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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Attack in Iraq Leaves 2 Soldiers Dead; Louisiana Community Divided Over Shooting Death; Powerball Hoax

Aired July 10, 2003 - 22:00   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. The anxiety for thousands of American families was summed up for us in an anecdote that we recorded a few days back. A military wife whose heart dropped when her daughter came to her saying, mommy, there's a man in a uniform at the door.
She thought someone was there to tell her that her husband had been killed in Iraq. Well, she was wrong. It was just a neighbor locked out of his house, a simple misunderstanding there.

Today, President Bush said the U.S. has to remain tough in the face of the continuing attacks in Iraq, a message for all Americans but the burden truly falls on the military families and two, in particular, today. They're the latest to get the knock on the door and, for them, it won't be a simple misunderstanding.

So, we begin the whip in Iraq tonight, the latest violence that's left two soldiers dead, the efforts to stop more attacks. Nic Robertson is in Baghdad with that, Nic a headline please.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One soldier killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, the other shot to death. Efforts to hunt down their attackers continue but they're hampered by a lack of intelligence -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Thank you, Nic. We'll be with you in just a moment.

Images from a deadly shooting this spring that's divided the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, Mike Brooks has that story tonight, Mike the headline from you.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Daryn. A Louisiana community is divided over the shooting death of a 25-year- old man by police after a high speed chase -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We look forward to that.

The latest now on the multiple murders earlier this week in Bakersfield, California, David Mattingly is on that story tonight and, David, the headline from you.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, a mother, her three children, and the children's grandmother are all murdered in their home. The only suspect, the children's father, is arrested but then let go. Today, police in Bakersfield try to explain why -- Daryn. KAGAN: David Mattingly in Bakersfield, California.

Today is July 10th but it felt more like April Fools for some victims of a hoax involving Powerball. Deborah Feyerick is on that story for us, Deb the headline.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, they say it's always funny until someone loses an eye. No one lost an eye in this case but a couple of journalists red-faced when they fell for a radio stunt and announced the wrong Powerball winner -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Deb Feyerick, we'll get the lowdown and the true Powerball winners in just a moment. We'll be back with all of you in just a moment.

Also coming up tonight on NEWSNIGHT, a troubling story about just who is maintaining the airplanes that you fly and whether problems or mistakes are going undetected?

Even if Kobe Bryant doesn't get charged with anything, will he pay the price of suspicion in endorsement dollars? We'll look at the fate of Kobe, Inc.

And, we'll remember a true pioneer, the man who let millions of kids and adults enjoy their processed cheese food in a tiny little wrapped up slice, a little piece of cuisine history, all that is to come.

We're going to start, though, in Iraq. At the end of another day when official Washington is consumed with the justification for going to war, the human cost of the war once again is making itself plain.

General Tommy Franks today said Americans could expect to be in Iraq four years from now. And, on the ground, two more soldiers lost their lives.

Here again, CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): In the so-called Sunni Triangle in central Iraq, U.S. troops patrol their base at Balad following a mortar attack. To the north in Tikrit, one U.S. soldier killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, and on the southern edge of the triangle another U.S. soldier shot and killed, and in the west a mortar attack on the U.S. base at Ramadi. Coalition officials now say they are up against professional assassins.

GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, GROUND FORCES: They have stepped up their activity to some extent over the course of the last week, not unexpected, and we continue to conduct our offensive operations and that is clearly a part of what is causing this increase in activity.

ROBERTSON: U.S. troops line up to storm a house. U.S. troops line up to storm a house. A pre-dawn raid to capture a man suspected of killing U.S. troops. From a blacked out command post a call to helicopters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Unintelligible) can you see any activity on the rooftops?

ROBERTSON: More troops go over the wall as our microphone on the lead team picks up urgency inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go. Get that sledge hammer up there. Go, go, go, get in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go.

ROBERTSON: Military police monitor outside as the raid unfolds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him on the ground. Get him on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A desperado at six and one moving on the roof.

ROBERTSON: Above, helicopters spot someone escaping. When we get in, two men, three women, and five children are being questioned. Dean (ph), the translator, tells them your brother is a gangster. He killed two Americans.

The men protest but when asked to describe their brother say he's not tall and not short and has no more hair.

As they are led away for further questioning, the women break down. Elsewhere in the house soldiers search for weapons, documents, and evidence that they have come to the right address. Daylight and the operation winding down, a debrief from the captain in charge.

CAPT. SEAN KUESTER, U.S. ARMY: It looks like we may have been a couple of days late. Some of the suspects on the sheet that we were looking for were seen here two days ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Timely intelligence important if the coalition is to track down its attackers, but in the Sunni triangle at least that does seem to be in short supply at this time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Nic, in your report when we hear them say, when we hear the officials say that they're a few days late, what's holding them back and what's causing those delays?

ROBERTSON: Number one, they say that they are short of manpower to do all the jobs necessary. The same soldiers that are doing these overnight raids are also doing daytime patrols. They're also doing escort and guard duties. They say they're on a 72-hour rotation. One sort of joked with me. He said we're on 72 hours on and then another 72 hours on.

It appears, and the implication in this particular situation was that the intelligence was handed over to the troops but it took a finite period, two days in this case, before they could act on it, and I've also talked with other soldiers who've talked about similar situations.

By the time they get there the intelligence is old. They have to be able to act on it and act on it quickly and have good people telling them good information, if you will -- Daryn.

KAGAN: That simply has to be so frustrating. One other quick question for you, you had interesting access to get -- to be able to shoot that piece but just as you're out and about in Baghdad as this has become more and more dangerous do you notice a difference in how the U.S. troops are carrying themselves and how they interact with everyday Iraqis?

ROBERTSON: Some areas of Baghdad are easier for them to operate in than others and these areas can be just literally a mile apart. I went on a patrol in one relatively benign neighborhood. The soldiers told me there that they'd only be shot at a couple of occasions but they're very aware of the dangers. They say they watch each other's backs.

Part of their training is to be aware of 360 degrees, everything around you, and that's what they do. Other neighborhoods the problem is much, much greater if you will, many more incidences of the troops being shot at. One group of soldiers I've talked to in the last few days said that they were ambushed, literally drawn into a situation, gunfire, and there was nothing they could do about it.

They read it and had to react and one of their colleagues died in that situation, so they are a lot more aware, they say. They're relying on their training that awareness that everything that's around them -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you for that report.

We move on to Washington now. No end there to the peppering of the president over Iraq. Most but not all of it is coming from the opposition. Much of it is taking place against the backdrop of electoral politics.

That angle now from our Jonathan Karl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As American soldiers continue to get killed in Iraq, President Bush is increasingly under fire from Democrats.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, clearly, it's time for the president to step forward and tell the truth that the war is continuing and so are the casualties.

KARL: Earlier in Africa, the president responded to questions about persistent violence in Iraq.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no question we got a security issue in Iraq and we just have to deal with it person by person. We're going to have to remain tough.

KARL: Back in Washington, the general who won the war faced lawmakers worried about losing the peace.

REP. IKE SKELTON (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: I have a fear that the pattern that we see now if left unchecked we may find ourselves, general, in the throws of guerrilla warfare for years.

KARL: General Franks said the attacks on Americans are not supported by the Iraqi people and, therefore, can't be considered a guerrilla war.

GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, FORMER U.S. CENTRAL COMMANDER: I've demonstrated to my own satisfaction that the people of Iraq do not support the violence that we're seeing right now.

KARL: The president riding a wave of popularity because of his handling of the war on terror has been seen as virtually untouchable when it comes to national security. Democrats now believe he may be vulnerable.

On the Senate floor, attacks came from Democrats who supported the war.

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Please Mr. President level with the American people.

KARL: And Democrats who opposed the war.

SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Has the lack of a plan for a post war Iraq needlessly cost American lives?

KARL: The president's allies say Democrats are simply playing politics, responding to the success of presidential candidate Howard Dean who saw his campaign surge after opposing the war.

ED GILLESPIE, INCOMING RNC CHAIR: They're tripping over themselves to get to the left of Howard Dean to appeal to the party's antiwar base but they have no policy to propose.

(on camera): Despite all the criticism on Iraq, most Democratic strategists believe the president is far more vulnerable when it comes to the economy than his role as the commander-in-chief of two military victories.

Jonathan Karl, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: We move on to a key transportation issue now. Just a couple weeks ago there was a headline in "USA Today" and it read: "Contractors might pick up more plane maintenance."

It sounds simple enough but airlines are either in bankruptcy or on the edge of saving money by having other companies repairing the jets that you fly but tonight, the story has little to do with economy and everything to do with your safety that report now from Patty Davis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The crash of Air Midwest Flight 5481 in January killed all 21 onboard. Federal crash investigators are looking into whether maintenance contracted out to a private repair station played a role in the accident.

It's not just Air Midwest. The major airlines are increasingly farming out maintenance rather than doing the work themselves. They spend nearly half their maintenance dollars on outsourcing.

The Transportation Department's inspector general found problems or mistakes went undetected at 86 percent of the private repair stations it audited, both in the U.S. and overseas.

They range from using incorrect parts and equipment to poor record keeping and failure to follow proper safety procedures. Safety experts say penalties for violations at outsource shops are so low there's little incentive to improve.

PETER GOELZ, FMR. NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: Oftentimes, the penalties are in the $1,000 to $2,500 range. They are not significant and very seldom are repair stations who are repeat offenders put out of business.

DAVIS: The Federal Aviation Administration comes in for tough criticism for not paying enough attention to the repair stations. Instead, the inspector general says the FAA is focusing too much on airlines in-house maintenance.

The FAA says it's already moving to fix the problem. New rules in fact go into effect this fall to increase surveillance and standards for private repair stations.

MARION BLAKEY, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: We're going to make sure that we've got our resources and inspector workforce keeping up exactly with the way the airlines are doing business.

DAVIS (on camera): The report comes at a time when airlines are losing money and under pressure to cut costs. Contract maintenance is cheaper. The inspector general wants to make sure it's just as safe.

Patty Davis CNN, Reagan National Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: On now to Shreveport, Louisiana and the uproar over a shooting incident once evening in March that left an unarmed man dead at the hands of the police there. That fact is beyond dispute. That's about the only fact in the story that is. Was it just a terrible mistake or were the police trigger happy in this case?

Police video from that night gives us a remarkable look at what happened but it hasn't settled the debate over why it happened. We need to warn you before we roll the tape that some of the images are very disturbing.

Once again, here's Mike Brooks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKS (voice-over): What began as a routine police chase, a Cadillac running a red light, would end this night in sudden death. Video cameras in three police cars were rolling when the driver stopped.

Look, quick, what's in his hand? Police thought it was a gun and opened fire. Twenty-five-year-old Marquis Hudspeth (ph) fell dying, shot eight times all in the back. He was unarmed. Police found only a silver-colored cell phone. The local prosecutor ruled police fired in self defense.

PAUL CARMOUCHE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SHREVEPORT, LA: One of the officers started ducking as if he's trying to duck out of the line of fire from what he thinks is actually a pistol.

BROOKS: Others see it differently.

JAMES PANNELL, NAACP PRESIDENT, SHREVEPORT, LA: And once you turn your back away from me what was the reason for you to shoot over 20-some times walking behind this person?

BROOKS: Black ministers led a protest march. Others, mostly White, rallied to support the police.

PANNELL: It's basically torn the community apart.

BROOKS: Shreveport's population is divided almost 50/50 between Black and White, but on the police force Whites outnumber Blacks about 3-1. The new police chief wants better communication with the community.

CHIEF MIKE CAMPBELL, SHREVEPORT, LA POLICE: And, I think that it's very clear that there is a problem. There is a disconnect.

BROOKS: The FBI has begun its own civil rights investigation into the video taped shooting. Both critics and city officials support that.

MAYOR KEITH HIGHTOWER, SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA: We welcome it. I mean we invited them. We asked them to come in and take a look.

BROOKS: Let's look again at the police video, this time in slow motion, and listen to what police told investigators. Corporal Denver Ramsey:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I stuck my gun in his back and grabbed him at which time he jerked and turned and pointed the weapon at me.

BROOKS: Officer Stephen Hathorne (ph), coming from the left, thought he heard a shot. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as I heard a gun, I thought Ramsey was shot and I opened up fire on him and I fired until he hit the ground.

BROOKS: Ramsey saw Hathorne duck away from the man.

RAMSEY: He immediately turned and pointed the weapon at Officer Hathorne at which time I fired my weapon.

HIGHTOWER: I think they felt threatened and they did what they had to do.

BROOKS: If you look at another camera angle, you can see the first shots are fired as the driver begins to walk away.

PANNELL: This man was walking off. He wasn't a threat at that point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKS: The lawyer for the two policemen involved in the shooting says they're cooperating with the FBI investigation. The FBI is not talking about what it's looking at or what it's found so far. It may be months before the FBI issues its report and the only certainly seems it won't please everyone -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, it appears to be a Rorschach test and, depending on what point of view you come from, we recruited you, Mike, from your law enforcement background, your days as a cop. Call on that and tell me what you see when you see that tape.

BROOKS: It's very difficult. It's a very difficult thing for anyone to watch. If you've been involved in a shooting, if you haven't been involved in a shooting, but it's also a split second decision by these officers.

It's not very often you see someone bring a cell phone up into a tactical shooting position like this person did when he got out of the car. He could have ended it. He could have pulled over, gotten out, done exactly what the police officers told him to do but things happened differently.

For whatever reason it happened we don't know. The D.A., he has said and he has put out the theory that it could have been a suicide by cop situation. There were a lot of things going on in Marquis Hudspeth's life just prior to the shooting but we'll never know exactly what was going on inside his head now -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And just to offer the other side of it, though, as is pointed out in your piece, all those bullets are in his back and he clearly is walking away.

BROOKS: Well, he's walking away. We see him as he turns again and pulls up what they believe was a weapon. When he pulls it up, the one officer ducks away then fires a shot. It's a very, very difficult for police -- very difficult decisions for police officers to make in a split second. From the time he pulled into that lot until the time he hit the ground dead, nine seconds, not a very long time at all -- Daryn.

KAGAN: No, and it's a lot easier on this end for us to look the tape over and over again and try to make judgments about what you would do if you were in that same situation. We'll look forward to that FBI report. Mike Brooks in Atlanta, thank you for that.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, a family found murdered. The father was arrested and then set free. We'll have that story of this cross country investigation.

Plus a local radio station and the $260 million hoax.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Our second crime story tonight comes from Bakersfield, California. It is a crime so incomprehensible that the local police chief has called it the worst he's seen in more than three decades in law enforcement. Five bodies found, three of them children shot to death.

But now the word incomprehensible is being used in a different way but some who don't understand why the prime suspect is tonight a free man, more now from CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Just over 48 hours after one of the city's worst homicides and Bakersfield California Police go before the cameras with some explaining to do.

CAPT. NEIL MAHAN, BAKERSFIELD POLICE: I can guarantee you we're frustrated. Clearly, we would like to be able to, you know, wrap this case up tomorrow. We have five people dead in our community but that's not going to be the case.

MATTINGLY: But it did seem to be the case yesterday with the arrest of 41-year-old Vincent Brothers in North Carolina. The Bakersfield Elementary School vice-principal is the only suspect, according to authorities, in the murders of his wife, their three children, and his mother-in-law. But less than 12 hours after turning himself in, Brothers was a free man.

FRANK PARRISH, PASQUOTANK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It is, I would have to say in the scheme of things, a rare event but I think the important thing to remember as far as I'm aware, the investigation is not concluded and it's still in fact a work in progress.

MATTINGLY: Citing new leads coming from authorities in Ohio, Bakersfield Police felt they didn't have enough evidence to keep Brothers in jail.

CHIEF ERIC MATLOCK, BAKERSFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT: But I want to make sure that we get this thing right.

MATTINGLY: Bakersfield Police Chief Eric Matlock asking investigators to slow things down acknowledging the deep emotion stirred in the community when someone shot and killed Joanie Harper, her mother and her three children, ages four, two, and six weeks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And, investigators continue to return to the scene of the crime, continue to look for any possible evidence but outside the house there is another story.

This is what it looked like just a short time ago, just about an hour and a half ago, a neighborhood memorial continues to grow outside the gates of the house, people coming by leaving flowers and stuffed animals. This community, Daryn, particularly upset over the murders of the three small children.

KAGAN: A couple questions for you tonight, David. First of all, Vincent Brothers, do we know where he is tonight?

MATTINGLY: At last contact with the police he was in North Carolina. It's believed that he is still there.

KAGAN: And, talking with police, cooperating or are they not giving any clues as to how that's going?

MATTINGLY: He has got an attorney now and when police arrived in North Carolina presumably to question him, he said he would not answer their questions, and today they appealed to him saying that if he does answer their questions it could go a long way in reducing the suspicions they have surrounding him right now.

KAGAN: David Mattingly following the story for us from Bakersfield, thank you for that.

A few stories from around the country tonight, we begin with the flooding in the Midwest and beyond. Flood warning stretch from parts of Iowa into West Virginia today and more storms were expected. About 1,000 homes across Indiana have been affected and one man drowned early today after he tried to rescue a driver swept away by a flooded river. The driver survived.

Sweet victory today for defenders of the rights of the oppressed Bratwurst, Pittsburgh Pirate first baseman Randall Simon, a.k.a. the sausage swiper, was fined for disorderly conduct today after bopping a woman dressed as a giant sausage last night with his bat. Simon should know that in Milwaukee you don't mess with the Brewers and you definitely don't mess with the Bratwurst. He has learned his lesson, hopefully.

And, a Missouri couple came forward today to claim half of the Powerball jackpot, about $130 million. The Wackenbachs (ph) said today it hasn't really sunk in for them yet, no doubt about that. Their shopping list seems pretty modest at this point. Bill Wachenbach said today he wants to "finally get me a tractor with some brakes." His wife said she'd like to buy a new refrigerator. Something tells me they're just waiting for you down at the dealership.

But not everyone is so honest about having the winning Powerball numbers. The radio hoax that fooled even us here at CNN, that's coming up next on NEWSNIGHT.

Then, felony allegations against Lakers Kobe Bryant, could it hurt or actually help his image? We'll talk about that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right, a little journalism 101 for you right now. The first commandment of this business, if your mother says she loves you, you better check it out. We are a skeptical bunch around here. We like to think we're good at sniffing out the bull, you know, what.

But occasionally, in the long twilight struggle between skepticism and bunk, bunk wins a round or two. This morning the story was the two winners of the $260 million Powerball lottery jackpot. The hoax had to do with who the winners were and even we here at CNN bought into a hoax.

Here now, CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): With $261 million at stake, even co- workers wanted to believe it was true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It couldn't happen to a better person. Nancy is great.

FEYERICK: Nancy Tolino part of the Barsky (ph) morning talk show in Philadelphia, and for a brief shining moment, the winner of the Powerball jackpot.

NANCY TOLINO, TRAFFIC REPORTER: (Unintelligible) but I wish I had the money and I would just start giving it out.

FEYERICK: Put the words Powerball winner together with morning radio show and it should come as no surprise. It was a hoax. Listeners were let in on the joke before the show ended.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one the greatest belated April Fool's jokes that have ever been played on anybody.

FEYERICK: Even the station's promotions manager was fooled. He told CNN. CNN told its viewers.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we know who bought at least one of the winning Powerball tickets.

FEYERICK: Once the joke was up, journalists who came to the radio station to cover the would-be millionaire got booted instead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They run a hoax and they kick us all out. Screw him.

FEYERICK: Compared to past stunts, this one was pretty mild. No one has sex in a cathedral like in New York and there were no topless women riding around in busses. Critics of such over-the-top tactics say they're clear acts of desperation.

BROOKE GLADDSTONE, NPR'S "ON THE MEDIA": The whole radio landscape is very crowded, very samey, and listening is going down. Listenership is going down, so what do you do if you can't be Howard Stern, you got to be something.

FEYERICK: According to FCC regulations the station broke no rules. No one was hurt though some reporters did try finding the dark side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If somebody listened to your show and they would have torn up their ticket before they checked on it...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? Because they hear on your show.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's $260 million. Wouldn't they check anyway?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't matter -- if they hurt -- no.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Now, as for the radio show, they've got something called phone scam Fridays so you can pretty much bet that somebody will fall prey to another stunt sometime soon -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So, instead of somebody getting in trouble at that station, it sounds like they're pretty pleased with themselves getting all the free publicity.

FEYERICK: I think they are delighted that they got all the free publicity, in fact, and I think they are actually stunned that they got so much publicity.

KAGAN: They are stunned. We were stunned a little, too, when we figured out exactly what was going on.

Deb Feyerick, thank you for that.

With us now from Washington, Howard Kurtz of "The Washington Post" and CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES, or, in this case, the unreliable sources variety, as we found out today.

Howard, good evening. Thanks for being with us.

HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Thank you.

KAGAN: Who's fault is this, really? Is this the radio station for doing a stunt like that or the media sources -- and it wasn't just CNN -- that fell for it?

KURTZ: Well, I like dumb radio as much as the next guy. But when you are reporting something that's supposed to be a story, then you are getting into pseudo-journalism and you are asking your listening to trust you. And then you are saying, hah, it was all a joke -- not a very funny joke, in my view, in part because something like that bounces through the media echo chamber.

CNN looks foolish, because it didn't do the basic thing that we're all taught: Make a phone call. Check it out. Get it confirmed. Don't take somebody's word for it.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: But, Howard, before you say, CNN in fact did do that. We went and checked with the P.R. director of the radio station, who confirmed it. So the P.R. director is now claiming that they didn't know that they were in on the joke, that they thought it was true. But CNN did do due diligence, didn't just take it for what it was worth. And they still got tricked.

(CROSSTALK)

KURTZ: CNN didn't go to an independent source, like somebody associated with the lottery. Instead, it took the radio station's word for it. As the setup piece just made clear, the radio station, "Morning Zoo Show" and lottery isn't always a trustworthy combination.

KAGAN: So who gets hurt in this?

KURTZ: Well, the media looked foolish. No great surprise there. The radio station, they seem to be having a great time, because they got publicity. But I think, if I was a listener of that radio station, I would wonder about things that I heard in the future.

This is not the only such scam we've all been subjected to. Just the other day, a Miami radio station reported, perhaps based on a hoax on the Internet, that Congresswoman Katherine Harris had been killed in a plane crash. Not true. She's alive and well -- again, a news story, or something masquerading as a news story.

I think, ultimately, I'm not against people having a good time. If Howard Stern wants to interview lesbians, that's great. But, ultimately, when these stations get into reporting something that looks and smells like news and it turns out to be a fake, which is -- a hoax is a polite way of saying that it's a lie -- we all look stupid.

KAGAN: And so in this environment -- and you heard a bit of this in Deborah Feyerick's piece -- in this environment, where there are so many channels, and you have the Internet, and you have all these radio stations, and the competition to get attention is so fierce, does the media kind of deserve a kick in the pants every once in awhile like this to remind us that we need to dot the I's and cross the T's?

KURTZ: I think that's right. Fortunately, it wasn't a more serious story, like somebody being killed, which people think is hilarious, for some reason. But if there's a lesson here, that even if a seemingly reputable radio station says it's true and you make a phone call to the radio station program manager or promotion director and he says it's true, that doesn't necessarily mean it is true.

But we are all so caught up now, in this cable-Internet age, with getting it on the air, getting it quick. You don't want to fall behind. The other stations might have it. And I think, for those reasons, standards get lowered a little bit, or at least the haste to be on top of the story makes you not do the double-checking that you might have done in an earlier, slower era. So, perhaps there is a lesson here for all of us, for viewers and listeners to be a little skeptical of everything they hear, and for news professionals, which we're supposed to be, to check things out a little more thoroughly.

KAGAN: So, not to equate this with "The New York Times" scandal with Jayson Blair, but it does come kind of on the heels of that. The people out there who are looking for credible sources, how do you know who to believe?

KURTZ: Well, I don't want to equate it with what's happened at "The Times," because that was a very serious case of intentional fabrication and plagiarism, of which "The Times" has certainly paid a price in the court of public opinion.

This, I suppose the radio station people would say, well, we are just fooling around. We're just having fun. It's freak-out Friday, or whatever the slogan is. But I think, when you have enough of these things -- there have also been a lot of Internet hoaxes, some of which have made their way into the mainstream media -- people out there, understandably, become a little skeptical of even the more serious news that they hear.

How do we really know that it is true? How do we know, when CNN says anonymous sources say something is true, that there really are anonymous sources? I think that's unfair. What serious news organizations do is very different from a radio hoax. But it just eats away a little bit at the credibility that all of us in the media at least try to have.

KAGAN: And just finally, Howard, the Walkenbachs in Missouri, they have claimed one ticket. That means there is still one out there. You don't have that winning ticket, do you? You're not buying drinks for everything after the show?

KURTZ: I don't know who has it. I am sure we will find out soon enough. And I bet that CNN will want two sources when that name surfaces.

KAGAN: That we will. And we are going to take your word for that, that you don't have it. We're going to single-source on that one.

KURTZ: OK. KAGAN: Howard Kurtz, thank you for that. Appreciate your insight tonight.

KURTZ: Thank you.

KAGAN: Still ahead: There are new guidelines out there to ensure that you are prepared in case of an emergency.

And next: The Lakers' Kobe Bryant, he hasn't been charged with anything, but could all this talk of sexual misconduct still hurt his game?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And up next, we're going to talk more money, the multimillion-dollar image of Kobe Bryant.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: It is quite possible that Kobe Bryant won't have to set one inch of his 6 foot, 7 frame into a courtroom anytime soon. A prosecutor in western Colorado says it'll be Tuesday at least before he says whether the NBA star will be charged with sexual misconduct involving a 19-year-old woman. And he's made it clear that Bryant may not be charged with anything at all.

The question we wanted to look at tonight: whether allegations alone will affect Kobe Inc., his many endorsement deals, and his power to get more deals done in the future.

Joining us now from Los Angeles, sports management consultant David Carter of the Sports Business Group.

Good evening. Thanks for joining us.

DAVID CARTER, SPORTS BUSINESS GROUP: Thank you. How are you?

KAGAN: I am doing fine, probably doing better than Kobe Bryant is tonight, even though we are talking about someone who is innocent until proven guilty.

But, with that in mind, if everything goes ahead, not a single charge comes up on this, how much in terms of dollars has this cost Kobe Bryant?

CARTER: Well, ironically, if nothing comes of this and he is fully exonerated and it looks as though there was some kind of a conspiracy or perhaps he was set up, he will come across as a very sympathetic figure and he'll do just fine.

I think there is such an outpouring of support for him right now that, should that happen, I think he's going to be just fine. It's what happens beyond that that really gets him into trouble.

KAGAN: Well, let's get to this outpouring of support. Don't you find that absolutely amazing, in this day in age when people are so quick to convict in the media and especially a sports celebrity? How do you explain all the support that Kobe Bryant is getting, especially there in Los Angeles?

CARTER: Well, I think there are a couple of things. And in Los Angeles, you are getting a Kobe update as if it's the traffic report. It's every 10 minutes on what's going on. And it's really become its own little cottage industry this last few days.

And I think there's really a couple of things that are in play. The first one is, he has a very great personality, extraordinarily poised. His relationships with the media in Los Angeles and, indeed, all over the country, are great. So a typically skeptical media, like you were describing in the last segment, is really giving him the benefit of the doubt. And they're somewhat insulating him. They're not being quick to judge him.

In fact, they are being very quick to circle the wagons around him. And I think combining that with his media savviness over the years has played very favorably for him at this point.

KAGAN: Let's look at some of his specific endorsement deals. Recently, he just signed a $45 million shoe contract with Nike. That seems to be in place.

CARTER: That does seem to be in place.

And I think that Nike and the fact that that company is rooted in athletics and athleticism might be a different kind of a relationship than he might have with more mainstream consumer product companies, like a McDonald's or a Sprite, for instance.

KAGAN: Yes, and I want to get to those in just a minute. But, first of all, I want to just throw something at you that I had just heard kind of circulated out there, that something like this, in terms of a shoe contract, might actually help Kobe Bryant, because he doesn't have street cred, as you might say, because he's too nice of a guy. And, in fact, it's the bad guys out there, like Allen Iverson, are the ones that really are selling the shoes to the kids.

CARTER: I really don't buy that, because, to me, they both have street credibility.

And I have been thinking all along that it just so happens that their streets are in different neighborhoods, if you will, because a guy like Kobe Bryant, who is really an international icon, really selling to mainstream audiences, major consumer product companies, really that blue-chip kind of a guy, whereas Allen Iverson is much more of an image that is being created to help sell shoes.

Kobe's much more of a mainstream guy that plays really not just domestically, but abroad as well. So I think the people they are selling to are very different. And they still have that credibility. But, again, I think Kobe's is much more mainstream.

KAGAN: Yes, and some of those mainstream companies, you mentioned McDonald's and also Sprite. What if this turns out, no charge is filed, but it just ends up -- and I'm just throwing it out there -- that Kobe cheated on his wife? That would not be a big deal in the NBA. That wouldn't make news at all, except that he has one of the squeakiest, cleanest images I think since A.C. Green went through the league.

CARTER: Oh, that's a great memory. That's right.

But I think, when you come to the street credibility, if it's an indiscretion like that -- albeit not a very good one, but if it's an indiscretion like that -- there is a message of street credibility to that, if you will, because I think a lot people would say, hey, the guy is human. He made a mistake. There is relatability factor to something like that.

When you are talking about sexual assault, there is no street credibility attached to that from anybody in any walk of life at this point to think that is an all right way to handle yourself. So I guess there is a measure of acceptance. It'll be a case of forgive and remember, I guess, with Kobe. But he will be able to maintain those relationships. He'll have to manage himself well. He'll have to come out with a great strategy, a great P.R. platform. But he's been surrounded by fantastic people. And he'll be able to get over that much more easily than most folks.

KAGAN: All right, we look forward to seeing how the story unfolds.

David Carter, thanks for your expertise in the area of sports marketing. Appreciate it this evening.

CARTER: Thank you.

KAGAN: Before we go to break, we have a few more stories to share with you from around the world.

First stop tonight: Botswana, a country torn apart by AIDS. President Bush got a warm greeting there today. He reiterated his pledge to help Africa fight AIDS. But, even as he spoke, Congress was nibbling away at funding that he wants to do the job.

Tropical Storm Claudette is making for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Hurricane warnings have been posted for the entire length of the eastern Yucatan, including the Port of Cancun and Cozumel Island. The storm is expected to make landfall some time late tonight or early tomorrow.

And a heartbreaking moment to share from Iran. Separate coffins bearing two formerly conjoined twin sisters come home. The twins died in Singapore during an operation to separate them. They are separate. A friend of the family said they are separate and they rest in peace.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: inside President Truman's diaries and the story that was overlooked. Plus, the man who left his mark in grocery stores around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: There was a time a while back when it seemed like the two funniest words of a late-night comic could say was duct tape. But the fact is, it is entirely reasonable and not laughable to make some preparations for the worst. And nowhere is that more true than right here in New York City, a target in the past and, sad to say, could be in the future as well.

The city today is launching an effort to get New Yorkers better prepared. We figured it would also apply to you at home, no matter what city you're living in.

Joining us now: John Odermatt, commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Office.

Good evening. Thanks for stopping by.

JOHN ODERMATT, COMMISSIONER, NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICE: Good evening. Thanks for having us.

KAGAN: You came with stuff.

ODERMATT: I did.

KAGAN: You came with what you call a go bag. What's a go bag? And what's in it?

ODERMATT: I brought a go bag. And you're right. It's not just for New York City. The folks that are watching this have the ability now to go on our Web site and be prepared to have -- and our motto, obviously, is three. It's on here. It's what to have in your head, what to have in your hand, and what to have in your home.

KAGAN: All right, quickly, as we said, it's called a go bag. Some of the things that you've chosen to have in here -- yes, feel free to get it and reach over, if you can.

ODERMATT: Sure.

Well, if you take a look, some of things that we're recommending, obviously, is to have a local map, a flashlight, some available water, a first-aid kid, a radio, in case your local broadcast media is not able to broadcast, and then, obviously, some sturdy shoes and a sturdy bag. That way, in case you have to evacuate from your home, you are able to just grab the bag and go out and be able to...

KAGAN: And to be able to go.

ODERMATT: Survive and just go right away to another location.

KAGAN: It's an anything concept, because we hear about having stuff in your home, having the canned food and having the bottled water there. But you are talking about, home might, potentially, not be the place you want to stay.

ODERMATT: That's true. There are going to be certain instances where public safety officials will recommend sheltering in place. And then there are going to be instances where they're going to recommend that you evacuate. And in those cases, some of those things that you want in your home are the same things that are in the go bag. And we're recommending that you have something ready, so that yourself and your loved ones can get out immediately.

KAGAN: Now, part of your job is to think about all the bad stuff that could potentially happen?

ODERMATT: That's true, yes.

KAGAN: Yes. What kind of things are you planning and anticipating that could possibly happen here in New York City?

ODERMATT: Well, there are things that occur naturally. There are natural disasters that occur in New York City, as well as manmade disasters. There are chemical incidents. There can be a hurricane, severe weather.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: But let's be honest. Since 9/11, we're talking about a different world and a different kind of preparedness. What kind of lessons were learned on 9/11 that you wish people had been in place, besides go bags, that would have made things go better on that day?

ODERMATT: Well, I don't know. I think the city's response to 9/11 was just incredible.

Obviously, as we look back at 9/11 and since I have become the commissioner, we want to make sure that, at the city level, people understand that the city has an enormous capability to respond. But in personal cases, for household preparedness, we want them to have the ability, the choices, to have something to go, in case they do have to evacuate, or if there's going to be a circumstance where they have to shelter in place.

KAGAN: You take a chance when you come and do something public like this. Of course, the intent is to come out and say, get ready and help police and fire do their job, if something bad happens. But there's plenty of folks watching back home who are thinking: It's looking pretty darn dangerous. I'm not going to New York City.

And is that the message you are trying to get out?

ODERMATT: Absolutely not.

New York City is the safest city in the entire country. There's no question about that, as far as law enforcement goes, as far as firefighting operations, and, of course, in terms of preparedness. In fact, CNN was the one who voted us the most prepared city in a survey. So we are the most prepared city. And we continue to be.

And this is something simply to help New Yorkers, and now nationwide, now that I'm on the nationwide television, to tell people that they...

KAGAN: Actually worldwide, in fact.

ODERMATT: Worldwide, in fact, yes.

KAGAN: You are telling the world tonight, John.

ODERMATT: Well, I am telling the world tonight that New York is a great place. And people should continue to come here. In fact, a study today showed that people are moving into New York. And it's a great place to be. And we continue to help New Yorkers prepare.

KAGAN: Well, we appreciate that. And we wish you safe travels tonight. John Odermatt, thanks for stopping by and thanks for letting us know what's inside the go bag.

ODERMATT: Thank you very much. Thank you.

KAGAN: Appreciate that.

Well, a story now that proves the work of historians is often a matter of happy accidents. That certainly is the case for historians of the 33rd American president, a surprise discovery of a diary mistakenly cataloged for 38 years, a diary that seems to confirm something that Harry Truman denied for years, that he courted a certain general to replace him as the Democratic president. Nobody, it seemed, knew whether the general was a Republican or a Democrat at the time. Ike would run a few years later as, of course, as a Republican.

Here now, CNN's Bruce Morton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In July 1947, Truman met with Dwight Eisenhower about to take over as president of Columbia University. Truman wrote that he and Ike both thought Douglas MacArthur would run as a Republican, adding. . .

RAY GESELBRACHT, TRUMAN LIBRARY: "I told Ike, " Truman records, 'that if MacArthur did that, he, Ike, should announce for the nomination for president on the Democratic ticket and that I'd be glad to be in second place, or vice president. I like the Senate anyway. Icon Ike could be elected and my family and myself would be happy outside this great while jail, known as the White House."

MORTON: General MacArthur didn't run that year, so nothing came of it.

But Mr. Truman, are you happy in the White House? Oh, yes. January 6. . .

GESELBRACHT: "Anyone with imagination can see ol' Jim Buchanan walking up and down, worrying about conditions not of his making. Then there's Van Buren who inherited a terrible mess from his predecessor as did poor old James Madison. Of course Andrew Johnson was the worst mistreated of them all.

"But they all walk up and down the halls of this please and moan about what they should have done and didn't. So the tortured souls who were and are misrepresented in history are the ones who come back. It's a hell of a place."

MORTON: President Harry Truman, in 1947, talking about the ghosts, who shared his house.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT: remembering the man who changed the way we all make a grilled-cheese sandwich.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We learned today of the death of Arnold N. Nawrocki. He was 78 years old. Chances are, that name might escape you. Arnold N. Nawrocki didn't do any road movies or lead a major world religion, but he was part of your life just the same. We can assure you of that. And he still is.

Arnold N. Nawrocki was big in cheese.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): You can pretty much divide the history of cheese as we know into two eras, before Nawrocki and after.

For the better part of five millennia, the cheese world looked like this. From cow or sheep or goat or water buffalo, the milk would be milked, the curd curdled. And few weeks or months later, a guy in an apron with a knife in his hand would cut you a hunk or a chunk or a lump.

But what if you wanted a slice? It melts better than a hunk. It doesn't roll off the top of a sandwich, fits better in a lunch box. But for the better part of five millennia, a slice was strictly do it yourself. Now, if you are thinking Arnold N. Nawrocki's big idea was slicing cheese, not quite. Kraft got their first back in the '40s.

But no sooner than someone said, eureka, sliced cheese, someone else said: Sliced cheese, is that it? Arnold N. Nawrocki's big idea was individual wrapping, which isn't easy to do. He tried wax paper, but no go. He tried different machines, but no luck, until he hit on this, patent No. 2759308. It beat Kraft by a quarter-century.

And during an era of cutthroat technological competition with the Soviets, it beat Sputnik by a year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: In all, Mr. Nawrocki retired with 12 patents to his name and $1 for each one of the companies that he worked for. He was a shy man, said his son, who once called him the most famous nonfamous person he knew. Hopefully, Mr. Nawrocki has a little slice of heaven tonight.

That's it for NEWSNIGHT. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you tomorrow night.

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





Divided Over Shooting Death; Powerball Hoax>


Aired July 10, 2003 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. The anxiety for thousands of American families was summed up for us in an anecdote that we recorded a few days back. A military wife whose heart dropped when her daughter came to her saying, mommy, there's a man in a uniform at the door.
She thought someone was there to tell her that her husband had been killed in Iraq. Well, she was wrong. It was just a neighbor locked out of his house, a simple misunderstanding there.

Today, President Bush said the U.S. has to remain tough in the face of the continuing attacks in Iraq, a message for all Americans but the burden truly falls on the military families and two, in particular, today. They're the latest to get the knock on the door and, for them, it won't be a simple misunderstanding.

So, we begin the whip in Iraq tonight, the latest violence that's left two soldiers dead, the efforts to stop more attacks. Nic Robertson is in Baghdad with that, Nic a headline please.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One soldier killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, the other shot to death. Efforts to hunt down their attackers continue but they're hampered by a lack of intelligence -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Thank you, Nic. We'll be with you in just a moment.

Images from a deadly shooting this spring that's divided the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, Mike Brooks has that story tonight, Mike the headline from you.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Daryn. A Louisiana community is divided over the shooting death of a 25-year- old man by police after a high speed chase -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We look forward to that.

The latest now on the multiple murders earlier this week in Bakersfield, California, David Mattingly is on that story tonight and, David, the headline from you.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, a mother, her three children, and the children's grandmother are all murdered in their home. The only suspect, the children's father, is arrested but then let go. Today, police in Bakersfield try to explain why -- Daryn. KAGAN: David Mattingly in Bakersfield, California.

Today is July 10th but it felt more like April Fools for some victims of a hoax involving Powerball. Deborah Feyerick is on that story for us, Deb the headline.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, they say it's always funny until someone loses an eye. No one lost an eye in this case but a couple of journalists red-faced when they fell for a radio stunt and announced the wrong Powerball winner -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Deb Feyerick, we'll get the lowdown and the true Powerball winners in just a moment. We'll be back with all of you in just a moment.

Also coming up tonight on NEWSNIGHT, a troubling story about just who is maintaining the airplanes that you fly and whether problems or mistakes are going undetected?

Even if Kobe Bryant doesn't get charged with anything, will he pay the price of suspicion in endorsement dollars? We'll look at the fate of Kobe, Inc.

And, we'll remember a true pioneer, the man who let millions of kids and adults enjoy their processed cheese food in a tiny little wrapped up slice, a little piece of cuisine history, all that is to come.

We're going to start, though, in Iraq. At the end of another day when official Washington is consumed with the justification for going to war, the human cost of the war once again is making itself plain.

General Tommy Franks today said Americans could expect to be in Iraq four years from now. And, on the ground, two more soldiers lost their lives.

Here again, CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): In the so-called Sunni Triangle in central Iraq, U.S. troops patrol their base at Balad following a mortar attack. To the north in Tikrit, one U.S. soldier killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, and on the southern edge of the triangle another U.S. soldier shot and killed, and in the west a mortar attack on the U.S. base at Ramadi. Coalition officials now say they are up against professional assassins.

GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, GROUND FORCES: They have stepped up their activity to some extent over the course of the last week, not unexpected, and we continue to conduct our offensive operations and that is clearly a part of what is causing this increase in activity.

ROBERTSON: U.S. troops line up to storm a house. U.S. troops line up to storm a house. A pre-dawn raid to capture a man suspected of killing U.S. troops. From a blacked out command post a call to helicopters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Unintelligible) can you see any activity on the rooftops?

ROBERTSON: More troops go over the wall as our microphone on the lead team picks up urgency inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go. Get that sledge hammer up there. Go, go, go, get in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go.

ROBERTSON: Military police monitor outside as the raid unfolds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him on the ground. Get him on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A desperado at six and one moving on the roof.

ROBERTSON: Above, helicopters spot someone escaping. When we get in, two men, three women, and five children are being questioned. Dean (ph), the translator, tells them your brother is a gangster. He killed two Americans.

The men protest but when asked to describe their brother say he's not tall and not short and has no more hair.

As they are led away for further questioning, the women break down. Elsewhere in the house soldiers search for weapons, documents, and evidence that they have come to the right address. Daylight and the operation winding down, a debrief from the captain in charge.

CAPT. SEAN KUESTER, U.S. ARMY: It looks like we may have been a couple of days late. Some of the suspects on the sheet that we were looking for were seen here two days ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Timely intelligence important if the coalition is to track down its attackers, but in the Sunni triangle at least that does seem to be in short supply at this time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Nic, in your report when we hear them say, when we hear the officials say that they're a few days late, what's holding them back and what's causing those delays?

ROBERTSON: Number one, they say that they are short of manpower to do all the jobs necessary. The same soldiers that are doing these overnight raids are also doing daytime patrols. They're also doing escort and guard duties. They say they're on a 72-hour rotation. One sort of joked with me. He said we're on 72 hours on and then another 72 hours on.

It appears, and the implication in this particular situation was that the intelligence was handed over to the troops but it took a finite period, two days in this case, before they could act on it, and I've also talked with other soldiers who've talked about similar situations.

By the time they get there the intelligence is old. They have to be able to act on it and act on it quickly and have good people telling them good information, if you will -- Daryn.

KAGAN: That simply has to be so frustrating. One other quick question for you, you had interesting access to get -- to be able to shoot that piece but just as you're out and about in Baghdad as this has become more and more dangerous do you notice a difference in how the U.S. troops are carrying themselves and how they interact with everyday Iraqis?

ROBERTSON: Some areas of Baghdad are easier for them to operate in than others and these areas can be just literally a mile apart. I went on a patrol in one relatively benign neighborhood. The soldiers told me there that they'd only be shot at a couple of occasions but they're very aware of the dangers. They say they watch each other's backs.

Part of their training is to be aware of 360 degrees, everything around you, and that's what they do. Other neighborhoods the problem is much, much greater if you will, many more incidences of the troops being shot at. One group of soldiers I've talked to in the last few days said that they were ambushed, literally drawn into a situation, gunfire, and there was nothing they could do about it.

They read it and had to react and one of their colleagues died in that situation, so they are a lot more aware, they say. They're relying on their training that awareness that everything that's around them -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you for that report.

We move on to Washington now. No end there to the peppering of the president over Iraq. Most but not all of it is coming from the opposition. Much of it is taking place against the backdrop of electoral politics.

That angle now from our Jonathan Karl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As American soldiers continue to get killed in Iraq, President Bush is increasingly under fire from Democrats.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, clearly, it's time for the president to step forward and tell the truth that the war is continuing and so are the casualties.

KARL: Earlier in Africa, the president responded to questions about persistent violence in Iraq.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no question we got a security issue in Iraq and we just have to deal with it person by person. We're going to have to remain tough.

KARL: Back in Washington, the general who won the war faced lawmakers worried about losing the peace.

REP. IKE SKELTON (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: I have a fear that the pattern that we see now if left unchecked we may find ourselves, general, in the throws of guerrilla warfare for years.

KARL: General Franks said the attacks on Americans are not supported by the Iraqi people and, therefore, can't be considered a guerrilla war.

GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, FORMER U.S. CENTRAL COMMANDER: I've demonstrated to my own satisfaction that the people of Iraq do not support the violence that we're seeing right now.

KARL: The president riding a wave of popularity because of his handling of the war on terror has been seen as virtually untouchable when it comes to national security. Democrats now believe he may be vulnerable.

On the Senate floor, attacks came from Democrats who supported the war.

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Please Mr. President level with the American people.

KARL: And Democrats who opposed the war.

SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Has the lack of a plan for a post war Iraq needlessly cost American lives?

KARL: The president's allies say Democrats are simply playing politics, responding to the success of presidential candidate Howard Dean who saw his campaign surge after opposing the war.

ED GILLESPIE, INCOMING RNC CHAIR: They're tripping over themselves to get to the left of Howard Dean to appeal to the party's antiwar base but they have no policy to propose.

(on camera): Despite all the criticism on Iraq, most Democratic strategists believe the president is far more vulnerable when it comes to the economy than his role as the commander-in-chief of two military victories.

Jonathan Karl, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: We move on to a key transportation issue now. Just a couple weeks ago there was a headline in "USA Today" and it read: "Contractors might pick up more plane maintenance."

It sounds simple enough but airlines are either in bankruptcy or on the edge of saving money by having other companies repairing the jets that you fly but tonight, the story has little to do with economy and everything to do with your safety that report now from Patty Davis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The crash of Air Midwest Flight 5481 in January killed all 21 onboard. Federal crash investigators are looking into whether maintenance contracted out to a private repair station played a role in the accident.

It's not just Air Midwest. The major airlines are increasingly farming out maintenance rather than doing the work themselves. They spend nearly half their maintenance dollars on outsourcing.

The Transportation Department's inspector general found problems or mistakes went undetected at 86 percent of the private repair stations it audited, both in the U.S. and overseas.

They range from using incorrect parts and equipment to poor record keeping and failure to follow proper safety procedures. Safety experts say penalties for violations at outsource shops are so low there's little incentive to improve.

PETER GOELZ, FMR. NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: Oftentimes, the penalties are in the $1,000 to $2,500 range. They are not significant and very seldom are repair stations who are repeat offenders put out of business.

DAVIS: The Federal Aviation Administration comes in for tough criticism for not paying enough attention to the repair stations. Instead, the inspector general says the FAA is focusing too much on airlines in-house maintenance.

The FAA says it's already moving to fix the problem. New rules in fact go into effect this fall to increase surveillance and standards for private repair stations.

MARION BLAKEY, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: We're going to make sure that we've got our resources and inspector workforce keeping up exactly with the way the airlines are doing business.

DAVIS (on camera): The report comes at a time when airlines are losing money and under pressure to cut costs. Contract maintenance is cheaper. The inspector general wants to make sure it's just as safe.

Patty Davis CNN, Reagan National Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: On now to Shreveport, Louisiana and the uproar over a shooting incident once evening in March that left an unarmed man dead at the hands of the police there. That fact is beyond dispute. That's about the only fact in the story that is. Was it just a terrible mistake or were the police trigger happy in this case?

Police video from that night gives us a remarkable look at what happened but it hasn't settled the debate over why it happened. We need to warn you before we roll the tape that some of the images are very disturbing.

Once again, here's Mike Brooks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKS (voice-over): What began as a routine police chase, a Cadillac running a red light, would end this night in sudden death. Video cameras in three police cars were rolling when the driver stopped.

Look, quick, what's in his hand? Police thought it was a gun and opened fire. Twenty-five-year-old Marquis Hudspeth (ph) fell dying, shot eight times all in the back. He was unarmed. Police found only a silver-colored cell phone. The local prosecutor ruled police fired in self defense.

PAUL CARMOUCHE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SHREVEPORT, LA: One of the officers started ducking as if he's trying to duck out of the line of fire from what he thinks is actually a pistol.

BROOKS: Others see it differently.

JAMES PANNELL, NAACP PRESIDENT, SHREVEPORT, LA: And once you turn your back away from me what was the reason for you to shoot over 20-some times walking behind this person?

BROOKS: Black ministers led a protest march. Others, mostly White, rallied to support the police.

PANNELL: It's basically torn the community apart.

BROOKS: Shreveport's population is divided almost 50/50 between Black and White, but on the police force Whites outnumber Blacks about 3-1. The new police chief wants better communication with the community.

CHIEF MIKE CAMPBELL, SHREVEPORT, LA POLICE: And, I think that it's very clear that there is a problem. There is a disconnect.

BROOKS: The FBI has begun its own civil rights investigation into the video taped shooting. Both critics and city officials support that.

MAYOR KEITH HIGHTOWER, SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA: We welcome it. I mean we invited them. We asked them to come in and take a look.

BROOKS: Let's look again at the police video, this time in slow motion, and listen to what police told investigators. Corporal Denver Ramsey:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I stuck my gun in his back and grabbed him at which time he jerked and turned and pointed the weapon at me.

BROOKS: Officer Stephen Hathorne (ph), coming from the left, thought he heard a shot. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as I heard a gun, I thought Ramsey was shot and I opened up fire on him and I fired until he hit the ground.

BROOKS: Ramsey saw Hathorne duck away from the man.

RAMSEY: He immediately turned and pointed the weapon at Officer Hathorne at which time I fired my weapon.

HIGHTOWER: I think they felt threatened and they did what they had to do.

BROOKS: If you look at another camera angle, you can see the first shots are fired as the driver begins to walk away.

PANNELL: This man was walking off. He wasn't a threat at that point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKS: The lawyer for the two policemen involved in the shooting says they're cooperating with the FBI investigation. The FBI is not talking about what it's looking at or what it's found so far. It may be months before the FBI issues its report and the only certainly seems it won't please everyone -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, it appears to be a Rorschach test and, depending on what point of view you come from, we recruited you, Mike, from your law enforcement background, your days as a cop. Call on that and tell me what you see when you see that tape.

BROOKS: It's very difficult. It's a very difficult thing for anyone to watch. If you've been involved in a shooting, if you haven't been involved in a shooting, but it's also a split second decision by these officers.

It's not very often you see someone bring a cell phone up into a tactical shooting position like this person did when he got out of the car. He could have ended it. He could have pulled over, gotten out, done exactly what the police officers told him to do but things happened differently.

For whatever reason it happened we don't know. The D.A., he has said and he has put out the theory that it could have been a suicide by cop situation. There were a lot of things going on in Marquis Hudspeth's life just prior to the shooting but we'll never know exactly what was going on inside his head now -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And just to offer the other side of it, though, as is pointed out in your piece, all those bullets are in his back and he clearly is walking away.

BROOKS: Well, he's walking away. We see him as he turns again and pulls up what they believe was a weapon. When he pulls it up, the one officer ducks away then fires a shot. It's a very, very difficult for police -- very difficult decisions for police officers to make in a split second. From the time he pulled into that lot until the time he hit the ground dead, nine seconds, not a very long time at all -- Daryn.

KAGAN: No, and it's a lot easier on this end for us to look the tape over and over again and try to make judgments about what you would do if you were in that same situation. We'll look forward to that FBI report. Mike Brooks in Atlanta, thank you for that.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, a family found murdered. The father was arrested and then set free. We'll have that story of this cross country investigation.

Plus a local radio station and the $260 million hoax.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Our second crime story tonight comes from Bakersfield, California. It is a crime so incomprehensible that the local police chief has called it the worst he's seen in more than three decades in law enforcement. Five bodies found, three of them children shot to death.

But now the word incomprehensible is being used in a different way but some who don't understand why the prime suspect is tonight a free man, more now from CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Just over 48 hours after one of the city's worst homicides and Bakersfield California Police go before the cameras with some explaining to do.

CAPT. NEIL MAHAN, BAKERSFIELD POLICE: I can guarantee you we're frustrated. Clearly, we would like to be able to, you know, wrap this case up tomorrow. We have five people dead in our community but that's not going to be the case.

MATTINGLY: But it did seem to be the case yesterday with the arrest of 41-year-old Vincent Brothers in North Carolina. The Bakersfield Elementary School vice-principal is the only suspect, according to authorities, in the murders of his wife, their three children, and his mother-in-law. But less than 12 hours after turning himself in, Brothers was a free man.

FRANK PARRISH, PASQUOTANK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It is, I would have to say in the scheme of things, a rare event but I think the important thing to remember as far as I'm aware, the investigation is not concluded and it's still in fact a work in progress.

MATTINGLY: Citing new leads coming from authorities in Ohio, Bakersfield Police felt they didn't have enough evidence to keep Brothers in jail.

CHIEF ERIC MATLOCK, BAKERSFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT: But I want to make sure that we get this thing right.

MATTINGLY: Bakersfield Police Chief Eric Matlock asking investigators to slow things down acknowledging the deep emotion stirred in the community when someone shot and killed Joanie Harper, her mother and her three children, ages four, two, and six weeks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And, investigators continue to return to the scene of the crime, continue to look for any possible evidence but outside the house there is another story.

This is what it looked like just a short time ago, just about an hour and a half ago, a neighborhood memorial continues to grow outside the gates of the house, people coming by leaving flowers and stuffed animals. This community, Daryn, particularly upset over the murders of the three small children.

KAGAN: A couple questions for you tonight, David. First of all, Vincent Brothers, do we know where he is tonight?

MATTINGLY: At last contact with the police he was in North Carolina. It's believed that he is still there.

KAGAN: And, talking with police, cooperating or are they not giving any clues as to how that's going?

MATTINGLY: He has got an attorney now and when police arrived in North Carolina presumably to question him, he said he would not answer their questions, and today they appealed to him saying that if he does answer their questions it could go a long way in reducing the suspicions they have surrounding him right now.

KAGAN: David Mattingly following the story for us from Bakersfield, thank you for that.

A few stories from around the country tonight, we begin with the flooding in the Midwest and beyond. Flood warning stretch from parts of Iowa into West Virginia today and more storms were expected. About 1,000 homes across Indiana have been affected and one man drowned early today after he tried to rescue a driver swept away by a flooded river. The driver survived.

Sweet victory today for defenders of the rights of the oppressed Bratwurst, Pittsburgh Pirate first baseman Randall Simon, a.k.a. the sausage swiper, was fined for disorderly conduct today after bopping a woman dressed as a giant sausage last night with his bat. Simon should know that in Milwaukee you don't mess with the Brewers and you definitely don't mess with the Bratwurst. He has learned his lesson, hopefully.

And, a Missouri couple came forward today to claim half of the Powerball jackpot, about $130 million. The Wackenbachs (ph) said today it hasn't really sunk in for them yet, no doubt about that. Their shopping list seems pretty modest at this point. Bill Wachenbach said today he wants to "finally get me a tractor with some brakes." His wife said she'd like to buy a new refrigerator. Something tells me they're just waiting for you down at the dealership.

But not everyone is so honest about having the winning Powerball numbers. The radio hoax that fooled even us here at CNN, that's coming up next on NEWSNIGHT.

Then, felony allegations against Lakers Kobe Bryant, could it hurt or actually help his image? We'll talk about that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right, a little journalism 101 for you right now. The first commandment of this business, if your mother says she loves you, you better check it out. We are a skeptical bunch around here. We like to think we're good at sniffing out the bull, you know, what.

But occasionally, in the long twilight struggle between skepticism and bunk, bunk wins a round or two. This morning the story was the two winners of the $260 million Powerball lottery jackpot. The hoax had to do with who the winners were and even we here at CNN bought into a hoax.

Here now, CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): With $261 million at stake, even co- workers wanted to believe it was true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It couldn't happen to a better person. Nancy is great.

FEYERICK: Nancy Tolino part of the Barsky (ph) morning talk show in Philadelphia, and for a brief shining moment, the winner of the Powerball jackpot.

NANCY TOLINO, TRAFFIC REPORTER: (Unintelligible) but I wish I had the money and I would just start giving it out.

FEYERICK: Put the words Powerball winner together with morning radio show and it should come as no surprise. It was a hoax. Listeners were let in on the joke before the show ended.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one the greatest belated April Fool's jokes that have ever been played on anybody.

FEYERICK: Even the station's promotions manager was fooled. He told CNN. CNN told its viewers.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we know who bought at least one of the winning Powerball tickets.

FEYERICK: Once the joke was up, journalists who came to the radio station to cover the would-be millionaire got booted instead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They run a hoax and they kick us all out. Screw him.

FEYERICK: Compared to past stunts, this one was pretty mild. No one has sex in a cathedral like in New York and there were no topless women riding around in busses. Critics of such over-the-top tactics say they're clear acts of desperation.

BROOKE GLADDSTONE, NPR'S "ON THE MEDIA": The whole radio landscape is very crowded, very samey, and listening is going down. Listenership is going down, so what do you do if you can't be Howard Stern, you got to be something.

FEYERICK: According to FCC regulations the station broke no rules. No one was hurt though some reporters did try finding the dark side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If somebody listened to your show and they would have torn up their ticket before they checked on it...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? Because they hear on your show.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's $260 million. Wouldn't they check anyway?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't matter -- if they hurt -- no.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Now, as for the radio show, they've got something called phone scam Fridays so you can pretty much bet that somebody will fall prey to another stunt sometime soon -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So, instead of somebody getting in trouble at that station, it sounds like they're pretty pleased with themselves getting all the free publicity.

FEYERICK: I think they are delighted that they got all the free publicity, in fact, and I think they are actually stunned that they got so much publicity.

KAGAN: They are stunned. We were stunned a little, too, when we figured out exactly what was going on.

Deb Feyerick, thank you for that.

With us now from Washington, Howard Kurtz of "The Washington Post" and CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES, or, in this case, the unreliable sources variety, as we found out today.

Howard, good evening. Thanks for being with us.

HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Thank you.

KAGAN: Who's fault is this, really? Is this the radio station for doing a stunt like that or the media sources -- and it wasn't just CNN -- that fell for it?

KURTZ: Well, I like dumb radio as much as the next guy. But when you are reporting something that's supposed to be a story, then you are getting into pseudo-journalism and you are asking your listening to trust you. And then you are saying, hah, it was all a joke -- not a very funny joke, in my view, in part because something like that bounces through the media echo chamber.

CNN looks foolish, because it didn't do the basic thing that we're all taught: Make a phone call. Check it out. Get it confirmed. Don't take somebody's word for it.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: But, Howard, before you say, CNN in fact did do that. We went and checked with the P.R. director of the radio station, who confirmed it. So the P.R. director is now claiming that they didn't know that they were in on the joke, that they thought it was true. But CNN did do due diligence, didn't just take it for what it was worth. And they still got tricked.

(CROSSTALK)

KURTZ: CNN didn't go to an independent source, like somebody associated with the lottery. Instead, it took the radio station's word for it. As the setup piece just made clear, the radio station, "Morning Zoo Show" and lottery isn't always a trustworthy combination.

KAGAN: So who gets hurt in this?

KURTZ: Well, the media looked foolish. No great surprise there. The radio station, they seem to be having a great time, because they got publicity. But I think, if I was a listener of that radio station, I would wonder about things that I heard in the future.

This is not the only such scam we've all been subjected to. Just the other day, a Miami radio station reported, perhaps based on a hoax on the Internet, that Congresswoman Katherine Harris had been killed in a plane crash. Not true. She's alive and well -- again, a news story, or something masquerading as a news story.

I think, ultimately, I'm not against people having a good time. If Howard Stern wants to interview lesbians, that's great. But, ultimately, when these stations get into reporting something that looks and smells like news and it turns out to be a fake, which is -- a hoax is a polite way of saying that it's a lie -- we all look stupid.

KAGAN: And so in this environment -- and you heard a bit of this in Deborah Feyerick's piece -- in this environment, where there are so many channels, and you have the Internet, and you have all these radio stations, and the competition to get attention is so fierce, does the media kind of deserve a kick in the pants every once in awhile like this to remind us that we need to dot the I's and cross the T's?

KURTZ: I think that's right. Fortunately, it wasn't a more serious story, like somebody being killed, which people think is hilarious, for some reason. But if there's a lesson here, that even if a seemingly reputable radio station says it's true and you make a phone call to the radio station program manager or promotion director and he says it's true, that doesn't necessarily mean it is true.

But we are all so caught up now, in this cable-Internet age, with getting it on the air, getting it quick. You don't want to fall behind. The other stations might have it. And I think, for those reasons, standards get lowered a little bit, or at least the haste to be on top of the story makes you not do the double-checking that you might have done in an earlier, slower era. So, perhaps there is a lesson here for all of us, for viewers and listeners to be a little skeptical of everything they hear, and for news professionals, which we're supposed to be, to check things out a little more thoroughly.

KAGAN: So, not to equate this with "The New York Times" scandal with Jayson Blair, but it does come kind of on the heels of that. The people out there who are looking for credible sources, how do you know who to believe?

KURTZ: Well, I don't want to equate it with what's happened at "The Times," because that was a very serious case of intentional fabrication and plagiarism, of which "The Times" has certainly paid a price in the court of public opinion.

This, I suppose the radio station people would say, well, we are just fooling around. We're just having fun. It's freak-out Friday, or whatever the slogan is. But I think, when you have enough of these things -- there have also been a lot of Internet hoaxes, some of which have made their way into the mainstream media -- people out there, understandably, become a little skeptical of even the more serious news that they hear.

How do we really know that it is true? How do we know, when CNN says anonymous sources say something is true, that there really are anonymous sources? I think that's unfair. What serious news organizations do is very different from a radio hoax. But it just eats away a little bit at the credibility that all of us in the media at least try to have.

KAGAN: And just finally, Howard, the Walkenbachs in Missouri, they have claimed one ticket. That means there is still one out there. You don't have that winning ticket, do you? You're not buying drinks for everything after the show?

KURTZ: I don't know who has it. I am sure we will find out soon enough. And I bet that CNN will want two sources when that name surfaces.

KAGAN: That we will. And we are going to take your word for that, that you don't have it. We're going to single-source on that one.

KURTZ: OK. KAGAN: Howard Kurtz, thank you for that. Appreciate your insight tonight.

KURTZ: Thank you.

KAGAN: Still ahead: There are new guidelines out there to ensure that you are prepared in case of an emergency.

And next: The Lakers' Kobe Bryant, he hasn't been charged with anything, but could all this talk of sexual misconduct still hurt his game?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And up next, we're going to talk more money, the multimillion-dollar image of Kobe Bryant.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: It is quite possible that Kobe Bryant won't have to set one inch of his 6 foot, 7 frame into a courtroom anytime soon. A prosecutor in western Colorado says it'll be Tuesday at least before he says whether the NBA star will be charged with sexual misconduct involving a 19-year-old woman. And he's made it clear that Bryant may not be charged with anything at all.

The question we wanted to look at tonight: whether allegations alone will affect Kobe Inc., his many endorsement deals, and his power to get more deals done in the future.

Joining us now from Los Angeles, sports management consultant David Carter of the Sports Business Group.

Good evening. Thanks for joining us.

DAVID CARTER, SPORTS BUSINESS GROUP: Thank you. How are you?

KAGAN: I am doing fine, probably doing better than Kobe Bryant is tonight, even though we are talking about someone who is innocent until proven guilty.

But, with that in mind, if everything goes ahead, not a single charge comes up on this, how much in terms of dollars has this cost Kobe Bryant?

CARTER: Well, ironically, if nothing comes of this and he is fully exonerated and it looks as though there was some kind of a conspiracy or perhaps he was set up, he will come across as a very sympathetic figure and he'll do just fine.

I think there is such an outpouring of support for him right now that, should that happen, I think he's going to be just fine. It's what happens beyond that that really gets him into trouble.

KAGAN: Well, let's get to this outpouring of support. Don't you find that absolutely amazing, in this day in age when people are so quick to convict in the media and especially a sports celebrity? How do you explain all the support that Kobe Bryant is getting, especially there in Los Angeles?

CARTER: Well, I think there are a couple of things. And in Los Angeles, you are getting a Kobe update as if it's the traffic report. It's every 10 minutes on what's going on. And it's really become its own little cottage industry this last few days.

And I think there's really a couple of things that are in play. The first one is, he has a very great personality, extraordinarily poised. His relationships with the media in Los Angeles and, indeed, all over the country, are great. So a typically skeptical media, like you were describing in the last segment, is really giving him the benefit of the doubt. And they're somewhat insulating him. They're not being quick to judge him.

In fact, they are being very quick to circle the wagons around him. And I think combining that with his media savviness over the years has played very favorably for him at this point.

KAGAN: Let's look at some of his specific endorsement deals. Recently, he just signed a $45 million shoe contract with Nike. That seems to be in place.

CARTER: That does seem to be in place.

And I think that Nike and the fact that that company is rooted in athletics and athleticism might be a different kind of a relationship than he might have with more mainstream consumer product companies, like a McDonald's or a Sprite, for instance.

KAGAN: Yes, and I want to get to those in just a minute. But, first of all, I want to just throw something at you that I had just heard kind of circulated out there, that something like this, in terms of a shoe contract, might actually help Kobe Bryant, because he doesn't have street cred, as you might say, because he's too nice of a guy. And, in fact, it's the bad guys out there, like Allen Iverson, are the ones that really are selling the shoes to the kids.

CARTER: I really don't buy that, because, to me, they both have street credibility.

And I have been thinking all along that it just so happens that their streets are in different neighborhoods, if you will, because a guy like Kobe Bryant, who is really an international icon, really selling to mainstream audiences, major consumer product companies, really that blue-chip kind of a guy, whereas Allen Iverson is much more of an image that is being created to help sell shoes.

Kobe's much more of a mainstream guy that plays really not just domestically, but abroad as well. So I think the people they are selling to are very different. And they still have that credibility. But, again, I think Kobe's is much more mainstream.

KAGAN: Yes, and some of those mainstream companies, you mentioned McDonald's and also Sprite. What if this turns out, no charge is filed, but it just ends up -- and I'm just throwing it out there -- that Kobe cheated on his wife? That would not be a big deal in the NBA. That wouldn't make news at all, except that he has one of the squeakiest, cleanest images I think since A.C. Green went through the league.

CARTER: Oh, that's a great memory. That's right.

But I think, when you come to the street credibility, if it's an indiscretion like that -- albeit not a very good one, but if it's an indiscretion like that -- there is a message of street credibility to that, if you will, because I think a lot people would say, hey, the guy is human. He made a mistake. There is relatability factor to something like that.

When you are talking about sexual assault, there is no street credibility attached to that from anybody in any walk of life at this point to think that is an all right way to handle yourself. So I guess there is a measure of acceptance. It'll be a case of forgive and remember, I guess, with Kobe. But he will be able to maintain those relationships. He'll have to manage himself well. He'll have to come out with a great strategy, a great P.R. platform. But he's been surrounded by fantastic people. And he'll be able to get over that much more easily than most folks.

KAGAN: All right, we look forward to seeing how the story unfolds.

David Carter, thanks for your expertise in the area of sports marketing. Appreciate it this evening.

CARTER: Thank you.

KAGAN: Before we go to break, we have a few more stories to share with you from around the world.

First stop tonight: Botswana, a country torn apart by AIDS. President Bush got a warm greeting there today. He reiterated his pledge to help Africa fight AIDS. But, even as he spoke, Congress was nibbling away at funding that he wants to do the job.

Tropical Storm Claudette is making for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Hurricane warnings have been posted for the entire length of the eastern Yucatan, including the Port of Cancun and Cozumel Island. The storm is expected to make landfall some time late tonight or early tomorrow.

And a heartbreaking moment to share from Iran. Separate coffins bearing two formerly conjoined twin sisters come home. The twins died in Singapore during an operation to separate them. They are separate. A friend of the family said they are separate and they rest in peace.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: inside President Truman's diaries and the story that was overlooked. Plus, the man who left his mark in grocery stores around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: There was a time a while back when it seemed like the two funniest words of a late-night comic could say was duct tape. But the fact is, it is entirely reasonable and not laughable to make some preparations for the worst. And nowhere is that more true than right here in New York City, a target in the past and, sad to say, could be in the future as well.

The city today is launching an effort to get New Yorkers better prepared. We figured it would also apply to you at home, no matter what city you're living in.

Joining us now: John Odermatt, commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Office.

Good evening. Thanks for stopping by.

JOHN ODERMATT, COMMISSIONER, NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICE: Good evening. Thanks for having us.

KAGAN: You came with stuff.

ODERMATT: I did.

KAGAN: You came with what you call a go bag. What's a go bag? And what's in it?

ODERMATT: I brought a go bag. And you're right. It's not just for New York City. The folks that are watching this have the ability now to go on our Web site and be prepared to have -- and our motto, obviously, is three. It's on here. It's what to have in your head, what to have in your hand, and what to have in your home.

KAGAN: All right, quickly, as we said, it's called a go bag. Some of the things that you've chosen to have in here -- yes, feel free to get it and reach over, if you can.

ODERMATT: Sure.

Well, if you take a look, some of things that we're recommending, obviously, is to have a local map, a flashlight, some available water, a first-aid kid, a radio, in case your local broadcast media is not able to broadcast, and then, obviously, some sturdy shoes and a sturdy bag. That way, in case you have to evacuate from your home, you are able to just grab the bag and go out and be able to...

KAGAN: And to be able to go.

ODERMATT: Survive and just go right away to another location.

KAGAN: It's an anything concept, because we hear about having stuff in your home, having the canned food and having the bottled water there. But you are talking about, home might, potentially, not be the place you want to stay.

ODERMATT: That's true. There are going to be certain instances where public safety officials will recommend sheltering in place. And then there are going to be instances where they're going to recommend that you evacuate. And in those cases, some of those things that you want in your home are the same things that are in the go bag. And we're recommending that you have something ready, so that yourself and your loved ones can get out immediately.

KAGAN: Now, part of your job is to think about all the bad stuff that could potentially happen?

ODERMATT: That's true, yes.

KAGAN: Yes. What kind of things are you planning and anticipating that could possibly happen here in New York City?

ODERMATT: Well, there are things that occur naturally. There are natural disasters that occur in New York City, as well as manmade disasters. There are chemical incidents. There can be a hurricane, severe weather.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: But let's be honest. Since 9/11, we're talking about a different world and a different kind of preparedness. What kind of lessons were learned on 9/11 that you wish people had been in place, besides go bags, that would have made things go better on that day?

ODERMATT: Well, I don't know. I think the city's response to 9/11 was just incredible.

Obviously, as we look back at 9/11 and since I have become the commissioner, we want to make sure that, at the city level, people understand that the city has an enormous capability to respond. But in personal cases, for household preparedness, we want them to have the ability, the choices, to have something to go, in case they do have to evacuate, or if there's going to be a circumstance where they have to shelter in place.

KAGAN: You take a chance when you come and do something public like this. Of course, the intent is to come out and say, get ready and help police and fire do their job, if something bad happens. But there's plenty of folks watching back home who are thinking: It's looking pretty darn dangerous. I'm not going to New York City.

And is that the message you are trying to get out?

ODERMATT: Absolutely not.

New York City is the safest city in the entire country. There's no question about that, as far as law enforcement goes, as far as firefighting operations, and, of course, in terms of preparedness. In fact, CNN was the one who voted us the most prepared city in a survey. So we are the most prepared city. And we continue to be.

And this is something simply to help New Yorkers, and now nationwide, now that I'm on the nationwide television, to tell people that they...

KAGAN: Actually worldwide, in fact.

ODERMATT: Worldwide, in fact, yes.

KAGAN: You are telling the world tonight, John.

ODERMATT: Well, I am telling the world tonight that New York is a great place. And people should continue to come here. In fact, a study today showed that people are moving into New York. And it's a great place to be. And we continue to help New Yorkers prepare.

KAGAN: Well, we appreciate that. And we wish you safe travels tonight. John Odermatt, thanks for stopping by and thanks for letting us know what's inside the go bag.

ODERMATT: Thank you very much. Thank you.

KAGAN: Appreciate that.

Well, a story now that proves the work of historians is often a matter of happy accidents. That certainly is the case for historians of the 33rd American president, a surprise discovery of a diary mistakenly cataloged for 38 years, a diary that seems to confirm something that Harry Truman denied for years, that he courted a certain general to replace him as the Democratic president. Nobody, it seemed, knew whether the general was a Republican or a Democrat at the time. Ike would run a few years later as, of course, as a Republican.

Here now, CNN's Bruce Morton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In July 1947, Truman met with Dwight Eisenhower about to take over as president of Columbia University. Truman wrote that he and Ike both thought Douglas MacArthur would run as a Republican, adding. . .

RAY GESELBRACHT, TRUMAN LIBRARY: "I told Ike, " Truman records, 'that if MacArthur did that, he, Ike, should announce for the nomination for president on the Democratic ticket and that I'd be glad to be in second place, or vice president. I like the Senate anyway. Icon Ike could be elected and my family and myself would be happy outside this great while jail, known as the White House."

MORTON: General MacArthur didn't run that year, so nothing came of it.

But Mr. Truman, are you happy in the White House? Oh, yes. January 6. . .

GESELBRACHT: "Anyone with imagination can see ol' Jim Buchanan walking up and down, worrying about conditions not of his making. Then there's Van Buren who inherited a terrible mess from his predecessor as did poor old James Madison. Of course Andrew Johnson was the worst mistreated of them all.

"But they all walk up and down the halls of this please and moan about what they should have done and didn't. So the tortured souls who were and are misrepresented in history are the ones who come back. It's a hell of a place."

MORTON: President Harry Truman, in 1947, talking about the ghosts, who shared his house.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT: remembering the man who changed the way we all make a grilled-cheese sandwich.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We learned today of the death of Arnold N. Nawrocki. He was 78 years old. Chances are, that name might escape you. Arnold N. Nawrocki didn't do any road movies or lead a major world religion, but he was part of your life just the same. We can assure you of that. And he still is.

Arnold N. Nawrocki was big in cheese.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): You can pretty much divide the history of cheese as we know into two eras, before Nawrocki and after.

For the better part of five millennia, the cheese world looked like this. From cow or sheep or goat or water buffalo, the milk would be milked, the curd curdled. And few weeks or months later, a guy in an apron with a knife in his hand would cut you a hunk or a chunk or a lump.

But what if you wanted a slice? It melts better than a hunk. It doesn't roll off the top of a sandwich, fits better in a lunch box. But for the better part of five millennia, a slice was strictly do it yourself. Now, if you are thinking Arnold N. Nawrocki's big idea was slicing cheese, not quite. Kraft got their first back in the '40s.

But no sooner than someone said, eureka, sliced cheese, someone else said: Sliced cheese, is that it? Arnold N. Nawrocki's big idea was individual wrapping, which isn't easy to do. He tried wax paper, but no go. He tried different machines, but no luck, until he hit on this, patent No. 2759308. It beat Kraft by a quarter-century.

And during an era of cutthroat technological competition with the Soviets, it beat Sputnik by a year.

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KAGAN: In all, Mr. Nawrocki retired with 12 patents to his name and $1 for each one of the companies that he worked for. He was a shy man, said his son, who once called him the most famous nonfamous person he knew. Hopefully, Mr. Nawrocki has a little slice of heaven tonight.

That's it for NEWSNIGHT. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you tomorrow night.

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