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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Goodwill Trip to Africa Ends in Tragedy For New Jersey Teen; Tuberculosis Health Scare; Democratic Congress Still Wasting America's Money?
Aired May 30, 2007 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone.
Tonight, a man sits in medical isolation, while people around the world ask themselves: Did I get close enough to catch the deadly bug that he's got?
So, now the search is on for people who came in contact with a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. And there may have been plenty of them. He knew he was infected, but that didn't stop him from hopping a flight or two or seven.
Also tonight: the mysterious death of a young woman on a goodwill trip to Africa. Her parents say she was murdered, the evidence destroyed. They're demanding answers. We will investigate.
And your money, tens of millions of dollars worth, and the secret ways that some congressmen are spending it. They don't want you to know about it, but we're "Keeping Them Honest."
We begin, however, with the man who touched off a global germ hunt. He is an Atlanta lawyer who knew he had tuberculosis when he got on the first of seven international flights with his fiancee. He knew he had drug-resistant T.B. His doctors told him not to travel, but he did. Then he was told to get treatment immediately while in Rome. He refused.
But, now that he's back in Atlanta, he is staying put. After all, he has no choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MARTIN CETRON, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: This patient is under an isolation order that was issued by the CDC. It is not a court order. It is an administrative order, under the authority of CDC and under the Public Health Service Act statute, to be able to issue this order to restrict his movement, in order to restrict his movement in order to protect the public's health.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: They think about 80 airline passengers are at the highest risk because of how close they sat to this man. They are now trying to locate them.
Joining me now, 360 M.D. Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, a lot of attention being given to this T.B. scare. Put it in perspective for us. Is it being overblown?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I don't think it's being overblown, necessarily.
I think the risk to the average person out there listening, the risk to the average person in Atlanta, and even on those planes is very, very small. But this is a potentially very, very big problem for a very small number of people.
You know, when you talk about these infectious diseases, you're talking about something that can be potentially deadly, but, in this case, won't affect many people.
You know, we have been doing a lot of homework, a lot of investigating on this today, Anderson, looking into, specifically, has tuberculosis, for example, ever been transmitted on an airplane from one passenger to another?
The World Health Organization actually released a statement specifically on that specific topic, saying this, that no case of clinical or bacteriologically confirmed T.B. disease has been identified as a result of air-travel-related exposure during flight.
So, there you have it. It's never happened before. And I should point out, with this what's called XDR-T.B., vs. -- vs. normal T.B., there's no increased risk of being contagious.
Anderson, a lot has been made of these airplane flights. I have been trying to put this in a little bit of perspective myself, just to give you a sense. If you look at these airplane charts, trying to figure out where this man was specifically sitting, we know that he was sitting somewhere near the back of the plane, a little bit hard to put out there, but look for that red dot there. You can see that in one of the rows back there.
In someone who had tuberculosis, a couple of rows front or back may be affected, as you can see there. Now, the reason they -- they say that is because the -- the bacteria is pretty heavy, so it's really not going to travel much further than that.
With SARS, for example, look at all those rows that light up. People were very concerned about SARS, as you will remember, Anderson, a couple of years ago. It's a much lighter bacteria. It travels much quicker. So, that makes a bigger difference, Anderson.
But I -- I think, again, for the average person, there's really no concern here.
COOPER: So, if -- if he's not that contagious, and the risk of transmission is so low, why is he being kept under isolation?
GUPTA: Well, you know, it's one of these things in medicine where you -- you -- you hope for the best, and you prepare for the worst. And I think that that's exactly what is happening here. We know that he has this potentially very bad problem, this XDR- T.B., that can be spread. We think the likelihood of spread is very small, based on a couple of things.
One is that it didn't appear that he was very sick. And, you know, you have to actually cough or sneeze or get this bacteria out in the air for someone to actually catch it, or -- or for it -- for the person to be contagious.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: So, breathing in and out is not enough?
GUPTA: What's that?
COOPER: Breathing in and out is not enough?
GUPTA: No. I mean, if you're just breathing in and out, you're probably not going to actually move the bacteria from your lungs out into the air, which brings up a good point.
They did this what is called a smear test or a sputum test, looking at what he was spitting out, if you will. And they didn't find any evidence of the bacteria there. It means it's very deep in his lungs, Anderson.
COOPER: So, I mean, I know, next time I'm going to get on a flight, this is going to be in the back of my mind. Is there anything you can do when you're on a flight to just lower the risk of getting any kind of communicable disease?
GUPTA: You know, this is something that people ask me about all the time. And I was actually curious about it as well, so we did quite a bit of examining of this today.
It's interesting. On airplane flights, for example, there are some things you can do. First of all, the -- the high doses of vitamin C and all that, that doesn't seem to work. People spend a lot of money on that. It doesn't seem to make a difference, in terms of catching a cold or something else.
But there are some things you can do with regards to air on the plane. If you look at the way people breathe in air, there -- there's actually vents above you, and then there's intake valves below you. Half the air on an airplane is actually from interior and half is actually coming from outside the plane. So, it's actually pretty good circulation.
You can ask the pilot to turn on the air pack, for example, which will actually give constant circulation of outside air. You can also put a tank from above you -- that costs a little bit of extra money -- to get your own air.
Stay as hydrated as possible. Keep the mucous membranes wet. That makes you less likely to actually catch anything. Wash your hands, as well, Anderson, obviously. COOPER: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Before we get any deeper why -- about why this guy was even allowed to travel anywhere, and all the other legal and ethical questions that come with a story like this, like how he got across our borders, we want to take you step by step on the journey that he took.
CNN's Rusty Dornin now on the wedding that he wouldn't put off, the honeymoon he refused to delay, all the countries, all the flights, all the warnings, all the risks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six countries later, here's where it ends, for now, at Grady Hospital, in a sealed room, like this one -- the only difference, an armed guard outside, a patient inside calling the armed presence -- quote -- "insane."
Unclear precisely when or where he contracted T.B., but local health officials say the man's doctors first told them about it on April 25. Further testing showed it was multiple-drug-resistant. On May 10, a county doctor joined the man's own physician in warning him not to travel.
DR. ERIC BENNING, FULTON COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: We are not a police authority. But we did tell him, in no uncertain terms, that he should not travel. And we told him the reasons why.
DORNIN: But he insisted his marriage and honeymoon plans were non-negotiable, saying he would wear a mask while flying.
(on camera): The day after that meeting, health officials say, they sent a letter to his house and tried to contact the infected man by phone to advise him again, please, don't travel.
(voice-over): But they say they couldn't reach him. On May 12, he boarded an Air France flight to Paris with his fiancee,. his strain of T.B potentially infectious with exposures of eight hours or more -- the flight to Paris, eight hours, 45 minutes -- during the next few days, five more flights to the Greek islands, then Rome.
Back, in Atlanta, on May 16, health officials identified his strain as XDR, the most extreme form of drug-resistant T.B. That's when the CDC took over. They reached the man in Rome on May 23. They told him to turn himself in to Italian health authorities. But he refused, telling an "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reporter:
ALISON YOUNG, "THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION": He was very concerned that this would make it impossible for him to have some cutting-edge treatment in Denver that was planned. And -- and he -- he said he feared for his life.
DORNIN: So, as the CDC tried to figure out how to get him back to the United States, the man flew yet again to Prague.
Then, on May 24, he took a Czech Air flight to Montreal, and, finally, drove back across the U.S. border. Reaching him by cell phone, a CDC official told him to drive straight to an isolation facility at Bellevue Hospital in New York. From there, he was transported to Atlanta.
CDC officials say, no charges will be filed.
DR. MARTIN CETRON, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: There were no legal orders in place preventing his travel. And no laws were broken. Since we have issued our our -- our federal isolation order, he has been fully compliant.
DORNIN: The CDC says he will next be transported to a Denver hospital, where he might undergo surgery to remove the infected part of his lung -- no word on when.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, you have noticed doctors are not releasing the patient's name -- again, Dr. Cetron from the CDC:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CETRON: ... very clear here about not applying too much stigma. This is an individual who is unfortunately infected with an extremely drug- resistant strain of T.B. And the individual does not need to be stigmatized or victimized on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It's always a balancing act, of course.
I spoke about that earlier tonight with CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: There's obviously a clash between the public's right to know and a patient's right to privacy. Did the CDC get it right this time?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I don't think so, based on my reading of the law.
The law, as I read it, very explicitly says that the CDC can name a patient when it's relevant to public safety. And, here, this seems the definition of public safety. What about all the people this guy has been in contact with over these past months? Don't they have a right to know and check themselves out? I think the CDC should name him.
COOPER: Did he technically do anything illegal? TOOBIN: Well, that's a little harder to tell, because he seems to have avoided the law, rather than break it.
He was told not to fly on a U.S. aircraft or fly into the United States. So, what he did was, he flew on foreign aircraft into Canada, and then drove into the United States. So, I don't know if he committed any criminal offense, but, if someone was exposed, and got sick, or even died, then he might be in a great deal of trouble.
COOPER: So, he is an attorney. You think he consciously did that; he consciously flew on foreign carriers to Canada and then drove in?
TOOBIN: Absolutely. I don't see any excuse for him flying to Canada, other than to avoid this requirement.
As far as I understand the facts -- and it's limited at this point -- he had no ties to Canada. He had no reason to go to Canada, except to avoid this legal requirement.
COOPER: What -- what -- can he be arrested now? Or I guess not, because he technically didn't violate any law.
TOOBIN: Well, not -- not clear. Probably -- probably not.
I think the big unknown -- and, certainly, we hope it turns out to be nothing, but what if someone were to get sick or if someone were to die after being exposed to him?
I think the -- the obvious analogy are the AIDS cases. I mean, there have been manslaughter prosecutions of people who are HIV- positive, or have AIDS, then have sex or share needles with someone else, and -- and then those -- those people get sick.
I think this kind of knowing exposure of other people could expose him to possibly criminal, but certainly a civil case, if someone gets sick.
COOPER: Could someone, also, if on the plane, get sick sue the CDC?
TOOBIN: You know, it's always hard to sue the government. And I think that -- that's -- that's a much longer shot.
COOPER: And what kind of detainment powers or legal authority does the CDC have? I mean, can they send, you know, police officers to actually physically detain someone? Can they prevent you from getting on a flight, taking...
TOOBIN: Well...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ... passport away?
TOOBIN: Apparently, they can. They have a very-seldom-used power to quarantine people that they have used in this case. You know, he is not free to leave. And, the last time they did that, apparently, was in the Kennedy administration. So, obviously, it's not used very often. But you can see why.
I mean, if someone is really a menace to public health, as this man appears to be, they have the right to detain him. And that's what they have done.
COOPER: Aren't people less likely to come forward if they feel that the government is then going to print their picture in the paper and say, this person has this dangerous disease?
TOOBIN: Well, you know, that's right. And that's certainly a risk.
But you have to look at the other risk. I mean, you know, these are people who are out there in the world who are exposing other people, and, potentially, these people can get treatment or advanced -- or -- or -- or, you know, early recognition of symptoms.
And -- and I think their needs have to be considered as well. If the -- I mean, you're only talking about serious diseases here. These people are going to wind up getting treatment anyway, because they will need the treatment. So, it's not like they're -- they're not -- never going to come forward.
And I think the need to protect the rest of the public and inform the rest of the public should -- should take precedence.
COOPER: Jeffrey Toobin, appreciate your advice. Thanks.
TOOBIN: OK, Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, the World Health Organization calls T.B. a worldwide pandemic.
The numbers certainly back it up. Here's the "Raw Data."
Two billion people, with a B -- billion -- are infected with the germ that causes T.B., though only a small percentage actually become ill. If not treated, a person with active T.B will infect, on average, 10 to 15 other people every year.
Twenty-eight percent of all cases come from Africa. Nearly half- a-million cases of the drug-resistant strain of T.B. are estimated to occur every year.
Well, straight ahead tonight: Vice President Cheney and lengths he goes to keep secrets from you.
And Rudy Giuliani's raw money numbers for a single night of fund- raising -- that and more in "Raw Politics." Also, these stories:
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): An airport with more concrete than planes, a ski lift in Alaska, that bridge to nowhere, tens of millions of your tax dollars. Congress is spending it. Just try finding out who's behind it.
SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: No, they aren't published, and they are not out there. I couldn't find them if I wanted to.
COOPER: And he's a senator.
Lawmakers promised to come clean and change the rules. We're "Keeping Them Honest."
Also, a 360 exclusive: It was supposed to be the journey of a young woman's lifetime, a trip overseas, helping others -- then, the unthinkable.
DOUGLAS MOORE, FATHER OF PHYLICIA MOORE: She was murdered. I know she was murdered. Someone got my daughter, held her, murdered her. She probably took her last little breath in the pool.
COOPER: What went wrong? And is the investigation being mishandled? Her parents demand answers. 360 investigates.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LAW & ORDER")
FRED THOMPSON, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: .. worried Osama is spending too much time playing "Grand Theft Auto" on his PlayStation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Fred Dalton Thompson is DA Arthur Branch on NBC's "Law & Order."
He's had plenty of roles in Hollywood. He even played the president one time. Now he may want to do it for real. Thompson is taking a big step closer to joining the race, and could make things very interesting.
We're going to have more on his White House ambitions coming up in the next hour of 360.
But, right now, candidates who have already announced are signing up supporters.
CNN's Tom Foreman has tonight's "Raw Politics."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, saddle up, because we're heading way out West, where Hillary Clinton has roped a big endorsement.
For months, she has been trying to round up the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa. And now he's in the corral.
ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D), MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: There is no candidate in the race for president better positioned to accomplish this mission and restore American prestige in the world.
FOREMAN: He is one of the most influential Latinos in the country. And, in the election last year, the Latino vote shifted big- time toward the Democrats. So, he can help her even in the general election, if she makes it that far down el camino politico.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome to (SPEAKING SPANISH)
FOREMAN: President Bush speaks Spanish. But what the administration said today was in plain English. Raise your right hand and give me your wallet. Application fees for immigrants who want to become Americans are doubling to almost $700.
On the other hand, he's also giving to the international community. He's asking Congress to double the money for international AIDS relief to $30 billion.
BUSH: Our citizens are offering comfort to millions who suffer, and restoring hope to those who feel forsaken.
FOREMAN: Laura Bush will go to Africa next month to show support.
What a party. Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani celebrated his 63rd birthday with fund-raisers -- the take, a half-billion bucks. Now, that's a card with money.
And who was that lady I saw you with last night? Well, that was no lady, and it's none of your business. Newly released legal documents show that Vice President Cheney wants to keep all records of anyone who visits his home strictly confidential.
There's no evidence of wrongdoing on his part, but it's become an issue, as people have tried to trace the travels of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has been sent to prison for shady political dealings.
So, we know just where the vice president stands. We just don't know who's standing with him. The watchdog groups, as you might guess, are barking, but that's because just they smell "Raw Politics" Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Tom, thanks. If you like "Raw Politics," you're going to love CNN's coverage of the presidential debates. We will be in New Hampshire this Sunday, June 3, for the Democrats, and, on Tuesday, June 5, for the Republicans. Should be very interesting evenings.
For a quick look at some of the other day's headlines, here's Erica Hill with a 360 bulletin -- Erica.
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we begin with a U.S. military helicopter down in Afghanistan. All five crew members and two passengers are dead. So far, it looks like the chopper was hit with by rocket-propelled grenade.
But the violence did not end there. The team that responded to the crash was ambushed and had to call in an airstrike.
A new twist in the poison pet food scare -- now an American company is implicated in the scandal. The FDA says it found the industrial chemical melamine in animal feed manufactured in Ohio. The nationwide pet food recall was touched off when melamine was found in wheat gluten from China. Health officials say using melamine in animal feed poses no threat to people.
And, in Northern California, they are not popping champagne corks just yet, but those wayward whales might have found their way home. The mom and her calf had been trapped in the Sacramento River for nearly two weeks. They were last spotted, though, near the Golden Gate Bridge. But now their would-be rescuers hope the pair just quietly slipped their way on back into the Pacific.
Talk about no news is good news, huh?
COOPER: That is certainly true?
Did you ever see "Broadcast News," the movie?
HILL: Yes?
COOPER: Do you remember there's a whole whale thing going on in "Broadcast News." I don't know if you remember that.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: They send this woman off to report on the whales. I mean, she's stuck out on a lake, Alaska.
Anyway...
HILL: Well, luckily, these whales...
COOPER: ... I'm just reminded of that.
HILL: ... were -- didn't get anybody stuck...
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: That's true, yes.
HILL: Yes. Yes.
How about we move on to this one, just a wacky story? "What Were They Thinking?" you ask? Me, too.
Coming to us from CNN affiliate WSVN in Miami, it all happened because of chili sauce, argument over chili sauce at a Wendy's. It ended with the shooting of a restaurant manager. You see his wounds there.
A customer pulled up to the drive-through, got the order of chili, and then said he wanted more sauce, wanted 10 packets. But the Wendy's employee said, restaurant policy limits you to three packets of sauce, but decided to give the customer the 10 packs anyway.
Apparently, though, wasn't enough. The guy says he wants more. The manager comes over and intervenes, and gets shot in the arm.
He told our affiliate WSVN he's grateful he wasn't killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RENEL FRAGE, SHOOTING VICTIM: Lucky to be alive right now. My life could have been taken away for -- over chili sauce. So, I'm really lucky to be alive, sitting right there, talking to you all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: How about that?
COOPER: Man.
HILL: He was treated at a local hospital. Police are trying to track down the shooter.
Shot him because he wanted more chili sauce?
COOPER: How much chili sauce do you need?
HILL: Well, that was my question when I first read the story.
Apparently -- I don't know -- are you hoarding it in the glove box for later?
COOPER: Crazy.
HILL: I think there are more things at play here than just chili sauce.
COOPER: You think? You think the person has issues?
HILL: I'm going out on a limb.
COOPER: Maybe so. Erica, thanks.
Now here's John Roberts with what is coming up tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": Coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING": Secret Service protection for your kids. The same people who guard the president are launching a new program to keep children safe from kidnapping. We will show you how it works and why the Secret Service decided to step in for your children.
"AMERICAN MORNING" starts at 6:00 a.m. Eastern -- Anderson, back to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: John, thanks.
Just ahead on 360: the promise that congressmen make, but haven't kept. We're on the trail of hidden pork. Wait until you see one of the projects we found. It cost you $39 million. And now the congressman who asked for it has some explaining to do.
Plus: a shocking death and allegations of a bungled investigation. She was just 18, full of dreams. And then a high school trip to Africa turned horribly wrong. What really happened to Phylicia Moore? -- next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: During the most recent elections, a lot of politicians made a lot of promises. Now that they're in power, we thought we would check up on some of those politicians, and see if they had kept their word.
We call it "Keeping Them Honest." And, in this case, that's been a challenge, sort of like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, because what some politicians promised to make public is still very much hidden, as CNN's Drew Griffin found out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're on a treasure hunt, looking for your money. Let's start with two million bucks, your tax dollars right here.
Listen.
(on camera): I think I hear a plane.
(voice-over): This is the tiny airport in tiny and remote Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Pull up a chair, grab a magazine, a newspaper, because it's going to take a while to show you how your federal tax dollars were spent here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a pretty slow day today, so, if we had known you were coming, I'm sure we would have been busier.
(LAUGHTER)
GRIFFIN (voice-over): we will get back to how Congress spent your money in Rice Lake in a moment.
Meantime, here are more ways Congress has secretly spent your money.
Chances are you weren't a guest at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, last summer, but taxpayers spent $96,000 to help renovate it.
Skiing more your style? You paid $250,000 last year to renovate a ski lift. In our treasure hunt, it was tricky to find that one. The money came out of last year's massive transportation bill -- no mention of skiing.
Instead:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the construction of the Alyeska Roundhouse in Girdwood, Alaska, $250,000.
GRIFFIN: In Congress, such treasure is called an earmark.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got no -- no name. And, oftentimes, these earmarks are certainly a bit vague.
GRIFFIN: Annie Patnot (ph) watches Congress for a conservative economic watchdog group. She found two earmarks for the Alyeska Roundhouse, a total of $500,000 for the top of a ski lift.
The new open, Democratic Party-controlled Congress promised the earmark process would no longer be secret. All earmark requests would be made public, with plenty of time for debate.
(on camera): But Dave Obey, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and one of those Democrats bragging about the changes, has decided that earmarks, those generous gifts of your money, will be inserted into bills only after the bill has cleared the House floor. In other words, earmarks will still be done in secret -- no public debate.
There was supposed to be some kind of change.
SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: Well, they lied to the American public. It was a game.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Senator Tom Coburn says it's the same over on the Senate side. Not even other members of Congress can find out who asked for how much and for what.
COBURN: No, they are published. And they're not out there. I couldn't find them if I wanted to.
GRIFFIN: And that's the way the new appropriations chief in the Senate wants to keep it.
Appropriations Chief Robert Byrd apparently thinks other members of Congress, and even the public, can't be trusted with seeing spending requests in advance.
In an e-mail to CNN, the senator's staff told us: "If all earmark requests are made public," the e-mail says, "this would almost certainly lead to an increase in requests, as members are pressured from home to compete for more projects."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an omnibus appropriations bill.
GRIFFIN: This behemoth of a bill is chock-full of one-line requests for your tax dollars. We followed the clues back to where we started this treasure hunt.
(on camera): So, this is the Rice Lake Airport I asked you about?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. Look for it on there.
GRIFFIN: And this is on page 1,384. And it's somewhere in this fine print, I'm taking it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look -- look for it.
GRIFFIN: The -- right down here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
GRIFFIN: So, Rice Lake Regional Airport, Carl's Field, Wisconsin, various improvements, $2 million.
(voice-over): Two million dollars in federal funds, without debate.
Back at Rice Lake, Wisconsin, we sat at the end of the runway and waited four hours. In all that time, we counted just seven private planes. There are no commercial flights at Rice Lake.
But this airport is vital, we are told, for corporate executives, who like to visit Rice Lake's manufacturing plants but don't like to stay the night.
JERRY STITIES, RICE LAKE AIRPORT MANAGER: Before we did the expansion on the runway, they couldn't land here. They had to drive an hour and half to get to their plant, because our airport wasn't large enough for that.
GRIFFIN: And which U.S. congressman decided extending the runway for a few corporate jets was worth your money? Wisconsin Democrat David Obey, the very same person now in charge of appropriations and earmarks.
He said in a statement, Wisconsin doesn't get its fair share. "My only apology," he wrote, "is I can't do more for Wisconsin." (END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And that's the kind of apology that plays well in Wisconsin.
Coming up, same song, different verse, a little bit louder and a lot more expensive. Tens of millions of your tax dollars, and you won't believe what it's been spent on now. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): Thirty-nine million dollars for a National Drug Intelligence Center. Don't we have an FBI and DEA for that? Who decided to spend your money on it? One congressman wanted to know.
REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN: Subsequently, they came forward and said, "Oh, this was an oversight."
GRIFFIN: Yes, after you caught it?
ROGERS: After we caught it.
COOPER: He caught one of the most powerful men in Congress secretly spending your money. We'll tell you who it was.
Also, a 360 exclusive. It was supposed to be the journey of a young woman's lifetime, a trip overseas, helping others. Then, the unthinkable.
DOUGLAS MOORE, PHYLICIA'S FATHER: She was murdered. I know she was murdered. Someone got my daughter, held her, murdered her. She probably took her last breath in the pool.
COOPER: What went wrong and is the investigation being mishandled? Her parents demand answers; 360 investigates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Before the break, we told you about the earmarks that lawmakers are still slipping into bills without debating their merits. Democrat leaders promised to stop the secrecy and make earmarks public. That hasn't happened. Not yet, at least.
Here's why it matters. Earmarks steer money, your hard-earned tax dollars, to special projects in a lawmaker's state or district. If that seems like a recipe for a boondoggle, well, again, CNN's Drew Griffin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN (voice-over): It's somewhere down there, a $39 million taxpayer gift to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, hidden among the shuttered steel mills and not so bustling streets two hours from Pittsburgh. It was also hidden here, too, among the pages and pages of this year's House intelligence bill, hidden until some Republican congressmen, including former FBI agent Mike Rogers, dug it out.
ROGERS: Subsequently, they came forward and said, "Oh, this was an oversight."
GRIFFIN (on camera): After you caught it.
ROGERS: After we caught it.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Caught what? An earmark, a special spending request slipped into the intelligence bill by Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha.
The $39 million funds the National Drug Intelligence Center, located right here in Murtha's district on the fifth floor of a former Johnstown, Pennsylvania, department store, 200 federal jobs.
What did they do with your $39 million at the National Drug Intelligence Center? No one inside would talk to us. Neither would the parent agency, the Department of Justice. It was even hard finding NDIC employees heading to work, less than eager to share what they were up to.
(on camera) Do you guys work at NDIC? Sir?
Do you work at NDIC?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You'll have to talk to our upper management.
GRIFFIN: I tried that. They wouldn't talk to me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): What the National Drug Intelligence Center was supposed to do, when first proposed back in 1990, was gather information on the national drug war, then become a resource for local and federal agencies.
Isn't that what the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Justice and even the FBI already were doing? Answer, yes. According to the Government Accounting Office report issued way back in 1993, when the NDIC first opened, that report found the NDIC was doing work already being done by 19 other agencies.
In 2005, the Office of Management and Budget asked the NDIC be shut down because "it has proven ineffective in achieving its assigned mission."
"U.S. News and World Report" called it a drug war boondoggle. With the DEA short on funds and under a hiring freeze, Congressman Rogers again proposed shutting down the NDIC this year, using the money to hire more drug agents. ROGERS: Clearly, it would show that this is not the right place to place that money. They've wasted a lot of it already. And it's -- we're just wasting -- throwing money down a rat hole when we've got serious challenges in the intelligence community and law enforcement community across this country.
GRIFFIN: Instead, the Republican found himself in an open fight with a powerful Democrat. Representative John Murtha threatened to eliminate earmarks in Representative Rogers' district, $45 million worth.
ROGERS: This is old in the 1950s war style "Soprano" type politics, that, you know, you go along to get along and you don't talk about these things in my district if you want something in your district.
GRIFFIN: The dispute ended on the House floor, with Congressman Murtha chastised for his back room threats. He ended up offering an apology.
But that $39 million for an agency that has proven ineffective is still in the intelligence bill. The federal jobs in Johnstown appear safe.
(on camera) And what does Congressman Murtha have to say in defense of the National Drug Intelligence Center here in Johnstown, Pennsylvania? Surprisingly, nothing at all.
(voice-over) "We have decided to decline a CNN interview" is what Murtha's spokesman wrote in an e-mail, who added the NDIC "was fully funded in last year's Congress."
I asked if Congressman Murtha would show us his other earmark requests. The spokesman told us his requests had all been submitted to the appropriations committee. "They are available for review with the committee."
Then we got another e-mail saying that he was mistaken; those earmarks aren't available for review after all.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Again, this is taxpayer money. No one seems to have any fingerprints on it, though.
We want to hear what you think about the earmarks Congress continues to hide. Go to our blog. Tell us what's on your mind. You know the place, CNN.com/360blog.
Just ahead on the program, a family shattered and looking for answers right now, tonight. Phylicia Moore was 18 years old, ready to take on the world. Her life ended far from her home in New Jersey on a class trip to Ghana. Was it murder, and is there a cover-up? A 360 exclusive, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. Two dozen students from a New Jersey high school traveled to Africa on a good will mission to the country of Ghana.
One of the students never made it home alive. Her parents say she was murdered. Officials in Ghana insist there were no signs of foul play, however. So the question tonight is what happened to Phylicia Moore?
CNN's Randi Kaye has this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's Phylicia Moore in the pink on her way to the airport in April, with students from her high school, headed to the African nation of Ghana on a good will tour, one of the last times Phylicia was seen alive.
PHYLICIA MOORE, DIED ON SCHOOL TRIP TO AFRICA: I feel good. I'm meeting my parents. I'm excited. I'm scared I forgot something.
KAYE: The 18-year-old would never have the chance to spread the good will. She was dead before she even left her hotel.
(on camera) What do you think happened?
LOLA MOORE, PHYLICIA'S MOTHER: She encountered someone or something, and she was held until the following morning and put in the pool when they thought she couldn't or he or she or whoever thought that they wouldn't be -- they wouldn't be seen.
D. MOORE: She was murdered. I know she was murdered. Someone got my daughter, held her, murdered her. She probably took her last little breath in the pool.
KAYE (voice-over): If Douglas and Lola Moore are right, why would anyone murder their daughter? How would they have been able to get so close?
Her body was found in this hotel pool the day after she arrived, still wearing her bathing suit, tank top and shorts. Her parents say they'd been told there were no obvious injuries. She didn't like to swim, they say, and would not have gone to the pool alone.
(on camera) This was the third time students from Teaneck High School had made the trip to Ghana. That gave Lola Moore confidence her daughter would be OK.
She said the school also told her there would be chaperones on the trip. Lola says she remembers one of the last words one of the chaperones said to her as her daughter boarded the plane: "We'll take care of her. We'll take care of her."
(voice-over) How was it, then, on the first night, students say Phylicia left this gathering at the pool at 10:30 p.m. alone, even though chaperones were there? Her parents say she was headed for her room but never made it, and her roommate never reported her missing.
It wasn't until the next morning that her body was found, 11 hours after she left the pool party. One chaperone told us she and the other chaperones stayed at the pool until all the students left the pool area, and she says the students had all signed agreements not to go anywhere alone. But she admits they didn't do bed checks.
L. MOORE: They would have discovered that she was missing within -- within less than an hour of her being missing.
KAYE: Students Ali and Alliyah Banks were on the trip, too.
(on camera) Did you feel like the chaperones were keeping an eye on all of you?
ALLIYAH BANKS, WENT ON GHANA TRIP: No, not that night. We had chaperones on our floor but they all went to sleep. They probably should have checked on us.
ALI BANKS, WENT ON GHANA TRIP: It was like so many people. I don't think they noticed one person walking off.
KAYE (voice-over): Both told us there wasn't any alcohol or drugs on the trip.
The school district didn't want to talk on camera or address specific questions about the trip but said in a statement, "Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Moore family, and we will continue to offer help to the Moores, but we can make no further comment."
Officials in Ghana are still waiting for autopsy results to determine cause of death. A second autopsy done in the U.S. may hold clues about the time of death.
L. MOORE: He's told us that she had to have been placed in the pool shortly before she was found by the condition of her skin.
KAYE (on camera): And what was it about her skin?
L. MOORE: Just the condition of the skin. There was no pruning or wrinkling of the skin that would indicate that she was in the pool for any length of time.
KAYE (voice-over): That means Phylicia may not have been in the pool overnight. So where was she? The Moores want answers, but will they get them?
They say the U.S. consulate in Ghana told them the clothes Phylicia was wearing when she died were thrown out, and the blood sample taken from her body was not saved.
Ghana's ambassador to the U.S. told us that isn't true. He sent this letter to the Moores, promising to solve the mystery. Until then, Douglas and Lola Moore will hang on to what her daughter left behind, this journal.
D. MOORE: Saturday, we arrived in Ghana.
KAYE: Phylicia dreamed of becoming a journalist and started taking notes on her trip. Just two entries. It ends the day she arrived.
D. MOORE: I want her back. I do want her back. That's my daughter. She should have come back. She wanted to come back. I can't understand. She's -- it's just destroyed us.
KAYE: Their only daughter, taken from them, while trying to spread good will a world away. How could it be no one saw a thing?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: An unbelievable story. I mean, seven chaperones, 20 something students. They don't do a bed check, don't even know she's gone. And her roommate doesn't report she's gone. And then they continue on with the trip after she's found dead?
KAYE: They did. They came back just a day or two early. They said the school said that they couldn't get flights out, that there weren't any direct flights back to the states. They also said that the students had raised so much money. It was really important to them to continue on with the mission. They wanted to continue the mission in Phylicia's honor.
COOPER: Come on. I mean...
KAYE: But the parents, they were just so upset...
COOPER: It doesn't sound like anybody's investigating this. I mean, her clothes were thrown out. The blood sample was lost? I mean, the representative denies that in Ghana.
KAYE: Right, right.
COOPER: Is anyone investigating this?
KAYE: They are investigating this. In fact, the officials...
COOPER: Who? The authorities?
KAYE: The officials in Ghana, exactly. They've now asked the FBI to get involved. They actually have to invite them. That's how it has to work.
But we spoke with the FBI, and the FBI says they have not officially signed on. But the parents are so frustrated, they're getting mixed signals about the clothing. Was it thrown out? Was it burned?
COOPER: Doesn't sound like anybody's taking responsibility for this thing. The officials in Ghana or the chaperones on this trip. And that student to come out and say the chaperones went to bed.
KAYE: Which is just remarkable. She said it was their first night and they were allowed to sort of stay up. They got a free pass, as she called it.
COOPER: Those poor parents. Well, let's keep on that story.
KAYE: We will.
COOPER: I appreciate it. Randi, thanks very much.
Be sure to catch a -- unbelievable story. Be sure to catch a special edition of 360 tomorrow night from Chicago, where an alarming number of inner city students have been killed so far this school year.
You probably haven't heard much about this. And that fact, the fact that you haven't heard much about it, that the media hasn't been talking about it, is infuriating the person in charge of Chicago's schools, who said if that is these killings were happening in a white neighborhood, the outcries would be deafening.
CNN's David Mattingly looks at one of the cases.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Throughout the Thursday classes, students talked about final exams. The end of the school year was at hand. Soon, Blair would be a senior.
And when the 3 p.m. bell sounded at the end of the day, there was no reason to believe that anything was standing in the way of Blair Holt realizing all his dreams.
He then boarded a city bus bound for his grandparents' store, where he worked every afternoon.
(on camera) This is the beginning of what was supposed to be a 40-minute ride, 40 minutes that always made his mom nervous, because it was one of the few times that Blair was on the go without his parents' supervision.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I called my mother and go, "Is Blair there yet?"
"Not yet."
I said, "As soon as he walks through that door, call me."
MATTINGLY: But just six blocks later, shots rang out on that Chicago city bus. Blair Holt had come face to face with the violence that he railed against.
But what happened to the son of a cop father and a firefighter mom was just beginning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My God. My hero. My hero.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: These are our sons and daughters, our fellow citizens getting killed. And not enough people are talking about it. We're going to have more tomorrow at 10 p.m. Eastern in our 360 special, "Deadly Lessons: 24 Hours in Chicago". We'll be live in Chicago.
Still ahead tonight on 360, scare in the air. A man with a potentially deadly disease takes flight time after time after time, seven times, to be exact. Now he's in isolation, and the CDC is scrambling to find his fellow passengers. We'll have the latest.
Plus, the "Shot of the Day", a house engulfed in flames and an incredible escape by one firefighter; 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The "Shot of the Day" coming up, a textbook case on how to get out of a fire. But you don't get to see it that often.
First, Erica Hill from Headline News joins us with a "360 News and Business Bulletin" -- Erica.
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Anderson, we're learning today, two U.S. soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down in Iraq. The military says the strike happened Monday in a complex attack in Diyala province. Rapid fighting vehicles racing to the scene of that chopper crash were bombed, killing six more soldiers.
Near Fort Worth, Texas, a baby found hanging alongside her mother and three siblings has been released from the hospital. Doctors says she's actually in much better condition than they ever could have imagined. Police believe the 8-month-old girl was hanged in a murder- suicide by her mother.
Turning now to business news. On Wall Street, more wow for the Dow. The S&P, too. Investors riding on confident economic news from the Fed, send the Dow up 105 points to close at a record 13,626. The S&P also setting a record. For the first time in seven years, closing at 1,529. The NASDAQ, by the way, also finished up.
And in Japan, a resort hotel's bathtub is stolen. But it's no ordinary bathtub. It's made of 18-karat gold. It's worth nearly a million dollars. The special tubs had been a main feature of the hotel's shared bathroom.
Hotel officials say they have no witness information and there were no video cameras, so they haven't a clue as to who took it.
Anderson, I've got to tell you, who needs a million-dollar bathtub?
COOPER: Also, how do you sneak a bathtub out of a hotel?
HILL: Another excellent question.
COOPER: You know, I have trouble sneaking a towel out of a hotel.
HILL: I know, and you should...
COOPER: Not that I would do that sort of thing.
HILL: No, you'd never do that.
COOPER: Absolutely.
HILL: By the way, you have to pay for the bathrobe, too.
COOPER: Yes, you do. Of course you do. Yes, I don't even put on the bathrobes because it just, like, you know.
HILL: It's too tempting
COOPER: Exactly.
HILL: There you go.
COOPER: Also, who knows who's worn them before? They don't clean those things.
HILL: No? They don't?
COOPER: I don't know. Maybe they do.
Erica, time now for "The Shot of the Day". This one's an unbelievable picture. It's from a house fire yesterday in Minneapolis. One of the city's bravest had to escape this inferno, going head first out of a window...
HILL: Oh, my goodness.
COOPER: ... clinging to a ladder just in nick of the time.
HILL: Wow.
COOPER: Firefighters say this is exactly what you're supposed to do this kind of an emergency, or at least what a firefighter is supposed to do. They're even going to use this video to train other firefighters. Just an incredible escape, though.
HILL: That's just wild. You know what's amazing, too, the -- I don't know if he's a firefighter. The guy in shorts and a T-shirt just holding the fire hose, watching the guy, looks so calm.
COOPER: Yes.
HILL: Crazy.
COOPER: Firefighters are cool. Want you to send us your "Shot" ideas. If you see some amazing video, tell us about it. CNN.com/360. We'll put some of your best clips on the air.
Well, coming up, it wouldn't be the first time an actor running for president. But is Fred Thompson going to past muster with those on the right. That story is coming up.
Plus, the international tuberculosis scare and the latest on the search for people who might have been exposed. That and a whole lot more in the next hour of 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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