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Boeing Jetliner Overshoots Runway in Indonesia and Bursts Into Flames; Winning Mega Millions Tickets; Iraq's Hidden War
Aired March 07, 2007 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Rob Marciano, sitting in for Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins, everybody.
Developments do keep coming in to the NEWSROOM on this Wednesday, the 7th of March.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Somebody's rich... and you know who you are. At least two winning tickets in the record-busting Mega Millions lottery. There's a $370 million jackpot to divvy up.
MARCIANO: Nice.
Washington takes time to smell the bacon, so to speak. A watchdog group out this hour with an annual pork report. Wasteful spending by your lawmakers.
COLLINS: A charming romantic, but police say this man banked on love to con women out of their savings. Meet the man they're calling "Mr. Wrong" in the NEWSROOM.
Tragedy and incredible stories of survival at an Indonesian airport. Investigators now at the scene of a Boeing jetliner crash. At least 23 people were killed when the plane overshot a runway and burst into flames while trying to land. But dozens of others were able to make it out of the plane alive.
CNN's Dan Rivers reports from the crash site.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Within seconds of overshooting the runway, Garuda Airlines Flight 200 was an inferno. This remarkable video was taken by a news cameraman who was aboard. Moments after, he scrambled out. In spite of his injuries, he manages to film the awful scene behind him.
Inside the burning fuselage, passengers who weren't so quick. Many horribly burnt, stretchered (ph) away by rescuers who fought the flames for two hours. But, incredibly, many did make it out alive.
RUTH BAMGGADAN, CRASH SURVIVOR: Suddenly we got (ph) like a bomb. And then we hit the ground. And when it stopped, I already see fire outside of the plane. I sat on the right side of the plane, so the fire was outside the window.
RIVERS: Among the 140 passengers and crew were nine Australians preparing for a visit by the foreign minister, Alexander Downer. They included embassy officials, police officers and journalists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no reason to believe that this accident was as a result of sabotage or terrorist attack or anything like that. It does look like just a straight action, where the aircraft apparently ran off the end of the runway.
RIVERS: Hospitals in Yogyakarta were inundated with more than 90 injured passengers and crew. The distressed relatives desperately praying for good news.
(on camera): What caused this plane to catastrophically overshoot the runway and burst into flames is still not clear. It's possible it was simply coming in too fast along the runway, skidding off the end and smashing through this fence. It's also possible there was a problem with the landing gear.
Either way, the Indonesian president has now ordered an urgent investigation as to why this flight ended in such horrible tragedy.
(voice over): Dan Rivers, CNN, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(NEWSBREAK)
COLLINS: Want to go now and get to Dalton, Georgia, a working class mill town, but that's where one winning Mega Millions winning ticket was sold.
Our Rusty Dornin joining us now live.
Rusty, I cannot imagine the excitement there.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, it's still a big mystery here in Dalton, Georgia. You were saying it's a working class area. Yes. It's the carpet capital of the United States. There's a lot of carpet mills.
You can see one of them right across the street here. And folks here say that's mostly who are the clientele here at the Favorite 41 Market (ph) in Dalton.
A lot of people coming in, cashing in their tickets, but no winners yet. The big news for the employees here is that they will receive $25,000. And what we've been told is, is that half of that goes to the manager and the rest is shared among the employees.
So, so far, they've been getting a lot of calls among the media, but no winning tickets have come in here so far. They were notified about 8:00 this morning. Now, of course, you know, the winner here will split their winnings with the winner in New Jersey. We know that another winning ticket was sold there.
We have not heard yet what's going on in California. They had some technical problems there. They have not confirmed if there's another winning ticket there.
So, the worst case scenario for the person would be they would have to split it three ways, but we know for sure that the person in Dalton, Georgia, will likely split it two ways. And as the owner of this store, who they also own 106 other Favorite Markets (ph) in Georgia, said that he believes it's probably a local person, because this market is so off the beaten track.
When the mills are closed, the carpet mills are closed, they said they really don't get a lot of clientele. So they're just waiting here to see who the lucky winner will be -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow. It's fun story, that's for sure. I don't think you're going to see the winner walking in there. They're going to hightail it away from the press as much as possible.
All right. Rusty Dornin from Dalton, Georgia, today.
Thank you, Rusty.
Want to show you this now as well. We will be -- they're standing up for this man, the king of Jordan. He'll be addressing a joint session of Congress. It will be happening just moments from now.
See him shaking hands there with all the different members. And should anything happen here that is interesting, or otherwise, we, of course, we'll bring it to you live when he goes to the microphones.
MARCIANO: Well, here's a repeat no one cares to see -- rising gasoline prices. AAA's daily fuel gauge report shows the national unleaded average price is $2.50 a gallon. That's up 32 cents from a month ago and 19 cents higher than this time last year.
One of the reasons, rising oil prices. Experts say don't expect prices at the pump to go down soon. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's outlook for gasoline prices, an average of $2.62 a gallon in the second quarter.
COLLINS: Not so good.
Chad Myers joining us now with some more on the weather situation.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: A child murder case that rocked the nation will soon be in the hands of the jury. A panel is hearing closing arguments this morning in the trial of John Couey. Prosecutors say he raped 9- year-old Jessica Lunsford, stuffed her in a garbage bag, and buried her alive. Jailers and investigators have testified that Couey repeatedly volunteered details about murdering Jessica.
A psychologist said that Couey suffers from a mental illness that could have led to ill-advised comments to guards. Couey has pleaded not guilty.
If you want to watch more of the court proceedings, you can do so by going on cnn.com/pipeline, and we'll have a live report on that case at the half hour.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Wounded vets locked in a battle with their own government. Their commander in chief vowing they will not be shortchanged in their medical care. President Bush now taking a closer look at charges they were mistreated at Walter Reed Medical Center, and maybe throughout the medical military system.
Last hour the president met with former senator Bob Dole and former Clinton insider Donna Shalala. The two will lead a bipartisan probe into medical care for war wounded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am concerned that our soldiers and their families are not getting the treatment that they deserve, having volunteered to defend our country. Any report of medical neglect will be taken seriously by this administration and, I'm confident, by the Congress, and we'll address problems quickly.
BOB DOLE, MILITARY MEDICAL PROBE CO-CHAIRMAN: Obviously, somebody dropped the ball. And I think Secretary Gates took appropriate action to underscore the importance of correcting the neglect that has been going on. But I wasn't aware of it. I've been out there, I've been all over the hospital. I think in the main hospital you're not going to find that problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Later today, the Senate takes up the matter as Congress holds a third straight day of hearings. Some lawmakers fear problems cited at Walter Reed are just "the tip of the iceberg."
MARCIANO: Iraq's hidden war. It's a battle for control over the country's spy agencies. The stakes are high, and the U.S. has much to lose.
CNN's Michael Ware has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is the face of the intelligence wars here, an Iraqi officer unable to show his identity amid the shambles of his agency's southern headquarters. It was stormed not by insurgents or Shia militia, but by coalition troops and Iraqi special forces who suspect he's working for another side.
It's a scene far from the other Iraq war on TV screens of roadside bombs, suicide attacks and firefights. This is a conflict waged in the hidden world of espionage, between intelligence agencies sponsored by the CIA and Iran.
It's about who controls Iraqi intelligence. And it's a battle the U.S. risks losing.
It's all here in this document from Iraq's National Security Council. In these pages, the blueprint for the nation's new intelligence community. A blueprint that would merge all intelligence gathering under Iraqi government control, a government heavily influenced by Iran.
It would be a damaging blow to the CIA, which since the fall of Saddam's regime has built its largest station in the world here. U.S. intelligence sources tell CNN the agency has around 500 offices. More than the CIA presence in Saigon during the Vietnam War.
At stake is control of an organization ensconced inside this heavily-defended building, the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, or INIS. It's headed by this man, Mohammed Abdullah Shehwani, a man so secretive, this is one of the few known photographs of him.
Appointed three years ago by the U.S., military and intelligence sources say Shehwani's INIS is funded completely by the CIA. Though an Iraqi agency, not one cent comes from the government in Baghdad.
Top Iraqi government officials complain the agency is beyond Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's control. But now the Shia-led government is trying to assert that control.
Shehwani, currently under Iraqi government investigation over unspecified corruption allegations, has not been seen in the country for at least three months. U.S. ally and former prime minister Ayad Allawi says Shehwani is being unfairly targeted.
AYAD ALLAWI, FMR. IRAQ PRIME MINISTER: I don't know whether it's an attack on the U.S. intelligence, but definitely it's an attack, a political attack against Shehwani.
WARE: One of Shehwani's rivals is this man, Shirwan al-Wa'eli, Iraq's minister for national security, here on a recent tour of Baghdad neighborhoods. He leads the agencies that over the past two years, according to U.S. intelligence, has grown to almost 3,000 operatives. The goal, to compete with the CIA. And under the new intelligence plan, this agency is set to grow even more, with the minister applauding his relationship with Iran and distancing himself from the U.S.
SHIRWAN KAMIL AL-WA'ELI, MINISTER OF STATE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY (through translator): Multinational forces are in Iraq. And they're supportive on the security issue. And we have a good relationship with them. But we do not bargain Iraq to any side. The Americans give us only moral support, not logistical support.
WARE: While the CIA-backed agency suffers, this ministry has become an intelligence organization the American government and its allies never meant it to be.
CNN's repeated requests for on-the-record comments from the U.S. military, embassy and intelligence agencies in Iraq went unanswered.
Meanwhile, the intelligence plan is due to go to the Iraqi parliament. And what happens there may be every bit as important as the battles on the streets of Baghdad.
Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: And the Pentagon is scheduled to hold a briefing this afternoon. Defense Secretary Gates and Joints Chiefs Chairman Pace will run that briefing, and that will be at 4:00 p.m. today.
COLLINS: Six little numbers, but boy, do they add up to some big bucks for some very lucky people. An update on where the winning Mega Million tickets were sold ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Want to bring this to you now. We know just a few minutes ago, the president met with several different cabinet secretaries, to include the secretary of the V.A., Jim Nicholson. He had a chance to come to the microphone, so we're going to let you listen to some of that sound, commenting on his feeling about the conditions at the V.A. hospitals, which he of course oversees.
Let's go ahead and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM NICHOLSON, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: The American people can feel very good about the healthcare system that their V.A. is providing to veterans, but if there is a case where a veteran gets lost in the -- in the system, or sufferers anxiety or their family does as a result of something we're not doing, that is unacceptable. And we are taking steps to correct that.
I, this week, have instructed us to hire 100 new patient advocates whose only mission will be to be assigned to those injured returnees from the war and their families to help them deal with the bureaucracy and deal with the red tape and deal with the transition from DOD to veterans healthcare, to back home for their continuum of care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So there you have it, secretary of the V.A., Jim Nicholson, talking about the 100 new patient advocates that have been hired to help these injured men and women transition back into civilian life.
MARCIANO: Fighting teenage obesity with surgery, but is it safe?
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jonathan Hernandez was a normal sized baby. His mother says he didn't start getting big until third grade. As he got bigger, he stopped going out and he stayed in his room.
JONATHAN HERNANDEZ, BARIATRIC SURGERY PATIENT: What would people think when they saw me like that? And then I was, like -- and then I didn't want them to, like, look at me looking at me like oh, my God, look at him like that.
GUPTA: At 16, he weighed 402 pounds. His sleep apnea was so bad that even breathing was difficult. He had to undergo a tracheotomy.
MARYDALE MASSEY, JONATHAN'S MOTHER: He was so big, that it was pressing on his heart and on his chest. And he couldn't breathe.
GUPTA: In two years, he's lost 90 pounds after having weight loss surgery at a new pediatric program offered in Atlanta.
MARK WULKAN, DR., EMORY PEDIATRIC SURGEON: It's a lifesaver and it's life altering for these children. I think you give them back a piece of their childhood.
GUPTA: Dr. Mark Wulkan performs bariatric or weight loss surgery that involves inserting a band that clamps down on the stomach, restricting access. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of the so-called lap band for children 17 and under, but Wulkan believes it's safe in part because it's reversible.
(on camera): Hospital officials around the country say the increased demand for adolescent weight loss surgery has prompted them to create special programs for obese kids. In fact, one surgeon here in Atlanta told us he used to get requests for surgery once a year. Now he's getting them once a month.
(voice-over): Weight loss surgery can cost up to $25,000 with Medicaid sometimes picking up the tab. And the issue surrounding obese teens are complex and cultural. Nutrition and fitness expert Dr. Pamela Peek urges extreme caution when it comes to surgery.
DR. PAMELA PEEK: We don't have long-term data outside of three to five years. And at that time, we're seeing that it appears a large number, if not a majority, are actually regaining their weight.
HERNANDEZ: Bye, Kaitlin. See you tomorrow.
GUPTA: Jonathan's mother says for her son, having the operation was a life saver.
MASSEY: That saved my baby's life.
GUPTA: Despite the work, Jonathan says he'd do it all again. He now has good friends, has taken a great interest in drama class, and just went to his first prom.
Jonathan's mother sums it up this way...
MASSEY: Now he's enjoying life to the fullest, believe me.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to our Web site and you'll find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness. The address is cnn.com/health.
(NEWSBREAK)
MARCIANO: Accused in a gruesome child murder. The case, headed to the jury today. Details ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: A child murder case that rocked the nation goes the jury. Prosecutors say John Couey raped 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, stuffed her in garbage bags and buried her alive. Couey says he's not guilty.
Court TV reporter Beth Karas joins us live from outside the courthouse in Miami.
Beth, what is the latest today?
BETH KARAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Rob.
Well, the jurors are seated in the courtroom. They are about to go in their private room to begin deliberations. They have sat through four days of testimony, and today, about an hour and a half closing arguments. They heard from 24 different witnesses and saw a mountain of evidence.
In fact, another courtroom is being used to house this evidence, which is big, some of it -- a mattress, the frame of a closet from a mobile home, where she had been kidnapped and kept for a period of time before she was put in two garbage bags and then buried alive. So the jury has heard about all that forensic evidence and corroborating statements made by the man on trial, John Couey. They are about to begin deciding his fate. Murder in the first degree, burglary, kidnapping and sexual assault of a child are the charges -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Beth, with all those witnesses that were brought to testify, I read somewhere that there was only one witness brought by the defense? Is that true? And if so, it doesn't sound like much of a defense?
KARAS: No, it's not much of a defense, but it was good, this one witness, a forensic psychologist who evaluated Couey and said he is mildly mentally retarded. He has a problem with judgment. He misperceives things. And this may help to mitigate. Maybe some jurors will find it's really not first-degree murder because it's so heinous, the facts in this case, that something has to explain it, and maybe his simple mind explains it. That's the defense's effort to try to save his life. The evidence is what it is. There wasn't a lot for the defense to work with. They didn't have witnesses to say John Couey didn't do it. They had to work with the forensic evidence and statements, and they did succeed before trial in getting his confession suppressed. So they've been hard at work, even before the trial started.
MARCIANO: Beth, what do you expects to happen next?
KARAS: Well, once a jury deliberates, it's anybody's call when they'll have a verdict, assuming all 12 agree on the charges and everyone thinks they will, could be today, could be tomorrow. Depending on what that verdict is, there may be another phase, since the state is seeking to execute Couey. If they convict him of first- degree murder, capital murder, then there's going to be a penalty phase, and it's going to be mostly the defense's opportunity to put on more evidence in mitigation to try to save his life. But this will give the prosecution an opportunity to bring on Couey's criminal record, which this jury doesn't know about. He was a registered sex offender, and the jury will hear about that in a penalty phase, if we get to that.
MARCIANO: Interesting. Beth Karas live for us, Court TV reporter, outside the courthouse in Miami on the John Couey trial. Thanks, Beth.
COLLINS: Trying to put shattered lives back together: An update on the big earthquake on Indonesia's Sumatra Island coming up in the NEWSROOM.
And another high-profile death, another mystery? Russia rocked by the death of another journalist, in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Recovery already under way on Indonesia's Sumatra Island, in just one day after a powerful earthquake shook that region. The quake, a magnitude 6.3 killed at least 52 people, injured many more. It flattened thousand of homes and businesses, the quake was followed by a powerful aftershock. Right now, international aid has started to arrive. It's the latest in the string of natural disasters to strike Indonesia in the last few years.
MARCIANO: Was it suicide or was he silenced? Questions surround the mysterious death of yet another Russian journalist.
CNN's Matthew Chance reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's the latest high-profile Russian journalist to be found dead in mysterious circumstances. Ivan Safronov, reported on military affairs and was often critical of Russia's armed forces. Police say they're treating his death as suicide. But among those close to him, there are serious doubts.
(on camera): This is the grim Moscow apartment building where Ivan Safronov lived and died. Investigators say he came here to the fifth floor, climbed out of these windows and then from this ledge, one of Russia's most prominent military journalists, plunged to his death.
(voice-over): The former colonel in Russia's space forces, Safronov had deep contacts in the Russian military. He was the first to report the launch failure of a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile, the Bulava. It's meant to become the cornerstone of Russia's nuclear forces and its problems are an official embarrassment.
But the Russian language newspaper where he works, colleagues say Safronov frequently angered the authorities who accused him of divulging state secrets. His editor says the journalist was investigating sensitive Russian arms deliveries to Iran and Syria when he died.
He could have been killed for his work, he told me. In Russia, everything is possible. But as yet, we have no evidence, he says, I just know he wasn't the suicidal type.
CHANCE: You believe his death was suicide?
DMITRY KAMYSHEV, SAFRONOV'S EDITOR: I don't believe.
CHANCE: Russia has been shaken by a series of high-profile killings in recent months, like Ivana Polykofska (ph), a journalist fiercely critical of Russia's war in Chechnya, then there was Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian agent poisoned last year in London. The critics of the Kremlin and Russia and beyond, the latest mysterious death carries a chilling message.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: That is the wildest story.
CNN's Hala Gorani is standing by now, from "YOUR WORLD TODAY," coming up in just 15 minutes or so.
Hi there, Hala.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Heidi and Rob.
Indeed at the top of the hour, hope you can join us. We'll tell you about that dramatic plane crash in Indonesia. And we'll tell you how more than 100 passengers managed to survive this inferno. Many journalists were on that plane, covering a trip by an Australian official. Some are officially dead, others still unaccounted for sadly. And we'll bring you more from the site of the burning wreckage.
Also the Jordanian King Abdullah in Washington. There you see him on Capitol Hill, he addressed the joint session of Congress. And we'll tell you what he asked of America.
And also, in the next hour, the new seven wonders of the world. The old Seven Wonders, there you saw the Taj Mahal. There are 21 world sites in competition today, the official entry of the Statute of Liberty, alongside the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower, you name it. We will have an interview with the organizer of the new seven wonders competition.
All that and more at noon Eastern. Hope you can join us.
COLLINS: And the blimp, too.
GORANI: And the -- well, I don't know if the blimp is among this one, you know. Maybe.
COLLINS: Probably just taking the pictures. All right.
MARCIANO: News and a trip around the world. We appreciate it. We'll look forward to you at the top of the hour. Thanks, Hala.
COLLINS: Mr. Wrong on the prowl. One guy accused of snaring women in a web of lies, that's ahead coming up in the NEWSROOM.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. One week after the biggest point loss since 9/11, the bulls staged the biggest point gain since July. Is that momentum in the marketplace today? I'll have the numbers when NEWSROOM returns.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
COLLINS: Looking for love, but they say they found a leech instead. One man accused of using dating Web sites to scam unsuspecting women.
CNN Reggie Aqui has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's used to jumping weird stuff.
REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Laura Mendelsohn already had the white horse, but Prince Charming aftershock to go with it, that was a little harder to find.
LAUREN MENDELSOHN, ALLEGED VICTIM: I'm still a stupid romantic.
AQUI: A year and half ago, Mendeholson, of Baltimore, met Hillard Quint on dating Webs site for Jewish singles.
MENDELSOHN: So he wasn't that great looking, but he was very, very charming.
AQUI: And apparently rich. Mendelsohn says he told her of millions in the bank, a home in California, even a Hummer. But it was Mendelsohn who was about to be taken for a ride.
MENDELSOHN: Oh, my god. I had no idea.
AQUI: Suddenly, he needed cash.
MENDELSOHN: It was more than $150,000.
AQUI: Turns out the Hummer was a lease; the money was a lie.
MENDELSOHN: He said to me, I have $200 in my account. I don't have $3 million, I have $200. That's it.
AQUI: Lauren Mendelsohn isn't alone. Another woman claiming to be a victim, living here in Noonan, Georgia, says she knows Hillard Quint better than just about anybody.
LISA CHAPO. QUINT'S FMR. WIFE: I was his wife.
MENDELSOHN: Unlike Lauren Mendelsohn, Lisa Chapo knew her husband went to prison for two years after defrauding his legal clients. She thought he had changed.
CHAPO: That's how you get sucked in is, you know, he creates that bond, you know, that love and that trust.
AQUI: But then she found her husband's profiles on JDate and match.com, the stacks of fake checks and unpaid bills. During her five years of marriage, she figures he took more than $350,000.
CHAPO: He killed my family's future.
AQUI: Authorities now say during and after his marriage, Hillard Quint scammed victims in at least nine states, that is, until he got to Illinois. The Deerfield police department heard one Chicago's woman story. She says it was the fake "Success" magazine cover that tipped her off.
When police finally arrested Hillard Quint at this Chicago apartment, they found the phone numbers of Hillard Quint's alleged victims, Lauren Mendelsohn included. She said her ex boyfriend's arrest helps, but there are some things...
MENDELSOHN: I don't trust anybody anymore.
AQUI: ... she may never get over.
As for Hillard Quint, He's sitting in a Chicago jail cell right now. He's charged with check forgery and deceptive practice. Now we tried to contact Quint's public defender. So far we haven't heard back. Their next scheduled court appearance is March 20th.
Reggie Aqui, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: And the winner is -- well, at least two of you know out there, or hope to know. Somebody's rolling in Mega Millions today, a lottery record buster coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: The wait continues. Maybe Kyra Phillips will have the news this afternoon as far as who won the big bucks.
COLLINS: And if they're sharing.
MARCIANO: Who are the big winners. You always want to see the success story, right, those that didn't really have a lot. Now they get all this big money, and they give it back to their family and pay off all their bills. That's the $370 million dollar question today. Who will that person be, or persons?
Later in the NEWSROOM, we're going to go live where the winning tickets were sold and see if anyone is coming forward yet to claim the prize.
Also ahead in the NEWSROOM, wounded soldiers with horror stories about what happened once they got home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw mice in their cafeteria. I didn't eat there. We would have meetings there, and we would bring in our own food, but I wouldn't eat at that cafeteria.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A former National Guard chopper pilot speaks about what she experienced at Walter Reed. That's at 1:00 p.m. from the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll see you then.
COLLINS: All right, Kyra Phillips, and Don Lemon today?
PHILLIPS: No, I'm solo today, flying solo.
COLLINS: I have ADD -- it's perfect.
MARCIANO: Hey, if I'm sitting here, you know there's a shortage of male anchors, that's for sure.
COLLINS: Stop it! You were great. PHILLIPS: Bring the weather guy. Come join me.
MARCIANO: Thanks.
COLLINS: Thank you, Kyra.
And as Kyra said, CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now.
MARCIANO: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home.
COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins.
MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano. I'll be here again. Tony will eventually be back. And we'll see you tomorrow.
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