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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
U.S. Northeast Hit With Snow Storm; No Suspects in Luna Slaying; Eminem in Trouble With Secret Service
Aired December 05, 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.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
A person I know quite well had this great idea. He traded in his sedan for an SUV. He didn't really want an SUV. In fact, he tells me he feels sort of stupid and wasteful in it but the sedan didn't drive very well in the snow and he was certain that if he dropped down some cash on that SUV his problems would be solved.
It wouldn't snow and then he could feel both a little poorer and a lot foolish but he could get safely to work and such. Tonight my friend, we'll call him Aaron, can only feel poorer.
We begin "The Whip" with a nasty winter, well not technically winter, storm and the whip begins in Times Square, New York, CNN's Jason Carroll, Jason I can imagine the headline.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure you can, Aaron. The first storm of the season is officially here. It has blanketed the northeast and the southeast with snow and it's not over yet. More expected tonight as well as tomorrow -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jason, thank you.
Next to the murdered prosecutor, a federal U.S. attorney, CNN's Kelli Arena has been working that today, Kelli a headline.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the gory details of murdered Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Luna's final hours are coming to light but if investigators have any suspects they're not saying.
BROWN: Kelli, thank you.
To the White House next where an old friend of the family is getting the call to help with Iraq, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has the watch and the story and the headline.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House knows for Bush to win reelection he has got to make two economies work that is one at home and one in Iraq. That is why today President Bush announced the appointment of a political powerhouse to get Iraq's financial house in order.
BROWN: Suzanne, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly. Also ahead on the program tonight, the family of baseball great Mickey Mantle selling off hundreds of pieces of memorabilia, is an attempt to reach financial security sacrificing Mickey Mantle's history?
The rapper Eminem's mouth has gotten him in trouble before but never with the Secret Service until now.
And later, we'll give you a jump on Saturday with a check of your morning papers which may or may not make it to your doorstep depending on where you live, all that and more in the hour ahead.
But unlike those other ten o'clock newscasts we don't make you wait for the weather. It is where we begin tonight with two storms, one after the other that have turned everything east of the Ohio and north of the Shenandoah into an icy, snowy mess.
A view of the White House tonight, tough to judge traffic conditions of course because it is pedestrians only for security reasons on this old stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue.
But it was a real mess on the roads in and around the District today from snow at times, sleet at others, freezing rain in spots. The headline up on "The Washington Post" Web site reads "One storm down, one to go." More snow expected to fall overnight.
On to Pittsburgh, somewhat better suited to rough weather, one band of snow hit town right at rush hour and the National Weather Service expects another four to eight inches overnight with the possibility of much more in the outlying areas but they're hearty folks. They're used to it.
To the east in Philadelphia, in addition to the storm warning there is also a flood watch in effect forecasters predicting very high winds as well, an unpleasant night there.
Needless to say it was a rotten day for people on the street, an expensive day for drivers. There were so many fender benders a local radio traffic reporter called it a $500 deductible day.
And here in New York looking at Times Square it is beautiful more or less. New York always looks good dressed up in white and we'll think so, oh we'll say for another 55 minutes or so until we get in the car and make our way home.
That's the weather whip. More details now from CNN's Jason Carroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): The first winter storm of the season triggered storm warnings from Virginia to Ohio to Maine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my type of weather. I'm a winter baby. CARROLL: Easy for a New Yorker to say, not so easy for drivers in the southeast. In Gaithersburg, Maryland, just one word needed to describe the roads.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awful, horrible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Messy.
CARROLL: In Philadelphia, no need for words, one sound says it all. Stalled and sliding cars had weather veterans feeling like first storm freshmen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I grew up in upstate New York so I thought I could handle this and, you know, it wouldn't be a problem but, you know, I came out this far. It looks like I'm stuck here now.
CARROLL: So is Erin McKay (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just kind of staying here and waiting for a friend to come help me out.
CARROLL: Eight to ten inches expected in Philadelphia but the National Weather Service says the southeast has already seen the worst, good news for people like Jean Wilkes (ph) in Sterling, Virginia.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know that they tried to tell us but I was so surprised that there was this much snow, a little unprepared.
CARROLL: They are prepared in New York, plenty of plows, hats and hoods but little patience for making snowballs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on we got the light. Hurry up.
CARROLL: The worst for New York is yet to come. About a foot should fall here by late Saturday. New England could end up getting even more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And the storm system is expected to move toward New England in just about two hours from now. That's when that part of the country is expected to get hit with all of the snow and the sleet. Cities like Boston expecting anywhere between ten and 16 inches but, as you said Aaron, right here in Times Square things looking just beautiful -- Aaron.
BROWN: This is perhaps more personal than we ought to get on the program but is it actually snowing now in the city?
CARROLL: It's a very light snow, a light, wet snow but it is technically, yes, still snowing right now so by the time you go out and get in your car it's probably still going to be snowing.
BROWN: Thank you, 54 minutes to find out. Thank you, Jason very much. On to other news tonight, more is known about the murder of a federal prosecutor the first such killing in three years in the country according to the Justice Department. The coroner today gave a preliminary report. It speaks to how Jonathan Luna was killed, his body left in Pennsylvania.
The search goes on for the why and the who again, CNN's Kelli Arena.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (voice-over): Sources close to the investigation say prosecutor Jonathan Luna left the Baltimore Courthouse where he worked at 11:40 Wednesday night. The last person he is known to have spoken to a defense attorney he was working out a plea agreement with.
ARCANGELO TUMINELLI, ATTORNEY: He called at 9:06 and advised me that he had left the office. He had to go home but he was returning to the office.
ARENA: Investigators have been able to track some of Luna's movements after he left work but still there are more questions than answers. Luna was working on a plea deal in a heroin case. Defense lawyers do not believe their clients played any role in Luna's murder.
Kenneth Ravenell represents Deon Smith an aspiring rap artist.
KENNETH RAVENELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: First of all, my client there is no evidence in his past of any violence of his nature. Secondly, he had the plea that he had asked for.
ARENA: Investigators say after leaving work Luna did not head home but took a non-direct route to Pennsylvania. Electronic records show that he made two stops along the way.
It is not clear whether he was alone or at what point he was stabbed. Officials say his car was found idling 70 miles away in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, his body underneath.
Money and Luna's cell phone were found in the car. The interior was drenched in blood. Sources describe the killing as brutal. Torture wounds were found on Luna's torso and he was stabbed as many as 36 times, his lungs filled with creek water.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: Sources say investigators are looking into past cases that Luna worked on to see if there's any possible connection. They're conducting interviews and they are scouring video records. Investigators say until they know more they're pursuing every possible scenario -- Aaron.
BROWN: Video records of what?
ARENA: There are some electronic records of some of the stops that he made along the way. BROWN: Got it.
ARENA: Without getting into very specific detail they're looking at some of those tapes -- Aaron.
BROWN: Toll booths and that sort of thing I suspect.
ARENA: Yes.
BROWN: He looks like a, he looked like a pretty young man. Had he been on the job long? Were there many cases in his background?
ARENA: Well there are quite a few in his background and so that's what investigators are thumbing through right now. Of course, you know when this first broke there was a lot of discussion about whether or not the two individuals that were involved in this plea agreement may have been involved.
But investigators are very privately saying now, Aaron that they don't believe that that's the case, that this was a plea agreement that they were very happy with and their focus is not primarily there at this point.
BROWN: Just quickly then because it sort of begs the question do you have any sense that they have a focus at this point?
ARENA: They don't.
BROWN: Okay.
ARENA: They don't, Aaron. They are really not closing any door. I mean obviously they're thinking robbery was not a motive because money was still in the vehicle.
They are shying away from at least those two men that they reached a plea agreement with but that doesn't necessarily mean that there wasn't someone who was a friend or affiliated in some way with that case that may have been involved. So, still many, many questions and there's nothing that is pointing in any one direction at this point.
BROWN: Kelli, thank you very much, Kelli Arena in Washington tonight.
ARENA: You're welcome.
BROWN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the president calls in an old friend to help straighten out Iraq that as another explosion takes American and Iraqi lives and the head American there warns of more trouble to come.
And the selling of the Mick, hundreds of pieces of Mickey Mantle memorabilia go on sale as his family tries to ensure its financial future.
It's a Friday night in New York and this is NEWSNIGHT. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Two major developments out of Iraq today. Paul Bremer, the top civilian administrator warned of bloody days to come in the next few months and events today bore him out.
But if the pictures tonight look grim the military believes the larger picture is somewhat better if you can see beyond what was a pretty bad day, reporting for us tonight CNN's Walter Rodgers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This Baghdad bus was so badly shattered in the roadside bomb blast you would have thought it was the guerrilla's primary target.
Three people, including the driver, were killed aboard the bus, 11 other civilians are in hospital. The bus was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Iraqi insurgents' primary target was a U.S. military convoy.
WALID ABDUL SATTOR, WITNESS (through translator): I heard a large explosion on the main street. I saw American hummers. One was hit and the other pulled up a little further. Two injured soldiers got out of the vehicle and the American driver was dead and slumped over the steering wheel.
RODGERS: These attacks on civilians and coalition forces are likely to increase in coming months according to the U.S. civilian administrator here Paul Bremer. These attacks, Bremer said, will be aimed at disrupting the American experiment, rebuilding Iraq after Saddam. Despite this attack on a U.S. convoy, American military officials here claim they have actually been successful in reducing attacks down to about 19 a day.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, COALITION MILITARY: We certainly hope that the offensive operations that are being conducted against the enemy in Baghdad have sent a clear message to the terrorists that we will come after you. We will kill you or we will capture you.
RODGERS (on camera): And on the political front the Iraqis are moving toward a war crimes tribunal on the assumption if you cannot catch Saddam Hussein you can try him in absentia.
Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: On now to the question of money, put simply Iraq owes the rest of the world a small fortune. The debts are many and the country is in no position to pay.
So, like a family that can't make monthly mortgage payments, the White House is calling in a credit counselor, if you will, someone who can make a few calls himself and, it is hoped, keep the bill collectors at bay until finances improve; from the White House tonight CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush took a major step today in his goal of establishing a free and democratic Iraq as soon as possible a big part of that getting the war-torn nation out from under its crippling $125 billion debt.
So the president is appointing long time family friend and international powerhouse, former Secretary of States James A. Baker, III, to serve as his personal envoy to get the job done.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: He is extraordinarily effective as a diplomat and he knows how to fashion an argument and also how to arm twist so he's good at both the old Texas cajolery and also the old Texas pressure politics when he needs to.
MALVEAUX: Baker headed up Bush's strategy team during the Florida ballot recount battle. He also served as secretary of treasury under President Ronald Reagan and under Bush's father's term won broad international support for the first Gulf War.
In a statement, President Bush said: "The future of the Iraqi people should not be mortgaged to the enormous burden of debt incurred to enrich Saddam Hussein's regime. This debt endangers Iraq's long- term prospects for political help and economic prosperity."
Mr. Bush said the appointment was in response to a request for assistance from the U.S.-backed Iraq Governing Council. Of the nearly $125 billion Iraqi foreign debt nearly $40 billion is owed to a consortium including the U.S., France, Germany, Japan, and Russia, and at least $80 billion more to Arab nations and others.
O'HANLON: There could be some kind of a coordinated process in which many countries would simultaneously accept a reduction in what's paid back to them but many countries don't want to be the first to volunteer because they fear they will be the ones who get penalized.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now in the debate leading up to the war, Baker raised some eyebrows in an op-ed piece in the "New York Times" that he wrote saying the only effective way to bring about regime change in Iraq is through military force but he did urge President Bush to get the approval of the United Nations. Now some analysts believe that that position gives Baker even more credibility in trying to seek international support this time around -- Aaron.
BROWN: Just finish that thought because he is someone who is known to believe in multilateral actions?
MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely. He's seen as a credible player. He's seen as a world leader. Also one of the things, of course, somewhat ironic in this is at the International Donors Conference in Madrid, the United States was able to get more international support but it was in the form of loans not grants.
One of the arguments that the administration is going to make is that look we put $87 billion on the line, $18 billion of that for reconstruction, all in the form of grants, not loans. We're doing our part. You should go ahead and do yours -- Aaron.
BROWN: Suzanne, thank you very much, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.
Some other stories making news around the world today, in southern Russia a powerful and horrible bomb ripped through a commuter train near the volatile region of Chechnya killing at least 41 people, another 150 injured by the blast.
Officials say a suicide bomber carried out the attack with three accomplices. Russia's justice minister says the bombing is linked to Chechen rebels fighting for a breakaway Muslim republic.
The FBI is now helping police in Brazil investigate the grisly killing of an American couple in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most violent cities in Latin America.
They had just moved there, the couple had, three months ago with their four children. Sunday morning their 10-year-old son found his parents bludgeoned in their bedroom, no valuables taken, no signs of a break-in and practically no clues at all.
Some relief in France where swollen rivers are now subsiding as offers of aid pour in from other EU countries. Today, officials said more than 27,000 people, including some 193 prison inmates, some jailed for terrorism, were evacuated during the severe flooding caused by heavy rains this week. At least seven people died most around Marseilles, which has now been declared a disaster area.
Coming up on NEWSNIGHT selling the number seven your chance to get a piece of the Mick and a chance for his family to set their financial future.
On CNN this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Anyone willing to brave New York City in this weather will have a chance this weekend to preview hundreds of items that once belonged to Mickey Mantle. They go on the auction block Monday at Madison Square Garden, even his MVP awards from 1957 and 1962.
It's not the first auction of the legend's belongings but for Mr. Mantle's family, who knew and loved the man as well as the icon, it was not an easy decision.
Here's CNN's Josie Burke.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The walls in Merlyn Mantle's Dallas apartment are there. There are still portraits and pictures of her Hall of Fame husband.
MERLYN MANTLE, MICKEY MANTLE'S WIDOW: And this picture is special to me. It's -- this was on a magazine and so those are things that, you know, I want my children to have.
BURKE: It will stay but many other precious family mementos will go. Merlyn and her two sons, Danny and David, are auctioning off hundreds of pieces of Mantle memorabilia. Their decision to part with a large portion of family history was gut-wrenching.
M. MANTLE: It was very difficult I think to think about, you know, because we all had so many things in storage.
DAVID MANTLE, MICKEY'S SON: We're all sentimental towards, you know, certain things except I'm very, like my mom, I don't want to give anything up.
DANNY MANTLE, MICKEY'S SON: You kind of feel like well, you know, should you put a note in it please make sure this goes to somewhere special.
BURKE: This treasure trove of Mickey Mantle artifacts is unusual because it comes straight from the player's family, a family that has dealt with its share of tragedy.
Before his death in 1995, Mantle admitted he had been a flawed father and husband. Two of his four sons have died. Every member of his immediate family has battled alcoholism and addiction. Merlyn, David and Danny have survived and don't want this auction to be viewed as another misfortune.
DAVID MANTLE: From the start we've shared dad, you know, our, my whole life with the world and this way we're just taking that sharing a little bit farther.
DANNY MANTLE: You know we're hopeful that keeping my dad's name out, you know, the next generations will remember him as well as the generation now.
BURKE: There are going to be some people who will hear about the auction and say, oh, how could they do that? What would you say to them?
M. MANTLE: I can see where they would do that probably but I think he would want us to do this. I really do. I don't feel bad about doing this.
BURKE: The family hopes to use part of the proceeds from the auction to pay for Mantle's four grandchildren to attend college and buy homes. With more than 300 items on sale including two of Mantle's three MVP trophies it should bring in millions, yet some keepsakes were too valuable to share, like Mantle's Hall of Fame ring.
DANNY MANTLE: I have the only grandson and one day he will wear this ring and I wear it. Now I don't wear it a lot and, you know, it just keeps my dad close to me. BURKE: And that's a feeling that can't be sold.
Josie Burke, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Fifth is a milestone that can bring out the snark in even the most well-mannered souls, the half (unintelligible) jokes, allusions to mid-life crisis, hard to resist and when your target audience, the hearts and minds you're trying to capture is 18 to 24 and you turn 50 well it's safe to say many will be wondering if you can stay in the game, CNN's Jeff Greenfield tonight on "Playboy" at 50.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): In the first year of Ike's presidency...
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So help me God.
GREENFIELD: ...in the last year of the Korean War, when Senator Joseph McCarthy was hunting down subversives...
JOSEPH MCCARTHY: Anyone who is serving the communist cause.
GREENFIELD: When "I Love Lucy" ruled the airwaves.
LUCILLE BALL, "I LOVE LUCY": Ricky, this is it.
GREENFIELD: And could not use the word pregnant when she became pregnant. When movies needed a license from the government and celluloid sex was by innuendo only.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You'll find that most people are willing to meet you half way.
GREENFIELD: Into this world a 27-year-old would-be publisher named Hugh Hefner scraped a few thousand dollars together and launched "Playboy," an enterprise so uncertain there was no date on the first issue because it wasn't clear when or whether there'd be a second one.
Well those photos from Marilyn Monroe's famous calendar answered that question. "Playboy" became one of the most successful publishing ventures in history reaching a peak circulation of seven million per month in the U.S. alone back in 1971.
(on camera): But there's more to this story than the unsurprising fact that there's a large audience for pictures of naked women. "Playboy" was a very early sign that in post-war America cultural and moral standards were under siege.
(voice-over): There's always been sex for sale, of course, but it was found in places like burlesque houses where the sense of something forbidden was in the air. "Playboy" in Hefner's words featured the girl next door, wholesome, peppy women who could have been college cheerleaders and sometimes were.
Sex was presented not as furtive but as part of the good life just like the sleek cars, the hi-fi systems, the bachelor pads and other material pleasures celebrated in the magazine and showcased in its TV shows like "Playboy's Penthouse."
HUGH HEFNER: Glad you could join us this evening.
GREENFIELD: And "Playboy After Dark." A decade before the birth control pill, "Playboy" offered sex as a birthright of the modern sophisticated man and woman in its open celebration of sex outside of marriage, in its celebration of material pleasure.
It was a clear challenge to convention just as "Mad" magazine warned just a year earlier was a satirical challenge to everything from comic book heroes to the ludicrous claims of advertising.
"Playboy" also packaged its more obvious charms in between stories and articles by real writers, Irwin Shaw, Norman Mailer, Ray Bradbury. It ran lengthy interviews from personalities from Malcolm X to Jimmy Carter.
"Playboy" is where Carter confessed to lusting in his heart for other women. This gave the magazine respectability and birth to claims of millions of young men who said I read "Playboy" but I read it for the articles. Yeah.
It didn't shy from controversy, defending and showcasing comedian Lenny Bruce and editorializing for an end to the nuclear arms race. This 50-year-old is showing its age.
The "Playboy" clubs with their rabbit-eared bunnies are gone. It's three million circulation is less than half its peak and its founder with his twins or triplets or sextuplets is not exactly a role model for the Viagra generation.
(on camera): But nothing can change the fact that "Playboy" magazine was a signpost and a force in a genuine social revolution. Apart from that it also created a whole generation of young men who never recovered from their first sexual experience when they discovered that their partner did not have a staple in her naval.
Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: At the bottom of the hour or nearly so time for business and weather together, oh my.
With so much riding on the holiday shopping season the weekend storm here in the east is worrying the retail analysts. Weather struck just about this time last year taking a big bite at the checkout counter. The flipside is online sales went up though not enough to save the day but a factor to be sure and a growing factor it would appear this time around. The government says factory orders grew 2.2 percent in October, better than expected, demand especially strong for airliners and durable goods. Did you buy an airliner?
Unemployment fell last month to 5.9 percent. Payrolls grew more slowly than expected. Mixed report. You will recall, this is precisely the opposite of what Wall Street had expected. It was enough to send the major markets down for the day, good news/bad news announcement from Intel after yesterday's closing bell doing a number on the Nasdaq and the Dow.
Still to come on NEWSNIGHT: the rap on President Bush. Does a new Eminem song go too far?
Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: His five Grammy nominations notwithstanding, the rapper Eminem is no stranger to controversy. But even by his standards, an investigation by the Secret Service is a step up, or perhaps a step down. It seems the Secret Service has little humor where threats against the president are concerned. But is that really what the rapper has gone and done this time?
Here's Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just this week, he received five Grammy nominations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eminem for "Lose Yourself."
TUCHMAN: Eminem has enjoyed much success in his rap career, and has also enjoyed the limelight, such as when he imitated Michael Jackson on top of a hotel balcony.
But now attraction he is getting is attracting from the feds. A bootleg Eminem recording making the rounds on the Internet includes these lyrics: "
EMINEM, SINGER (singing): I don't rap for dead presidents. I'd rather see the president dead. It's never been said, but I set precedents and the standards. And they can't stand it.
TUCHMAN: Not rapping for dead presidents is slang for not rapping for money. However, the reference to -- quote -- "rather see the president dead" is what the U.S. Secret Service is looking at, spokesman John Gill saying: "We are aware of the lyric and are in the process of determining what action, if any, will be taken."
One Secret Service official does add, it would be saying too much to make too big a deal out of this. In fact, the bootleg song does not explicitly say if the president the rapper is referring to is the president of the United States. A spokesman for Eminem tells CNN: "This was an unfinished song, either lost or stolen. There was no determination where, when, how or if it was going to used."
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": Eminem is a controversy stir. That's what he does, just the same way Madonna did at the beginning of her career. They want to stir up controversy, get people talking about them, get people thinking about them.
TUCHMAN: And, indeed, that's just what we're doing.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Things have remained pretty calm in Cincinnati this week, despite the highly charged death of a black man at the hands of police. The tape of that incident has been shown countless times on national TV, but, in this case, it wasn't national TV that mattered.
Local news, TV and print can be agents of calm or chaos. And so this incident and how it was handled has become a case study in media responsibility.
We asked correspondent Ed Lavandera to take a look for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nathaniel Jones died with drugs in his system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dozens turn out, demanding answers from the police department.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One story defined Cincinnati this week. And it rekindled the memory of when racial tensions ravaged the city two years ago. So when a newscast goes on the air these days, history lessons speak loudly in Cincinnati newsrooms.
BRENNAN DONNELLAN, LOCAL NEWS DIRECTOR: We saw what happened in the past with disturbances in the streets. And no one wants that. And we certainly don't want to -- anything that we report to contribute to something like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of things in the story involving Jones.
LAVANDERA: The Nathaniel Jones story has been the main topic at editorial meetings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have the story from Stephanie (ph) on the city's image.
LAVANDERA: But, for viewers, it's all about the videotape, what's seen and what's edited out.
HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": A beating tape where the suspect dies is always going to make the police look back. But, unfortunately, the camera doesn't always capture the whole story.
LAVANDERA: Two out of four local stations aired the seven-minute tape in its entirety.
PAT CASEY, NEWS DIRECTOR, WXIX: So let the viewers decide for themselves.
LAVANDERA (on camera): No one talking over it?
CASEY: No one talking over it. Just roll it raw, let it play. And I thought it was powerful television. Got very good feedback from the viewers.
LAVANDERA: Local news editors say, readers are scrutinizing every word. Take the coverage of Nathaniel Jones' autopsy report.
THOMAS CALLINAN, "THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER": Every word that we use has got to be carefully chosen, every image that we use. Today's word, homicide, was a good example. The coroner ruled it homicide. Well, that's a very powerful word. How do you explain that in a headline?
LAVANDERA: So "The Cincinnati Enquirer" left that word off the headline and explained inside the paper why the word homicide doesn't mean the officers acted improperly.
DONNELLAN: And the local media has been more sensitive to the community, more sensitive to not being inflammatory and more sensitive to being unbiased.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a question that's been asked a lot this week.
LAVANDERA: The reporters know that, just because the national spotlight dims, it doesn't mean the story is over.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Cincinnati.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: A few other items from around the country before we go to break.
In Ohio, no end to the mystery of Interstate 270. Police have linked two more shootings to the 12 others near the highway which encircles Columbus, Ohio. No one was hurt in the latest incident, but this is serious stuff. An earlier shooting killed a 62-year-old woman. Police are now offering a $10,000 reward for information.
In Utah, a district court judge threw out a bribery charge against two men who led Salt Lake City's successful bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Tom Welch and Dave Johnson were accused of giving $1 million in cash and gifts to win the votes of the Olympic Committee delegates. The judge ruled there was insufficient evidence the money was meant as a bribe. Bad news on the flu front tonight. Two makers of the flu vaccine said today they have no more vaccine to ship. Health officials say there are plenty of doses available at hospitals and other health facilities. However, some regions tonight are reporting shortages. And, already, 13 states are reporting widespread influenza outbreaks. In Colorado alone, eight children have died.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, TV as you've never seen it and explained so even the folks who work for us can understand it. Stick around for this.
We'll take a break first.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: OK. It's Friday night. Keep that in mind.
And here's the deal. We thought about making this next segment one of our "On the Rise" segments, those stories about young, smart entrepreneurs who are going places. But, honestly, that's not really what it is.
In fact, the somewhat embarrassing truth includes three words never spoken on TV before: CNN talent show. Now, I will confess that the idea of a company talent show struck some of us fancy-dancy New Yorkers as pretty silly. And then we saw the show. It was won by a young man named Jody Friedman (ph). He has what you might call an entry-level job at CNN Headline News in Atlanta. That means he does just about every thankless task at every thankless hour, doing much of the work required to put TV news on your TV.
Imagine the mail clerk or the box boy or the receptionist at a company you know writing a song about his job and then performing it in front of all the company's big executives, and then winning enough money to repay his college loans or make a down payment on his house in one night.
That's what Jody Friedman (ph) did, not to mention winning a slot on NEWSNIGHT performing the prompter song.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go.
(singing): Prompter. I'm a prompter operator. Prompter. I'm a prompter operator. Camera one, camera two. I do what directors tell me to. I'm a prompter operator at Headline News.
Audio. I'm an audio operator. Audio. I'm an audio operator. VTRs, AFCs, tracking anchors' mikes so you can hear what you see. I'm an audio operator at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
EGO, electronic graphics operator. EGO, electronic graphics operator. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Rock 'n' rolling graphic servers make the show complete. I'm an electronic graphics operator at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Robo, a robotics camera operator. Robo, a robotics camera operator. Pan to the left. Pan to the right. Tilt and zoom and shading makes the camera so bright. I'm a robotics camera operator at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Oh, master. I'm a master control operator. Keep it going. Master. I'm a master control operator. Righting D.R.s and counting down the show, five, four, three, two, one, we're coming out to you. I'm a master control operator at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Oh, T.D., it stands for technical director. T.D. stands for technical director. White dissolves, DBS, everything you see is created by us. We're the technical directors at Headline, Headline News -- sing it -- Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Oh, director. I'm the one and only director. Oh, director, the one and only almighty director. I lead the crew because that's my job. But if you screw up, it's my butt, so don't piss me off. I'm the one and only almighty director at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Prompter, audio, EGO, robo, master, T.D., directors, we all work at Headline News.
Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Jody Friedman (ph).
Next week in this slot, highlights of the company touch football game.
Morning papers after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: The producer mistimed the program tonight.
Time to check the morning papers from around the world, and whatever else I can do to fill the available time tonight. It's always harder on Saturday. (AUDIO GAP) Two stories seem to dominate most papers I've taken a look at. Well, how would I know the ones I haven't taken a look at? "San Antonio Express-News" has them both. "Flu Death Start As Vaccine Stops." This is pretty stuff going on. Sorry about that, guys. "San Antonio Fatalities. Illness Claims Two Children and An Elderly Woman at Wilford (ph) Hall. Situation on Shots, Manufacturers Have Run Out, Can't Meet Demand Surge."
And, by the way, putting headlines like that on the paper will only increase the demand surge. It's one of those truisms, I guess. And they like this picture. "It's Snow Fun to be in New York" reads the headlines over that picture of people have snow fun, I guess. We'll get to this in a second, too, down in the corner here. "A Different Dime." There's a plan, or an idea, to take FDR off the dime and put former President Reagan on the dime. We'll talk about that in a minute.
"The Chattanooga Times Free Press." "Avoiding Bad Air Tag, Three Area Counties Push to Come Off the EPA Ozone List." So a good local story there. And this is a good story. I hadn't seen this story anywhere, actually. "Sharon Aide Calls Peace Accord Impossible. Vice Prime Minister Says Israel Should Define its Borders and Leave Parts of the Palestinian Territories With No Hope of Negotiating a Deal With the Palestinians." That's kind of an interesting tale as well.
"The Miami Herald." Now, if I'm running "The Miami Herald," I'm putting the snow in New York on the front page. And they have. "Winter Arrives." That's the same picture, isn't it, that was in the San Antonio paper. I think so. And they put the flu there, too. "Flu Vaccine Almost Gone. Demand Rises. Makers of Flu Shot Say They Have Run Out of Injected Vaccine in Bad Flu Season. Can't Make More Before It's Over." And it's probably going to cost them a bundle, too.
This is a pretty good story, too. "Nine Charged in $170 Million South Florida Bank Theft." No, it wasn't a stickup. It was somewhat more complicated than that. Thank you.
One minute to go. Here we go.
Army-Navy game tomorrow in "The Philadelphia Inquirer." This is a good story. We were working on this story. Never made it. "Racial Threats Target Eagles Wide Receiver." Freddie Mitchell and five others in the NFL got threatening death and castration letters. The FBI is investigating. I would hope so. "Doctors' Offices See Run on Flu Shot." That will increase after this segment.
Reagan in "The San Francisco Chronicle." Someone got all cranked up yesterday about the fact that I said I liked "The San Francisco Chronicle." It was amazing. "Reagan Image New Deal for the Dime? Some Republicans Aim to Honor Him. Dems See Other Side of the Coin." I saw on the wires tonight, Mrs. Reagan, Nancy Reagan, says she thinks it's a bad idea and that her husband really wouldn't want FDR taken off the dime. So I don't know that that will go anywhere. She will probably get her way.
And "The Sun Sentinel." This is actually going to be Sunday's front page in "The Sun Sentinel." But we like the paper and they've been good to us. And they're doing a big takeout on Haiti, "The Eroding Nation." "The Sun Sentinel" is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I don't know how well you can see the picture and if you can zoom in at all on it. But this is a fabulous picture on the front page.
And if you're down in Florida, or maybe to check it out on the Web, though I said that yesterday, and then someone wrote in and said, "They charge me to look at the Web," some newspaper. It's not my fault, OK? We'll wrap up tonight's top story, a wet one, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Before we go to a break tonight, a quick check on the weather, which is our top story tonight.
That's Hartford, Connecticut, a couple hours or so up the road. It could be a lot longer than that tonight, I expect, first a nor'easter and now a second blast from out of the Midwest dumping inches of snow in some places, feet in others. It's a mess from Northern Virginia all the way up to Maine, though we expect they're handling it a bit better the farther up I-95 you go. No doubt about that.
This is New York, Times Square tonight, which actually looks pretty nice, doesn't it? Well, OK, it doesn't look that nice, but it's not too terribly bad. It looks like it's stopped snowing, at least in the city, mostly.
Coming up on the program on Monday, yes, we promised it before, but it was held up by the storm or something, the Russians who are whistling Dixie these days down in Mississippi -- that and much more on Monday's edition of NEWSNIGHT.
Have a wonderful weekend.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.
And good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Slaying; Eminem in Trouble With Secret Service>
Aired December 5, 2003 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
A person I know quite well had this great idea. He traded in his sedan for an SUV. He didn't really want an SUV. In fact, he tells me he feels sort of stupid and wasteful in it but the sedan didn't drive very well in the snow and he was certain that if he dropped down some cash on that SUV his problems would be solved.
It wouldn't snow and then he could feel both a little poorer and a lot foolish but he could get safely to work and such. Tonight my friend, we'll call him Aaron, can only feel poorer.
We begin "The Whip" with a nasty winter, well not technically winter, storm and the whip begins in Times Square, New York, CNN's Jason Carroll, Jason I can imagine the headline.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure you can, Aaron. The first storm of the season is officially here. It has blanketed the northeast and the southeast with snow and it's not over yet. More expected tonight as well as tomorrow -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jason, thank you.
Next to the murdered prosecutor, a federal U.S. attorney, CNN's Kelli Arena has been working that today, Kelli a headline.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the gory details of murdered Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Luna's final hours are coming to light but if investigators have any suspects they're not saying.
BROWN: Kelli, thank you.
To the White House next where an old friend of the family is getting the call to help with Iraq, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has the watch and the story and the headline.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House knows for Bush to win reelection he has got to make two economies work that is one at home and one in Iraq. That is why today President Bush announced the appointment of a political powerhouse to get Iraq's financial house in order.
BROWN: Suzanne, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly. Also ahead on the program tonight, the family of baseball great Mickey Mantle selling off hundreds of pieces of memorabilia, is an attempt to reach financial security sacrificing Mickey Mantle's history?
The rapper Eminem's mouth has gotten him in trouble before but never with the Secret Service until now.
And later, we'll give you a jump on Saturday with a check of your morning papers which may or may not make it to your doorstep depending on where you live, all that and more in the hour ahead.
But unlike those other ten o'clock newscasts we don't make you wait for the weather. It is where we begin tonight with two storms, one after the other that have turned everything east of the Ohio and north of the Shenandoah into an icy, snowy mess.
A view of the White House tonight, tough to judge traffic conditions of course because it is pedestrians only for security reasons on this old stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue.
But it was a real mess on the roads in and around the District today from snow at times, sleet at others, freezing rain in spots. The headline up on "The Washington Post" Web site reads "One storm down, one to go." More snow expected to fall overnight.
On to Pittsburgh, somewhat better suited to rough weather, one band of snow hit town right at rush hour and the National Weather Service expects another four to eight inches overnight with the possibility of much more in the outlying areas but they're hearty folks. They're used to it.
To the east in Philadelphia, in addition to the storm warning there is also a flood watch in effect forecasters predicting very high winds as well, an unpleasant night there.
Needless to say it was a rotten day for people on the street, an expensive day for drivers. There were so many fender benders a local radio traffic reporter called it a $500 deductible day.
And here in New York looking at Times Square it is beautiful more or less. New York always looks good dressed up in white and we'll think so, oh we'll say for another 55 minutes or so until we get in the car and make our way home.
That's the weather whip. More details now from CNN's Jason Carroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): The first winter storm of the season triggered storm warnings from Virginia to Ohio to Maine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my type of weather. I'm a winter baby. CARROLL: Easy for a New Yorker to say, not so easy for drivers in the southeast. In Gaithersburg, Maryland, just one word needed to describe the roads.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awful, horrible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Messy.
CARROLL: In Philadelphia, no need for words, one sound says it all. Stalled and sliding cars had weather veterans feeling like first storm freshmen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I grew up in upstate New York so I thought I could handle this and, you know, it wouldn't be a problem but, you know, I came out this far. It looks like I'm stuck here now.
CARROLL: So is Erin McKay (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just kind of staying here and waiting for a friend to come help me out.
CARROLL: Eight to ten inches expected in Philadelphia but the National Weather Service says the southeast has already seen the worst, good news for people like Jean Wilkes (ph) in Sterling, Virginia.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know that they tried to tell us but I was so surprised that there was this much snow, a little unprepared.
CARROLL: They are prepared in New York, plenty of plows, hats and hoods but little patience for making snowballs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on we got the light. Hurry up.
CARROLL: The worst for New York is yet to come. About a foot should fall here by late Saturday. New England could end up getting even more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And the storm system is expected to move toward New England in just about two hours from now. That's when that part of the country is expected to get hit with all of the snow and the sleet. Cities like Boston expecting anywhere between ten and 16 inches but, as you said Aaron, right here in Times Square things looking just beautiful -- Aaron.
BROWN: This is perhaps more personal than we ought to get on the program but is it actually snowing now in the city?
CARROLL: It's a very light snow, a light, wet snow but it is technically, yes, still snowing right now so by the time you go out and get in your car it's probably still going to be snowing.
BROWN: Thank you, 54 minutes to find out. Thank you, Jason very much. On to other news tonight, more is known about the murder of a federal prosecutor the first such killing in three years in the country according to the Justice Department. The coroner today gave a preliminary report. It speaks to how Jonathan Luna was killed, his body left in Pennsylvania.
The search goes on for the why and the who again, CNN's Kelli Arena.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (voice-over): Sources close to the investigation say prosecutor Jonathan Luna left the Baltimore Courthouse where he worked at 11:40 Wednesday night. The last person he is known to have spoken to a defense attorney he was working out a plea agreement with.
ARCANGELO TUMINELLI, ATTORNEY: He called at 9:06 and advised me that he had left the office. He had to go home but he was returning to the office.
ARENA: Investigators have been able to track some of Luna's movements after he left work but still there are more questions than answers. Luna was working on a plea deal in a heroin case. Defense lawyers do not believe their clients played any role in Luna's murder.
Kenneth Ravenell represents Deon Smith an aspiring rap artist.
KENNETH RAVENELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: First of all, my client there is no evidence in his past of any violence of his nature. Secondly, he had the plea that he had asked for.
ARENA: Investigators say after leaving work Luna did not head home but took a non-direct route to Pennsylvania. Electronic records show that he made two stops along the way.
It is not clear whether he was alone or at what point he was stabbed. Officials say his car was found idling 70 miles away in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, his body underneath.
Money and Luna's cell phone were found in the car. The interior was drenched in blood. Sources describe the killing as brutal. Torture wounds were found on Luna's torso and he was stabbed as many as 36 times, his lungs filled with creek water.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: Sources say investigators are looking into past cases that Luna worked on to see if there's any possible connection. They're conducting interviews and they are scouring video records. Investigators say until they know more they're pursuing every possible scenario -- Aaron.
BROWN: Video records of what?
ARENA: There are some electronic records of some of the stops that he made along the way. BROWN: Got it.
ARENA: Without getting into very specific detail they're looking at some of those tapes -- Aaron.
BROWN: Toll booths and that sort of thing I suspect.
ARENA: Yes.
BROWN: He looks like a, he looked like a pretty young man. Had he been on the job long? Were there many cases in his background?
ARENA: Well there are quite a few in his background and so that's what investigators are thumbing through right now. Of course, you know when this first broke there was a lot of discussion about whether or not the two individuals that were involved in this plea agreement may have been involved.
But investigators are very privately saying now, Aaron that they don't believe that that's the case, that this was a plea agreement that they were very happy with and their focus is not primarily there at this point.
BROWN: Just quickly then because it sort of begs the question do you have any sense that they have a focus at this point?
ARENA: They don't.
BROWN: Okay.
ARENA: They don't, Aaron. They are really not closing any door. I mean obviously they're thinking robbery was not a motive because money was still in the vehicle.
They are shying away from at least those two men that they reached a plea agreement with but that doesn't necessarily mean that there wasn't someone who was a friend or affiliated in some way with that case that may have been involved. So, still many, many questions and there's nothing that is pointing in any one direction at this point.
BROWN: Kelli, thank you very much, Kelli Arena in Washington tonight.
ARENA: You're welcome.
BROWN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the president calls in an old friend to help straighten out Iraq that as another explosion takes American and Iraqi lives and the head American there warns of more trouble to come.
And the selling of the Mick, hundreds of pieces of Mickey Mantle memorabilia go on sale as his family tries to ensure its financial future.
It's a Friday night in New York and this is NEWSNIGHT. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Two major developments out of Iraq today. Paul Bremer, the top civilian administrator warned of bloody days to come in the next few months and events today bore him out.
But if the pictures tonight look grim the military believes the larger picture is somewhat better if you can see beyond what was a pretty bad day, reporting for us tonight CNN's Walter Rodgers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This Baghdad bus was so badly shattered in the roadside bomb blast you would have thought it was the guerrilla's primary target.
Three people, including the driver, were killed aboard the bus, 11 other civilians are in hospital. The bus was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Iraqi insurgents' primary target was a U.S. military convoy.
WALID ABDUL SATTOR, WITNESS (through translator): I heard a large explosion on the main street. I saw American hummers. One was hit and the other pulled up a little further. Two injured soldiers got out of the vehicle and the American driver was dead and slumped over the steering wheel.
RODGERS: These attacks on civilians and coalition forces are likely to increase in coming months according to the U.S. civilian administrator here Paul Bremer. These attacks, Bremer said, will be aimed at disrupting the American experiment, rebuilding Iraq after Saddam. Despite this attack on a U.S. convoy, American military officials here claim they have actually been successful in reducing attacks down to about 19 a day.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, COALITION MILITARY: We certainly hope that the offensive operations that are being conducted against the enemy in Baghdad have sent a clear message to the terrorists that we will come after you. We will kill you or we will capture you.
RODGERS (on camera): And on the political front the Iraqis are moving toward a war crimes tribunal on the assumption if you cannot catch Saddam Hussein you can try him in absentia.
Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: On now to the question of money, put simply Iraq owes the rest of the world a small fortune. The debts are many and the country is in no position to pay.
So, like a family that can't make monthly mortgage payments, the White House is calling in a credit counselor, if you will, someone who can make a few calls himself and, it is hoped, keep the bill collectors at bay until finances improve; from the White House tonight CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush took a major step today in his goal of establishing a free and democratic Iraq as soon as possible a big part of that getting the war-torn nation out from under its crippling $125 billion debt.
So the president is appointing long time family friend and international powerhouse, former Secretary of States James A. Baker, III, to serve as his personal envoy to get the job done.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: He is extraordinarily effective as a diplomat and he knows how to fashion an argument and also how to arm twist so he's good at both the old Texas cajolery and also the old Texas pressure politics when he needs to.
MALVEAUX: Baker headed up Bush's strategy team during the Florida ballot recount battle. He also served as secretary of treasury under President Ronald Reagan and under Bush's father's term won broad international support for the first Gulf War.
In a statement, President Bush said: "The future of the Iraqi people should not be mortgaged to the enormous burden of debt incurred to enrich Saddam Hussein's regime. This debt endangers Iraq's long- term prospects for political help and economic prosperity."
Mr. Bush said the appointment was in response to a request for assistance from the U.S.-backed Iraq Governing Council. Of the nearly $125 billion Iraqi foreign debt nearly $40 billion is owed to a consortium including the U.S., France, Germany, Japan, and Russia, and at least $80 billion more to Arab nations and others.
O'HANLON: There could be some kind of a coordinated process in which many countries would simultaneously accept a reduction in what's paid back to them but many countries don't want to be the first to volunteer because they fear they will be the ones who get penalized.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now in the debate leading up to the war, Baker raised some eyebrows in an op-ed piece in the "New York Times" that he wrote saying the only effective way to bring about regime change in Iraq is through military force but he did urge President Bush to get the approval of the United Nations. Now some analysts believe that that position gives Baker even more credibility in trying to seek international support this time around -- Aaron.
BROWN: Just finish that thought because he is someone who is known to believe in multilateral actions?
MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely. He's seen as a credible player. He's seen as a world leader. Also one of the things, of course, somewhat ironic in this is at the International Donors Conference in Madrid, the United States was able to get more international support but it was in the form of loans not grants.
One of the arguments that the administration is going to make is that look we put $87 billion on the line, $18 billion of that for reconstruction, all in the form of grants, not loans. We're doing our part. You should go ahead and do yours -- Aaron.
BROWN: Suzanne, thank you very much, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.
Some other stories making news around the world today, in southern Russia a powerful and horrible bomb ripped through a commuter train near the volatile region of Chechnya killing at least 41 people, another 150 injured by the blast.
Officials say a suicide bomber carried out the attack with three accomplices. Russia's justice minister says the bombing is linked to Chechen rebels fighting for a breakaway Muslim republic.
The FBI is now helping police in Brazil investigate the grisly killing of an American couple in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most violent cities in Latin America.
They had just moved there, the couple had, three months ago with their four children. Sunday morning their 10-year-old son found his parents bludgeoned in their bedroom, no valuables taken, no signs of a break-in and practically no clues at all.
Some relief in France where swollen rivers are now subsiding as offers of aid pour in from other EU countries. Today, officials said more than 27,000 people, including some 193 prison inmates, some jailed for terrorism, were evacuated during the severe flooding caused by heavy rains this week. At least seven people died most around Marseilles, which has now been declared a disaster area.
Coming up on NEWSNIGHT selling the number seven your chance to get a piece of the Mick and a chance for his family to set their financial future.
On CNN this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Anyone willing to brave New York City in this weather will have a chance this weekend to preview hundreds of items that once belonged to Mickey Mantle. They go on the auction block Monday at Madison Square Garden, even his MVP awards from 1957 and 1962.
It's not the first auction of the legend's belongings but for Mr. Mantle's family, who knew and loved the man as well as the icon, it was not an easy decision.
Here's CNN's Josie Burke.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The walls in Merlyn Mantle's Dallas apartment are there. There are still portraits and pictures of her Hall of Fame husband.
MERLYN MANTLE, MICKEY MANTLE'S WIDOW: And this picture is special to me. It's -- this was on a magazine and so those are things that, you know, I want my children to have.
BURKE: It will stay but many other precious family mementos will go. Merlyn and her two sons, Danny and David, are auctioning off hundreds of pieces of Mantle memorabilia. Their decision to part with a large portion of family history was gut-wrenching.
M. MANTLE: It was very difficult I think to think about, you know, because we all had so many things in storage.
DAVID MANTLE, MICKEY'S SON: We're all sentimental towards, you know, certain things except I'm very, like my mom, I don't want to give anything up.
DANNY MANTLE, MICKEY'S SON: You kind of feel like well, you know, should you put a note in it please make sure this goes to somewhere special.
BURKE: This treasure trove of Mickey Mantle artifacts is unusual because it comes straight from the player's family, a family that has dealt with its share of tragedy.
Before his death in 1995, Mantle admitted he had been a flawed father and husband. Two of his four sons have died. Every member of his immediate family has battled alcoholism and addiction. Merlyn, David and Danny have survived and don't want this auction to be viewed as another misfortune.
DAVID MANTLE: From the start we've shared dad, you know, our, my whole life with the world and this way we're just taking that sharing a little bit farther.
DANNY MANTLE: You know we're hopeful that keeping my dad's name out, you know, the next generations will remember him as well as the generation now.
BURKE: There are going to be some people who will hear about the auction and say, oh, how could they do that? What would you say to them?
M. MANTLE: I can see where they would do that probably but I think he would want us to do this. I really do. I don't feel bad about doing this.
BURKE: The family hopes to use part of the proceeds from the auction to pay for Mantle's four grandchildren to attend college and buy homes. With more than 300 items on sale including two of Mantle's three MVP trophies it should bring in millions, yet some keepsakes were too valuable to share, like Mantle's Hall of Fame ring.
DANNY MANTLE: I have the only grandson and one day he will wear this ring and I wear it. Now I don't wear it a lot and, you know, it just keeps my dad close to me. BURKE: And that's a feeling that can't be sold.
Josie Burke, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Fifth is a milestone that can bring out the snark in even the most well-mannered souls, the half (unintelligible) jokes, allusions to mid-life crisis, hard to resist and when your target audience, the hearts and minds you're trying to capture is 18 to 24 and you turn 50 well it's safe to say many will be wondering if you can stay in the game, CNN's Jeff Greenfield tonight on "Playboy" at 50.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): In the first year of Ike's presidency...
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So help me God.
GREENFIELD: ...in the last year of the Korean War, when Senator Joseph McCarthy was hunting down subversives...
JOSEPH MCCARTHY: Anyone who is serving the communist cause.
GREENFIELD: When "I Love Lucy" ruled the airwaves.
LUCILLE BALL, "I LOVE LUCY": Ricky, this is it.
GREENFIELD: And could not use the word pregnant when she became pregnant. When movies needed a license from the government and celluloid sex was by innuendo only.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You'll find that most people are willing to meet you half way.
GREENFIELD: Into this world a 27-year-old would-be publisher named Hugh Hefner scraped a few thousand dollars together and launched "Playboy," an enterprise so uncertain there was no date on the first issue because it wasn't clear when or whether there'd be a second one.
Well those photos from Marilyn Monroe's famous calendar answered that question. "Playboy" became one of the most successful publishing ventures in history reaching a peak circulation of seven million per month in the U.S. alone back in 1971.
(on camera): But there's more to this story than the unsurprising fact that there's a large audience for pictures of naked women. "Playboy" was a very early sign that in post-war America cultural and moral standards were under siege.
(voice-over): There's always been sex for sale, of course, but it was found in places like burlesque houses where the sense of something forbidden was in the air. "Playboy" in Hefner's words featured the girl next door, wholesome, peppy women who could have been college cheerleaders and sometimes were.
Sex was presented not as furtive but as part of the good life just like the sleek cars, the hi-fi systems, the bachelor pads and other material pleasures celebrated in the magazine and showcased in its TV shows like "Playboy's Penthouse."
HUGH HEFNER: Glad you could join us this evening.
GREENFIELD: And "Playboy After Dark." A decade before the birth control pill, "Playboy" offered sex as a birthright of the modern sophisticated man and woman in its open celebration of sex outside of marriage, in its celebration of material pleasure.
It was a clear challenge to convention just as "Mad" magazine warned just a year earlier was a satirical challenge to everything from comic book heroes to the ludicrous claims of advertising.
"Playboy" also packaged its more obvious charms in between stories and articles by real writers, Irwin Shaw, Norman Mailer, Ray Bradbury. It ran lengthy interviews from personalities from Malcolm X to Jimmy Carter.
"Playboy" is where Carter confessed to lusting in his heart for other women. This gave the magazine respectability and birth to claims of millions of young men who said I read "Playboy" but I read it for the articles. Yeah.
It didn't shy from controversy, defending and showcasing comedian Lenny Bruce and editorializing for an end to the nuclear arms race. This 50-year-old is showing its age.
The "Playboy" clubs with their rabbit-eared bunnies are gone. It's three million circulation is less than half its peak and its founder with his twins or triplets or sextuplets is not exactly a role model for the Viagra generation.
(on camera): But nothing can change the fact that "Playboy" magazine was a signpost and a force in a genuine social revolution. Apart from that it also created a whole generation of young men who never recovered from their first sexual experience when they discovered that their partner did not have a staple in her naval.
Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: At the bottom of the hour or nearly so time for business and weather together, oh my.
With so much riding on the holiday shopping season the weekend storm here in the east is worrying the retail analysts. Weather struck just about this time last year taking a big bite at the checkout counter. The flipside is online sales went up though not enough to save the day but a factor to be sure and a growing factor it would appear this time around. The government says factory orders grew 2.2 percent in October, better than expected, demand especially strong for airliners and durable goods. Did you buy an airliner?
Unemployment fell last month to 5.9 percent. Payrolls grew more slowly than expected. Mixed report. You will recall, this is precisely the opposite of what Wall Street had expected. It was enough to send the major markets down for the day, good news/bad news announcement from Intel after yesterday's closing bell doing a number on the Nasdaq and the Dow.
Still to come on NEWSNIGHT: the rap on President Bush. Does a new Eminem song go too far?
Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: His five Grammy nominations notwithstanding, the rapper Eminem is no stranger to controversy. But even by his standards, an investigation by the Secret Service is a step up, or perhaps a step down. It seems the Secret Service has little humor where threats against the president are concerned. But is that really what the rapper has gone and done this time?
Here's Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just this week, he received five Grammy nominations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eminem for "Lose Yourself."
TUCHMAN: Eminem has enjoyed much success in his rap career, and has also enjoyed the limelight, such as when he imitated Michael Jackson on top of a hotel balcony.
But now attraction he is getting is attracting from the feds. A bootleg Eminem recording making the rounds on the Internet includes these lyrics: "
EMINEM, SINGER (singing): I don't rap for dead presidents. I'd rather see the president dead. It's never been said, but I set precedents and the standards. And they can't stand it.
TUCHMAN: Not rapping for dead presidents is slang for not rapping for money. However, the reference to -- quote -- "rather see the president dead" is what the U.S. Secret Service is looking at, spokesman John Gill saying: "We are aware of the lyric and are in the process of determining what action, if any, will be taken."
One Secret Service official does add, it would be saying too much to make too big a deal out of this. In fact, the bootleg song does not explicitly say if the president the rapper is referring to is the president of the United States. A spokesman for Eminem tells CNN: "This was an unfinished song, either lost or stolen. There was no determination where, when, how or if it was going to used."
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": Eminem is a controversy stir. That's what he does, just the same way Madonna did at the beginning of her career. They want to stir up controversy, get people talking about them, get people thinking about them.
TUCHMAN: And, indeed, that's just what we're doing.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Things have remained pretty calm in Cincinnati this week, despite the highly charged death of a black man at the hands of police. The tape of that incident has been shown countless times on national TV, but, in this case, it wasn't national TV that mattered.
Local news, TV and print can be agents of calm or chaos. And so this incident and how it was handled has become a case study in media responsibility.
We asked correspondent Ed Lavandera to take a look for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nathaniel Jones died with drugs in his system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dozens turn out, demanding answers from the police department.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One story defined Cincinnati this week. And it rekindled the memory of when racial tensions ravaged the city two years ago. So when a newscast goes on the air these days, history lessons speak loudly in Cincinnati newsrooms.
BRENNAN DONNELLAN, LOCAL NEWS DIRECTOR: We saw what happened in the past with disturbances in the streets. And no one wants that. And we certainly don't want to -- anything that we report to contribute to something like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of things in the story involving Jones.
LAVANDERA: The Nathaniel Jones story has been the main topic at editorial meetings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have the story from Stephanie (ph) on the city's image.
LAVANDERA: But, for viewers, it's all about the videotape, what's seen and what's edited out.
HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": A beating tape where the suspect dies is always going to make the police look back. But, unfortunately, the camera doesn't always capture the whole story.
LAVANDERA: Two out of four local stations aired the seven-minute tape in its entirety.
PAT CASEY, NEWS DIRECTOR, WXIX: So let the viewers decide for themselves.
LAVANDERA (on camera): No one talking over it?
CASEY: No one talking over it. Just roll it raw, let it play. And I thought it was powerful television. Got very good feedback from the viewers.
LAVANDERA: Local news editors say, readers are scrutinizing every word. Take the coverage of Nathaniel Jones' autopsy report.
THOMAS CALLINAN, "THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER": Every word that we use has got to be carefully chosen, every image that we use. Today's word, homicide, was a good example. The coroner ruled it homicide. Well, that's a very powerful word. How do you explain that in a headline?
LAVANDERA: So "The Cincinnati Enquirer" left that word off the headline and explained inside the paper why the word homicide doesn't mean the officers acted improperly.
DONNELLAN: And the local media has been more sensitive to the community, more sensitive to not being inflammatory and more sensitive to being unbiased.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a question that's been asked a lot this week.
LAVANDERA: The reporters know that, just because the national spotlight dims, it doesn't mean the story is over.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Cincinnati.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: A few other items from around the country before we go to break.
In Ohio, no end to the mystery of Interstate 270. Police have linked two more shootings to the 12 others near the highway which encircles Columbus, Ohio. No one was hurt in the latest incident, but this is serious stuff. An earlier shooting killed a 62-year-old woman. Police are now offering a $10,000 reward for information.
In Utah, a district court judge threw out a bribery charge against two men who led Salt Lake City's successful bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Tom Welch and Dave Johnson were accused of giving $1 million in cash and gifts to win the votes of the Olympic Committee delegates. The judge ruled there was insufficient evidence the money was meant as a bribe. Bad news on the flu front tonight. Two makers of the flu vaccine said today they have no more vaccine to ship. Health officials say there are plenty of doses available at hospitals and other health facilities. However, some regions tonight are reporting shortages. And, already, 13 states are reporting widespread influenza outbreaks. In Colorado alone, eight children have died.
Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, TV as you've never seen it and explained so even the folks who work for us can understand it. Stick around for this.
We'll take a break first.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: OK. It's Friday night. Keep that in mind.
And here's the deal. We thought about making this next segment one of our "On the Rise" segments, those stories about young, smart entrepreneurs who are going places. But, honestly, that's not really what it is.
In fact, the somewhat embarrassing truth includes three words never spoken on TV before: CNN talent show. Now, I will confess that the idea of a company talent show struck some of us fancy-dancy New Yorkers as pretty silly. And then we saw the show. It was won by a young man named Jody Friedman (ph). He has what you might call an entry-level job at CNN Headline News in Atlanta. That means he does just about every thankless task at every thankless hour, doing much of the work required to put TV news on your TV.
Imagine the mail clerk or the box boy or the receptionist at a company you know writing a song about his job and then performing it in front of all the company's big executives, and then winning enough money to repay his college loans or make a down payment on his house in one night.
That's what Jody Friedman (ph) did, not to mention winning a slot on NEWSNIGHT performing the prompter song.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go.
(singing): Prompter. I'm a prompter operator. Prompter. I'm a prompter operator. Camera one, camera two. I do what directors tell me to. I'm a prompter operator at Headline News.
Audio. I'm an audio operator. Audio. I'm an audio operator. VTRs, AFCs, tracking anchors' mikes so you can hear what you see. I'm an audio operator at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
EGO, electronic graphics operator. EGO, electronic graphics operator. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Rock 'n' rolling graphic servers make the show complete. I'm an electronic graphics operator at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Robo, a robotics camera operator. Robo, a robotics camera operator. Pan to the left. Pan to the right. Tilt and zoom and shading makes the camera so bright. I'm a robotics camera operator at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Oh, master. I'm a master control operator. Keep it going. Master. I'm a master control operator. Righting D.R.s and counting down the show, five, four, three, two, one, we're coming out to you. I'm a master control operator at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Oh, T.D., it stands for technical director. T.D. stands for technical director. White dissolves, DBS, everything you see is created by us. We're the technical directors at Headline, Headline News -- sing it -- Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Oh, director. I'm the one and only director. Oh, director, the one and only almighty director. I lead the crew because that's my job. But if you screw up, it's my butt, so don't piss me off. I'm the one and only almighty director at Headline, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News, Headline News.
Prompter, audio, EGO, robo, master, T.D., directors, we all work at Headline News.
Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Jody Friedman (ph).
Next week in this slot, highlights of the company touch football game.
Morning papers after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: The producer mistimed the program tonight.
Time to check the morning papers from around the world, and whatever else I can do to fill the available time tonight. It's always harder on Saturday. (AUDIO GAP) Two stories seem to dominate most papers I've taken a look at. Well, how would I know the ones I haven't taken a look at? "San Antonio Express-News" has them both. "Flu Death Start As Vaccine Stops." This is pretty stuff going on. Sorry about that, guys. "San Antonio Fatalities. Illness Claims Two Children and An Elderly Woman at Wilford (ph) Hall. Situation on Shots, Manufacturers Have Run Out, Can't Meet Demand Surge."
And, by the way, putting headlines like that on the paper will only increase the demand surge. It's one of those truisms, I guess. And they like this picture. "It's Snow Fun to be in New York" reads the headlines over that picture of people have snow fun, I guess. We'll get to this in a second, too, down in the corner here. "A Different Dime." There's a plan, or an idea, to take FDR off the dime and put former President Reagan on the dime. We'll talk about that in a minute.
"The Chattanooga Times Free Press." "Avoiding Bad Air Tag, Three Area Counties Push to Come Off the EPA Ozone List." So a good local story there. And this is a good story. I hadn't seen this story anywhere, actually. "Sharon Aide Calls Peace Accord Impossible. Vice Prime Minister Says Israel Should Define its Borders and Leave Parts of the Palestinian Territories With No Hope of Negotiating a Deal With the Palestinians." That's kind of an interesting tale as well.
"The Miami Herald." Now, if I'm running "The Miami Herald," I'm putting the snow in New York on the front page. And they have. "Winter Arrives." That's the same picture, isn't it, that was in the San Antonio paper. I think so. And they put the flu there, too. "Flu Vaccine Almost Gone. Demand Rises. Makers of Flu Shot Say They Have Run Out of Injected Vaccine in Bad Flu Season. Can't Make More Before It's Over." And it's probably going to cost them a bundle, too.
This is a pretty good story, too. "Nine Charged in $170 Million South Florida Bank Theft." No, it wasn't a stickup. It was somewhat more complicated than that. Thank you.
One minute to go. Here we go.
Army-Navy game tomorrow in "The Philadelphia Inquirer." This is a good story. We were working on this story. Never made it. "Racial Threats Target Eagles Wide Receiver." Freddie Mitchell and five others in the NFL got threatening death and castration letters. The FBI is investigating. I would hope so. "Doctors' Offices See Run on Flu Shot." That will increase after this segment.
Reagan in "The San Francisco Chronicle." Someone got all cranked up yesterday about the fact that I said I liked "The San Francisco Chronicle." It was amazing. "Reagan Image New Deal for the Dime? Some Republicans Aim to Honor Him. Dems See Other Side of the Coin." I saw on the wires tonight, Mrs. Reagan, Nancy Reagan, says she thinks it's a bad idea and that her husband really wouldn't want FDR taken off the dime. So I don't know that that will go anywhere. She will probably get her way.
And "The Sun Sentinel." This is actually going to be Sunday's front page in "The Sun Sentinel." But we like the paper and they've been good to us. And they're doing a big takeout on Haiti, "The Eroding Nation." "The Sun Sentinel" is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I don't know how well you can see the picture and if you can zoom in at all on it. But this is a fabulous picture on the front page.
And if you're down in Florida, or maybe to check it out on the Web, though I said that yesterday, and then someone wrote in and said, "They charge me to look at the Web," some newspaper. It's not my fault, OK? We'll wrap up tonight's top story, a wet one, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Before we go to a break tonight, a quick check on the weather, which is our top story tonight.
That's Hartford, Connecticut, a couple hours or so up the road. It could be a lot longer than that tonight, I expect, first a nor'easter and now a second blast from out of the Midwest dumping inches of snow in some places, feet in others. It's a mess from Northern Virginia all the way up to Maine, though we expect they're handling it a bit better the farther up I-95 you go. No doubt about that.
This is New York, Times Square tonight, which actually looks pretty nice, doesn't it? Well, OK, it doesn't look that nice, but it's not too terribly bad. It looks like it's stopped snowing, at least in the city, mostly.
Coming up on the program on Monday, yes, we promised it before, but it was held up by the storm or something, the Russians who are whistling Dixie these days down in Mississippi -- that and much more on Monday's edition of NEWSNIGHT.
Have a wonderful weekend.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.
And good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.
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Slaying; Eminem in Trouble With Secret Service>
