas, claiming she is simply too fat. Anastasia Volochkova says she's 109 pounds and in top shape. The ballet company says, yes, that's Bolshoi.

AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN and a controlling stake of Anderson Cooper Incorporated is considering a name change at tomorrow's board meeting. The company could choose to be called just Time Warner, as it used to be. Apparently, some other names were already taken, including Berkshire Hathaway, General Electric, and Microsoft. Too bad.

Coming up next on 360, David Blaine's ongoing crisis is our "Midweek Crisis." Why won't the British leave the poor publicity- monger alone?

Also tonight, need a new show to get hooked on other than 360? Well, we'll preview TV's new dramas for you.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right, welcome back.

A decades-old crime still generates intense emotions; '60s radical Kathy Boudin was released today after more than 20 years in prison for her part in a deadly 1981 robbery. Now, the families of the victims are outraged that the woman who helped take lives is now free to live her own.

CNN's Deb Feyerick reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wearing a white shirt and tennis sneakers, Kathy Boudin stepped past the barbed wire to freedom, after serving 22 years for murder. Turning, she waved towards the inmates who call her a friend, the former '60s radical herself now 60.

Boudin was a member of the violent Weather Underground and spent more than a decade in hiding. Then, in 1981, she joined members of the Black Liberation Army in robbing a Brinks armored car. A security guard and two police officers were killed. Boudin was said to be a model prisoner, helping create parenting and AIDS programs for inmates. She's even been offered a job at a New York hospital working with HIV-positive women.

But her release has New York police groups outraged that she served only slightly more than her minimum sentence. They're suing the parole board to get her back in prison.

BRENT NEWBURY, PRESIDENT, ROCKLAND CO. POLICE UNION: The message that was sent here by the New York State Parole Board is that, if you kill police officers, if you commit an act of domestic terrorism, you serve a minimal amount of your sentence, you can go back to your normal life. And that's not a message they should be sending.

FEYERICK: Because of her release, New York's parole procedures are being reviewed top to bottom.

(on camera): The question facing officials: Why did one patrol panel agree to release Boudin just three months after a different panel turned her down, saying to let her go would undermine the criminal justice system?

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Bedford Hills, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we go now from real-life drama to the purely invented kind. Tonight's "Midweek Crisis" is the baffling outrage in Britain. Outrage may be a little bit strong, after that story. It's all about a man in a box.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): He's been hanging about the Thames in a clear box with no food for a dozen days now. Why? Perhaps a ravenous desire for publicity. He's certainly getting a lot of attention. And he's brought the famously reserved Brits out of their shells. But many Brits also find him flamin' annoying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely stupid. I don't see any point in him doing it.

COOPER: They throw food at him, taunt him, keep him awake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, wake up!

COOPER: Britons survived the Battle of the Blitz. The question now is, will Blaine survive the blitz of Britons? One guy even tried to cut his water supply line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really difficult up there when someone throws eggs or potatoes or whatever they are throwing, golf balls. The sound picks up and magnifies it. And it's quite intense.

COOPER: So what is it about David Blaine that causes Brits to lose their stiff upper lips?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has done the most pompous thing, saying, I'm going to go up there. I'm an artist, nothing more, nothing less. And people think, well, actually, you're a bloke in nappies in a little glass box above the Thames.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're not going to be that impressed by it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has committed the gravest British crime, which is to take oneself too seriously. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: But, in the end, perhaps Blaine has pulled off the greatest magic feet of all time, giving the people of England the gift of emotion.

In an apparent case of high school hazing run amuck, a Long Island community grapples with accusations that members of the football team assaulted younger members of the team.

Kris Osborn updates the investigation to an alleged crime that sources say left its victims simply horrified.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is supposed to be fun, but Mepham High School football hasn't been fun this year. Officials say at least three varsity players are being investigated for allegedly sexually abusing junior varsity players while the team was at a Pennsylvania training camp.

SAUL LERNER, MEPHAM HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC DIRECTOR: We'll know once we've completed the investigation what we need to do.

OSBORN: Sources close to the case say the abuse allegedly included sodomy with a broomstick. And criminal charges are likely. Sources also say the victims were afraid to come forward.

STEVEN WARSHAW, MEPHAM HIGH SCHOOL: I know that not only themselves, but their families, they are embarrassed by it. They think it's horrible how they send their kids to football camp and stuff like this happens.

OSBORN: The school athletic director said three varsity players have been suspended from football, though not from school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's annoying to go to school now and just hear all this stuff, when I'm a cheerleader and I support my team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a disgrace upon the school. And I think that football team is going to suffer for it.

OSBORN: The school is offering counseling for students disturbed by the allegations. It is also weighing whether to cancel the football season.

Kris Osborn, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we go from the serious to downright surreal, drama, melodrama, and, yes, psychodrama all on display in the new TV season. As you are about to find out, the new shows continuing to find time-honored traditions established, well, by the old shows.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: "Dallas" defined drama for more than a decade, big hats, big hair, big exits. Then came "Dynasty," money, murder, manipulation. The characters were cardboard cutouts, but the one- liners were cutting and catty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DYNASTY")

JOAN COLLINS, ACTRESS: Listen to me, cousin. You are a lonely, desperate woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: By the early 1990s, the Ewings and Carringtons were canceled and teenagers took over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BEVERLY HILLS 90210")

SHANNEN DOHERTY, ACTRESS: I can't believe I'm taking a home pregnancy test.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: On "Beverly Hills 90210," the kids were rich, good- looking, but seemed to have endless problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BEVERLY HILLS 90210")

DOHERTY: I got to tell you guys, I love Dylan, and I thought I knew what I was doing. But I'm beginning to get the feeling that it wasn't worth it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Kids talking like adults became the formula for "Dawson's Creek," as well as "Felicity."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FELICITY")

KERI RUSSELL, ACTRESS: The thing is, I came to New York mostly because of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: But in the '90s, audiences also wanted adults, adult actors, adult dramas, real people doing real jobs, cops, doctors, even politicians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE WEST WING")

MARTIN SHEEN, ACTOR: Tell me what happens when I give the order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The new season of dramas promises something for everyone, including those longing for the past. "Las Vegas" is the new "Miami Vice." And "Tarzan" is the new, well, "Tarzan." Everything old is new again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Joining me now is a man who has my dream job, getting paid to watch TV. OK, maybe he does something else as well.

"Newsweek" entertainment reporter B.J. Sigesmund, thanks for being with us.

B.J. SIGESMUND, "NEWSWEEK": Sure thing.

COOPER: Let's talk about some of these new shows. Alicia Silverstone has resurfaced, reinvented herself.

SIGESMUND: Right. Right.

It's a decade after "Clueless," practically. People have been waiting for her all this time. We suffered through terrible movies, even though she had this $10 million production deal. Everything went down the tubes.

COOPER: And the new show is "Miss Match"?

SIGESMUND: "Miss Match," yes. She plays a lawyer who has a side business matching as a yenta. She matches people up.

COOPER: I think we have a little quick clip of it. Let's quickly try to show some of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MISS MATCH")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: The bride wearing a Donna Karan, blah, blah, blah, blah, toasted friends and family, drawing specific attention to Kate's thoughts, the couple's matchmaker.

ALICIA SILVERSTONE, ACTRESS: Excuse me?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Whose apparent magic touch was credited for the marriages of two other couples in attendance.

SILVERSTONE: This isn't good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you talking about? You look fantastic in that picture.

SILVERSTONE: Victoria, I'm a divorce lawyer, an ass-kicker. People can't think of me as some romantic softy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: All right. Is she viable as a divorce lawyer?

SIGESMUND: I don't know. It's kind of nice to see her again for those who fell in love with her in "Clueless."

(CROSSTALK) COOPER: Right. She looks exactly the same.

(CROSSTALK)

SIGESMUND: Yes, she does look exactly the same.

COOPER: I think maybe that's where her $10 million production deal went.

SIGESMUND: She also sounds the same. It's amazing.

COOPER: Other big thing a lot of people are talking about, James Caan in this show "Las Vegas."

SIGESMUND: Yes.

This is sort of a "CSI" wanna-be show. It takes place in Las Vegas, James Caan. Also, where has he been? He's back on TV now. He plays the head of security at this casino. We've got high-class escorts in there. We've got

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: There you go. That's a recipe for success right there.

SIGESMUND: Yes, yes, if that's your bag.

COOPER: It looks very slick, very well produced. We'll see if it works.

"Skin" is one that sort of surprised me.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Ron Silver is a porn magnate?

SIGESMUND: Ron Silver is a porn magnate. And he's the head of a family where his kid falls in love with the kid in another family where the father is the DA in L.A. So it's these two warring families.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: It's like a modern day "Romeo and Juliet."

SIGESMUND: You said it, not me.

COOPER: Except for porn.

SIGESMUND: That's what they want they want you to think. But it's actually not a very porny show. It's not very sexy at all. This isn't HBO. This is a network show. So don't tune in looking for T&A.

COOPER: Rob Lowe in "Lyon's Den" also

(CROSSTALK) SIGESMUND: Rob Lowe in "Lyon's Den," yes, back playing another idealistic lawyer on the same network as "The West Wing." But it's a different show called "The "Lyon's Dean." Rob Lowe is back. If you loved him in "The West Wing," you'll tune in for this one.

COOPER: You're going to love him even more.

"Threat Matrix" has been getting a lot of buzz, although not such great reviews.

SIGESMUND: Yes, "Threat Matrix" is this weird show. It's like a homeland security type show, a little bit of CIA, a little bit of FBI. But it stars one of the actresses from "Melrose Place."

COOPER: Excellent.

SIGESMUND: So I'm not exactly sure what to make of this show.

COOPER: I'm glad they're back.

(CROSSTALK)

SIGESMUND: They never disappear. Like Alicia Silverstone. Maybe if this won't work, she'll be back 10 years from now with something else.

COOPER: All right.

B.J. Sigesmund, appreciate you joining us, as always.

SIGESMUND: Thank you.

COOPER: Next up on 360: Hurricane Isabel is on the way. But you've never seen a weather forecast like the one I'm about to give you.

Also, tomorrow, we'll ask Isaac Mizrahi whether "Fashion Week" really offers anything you would ever, ever wear in real life.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, we take weather forecasting to "The Nth Degree."

Now, you have no doubt seen a lot about Hurricane Isabel on the news today. But tonight on "The Nth Degree," we wanted to explain some of the more arcane elements at work in this story. For instance, Isabel is unquestionably dangerous, destructive and potentially deadly. But no matter how it turns out, it is clear today that some of its terrifying power comes from a constant influx of overheated hype which is sweeping in from the bottom of your map.

That is forecast, of course, to continue at least through the weekend. Now, this pattern of hype, which is coming down from here, may be due to a stagnant patch of low ratings in this region colliding with an area of very high pressure for better ratings. As you can see, that is bringing in a cold front which is pushing waves of fear and anxiety toward low-lying regions.

So watch out for coastal floods of correspondents in those regions. After all, it may be a Category 2 storm, but it is definitely a Category 4 media event, which means we are in for some very powerful winds. So watch out.

That about wraps it up for us this evening. Thanks very much for joining us on 360.

We'll see you tomorrow at 7:00 Eastern time.

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





Down; Man Takes Hostages in Tennessee University>


Aired September 17, 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: Eye to eye with Isabel. Is the East Coast ready?

Live at the DMZ, crossing the line.

Wesley Clark runs for president. What are his odds?

How do you sleep? The answer may reveal secrets of your personality.

A prima ballerina, fired for being too fat?

And James Caan, Alicia Silverstone and Rob Lowe, inside the box.

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 us on 360.

A lot going on that we are following tonight. A late-breaking story, a hostage drama in a Tennessee college classroom. You see the picture right there. A man armed and holding students captive. We're going to have a report in just a moment.

President Bush admits at point blank there's no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11.

And a shake-up on Wall Street. The big board chairman Dick Grasso is out after the world learned just how much money he makes. All that to come.

We begin, though, with Hurricane Isabel. The unstoppable force about to collide with one very big immovable object, namely, the East Coast.

You are looking live at North Topsail Beach, North Carolina, the first place where Isabel is expected to make landfall over the next 12 hours. Those waves are likely to get a lot bigger.

There are states of emergency from North Carolina to as far north as Delaware, and President Bush was briefed today on Isabel's status. Here's a look from high above, satellite pictures closing in on the eye as the storm gets closer and closer to landfall.

Back on the ground, there may be only three kinds of people who actually look for the trouble instead of running away: surfers, reporters and storm chasers. Well, we have two out of three tonight.

Jeff Flock is with the storm chasers in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The plants are in, the boards are up, the flags are down. Those leaving are gone, those staying, prepared for quite a ride.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which would put us on the west eye wall.

FLOCK: Mark Sutton (ph), who heads the team of hurricane researchers we're traveling with. That's their latest forecast track while partner John Van Pelt (ph) sets up anemometers, one ironically latched to a speed limit sign that Isabel is sure to disobey.

Sutton (ph) rubs a special fluid on his windshield so he can see through the rain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're experienced. This is what we do for a job.

FLOCK: While one plots how to get closer to the storm...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd just rather be away from it than be in it.

FLOCK: ... most have gone the other way. Hotel guests getting notes like this under their doors, please leave. The place that sells wood to board up, boarded up itself. Inside, only the sign remains, and it wasn't cheap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A high price on it: $24 a sheet.

FLOCK: It was $8. Some recycle boards from storms past while others use an untried and unconventional alternative.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know whether it will work or not. We're going to find out. I'll let you know in a couple days.

FLOCK: Over at Frank Hampton's (ph) restaurant it looks like the end of the season.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as business, I think we're done. Yes. We're done.

FLOCK: For now, they can joke about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So when you see me again on TV, say, he's dead now.

FLOCK: Eva Jenkins' husband has been teasing her about being concerned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's says I'm worried for nothing. He's more worried than I am.

FLOCK: Good, because otherwise it could sneak up on you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: Not much sneaking up going on tonight, Anderson. The storm's leading edge already beginning to be felt here. Ninety percent of the residents are gone. A curfew for the rest just began at this hour.

And we'll be spending the next 24 hours or so with the storm chasers and researchers, and we're going to have quite an unfolding tale to tell on your broadcast tomorrow night -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Jeff Flock, stay safe. Thanks very much.

As one North Carolina put it today, even a lot of old salts are bailing out. But one of our producers did not bail out. Instead, he went up in the sky with the storm chasers of the U.S. Air Force out to look at Isabel straight in the eye. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now we're flying at about 18,000 feet, which is our normal altitude that we track through the storm and away from the storm on.

When we're at 10,000 foot we'll try tracking in towards the center of the storm. We'll encounter spiral bands associated with the hurricane. As we do, of course, we'll encounter turbulence with that, a lot of rain, some lightning and then, of course, the worst part of the storm for us is that we track through the eye wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, personal opinion, compared to some of the ones I've flown in, this one has been pretty mild. We expected a little bit more out of it. But it's in a state right now where it's kind of leveled off. It's dropped off from what it was in its strength before.

It's been a pretty calm night. Maybe one -- I think our worst leg was the northeast to the northwest quadrant cross leg. It was probably where we encountered the most wind, turbulence and rain. I've seen much worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first time out, we thought we would go and see inside there. This ain't near as bad as that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Technology is unbelievable. We want to get the very latest on Isabel. When will it hit? Where?

Let's go to the CNN weather center and Rob Marciano.

Rob, what's the latest?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the track of this thing, Anderson, has not deviated away from the East Coast. Landfall looks imminent as we head through tomorrow.

These are the latest stats of the National Hurricane Center. It is currently 315 miles to the south-southeast of Cape Hatteras. Winds of 105 miles an hour. That makes it a category two. It is accelerating to the north north-northwest at 14 miles an hour. That will time it out to be along shore by tomorrow afternoon.

With hurricane force winds up through eastern parts of South Carolina, eastern parts of North Carolina, the DelMarVa, possibly. Tropical storm force winds into New Jersey. Gusts possible to hurricane strength into our nation's capital, where there could be some damage. Baltimore, also Philly will probably see some tropical storm force winds.

So highly populated area being affected by this storm. And it's a big storm, not only a strong one but a very wide one with circulation of 300 miles. We have tropical storm force winds.

Already tonight, winds gusting at 35 miles an hour, rain bands already making their way onto the outer banks of North Carolina. Tropical storm force winds expected after midnight.

Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: All right, Rob Marciano. Thanks very much.

A quick note for those of you planning to fly on the East Coast during Isabel, airlines will let you reschedule and/or get a refund for East Coast air travel between now and September 23. You should check airline web sites for more information. There will be no penalty apparently for making these changes.

Well, the preparations are going on up and down the East Coast, including the White House. Workers there were told to pack up early, take down awnings, check drains and lower the flags.

Officials in Washington also warned bus and train riders that at 11 a.m. tomorrow they expect to shut the entire subway and bus system in D.C., Virginia and Maryland. And sports fans may see a lot of schedule changes. Thursday night baseball games at Baltimore and Philadelphia have been changed to day games.

A late story that is just breaking tonight. The chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Grasso, has resigned. It is no overstatement to say that Grasso has been under siege in recent weeks after his enormous pay package was revealed.

Financial news correspondent Chris Huntington is working the story.

Chris, what's the latest?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, in the stock market perception always trumps reality and the perception about Dick Grasso is that in accepting that huge, nearly $140 million pay package, that he had in essence joined the ranks of the super greedy CEOs.

Carl McCall, who is essentially the acting director of the board of directors right now spoke to me just moments ago and said that Grasso called a conference call this afternoon of the NYSE directors and made it clear that he would resign if the board asked him to do.

And so the board went into executive session, worked out the wording to ask Grasso for his resignation, and here we have it. He is gone. He is no longer the chairman of the stock exchange. He has run that exchange for more than eight years, since the mid-'90s. He is widely regarded as having done a good job. There's no, almost no criticism. In fact, William Donaldson, the chairman of the SEC today, called him a superb manager.

But in accepting that huge pay package of deferred benefits and retirement pay, he really just did an unfortunate disservice to himself. And as McCall said, cast a pall of uncertainty and criticism over the exchange that was just unacceptable.

COOPER: But he gets the money, right now?

HUNTINGTON: He gets the money.

COOPER: All right.

HUNTINGTON: You know, he was due another $48 million that he gave back. And maybe now he's regretting that decision.

COOPER: All right, Chris Huntington. Thanks very much.

On to a story that broke late this afternoon, a hostage standoff playing out in west Tennessee. An armed man holding several people captive at a state community college. It is still going on.

Ursula Madden from affiliate WMC in Memphis joins us with the latest.

Ursula, what can you tell us?

URSULA MADDEN, WMC CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we're in the fifth hour of this hostage situation. It began at about 1:30 this afternoon.

I want to pan over to the building where all this is actually going on right now. That is an administration building where we believe that the gunman is holding between nine and 13 people hostage at this time. Police are telling us that he is armed with a 9- millimeter handgun. We also know that from police that three hostages have been released at this time, all of them female. One woman actually told the gunman that she was pregnant, and he allowed her to go. And he also allowed another female to escort her out. A third female said that she had to use the rest room. He said for her to go, but said that if she did not come back in about 15 minutes then he would start to hurt people in the hostage situation.

But that has not happened. Police tell us that so far no harm has come to anyone in this room.

Now we understand that from police this man is said to be suicidal, that he actually left the suicide note at his sister's house and that in that note he claims to be a member of al Qaeda. He claims that he does not like Americans and that he even claims to have spoken with Osama bin Laden.

Now, Dyersburg City police here are taking this very seriously. They have turned it over to federal authorities, who will be investigating this case.

At this time now, as you can imagine, there are several parents and friends and family members who are concerned about the children -- the students who are still in that classroom. A command center has been set up so that they can get briefings and be counseled about this situation.

That is the latest here from Dyersburg, Tennessee. And this is Ursula Madden reporting. Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: All right, Ursula. Thanks very much for the update.

Should point out that there are two SWAT teams that we know about on the scene. We're going to be monitoring this all evening and will bring you any updates as are warranted.

We turn now to tonight's terror watch.

Phoenix, Arizona, where pot, but no bomb was found on board a grounded UPS cargo plane. Explosive experts unloaded the plane by hand. This after the shipping company got two threatening phone calls about a suspicious package on board. One of the calls claimed the box was inside -- a bomb was inside a specific box.

Madrid, Spain. A judge has indicted Osama bin Laden and 34 others for terrorism charges and alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Authorities believe Spain was a key staging and planning area for those attacks.

New York, the American Council on Science and Health wants you to be better prepared to deal with terrorism. It released two new guidebooks -- showing them right now -- today on how to prepare and respond to a terrorist attack, whether it's chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear.

And in Germany, the terror watch continues. Senior government officials are warning the U.S. not to underestimate the continuing dangers in Afghanistan. They say given the danger of renewed Taliban and al Qaeda activity there, Afghanistan, not Iraq, should be on the front burner.

And that's the terror watch.

Still to come this evening: Saddam Hussein, no connection to 9/11. President Bush distances himself from an argument made before the war.

And you are looking at a live picture right now from the most dangerous place in the world. That's what a lot of people call it, the DMZ. We will take you there live when 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: For months there has been speculation and allegations made by members of the Bush administration and other officials about Iraq's former leader, Saddam Hussein, and his involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In fact, as recently as last Sunday, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the Saddam/al Qaeda link was one reason behind the war with Iraq.

Today President Bush set things straight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th. The vice president said was that he had been involved with al Qaeda. And al Zarakawi (ph), an al Qaeda operative, was in Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, earlier today another purported Saddam Hussein audiotape was broadcast on Arab TV. And like all seven others before it, this one also tries to rally the Iraqis against the United States.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has more from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With interest verging on apathy, Iraq has tuned in to hear the latest apparent Saddam tape. The message, a mixture of the old, a call to arms for Iraqis to fight U.S. troops, and the new, a call for the U.S. troops to get out of Iraq.

SADDAM HUSSEIN (through translator): We call on you to withdraw your troops as quickly as possible and without any conditions, because there is no reason for more losses that will be catastrophic for America. ROBERTSON: The voice, which sounds like Saddam Hussein, advises President Bush to admit defeat and negotiate with former Iraqi officials in U.S. custody. It also urges Arabs to come and fight U.S. troops.

HUSSEIN (through translator): You can cannot whoever is representing the people of Iraq and the brave resistance all over great Iraq.

ROBERTSON: Outside the Baghdad Nights (ph) cafe, where only months ago crowds would gather to hear the latest tape reporting to be Saddam, patrons played dominoes, interest in the former dictator negligible.

"He's an idiot," says this waiter. "He's delirious, like an old person."

"In his 30 years, he was not able to accomplish anything for the Iraqis," says this writer. "So I doubt he'll be able to accomplish anything now."

A handful, however, clamor after the old days, including another waiter. "If Saddam wants to oust America, he can. We have Mujahadeen. We have Fedayeen, and we even have weapons."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Whether or not it is Saddam Hussein, it's worth noting the voice sounds old, tired and pauses, even repeating a paragraph in the statement. Possibly, it seems, the reader getting as tired delivering the message as the Iraqis are hearing it -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Nic Robertson, live in Baghdad. Thanks very much, Nic.

Now, a look at some other international stories on tonight's uplink.

Turning to Bosnia. Forensic experts digging up a mass grave have found hundreds of human skulls and bones, many belonging to women and children, who appear to have been killed execution style. How many bodies? Could be as many as 500.

Bogota, Colombia. The search is on. Colombia's military stepped up its manhunt for eight foreign tourists captured by Marxist rebels. The backpackers from Israel, Britain, Germany and Spain disappeared in the Colombian jungle last week.

And somewhere over Antarctica, the ozone hole has reach record size this year, nearly 11 million square miles. That from the U.N.'s weather organization.

That is tonight's uplink.

Well, the irony was duly noted recently in "The New York Times" that the only safe haven on the Korean Peninsula for rare animals and plants also the place that is as dangerous as you can get for humans. The DMZ, the demilitarized zone that separates north from South Korea.

CNN's Martin Savidge has gotten amazing, unprecedented access to one of the strangest places on earth. He joins us now with an exclusive look at the one spot, a U.N. building, where north and south sometimes come together without shooting -- Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Anderson. Good morning from the DMZ, where I am standing in North Korea.

That's right. I said North Korea. This is building T-2. You saw it on the outside a couple of days ago. And there are some remarkable stories to be told about the meetings that take place between North Korea and the United Nations command, such as South Korea and the United States.

For instance, in one story, the North Koreans before a meeting came into the room and actually sawed down the legs of the chairs belonging to the American delegation. When the Americans sat down, they looked like kids at the kitchen table. Pretty puny.

Then there's another story about how when the North Koreans came in for another meeting, the guards were suspected of having machine guns under their heavy winter coats. Instead of filing a protest, the South Koreans just turned up the temperature in the room to something like the Sahara Desert. The North Koreans wouldn't take off their coats, and they were forced to nearly drown in their own sweat.

Here's the fun thing about this particular room. You can cross the border safely as many times as you want. For instance...

COOPER: We just lost Martin Savidge's satellite from North Korea. We'll try to get it back a little bit later on. There's going to be more of Martin's reporting from the DMZ, if the satellite gets back up, on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" at 8 p.m. Eastern time. So you can look forward to that.

Let's take a quick trip right now across country.

Jacksonville, Florida. A 9-year-old girl recovering after a piece of candy exploded in her hands. Unbelievable. The girl has severe burns, with injuries to her arm, face and neck. She seems to be doing OK there. Investigators are trying to find out how and, more importantly, why the jawbreaker exploded.

Seattle, Washington, caffeine capital of America. Voters overwhelmingly rejected a 10-cent tax on espresso, considering it -- well, here's the cliche -- too much to swallow. There, I said it. The revenue would have gone to fund preschool and day care programs.

And Lexington, North Carolina. Tough-talking sheriff Gerald Hege is facing charges of embezzlement and obstruction of justice. He was arrested Monday on 15 felony counts. Hege is the sheriff who painted jail cells pink and put inmates in prison stripes. We'll see what happens there. Still to come this evening, fallen star, former basketball player Jayson Williams considers a surprising defense, bipolar disorder. The question is, will it work? A closer look at justice served.

Also tonight, how do you fall asleep? Does the position you sleep in reveal something about your personality? Well, get a pen and paper. There is going to be a test.

And a little bit later on, our midweek crisis: why are so many Brits blazing mad over David Blaine? The blitz of blame, later on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, justice served.

Lawyers for former NBA star Jayson Williams may have an explanation, not for why Williams may have shot a limo driver with a shot gun, but for why he tried to hide his responsibility after.

A psychiatrist says Williams may be suffering from bipolar disorder. And defense lawyers are trying to decide whether to use that information in Williams' manslaughter trial.

From San Francisco tonight, I'm joined by our 360 legal analyst and assistant district attorney Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom.

Kimberly, good to see you again.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you.

COOPER: What is fascinating about this purported defense strategy is that they're really not saying bipolar disorder had an impact on the shooting itself, it's more on the alleged cover-up.

NEWSOM: That's correct, Anderson. It's an important point here.

Basically the defense is going with the theory that this was an accident to explain the actual involuntary manslaughter charge that he is facing in this case. What they are saying is the fact that he covered this up and tried to help get his friends to help him cover up the crime afterwards and alter evidence was due to his mental state, to a mental disease or defect he was suffering from, such as bipolar disorder.

What is interesting is the fact that we haven't heard any information that he was, in fact, diagnosed with this prior to this incident occurring and, in fact, maybe a better to go was just to say he was in a state of shock having witnessed this accident occur.

COOPER: Why not just say he was in a state of shock? I mean, why go for bipolar disorder?

NEWSOM: Well, they probably feel that they have a better chance if they can get a defense psychiatrist to make a compelling case. But this defense psychiatrist has just said that there's a possibility that he was suffering from manic polar, bipolar disorder, manic depression and/or stress-related feelings.

So I don't think that this is going to go very well for them. They are also trying to go on another theory here, to suggest that the police were going after Williams, making race-based kind of profiling on him and maybe that there was some impropriety there in this case.

COOPER: Right. And I think the judge said that they can examine the records and the employment records of these police in question.

NEWSOM: That's based on a 1999 decision, where the attorney general there conceded that, in fact, officers, state troopers engaged in race-based stops, race profiling. And, in fact, 100 cases, criminal cases were dismissed and several lawsuits resulted from that.

There are three individuals that they're looking at in this case. But again, the police responded to his house, based on the fact that the crime occurred and they were summoned there to assist. So again, they got an uphill battle on that. It will be interesting to see what happens in the trial in January next year.

COOPER: Yes, it certainly will. Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, appreciate you joining us. Good to see you, as always.

NEWSOM: Thank you.

COOPER: All right. We still have a lot coming up tonight. The hostage situation, still under way in Tennessee at this hour. We are going to get the very latest on what's going on, briefly.

Also coming up...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Finish this man's name. General Wesley...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That's a problem. The new presidential candidate fights an uphill battle for name recognition.

And she ain't heavy. She's a ballerina. We'll explain, coming up. Three-sixty continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Let's "Reset" tonight's top stories.

Millions of people in the mid-Atlantic are bracing for the onslaught of Hurricane Isabel, now forecast to hit North Carolina tomorrow.

A gunman continues to hold a classroom full of hostages at a Tennessee college. Tonight, right now, police have said the man intends to kill himself. The Arab network Al-Arabiya has aired an audiotape purportedly from deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The tape calls for Iraqis to conduct -- quote -- "a jihad against American troops in Iraq." It also accuses President Bush of lying about his reasons for invading Iraq.

Mr. Bush today formally asked Congress for $87 billion to pay for the war in Iraq and reconstruction costs there, as well as Afghanistan. Democrats today introduced a bill to pay for some of those costs by reducing some of the tax cuts given to America's wealthiest citizens.

Lawyers for accused Washington sniper Lee Boyd Malvo lost their bid to get the death penalty off the table today. A judge ruled that international treaties banning executions for juvenile crimes are not binding on domestic U.S. courts.

And that's "The Reset" for tonight.

We go to politics now and the 10th Democratic candidate to make it official. Retired General Wesley Clark launched his campaign today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My name is Wes Clark. I am from Little Rock, Arkansas. And I am here to announce that I intend to seek the presidency of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, not sure General Clark is an honorary knight. Didn't know that, did you? And, OK, he did have that big, fancy title NATO supreme commander. But the next battle General Clark will have to fight is getting people to finish the question, General Wesley who?

Jeanne Moos posed the question to some potential voters today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His name may be up in lights, but he is still "General who?" to most folks.

(on camera): Finish this man's name, General Wesley...

General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, God!

MOOS (voice-over): No, not quite God, but he was supreme allied commander of NATO. General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.

MOOS (on camera): This is a hint. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: General Clark.

MOOS: Yoo-hoo, over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clark.

MOOS (voice-over): No wonder the Clark campaign plans to hand out 30,000 Clark bars in New York alone.

(on camera): General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Moreland.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Moreland.

MOOS (voice-over): Actually, that's General William Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam.

(on camera): Finish this man's name. General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Snipes.

MOOS (voice-over): Well, actor Wesley Snipes did make it to the White House as a detective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESLEY SNIPES, ACTOR: I've got a murder at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (on camera): General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clark.

MOOS: Thank God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's going to be very good, if you are a liberal and if you are a Democrat. I'm a Republican. Goodbye.

MOOS (voice-over): You just have to drum the name into them.

General Wesley...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clark?

(LAUGHTER)

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Some perspective. A look at the history books shows it's hard to say what if anything those four stars mean for his General Clark's presidential run. In U.S. history, there have been 10 generals elected president, but only one in the last century, the year, of course, 1952, the president, General Dwight Eisenhower.

We want to talk more about the Clark candidacy. In the latest "New York" magazine, media columnist Michael Wolff writes about the general's prospects. He joins us now to talk about it.

Michael, thanks for being with us.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: It is an amazing article. In it, my favorite line, you write that -- you say, "George Bush is toast but for a toaster." General Wesley Clark, does he fit the bill?

MICHAEL WOLFF, "NEW YORK": He certainly fits the bill, at least on paper.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLFF: Go into a store and look for a toaster, this would be the really supersonic one.

COOPER: You say he fits it on paper because military background, Southerner?

WOLFF: Absolutely.

He's a Democrat that comes in -- I mean, this is an extraordinary moment. And it is probably the only moment when you could plausibly say, we need a general as president. What's more, this is a general who is a Democrat. That's incredibly powerful. One of the reasons generals don't get to be president is, they don't speak to most of the country.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: And not just a Democrat, a Southern Democrat at that.

WOLFF: Absolutely.

This country is -- we know about the blue and red line that separates this country. But here, we have this Democrat, nevertheless, who is a military man.

COOPER: But good on paper does not necessarily mean good running a campaign, getting elected. I mean, on paper is one thing. Can he win? Can he run well?

WOLFF: Actually, it could fall apart tomorrow.

Tomorrow can begin this process in which we say, oh, my God, what could this guy have been thinking? He can't run for president. He can't -- the campaigns are hard. Running is very difficult. But -- and this is what everyone is kind of holding their breath -- maybe he will be good. Quite possibly. I've spent time with him. And I've been, frankly, blown away. I thought, my God, this guy is -- he's smart. He's funny. His -- the breadth of his coverage of the issues is astounding.

COOPER: And while many people -- you saw Jeanne Moos' piece. Many people may not know his name on the streets. He's been laying groundwork now for quite some time. I think, in your article, you write, he's been going out speaking to just about any group that will have him.

WOLFF: Absolutely. And I'm not sure that the names -- Howard Dean, I still have trouble with that name.

So I think that there is. In the very short period of time, he has to accomplish a lot. But is it possible that he can do that? Yes, it is.

COOPER: The other interesting thing in your article, he apparently is in several times a week in consultation with former President Bill Clinton.

WOLFF: Yes. One of the interesting things about looking at this race is that you feel the presence of Bill Clinton everywhere.

COOPER: Yes, and more and more so. We just saw the other day Bill Clinton appearing with several of the Democratic candidates.

WOLFF: Right. And he's out there. I saw him this summer. And he is out there campaigning in his own way for, well, I think for a Democratic president, but also for a Democratic president who will very clearly say that the Clinton years were better than the Bush years.

COOPER: Do you think Al Gore is kicking himself right now?

WOLFF: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

COOPER: Because he got out thinking it was going to be about the economy, not about foreign policy?

WOLFF: Exactly. This is now playing -- this campaign could play directly to Al Gore's strengths, yes.

COOPER: Right. What a difference a couple months makes.

It's a fascinating article. It's "New York" this week. Michael Wolff, thanks very much.

WOLFF: Thank you.

COOPER: All right.

Still a lot ahead tonight, developing stories happening right now. Also, the stories to tell when you are asleep. You might be surprised by what experts say they can tell about you while you are tossing and turning.

Another burning question: Can you be too fat if you only weigh 109 pounds? Well, the boys from the Bolshoi say Anastasia is too heavy to heft.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right.

You know the cliche you are what you eat. But researchers in Britain say the more apt phrase is, you are how you sleep. We cannot vouch for the accuracy of this study. But they say that six sleep positions can tell you a lot more about your personality than, say, Dr. Melfi on "The Sopranos" can.

So the question is, how do you sleep?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Forty-one percent of us sleep, literally, like babies, the fetus position. Women are almost twice as likely to be fetuses than men. According to the study, fetus sleepers are tough on the outside, but actually sensitive souls right down to the inner coils of their Serta sleeper.

The second most popular sleeping position is the log. Logs are said to be easygoing, social people, who like being part of the in- crowd. The yearner position suggests an open nature. But according to the study, those folks are often suspicious and cynical. You may not be surprised to learn that twice as many men are yearners than women.

This position is the soldier. Frankly, we think the better title would be the corpse. Soldier sleepers are supposedly reserved people who can be very demanding, like they just have to have higher thread count in their sheets.

One of the more unusual and rare positions is the free-faller, face down, arms akimbo. Free-fallers are thinned-skinned and don't respond well to criticism. Perhaps that explains why their head is buried in the pillow.

Finally, the rarest position of them all, the starfish. These people are in tune with others' needs and always ready to listen and offer help. Typical. The nice guys finish last, even in bed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Me, I'm like a horse. I sleep standing up.

Time now for a check of "The Current." A growing number of Americans are reportedly leaving the country to go to college. Now, should we blame the government or blame society or should we blame the images on TV? No, blame Canada. That's right. Canadian officials say more Americans are going to college there for reasons ranging from lower tuition to political discontent. The downside, of course, spring break in Saskatchewan.

Mattel is introducing the Flavas line of dolls, Flavas, including such Flava features as hair extensions and piercings. Sadly, however, none of them the Flava dolls comes with a kung fu grip.

The Bolshoi ballet has fired one of Russia's best-known ballerinas, claiming she is simply too fat. Anastasia Volochkova says she's 109 pounds and in top shape. The ballet company says, yes, that's Bolshoi.

AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN and a controlling stake of Anderson Cooper Incorporated is considering a name change at tomorrow's board meeting. The company could choose to be called just Time Warner, as it used to be. Apparently, some other names were already taken, including Berkshire Hathaway, General Electric, and Microsoft. Too bad.

Coming up next on 360, David Blaine's ongoing crisis is our "Midweek Crisis." Why won't the British leave the poor publicity- monger alone?

Also tonight, need a new show to get hooked on other than 360? Well, we'll preview TV's new dramas for you.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right, welcome back.

A decades-old crime still generates intense emotions; '60s radical Kathy Boudin was released today after more than 20 years in prison for her part in a deadly 1981 robbery. Now, the families of the victims are outraged that the woman who helped take lives is now free to live her own.

CNN's Deb Feyerick reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wearing a white shirt and tennis sneakers, Kathy Boudin stepped past the barbed wire to freedom, after serving 22 years for murder. Turning, she waved towards the inmates who call her a friend, the former '60s radical herself now 60.

Boudin was a member of the violent Weather Underground and spent more than a decade in hiding. Then, in 1981, she joined members of the Black Liberation Army in robbing a Brinks armored car. A security guard and two police officers were killed. Boudin was said to be a model prisoner, helping create parenting and AIDS programs for inmates. She's even been offered a job at a New York hospital working with HIV-positive women.

But her release has New York police groups outraged that she served only slightly more than her minimum sentence. They're suing the parole board to get her back in prison.

BRENT NEWBURY, PRESIDENT, ROCKLAND CO. POLICE UNION: The message that was sent here by the New York State Parole Board is that, if you kill police officers, if you commit an act of domestic terrorism, you serve a minimal amount of your sentence, you can go back to your normal life. And that's not a message they should be sending.

FEYERICK: Because of her release, New York's parole procedures are being reviewed top to bottom.

(on camera): The question facing officials: Why did one patrol panel agree to release Boudin just three months after a different panel turned her down, saying to let her go would undermine the criminal justice system?

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Bedford Hills, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we go now from real-life drama to the purely invented kind. Tonight's "Midweek Crisis" is the baffling outrage in Britain. Outrage may be a little bit strong, after that story. It's all about a man in a box.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): He's been hanging about the Thames in a clear box with no food for a dozen days now. Why? Perhaps a ravenous desire for publicity. He's certainly getting a lot of attention. And he's brought the famously reserved Brits out of their shells. But many Brits also find him flamin' annoying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely stupid. I don't see any point in him doing it.

COOPER: They throw food at him, taunt him, keep him awake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, wake up!

COOPER: Britons survived the Battle of the Blitz. The question now is, will Blaine survive the blitz of Britons? One guy even tried to cut his water supply line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really difficult up there when someone throws eggs or potatoes or whatever they are throwing, golf balls. The sound picks up and magnifies it. And it's quite intense.

COOPER: So what is it about David Blaine that causes Brits to lose their stiff upper lips?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has done the most pompous thing, saying, I'm going to go up there. I'm an artist, nothing more, nothing less. And people think, well, actually, you're a bloke in nappies in a little glass box above the Thames.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're not going to be that impressed by it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has committed the gravest British crime, which is to take oneself too seriously. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: But, in the end, perhaps Blaine has pulled off the greatest magic feet of all time, giving the people of England the gift of emotion.

In an apparent case of high school hazing run amuck, a Long Island community grapples with accusations that members of the football team assaulted younger members of the team.

Kris Osborn updates the investigation to an alleged crime that sources say left its victims simply horrified.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is supposed to be fun, but Mepham High School football hasn't been fun this year. Officials say at least three varsity players are being investigated for allegedly sexually abusing junior varsity players while the team was at a Pennsylvania training camp.

SAUL LERNER, MEPHAM HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC DIRECTOR: We'll know once we've completed the investigation what we need to do.

OSBORN: Sources close to the case say the abuse allegedly included sodomy with a broomstick. And criminal charges are likely. Sources also say the victims were afraid to come forward.

STEVEN WARSHAW, MEPHAM HIGH SCHOOL: I know that not only themselves, but their families, they are embarrassed by it. They think it's horrible how they send their kids to football camp and stuff like this happens.

OSBORN: The school athletic director said three varsity players have been suspended from football, though not from school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's annoying to go to school now and just hear all this stuff, when I'm a cheerleader and I support my team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a disgrace upon the school. And I think that football team is going to suffer for it.

OSBORN: The school is offering counseling for students disturbed by the allegations. It is also weighing whether to cancel the football season.

Kris Osborn, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we go from the serious to downright surreal, drama, melodrama, and, yes, psychodrama all on display in the new TV season. As you are about to find out, the new shows continuing to find time-honored traditions established, well, by the old shows.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: "Dallas" defined drama for more than a decade, big hats, big hair, big exits. Then came "Dynasty," money, murder, manipulation. The characters were cardboard cutouts, but the one- liners were cutting and catty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DYNASTY")

JOAN COLLINS, ACTRESS: Listen to me, cousin. You are a lonely, desperate woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: By the early 1990s, the Ewings and Carringtons were canceled and teenagers took over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BEVERLY HILLS 90210")

SHANNEN DOHERTY, ACTRESS: I can't believe I'm taking a home pregnancy test.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: On "Beverly Hills 90210," the kids were rich, good- looking, but seemed to have endless problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BEVERLY HILLS 90210")

DOHERTY: I got to tell you guys, I love Dylan, and I thought I knew what I was doing. But I'm beginning to get the feeling that it wasn't worth it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Kids talking like adults became the formula for "Dawson's Creek," as well as "Felicity."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FELICITY")

KERI RUSSELL, ACTRESS: The thing is, I came to New York mostly because of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: But in the '90s, audiences also wanted adults, adult actors, adult dramas, real people doing real jobs, cops, doctors, even politicians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE WEST WING")

MARTIN SHEEN, ACTOR: Tell me what happens when I give the order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The new season of dramas promises something for everyone, including those longing for the past. "Las Vegas" is the new "Miami Vice." And "Tarzan" is the new, well, "Tarzan." Everything old is new again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Joining me now is a man who has my dream job, getting paid to watch TV. OK, maybe he does something else as well.

"Newsweek" entertainment reporter B.J. Sigesmund, thanks for being with us.

B.J. SIGESMUND, "NEWSWEEK": Sure thing.

COOPER: Let's talk about some of these new shows. Alicia Silverstone has resurfaced, reinvented herself.

SIGESMUND: Right. Right.

It's a decade after "Clueless," practically. People have been waiting for her all this time. We suffered through terrible movies, even though she had this $10 million production deal. Everything went down the tubes.

COOPER: And the new show is "Miss Match"?

SIGESMUND: "Miss Match," yes. She plays a lawyer who has a side business matching as a yenta. She matches people up.

COOPER: I think we have a little quick clip of it. Let's quickly try to show some of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MISS MATCH")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: The bride wearing a Donna Karan, blah, blah, blah, blah, toasted friends and family, drawing specific attention to Kate's thoughts, the couple's matchmaker.

ALICIA SILVERSTONE, ACTRESS: Excuse me?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Whose apparent magic touch was credited for the marriages of two other couples in attendance.

SILVERSTONE: This isn't good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you talking about? You look fantastic in that picture.

SILVERSTONE: Victoria, I'm a divorce lawyer, an ass-kicker. People can't think of me as some romantic softy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: All right. Is she viable as a divorce lawyer?

SIGESMUND: I don't know. It's kind of nice to see her again for those who fell in love with her in "Clueless."

(CROSSTALK) COOPER: Right. She looks exactly the same.

(CROSSTALK)

SIGESMUND: Yes, she does look exactly the same.

COOPER: I think maybe that's where her $10 million production deal went.

SIGESMUND: She also sounds the same. It's amazing.

COOPER: Other big thing a lot of people are talking about, James Caan in this show "Las Vegas."

SIGESMUND: Yes.

This is sort of a "CSI" wanna-be show. It takes place in Las Vegas, James Caan. Also, where has he been? He's back on TV now. He plays the head of security at this casino. We've got high-class escorts in there. We've got

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: There you go. That's a recipe for success right there.

SIGESMUND: Yes, yes, if that's your bag.

COOPER: It looks very slick, very well produced. We'll see if it works.

"Skin" is one that sort of surprised me.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Ron Silver is a porn magnate?

SIGESMUND: Ron Silver is a porn magnate. And he's the head of a family where his kid falls in love with the kid in another family where the father is the DA in L.A. So it's these two warring families.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: It's like a modern day "Romeo and Juliet."

SIGESMUND: You said it, not me.

COOPER: Except for porn.

SIGESMUND: That's what they want they want you to think. But it's actually not a very porny show. It's not very sexy at all. This isn't HBO. This is a network show. So don't tune in looking for T&A.

COOPER: Rob Lowe in "Lyon's Den" also

(CROSSTALK) SIGESMUND: Rob Lowe in "Lyon's Den," yes, back playing another idealistic lawyer on the same network as "The West Wing." But it's a different show called "The "Lyon's Dean." Rob Lowe is back. If you loved him in "The West Wing," you'll tune in for this one.

COOPER: You're going to love him even more.

"Threat Matrix" has been getting a lot of buzz, although not such great reviews.

SIGESMUND: Yes, "Threat Matrix" is this weird show. It's like a homeland security type show, a little bit of CIA, a little bit of FBI. But it stars one of the actresses from "Melrose Place."

COOPER: Excellent.

SIGESMUND: So I'm not exactly sure what to make of this show.

COOPER: I'm glad they're back.

(CROSSTALK)

SIGESMUND: They never disappear. Like Alicia Silverstone. Maybe if this won't work, she'll be back 10 years from now with something else.

COOPER: All right.

B.J. Sigesmund, appreciate you joining us, as always.

SIGESMUND: Thank you.

COOPER: Next up on 360: Hurricane Isabel is on the way. But you've never seen a weather forecast like the one I'm about to give you.

Also, tomorrow, we'll ask Isaac Mizrahi whether "Fashion Week" really offers anything you would ever, ever wear in real life.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, we take weather forecasting to "The Nth Degree."

Now, you have no doubt seen a lot about Hurricane Isabel on the news today. But tonight on "The Nth Degree," we wanted to explain some of the more arcane elements at work in this story. For instance, Isabel is unquestionably dangerous, destructive and potentially deadly. But no matter how it turns out, it is clear today that some of its terrifying power comes from a constant influx of overheated hype which is sweeping in from the bottom of your map.

That is forecast, of course, to continue at least through the weekend. Now, this pattern of hype, which is coming down from here, may be due to a stagnant patch of low ratings in this region colliding with an area of very high pressure for better ratings. As you can see, that is bringing in a cold front which is pushing waves of fear and anxiety toward low-lying regions.

So watch out for coastal floods of correspondents in those regions. After all, it may be a Category 2 storm, but it is definitely a Category 4 media event, which means we are in for some very powerful winds. So watch out.

That about wraps it up for us this evening. Thanks very much for joining us on 360.

We'll see you tomorrow at 7:00 Eastern time.

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