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Former U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick has Died at the Age of 80; Floor Collapse in High-Rise Construction Site in Arlington, Virginia; Rumsfeld Holds Last Pentagon Town Hall Meeting

Aired December 08, 2006 - 11:00   ET

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

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
JACK KEMP, FMR. CO-DIRECTOR, EMPOWER AMERICA: She was very -- very concerned about going into a Middle Eastern Islamic country and unleashing the centrifugal forces that we are seeing exacerbated each and every day. So I'm not speaking for her, I'm just interpreting what my friendship and counsel was.

She was a neighbor. She went to our church. She went over -- she came over to our house on Sundays for brunch. She was a dear friend of my wife.

And we are going to miss her personally, politically. And the free world has lost a great champion.

HARRIS: So you knew she was not well.

KEMP: She was not well. She's 80 -- she was 80 years old. We went over -- we had dinner with her Friday night, just two weeks ago, and it was -- I don't want to say sad, but it was sad in a sense that she was such a lively force, so intellectual, so -- as Bill Bennett pointed out, she had a great sense of humor.

She was a strong Christian who didn't wear it on her sleeves. And I think she just felt it was her time to go. I really do. And that is ultimately what -- she went peacefully.

She went -- she went last night and passed in a very peaceful state. So that I am -- excuse me. I'm choking up a little bit because she was such a good friend.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: When you talk about your good friend, it is more than the policy work you do together.

KEMP: Yes.

HARRIS: It is more than the -- but it's about the dinners that you have together, the conversations.

KEMP: Oh, goodness gracious.

HARRIS: Yes, the conversations that you have about life, about family.

KEMP: Yes, yes, yes. She -- I have four children, two boys, two girls. They're all married and have children of their own. So this is many years ago, but she would come over and regale my children with stories of history.

She was a group leader in civil rights. She came, as I said earlier, from the Hubert Humphrey wing of the party. She was a great fan of Dr. Martin Luther King.

She was an author. She was a great speaker. She -- but she loved children.

She had three boys who she loved dearly. She lost one of them. So I think -- she was a mother, a wife, a professor, an author, a diplomat.

HARRIS: Mr. Secretary...

KEMP: And she changed history. She changed history. She came into the Reagan camp in 1980, helped change the course of history and bring down the Soviet Union.

HARRIS: What will you -- what will -- one final question. What will you miss the most about her not being here and not having those lunches and those dinners?

KEMP: Yes. Her counsel, her wisdom, her historical perspective, her -- her absolute certainty that democracy and freedom are the ultimate -- or is the ultimate destiny of all mankind, that type of optimism.

HARRIS: Jack Kemp, thanks for your time.

KEMP: Thank you, sir.

HARRIS: Thank you.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Just past the top of the hour now. We want to let you in on a few things that we have been monitoring, and update you as well.

We are awaiting a press conference coming out of Arlington, Virginia, on this story. Rescue crews are there on scene of a building collapse. We're told that it's possible the floor in the upper stories of this 30-story building may have collapsed.

We are also learning that this is the Waterview (ph) building, according to our reporter on the scene there. The whole area around this building has been shut down because of the instability of the structure.

Seven construction workers taken out on gurneys. We are trying to update that number in case it has changed, because obviously with situations like this, they go ahead and change a lot.

And here we now have the presser. This is Tom Polara (ph), commander of the Arlington County Fire Marshals.

Let's listen in.

At approximately 8:30 this morning, there was a partial roof collapse of a building under construction at 901 North Lind Street (ph). The building is called the Waterview (ph).

The collapse occurred at approximately 8:30. They began pouring concrete at approximately 6:00 this morning.

When the building -- when that portion of the floor -- it was approximately a 60 by 30-foot area that collapsed on to the 24 floor, number 24 floor. There were approximately 200 workers in the building at the time of the collapse, 16 of which were injured.

Units from the Arlington County Fire Department, along with the technical rescue team and neighboring jurisdiction units, came to the scene and we found 16 workers that were injured. Of the 16, nine are listed as minor, four are listed as serious, and three critical.

All have been extricated at this time. All construction workers in the building have been accounted for at this time.

OSHA is currently on the scene. They will be working with members from the Arlington County Building Department, as well as the contractor, which is Clark (ph).

I'd be happy to entertain any questions at this time.

QUESTION: These three critical, were they the ones that were trapped for a while?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had a total of two -- two that were trapped which were extricated by the technical rescue team.

QUESTION: How long did that take?

QUESTION: Were they among the critically injured, the two who were trapped?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

QUESTION: Can you give us an idea of how this happened? Apparently, it was associated with the pouring of concrete.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have any technical information as far as that is concerned right now. All I know is that they began pouring the concrete at approximately 6:00 this morning. I've been told by Clark (ph) that that area was shored up. That roof deck was shored up. So I don't have any further information right now.

QUESTION: Where did you say there was a collapse? Was it scaffolding that collapsed under the weight of the concrete?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That would be -- that would be my assumption right now. Again, I have not gone up to that area. It would -- it would be the scaffolding that would collapse underneath the poured concrete. It would be wet concrete. QUESTION: How difficult a rescue operation was this for you, given the...

COLLINS: So there you have it. This is an update on the situation we've been telling you about in Arlington, Virginia. Here now is the latest.

We know 16 people were injured when apparently there may have been a problem with the concrete that was poured. Wet concrete, as you well know, very, very heavy if the support structure is not correct or not quite strong enough. It's possible to have it collapse.

So now we know 16 people injured, three are in critical condition, four in serious.

We will continue to update this story for you out of Arlington, Virginia.

Meanwhile, we want to get you over to something else that we are watching. This is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld holding his final Pentagon town hall meeting for the Department of Defense co- workers. This is the 42nd time he has held one. This one is his last.

Let's go ahead and listen in for just a minute.

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DONALD RUMSFELD, OUTGOING U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: ... when General Casey determined that he needed additional assistance there.

And I of course remember the American heroes, the Medal of Honor recipients, Paul Ray Smith and, soon, Jason Dunham, and countless others whose names are now part of history.

If there's one thing I wish that could be more widely known, it's the miracles that the men and women of this department really perform every day.

Supporting the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan while putting pressure on terrorists all across the globe is an enormous challenge.

But at the same time, quite beyond that challenge -- and it is an enormous challenge -- the folks in this department have stepped forward to deliver aid to millions affected by the greatest national (sic) disasters in recent memory: the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, tragic earthquakes in Pakistan, here at home Hurricane Katrina.

They evacuated thousands of Americans from Lebanon -- literally the size of a city -- and doing it while a war was going on.

Training counterterrorism forces in the Philippines and in the Horn of Africa.

Put in place an initial missile defense system to protect the American people from rogue states.

Established the new Northern Command to better protect the homeland.

Established a camp and stood guard in Guantanamo over some of the world's most dangerous terrorists, while suffering grossly uninformed and irresponsible charges in the media from almost every quarter.

GONZALES: Oversee the largest domestic base realignment and base closure in the history of this department.

Implement the most significant changes since World War II in our nation's global posture -- force posture across the globe, away from the static defensive orientation that was left over from the Cold War and toward arrangements that are much more appropriate to this 21st century.

Put in place a new civilian national security personnel system to provide the urgently needed flexibility in hiring and in assignments and with a linking of pay to performance.

Expand our very talented special operations forces to meet the new demands in this global struggle against violent extremists.

Transition from a division-based Army, the approach that dated back to World War I, to a considerably more agile, vastly more capable combat brigade force.

And so much more.

Each of you here in this room and listening through the Pentagon Channel have played a part in one or more of these accomplishments, these endeavors. And you can look at what you've done here this past period with great pride.

I wish I could say that everything we've done here has gone perfectly, but that's not how life works, regrettably. When thousands of people make dozens of difficult decisions on hundreds of pressing issues, for the most part matters that are new and unfamiliar, where there's no road map, no guidebook that says, "Here's exactly how you should do something," the hope has to be not perfection but that most decisions, with the perspective of time, will turn out to be the right ones and that the perspective of history will judge the overwhelming majority of those decisions favorably.

When we reflect back on these past years, each of you will likely have some different memories. Some memories will no doubt be of hard work and grueling times, working long days, months, even years on critical tasks that really are never noted in headline or in a news story -- at least never favorably noted.

(LAUGHTER)

But let there be no doubt, each of you and the future generations of Americans, as well as future generations of Iraqis and Afghans, will be able to look back on these past years as a time of enormous challenge, of historic consequence and of solid accomplishment.

Today's a time to look forward. The institution is important, well beyond those who temporarily serve here. We come and go. Some of us come and go more than once.

(LAUGHTER)

But what remains is this great institution's mission and its cause: the challenge of defending this nation and the ideals that this nation represents.

RUMSFELD: It's been three decades since I left the Pentagon at the end of my first tour.

Our country was then engaged in a long struggle, the Cold War, a conflict that seemed costly, and it was; that seemed unlimited in duration, and it was; and seemed unclear in its course and its outcome, which was the case.

In fact, many then believed and indeed acted as though it was the United States that was the cause of the world's troubles. We even see a little bit of that today.

And yet, despite the tumult of the times, I left this post in 1977 believing strongly that America was a force for good in the world, that the vast majority of the American people were wise and decent people, and that America would continue to be the principled leader in the free world.

That has been proven right. And I can say that as I leave at the end of my second and, the good Lord willing, my last...

(LAUGHTER)

... I do leave believing, as I did 30 years ago, that America is a truly great nation, that the American people are wise and decent, and that America's leadership in the world is not just useful, but that it is urgently needed.

And let there be no doubt: Despite the fact that we have been successful in preventing attacks since September 11th, years without an attack in this country, ours is a troubled and very dangerous world, and we must not forget it.

I've been asked recently what I've taken away from public life over these, I guess, 50-plus years. I suppose what I feel most is gratitude.

Gratitude to the folks here in this department, the men and women in uniform, the civilians, the contractors.

Gratitude to the American people, who continue to serve as a guide for the dreams and the hopes and the aspirations of so many millions of people who live all across the globe, but who seek opportunity and a better life for themselves and see in what we've done in this country a model that they hope for and wish for. Now, I'd be happy to respond to some questions. And as always, if they're too tough, Pete Pace is going to come up and join me.

(LAUGHTER)

Come on up here, Pete.

(LAUGHTER)

All right. There's some microphones around, I'm told. And there's a hand, though I still always worry about the first hand.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I'm wondering what books you read while you were secretary that you found most useful and edifying.

RUMSFELD: Well, I've read a great many books. They're all history books; a number about the Revolutionary War and about George Washington and John Adams and others, Jefferson.

I started reading a number of books about the Civil War. And one particularly good one was a book on Ulysses S. Grant. But I stopped. I found the struggle going on -- gosh, those years, there were so many people killed and wounded, and they were all Americans, except for the foreign fighters who came over from Germany and Poland and elsewhere.

So I turned away from that and read a great deal about World War II. And that has been basically what I've been reading.

So that's where I ran across that quote by Winston Churchill that I mentioned in the Oval Office when we were announcing my departure.

I think Churchill said something to the effect that, "I have benefited greatly from the criticism I've received, and I've never suffered from a lack thereof."

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, this is not a question. It's simply a chance to say thank you.

Three years ago, my daughter brought her performing troupe here on September 11th, 2003. You took the time to come over, not just to say ...

COLLINS: You've just been listening in to a few moments of outgoing defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld's last Pentagon town hall meeting. He said earlier at the start of this meeting that this is the 42nd time he's held a town hall meeting, but this would be his last.

It's just a chance for everyone to be heard. And I'll tell you, we saw him pretty much off the top, after Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace introduced him, a very lengthy and complimentary introduction, seemed to be pretty weepy. Certainly not positive whether or not he has a cold or if he is quite touched by this being his last town hall meeting.

If you are interested in seeing the entire town hall meeting, you can go to Pipeline. Just log on to CNN.com/pipeline.

We want to take a moment now to bring in senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre to talk a little bit more about this.

He certainly does seem to be pretty emotional here, Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the reflective Donald Rumsfeld looking back on his -- not just his six years at the Pentagon but also his 50 years of public service. He said this would likely be his last public remarks as defense secretary.

He is expected to make some remarks a week from today at his final farewell ceremony at the Pentagon. But he started off this meeting with a look back and he said, as he was thinking of the things that stood out in his mind, that one thing that really stuck in his mind was the abuses at Abu Ghraib and how stunned he said he was when he learned about them.

And he said how proud he was of the way the U.S. military dealt openly with the abuses. And he attacked those who said that the U.S. was somehow systematic in its abuse of prisoners.

He also, by the way, started at the very beginning with a nod to the Pentagon press corps, which he said was the best in Washington. And then he joked, well, considering the competition, referring to the reporters who cover the other beats. But he said he was genuinely going to miss the press conferences, that he enjoyed the give and take with the reporters, and he felt -- he paid special tribute to reporters who covered the U.S. military and had put their own lives in jeopardy in war zones for that coverage. So you could see, he's really looking back on his time here, and he seems a bit wistful as he's getting -- going back on those reflections of his time at the Pentagon.

He said, you know, "People come and go, and some of us come and go more than once."

COLLINS: That's right.

MCINTYRE: Referring to the fact that he was defense secretary back in the 1970s as well.

COLLINS: That's right. He did say this was his second and, god forbid, his last.

Jamie, nice to get a little bit of a shout-out from the defense secretary for being part of the Pentagon press corps.

I want to also ask you about something else. We've noticed that he's wearing a bracelet that we understand came from one of the wives of the servicemen, the 172nd Stryker Brigade. She asked him to wear that bracelet until those troops, that brigade returns home. He is wearing that bracelet.

MCINTYRE: Yes. And the -- that was the brigade that was extended in Baghdad.

COLLINS: Right.

MCINTYRE: Something that the Pentagon did not want to do was have troops serve in the deadly and dangerous duty in Iraq beyond one year. But those Stryker brigades in particular, because of their unique ability with these mobile vehicles to patrol in an urban environment, were needed in Baghdad.

And one thing you see about Rumsfeld, and you can see a little bit here, is while he's vilified by some who believe that his policies were mistaken, he does enjoy a very warm relationship with many people in the military and inside the Pentagon. There's a lot of genuine affection.

In a one-on-one situation, he can be enormously charming. He is highly intelligent, as you can probably tell. And again, as he himself says, history will ultimately decide whether his decisions were flawed or not. But he seems very comfortable in the decisions he made.

He did say that he wished that all of the decisions could be perfect, but in typical Rumsfeld style, he said, "Life just isn't like that."

COLLINS: That's right. He also took significant time to mention that -- being successful in preventing any further attacks since 9/11, certainly a point that he wanted to get across.

So, Jamie McIntyre, our senior Pentagon correspondent, it will be interesting to see where Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld goes next.

Meanwhile, the South shivers under an arctic blast, and thousands in the Midwest want to know why they are still in the dark.

Chad Myers is here with the forecast, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Chad Myers is in the CNN weather center.

And Chad, as we think about our friends, let's say is it Oreana, Illinois; Decatur, Illinois, cold now. It's been cold for a long time. But if they can hang in there, relief is kind of on the way.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, at least 50 degrees is on the way for the weekend.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Mike Pierce is training for a race, Heidi. Not just any race. COLLINS: No. And this is certainly something you could do with no problem.

HARRIS: There you go, Heidi.

COLLINS: He's running in an ultra marathon. It's just 62 miles long. Tough enough, but it gets tougher because the race takes place in the video that you're watching, the Antarctic.

HARRIS: Oh.

COLLINS: CNN's Larry Smith has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Antarctic: icy, cold. remote. It sounds like the last place you'd want to run a marathon.

MIKE PIERCE, MARATHON RUNNER: At first, you know, people were like, well, this must be a joke. And then when they realize it's not a joke, the next reaction is, OK, you're crazy.

But for me, it's really about passion and it's about focus, because I've been a big fan of Antarctic history ever since I've been a kid. And this is really my way of being able to relate to the explorers that went there 100 years ago.

SMITH: Mike Pierce was one of nine runners to compete in the first Antarctic ice marathon last January. This time, he's going back to compete in the 100K, a 62.1-mile ultra-marathon.

PIERCE: The one human being that's actually run the 100 kilometers down there, Richard Donovan, from Ireland, it took him about a little under 16 hours. I'm figuring somewhere between 18 hours and as much as 24. I mean, I'm just planning on an all-nighter.

It's very monotonous. It's just nothing but ice and ice and ice. I mean, there's no life where we are. We're at a base camp about 600 miles from the South Pole. And there's no penguins, there's no bugs, there's no mold, there's no trees, there's nothing that sustains life.

SMITH: To acclimate himself to the temperature he'll face, Pierce trains in a commercial freezer for a couple of hours, two or three days per week.

PIERCE: I literally got the phone book out and I just looked under the word "ice" and I started dialing. And after about 30 or 40 phone calls to freezers, one guy took me seriously after I showed up at his front door step in an Antarctic parka that came from the Antarctic. And I said, "Hey, this is Antarctic Mike and I'm serious, and I really want to train in your freezer," and he let me in.

SMITH: Pierce will be joined by four other runners, one from Ireland and three from France. But his success or failure doesn't depend on if he wins or loses. PIERCE: It's really my intent to be able to be an example and a model for people that, you know what, an average person can do extraordinary things when they're focused, when they're disciplined, and when they have a plan.

SMITH: Pierce will put his plan into action on December 15th.

Larry Smith, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Tony Harris and Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: We want to get you an update on that construction accident in Arlington, Virginia, we've been telling you about for the last hour or so. Sixteen construction workers hurt.

This after a slab of concrete actually gave way at a building under construction in Arlington. The Waterview building under construction there. The fire chief says three of the injured were in critical condition, four in serious condition and two of the three who are in critical condition were actually trapped under the concrete. It happened on the 24th floor of the building and the fire chief says workers were pouring concrete when actually a section about 60 feet by 30 feet actually gave way and collapsed. Two-hundred workers in the building at the time, and all of them have now been accounted for.

COLLINS: A West Wing huddle on the war in Iraq. President Bush met with congressional leaders from both parties at the White House this morning. Part of the search for a new Iraq strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: We just had a very constructive conversation. We talked about Iraq. We talked about the need for a new way forward in Iraq, and we talked about the need to work together on this important subject.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: After the meeting, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked about the urgency of making changes in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: The time for change is now. It is apparent to the American people. They made this decision one month and one day ago. And the Iraq Study Group reinforced some of the concerns of the American people about the urgency. They said it's not a matter of months anymore. It's weeks, it's days. Hopefully the president has gotten that message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The president says he will consider the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, but he has already objected to using some of them, including talks with Iran and Syria. He says other studies will also be part of his decision making process.

HARRIS: In Iraq, gunfights, air strikes and a growing death toll among suspected insurgents. The U.S. military says coalition troops launched a pair of security sweeps today.

The latest from Baghdad and CNN's Kyle Perry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The weekly Friday curfew in effect here again in Iraq in most major cities. That means no vehicle traffic on the streets, and coalition forces appear to be taking advantage of the curfew. Two early dawn raids in two different sections of the country, first in the city of Basra. That is the southern port city. Seven-hundred and fifty British troops with 250 Danish troops taking a section of that city, detaining five insurgents. At this point, no casualties reported on either side, and 100 miles to the north of Baghdad in the city of Samarra. U.S. troops on the move there, again, early this morning.

Some 20 insurgents killed in an airstrike. U.S. troops following that up, going on to that site, finding documents, finding explosives, telling CNN they believe those 20 insurgents involved in al Qaeda operations across the country, they believe that because of intelligence found at that site. And intelligence gathered before that raid. All this coming at a time when U.S. and coalition troops are finding themselves bearing the brunt of the insurgency. The word coming earlier this morning from the U.S. military, the death of a U.S. soldier in downtown Baghdad from an IED. It is shaping up indeed to be one of the bloodiest months of the war.

Cal Perry, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: We've been reporting today about the death of Jeane Kirkpatrick. She was 80 years old. She died in her sleep in Bethesda. She was the first woman ever appointed to serve as permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations. She also worked as a cabinet member for Ronald Reagan, and we had the opportunity to speak with two gentlemen who know her well, Bill Bennett and Jack Kemp. They worked with her with the group Empower America and also at the American Enterprise Institute.

And Bill told us, which I thought was very poignant, that when they asked her to join Empower America and work with them, she said, well, sure, I'll join it, if you boys can just toughen up. He reminded us that she was a very tough, very strong lady and known certainly for her Kirkpatrick Doctrine, advocating U.S. support of anti-communist governments all around the world.

HARRIS: And remember the days when you could greet friends and family at the airport gate? The government giving the ban another look. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff joins us in the NEWSROOM to talk about that, plus new moves to make ports safer. He also takes your questions, e-mail us right now at CNNNEWSROOM@CNN.com. Then get his answers at 3:00 Eastern this afternoon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: No gym class for these kids, but they're still learning a lesson on fitness.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at how some parents are helping their home-schooled kids stay fit and healthy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do y'all want for lunch?

Tuna?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peanut butter and jelly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love peanut butter and jelly.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You'd never know it by looking at them, but 14-year-old twins Courtney and Chelsea have never gone to a gym class.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long have you been on that page?

GUPTA: That's because they're home-schooled. But just because they do their schoolwork on the living room couch doesn't mean they get to be couch potatoes.

SANDRA BREADEN, PARENT: You got everything you need?

GUPTA: Their mom makes sure of that.

BREADEN: When they were younger, you could say go outside and play. But when they get to be preteens and teens, that doesn't work anymore. You almost have to have a program to have them involved in, especially with peers.

GUPTA: While most states have academic standards for home- schooled children, most do not have fitness requirements. But there is a growing interest in helping kids stay fit. There are many fitness options for home-schoolers. Kids exercise class at the local gym. Home school P.E. curriculums online. And in Sandra's case, there's Crown Athletics.

She and fellow home-school parents started Crown Athletics in Cobb County Georgia to give home-school students a chance to play organized sports.

GUPTA: Cheerleading is Courtney's passion.

COURTNEY BREADEN, HOME-SCHOOLED: I never thought I would cheerlead because I'm home-schooled, but i really like it a lot. And it's just fun to get out there and cheer for your team. GUPTA: And if practice isn't enough exercise, she also has to sign this honesty policy showing her coaches she's working out at home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't do it, there's consequences, like you have to run the track.

GUPTA: Chelsea plays volleyball.

CHELSEA BRAEDEN, HOME-SCHOOLED: It's a lot of fun getting out there and hitting it as hard as you can.

GUPTA: Joy Paige, who teaches a supplemental personal-fitness program for home-schooled students says fitness programs are essential already home-schooled kids.

JOY PAGE, TEACHER: I try to keep them understanding that it's all linked together, that it's a big picture of taking care of yourself so that you enjoy life more.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, we understand that the House Ethics Committee could be close to finishing its report on ex-Representative Mark Foley. Improper conduct with former pages, suggestive e-mails. We will check in with congressional correspondent Dana Bash in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK0

COLLINS: Want to take a moment to show you kind of an odd and some people might say sad picture. We want to show you Pier 86 in Manhattan just off the Westside highway. Look at that, Tony -- empty. You know what used to be there?

HARRIS: I can't remember.

COLLINS: The Intrepid.

HARRIS: No.

COLLINS: You know they had the successful move. I was fortunate enough to be along for the ride, the five miles down the Hudson River. And we have a quote here from the president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

Bill White, who says, "As I drive up and down the Westside highway of Manhattan and don't see the nation's ship Intrepid, which is kind of sad, I worry that although she's out of sight, her important mission is not out of people's minds. We ask all of America to please join us while we are away in honoring our heroes and their families each and every day."

Meanwhile, this was the ride. It was a little slow at first but finally they heave-hoed those five tugs and we got down the Hudson River. Took us about, I guess we started at 9:20 and we pulled into the dock at Bayone where they are going to do this massive renovation project around 3:30 or so. And boy, it was chilly.

HARRIS; Can I tell you something -- that might be because it was so crazy back here while you were there on the ship. But that be the first shot that I've actually seen where I can actually make out movement.

COLLINS; Yes. No, it was...

HARRIS: I mean we were yelling and screaming here obviously because there were other folks with a better vantage point who saw that it was in fact moving. But for me, this is the movement right here.

COLLINS: Remember, she got stuck. They spent about $3 million getting all of that river silt out underneath the intrepid to move her again. The most incredible part certainly was riding on the ship with the former crew members who had served in World War II and Vietnam.

HARRIS: When the flag was unfurled, great moment.

COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. At the World Trade Center to honor the victims there. It was a wonderful day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

COLLINS: We want to get you to another story that we're following now. These are live pictures coming into us from WHDH, our affiliate in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Apparently there's is a three alarm fire at an office building there.

We are trying to figure out, according to our affiliates, it's possible there may be some people trapped in the office building. We want to go ahead and show you this report coming in once again from WCVB, Steve Lacy.

STEVE LACY, WCVB REPORTER: It's still a very chaotic situation here in Kendall Square. That is one Broadway and office tower. As you can see there is a Cambridge ladder crew on scene right now. When we arrived here ten minutes ago, and actually you can you now see someone on the roof.

There were several firefighters up there. There were also four, five or so people that came from the office building apparently on the roof there as well. We did see people being treated with oxygen on the ground. I spoke to people who work in that office building. They were on the sixth floor. They mentioned they work for MIT in their administrative capacity.

And they said they got down to the ground via the stairs and as they were going down the floors, it got ever more smoky and they said it was a very scary situation. There are dozens of ambulances, fire crews on scene right now as we speak. And it looks like even if you look towards the Longfellow Bridge, we don't really have a good shot right now, but it looks like they are not allowing traffic into Kendall Square from Boston.

Although traffic is able to go from Kendall into Boston, apparently. We do see a number of ambulances, of course. We have firefighters from Cambridge, Summerville, on scene. Still trying to figure out exactly what is going on. There's a broken window up on the sixth floor it looks like. We're not sure how that was broken, if that was someone inside trying to get out.

We have not seen anything like that. We have not witnessed any scenes like that. But we did hear that there were people trapped trying to get out. We do know that building filled with smoke at around 11:00 this morning.

As you mentioned, coming back to the scene here, you can see there's quite a crowd of on-lookers trying to take in the whole scene. It's still roped off to the public over there at the bottom of One Broadway, an office building here in Kendall Square, in Cambridge. Still trying to get more information.

It looks like the crowd is dissipating a little bit. Still a lot of firefighters, ambulances, et cetera, on the scene. We will try to get you more information. We do not know -- just to let you know exactly where we are again, we're in Kendall Square, which is right -- the Longfellow Bridge coming in from Boston is in that direction that way.

So you know to give you a little idea of where we are, very busy area right by MIT. A lot of office buildings in this part of the city. We'll find out exactly what is happening in that building right now. Some sort of fire. People we spoke to said maybe it was an electrical fire. We do know it filled up with smoke very quickly and forced people to get out in a hurry.

Not we're not sure though, again the issue right now is did everyone get out. We saw some people on the roof of One Broadway and there is still a ladder crew there. Now the people seemed to have moved back off the edge of that building. We're not sure if they were able to make it down the stairs or being talked to by the firefighters. There were at least five firefighters on the roof and at least as many people who apparently work in that office building as well.

COLLINS: As you can see the situation is still developing there. We going to keep our eye on it for you. That was WCVB, Steve Lacy with the report.

HARRIS: And we are learning that the House Ethics Committee could be close to finishing its report on ex-Representative, the now disgraced, Mark Foley. Live to Capitol Hill in the NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Well, it looks like the House Ethics Committee could be close to finishing its work on ex-representative Mark Foley. Congressional correspondent Dana Bash is here now with an update. Dana, good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there and Tony, CNN can report that in about two hours from now, 2:00 Eastern, the chairman and ranking members of the House Ethics Committee will talk about the results from this two plus month investigation of Mark Foley.

This, Tony, is the investigation that many people here on Capitol Hill and frankly across the country, have been waiting for. You remember, of course, about two months ago, the story broke about ex- Congressman Mark Foley, that he had inappropriate behavior, actions, towards ex-pages and this committee began investigating.

Not only that, but more specifically what Republican leadership members and staff knew about it, what they did, and perhaps more importantly, did not do about that behavior. So this is something that they have been investigating, they have been talking to people at the most senior levels here, including the House Speaker, Dennis Hastert himself.

Other members of the Republican leadership, staffers, people like, remember these names, Kirk Fordham, Mark Foley's former chief of staff. Somebody who came out publicly and said that in fact, the Republican leadership did know about Foley's inappropriate conduct and simply didn't do enough about it.

So, they have been looking in this, they have been investigating, taking testimony under oath, and in about two hours we are going to find out, we understand, the results of that testimony.

And I can tell you just to give you a little bit of atmospherics here, of course, the Republicans, not only is Congress about to wrap up, the Republican Congress is about to wrap up. Perhaps as early as today.

And amid all of the flurry of activity, this is the thing, Tony, that has really been looming. People have been holding their breath, waiting to see what exactly the Ethics Committee finds out about the Republican leadership and the Mark Foley investigation.

HARRIS: And, of course, we will bring that news conference to everyone here in the NEWSROOM this afternoon with Don and Kyra.

COLLINS: We also want to make sure we let you know that we will be updating the story that we've been telling you about, the fire in an office building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We believe this building to be owned by MIT. Not quite sure of the businesses inside.

But the big question here is whether or not everyone got out of that building. We've been following it with our live affiliate there, WCVB. These pictures coming into us from. But three-alarm fire at this building. We will continue to (INAUDIBLE) and have an update for you in just a few minutes.

HARRIS: You are back in the NEWSROOM an hour from now. Kyra Phillips here with a preview. Good to see you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Hey guys. Gatorade is still out, but grandma might be back in. We're talking about the TSA, thinking about relaxing rules to let people without airline tickets go past security to boarding gates. Remember the old days?

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is going to join us in the NEWSROOM live to talk about that and a whole lot more. That's 3:00 p.m. Eastern right here.

And as the new movie "Blood Diamond" hits theaters, our Ali Velshi takes a look at how the diamond industry is trying to clean up its tarnished image with gems that are branded conflict-free. That and much more, coming up your way in the CNN NEWSROOM staring at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

COLLINS; All right, Kyra Phillips and Don Lemon -- we'll be watching.

PHILLIPS: OK.

COLLINS: As we said, CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now.

HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. Have a great weekend everybody.

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