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Jerry Falwell Dies at Age 73; Republican Presidential Candidates Prepare For South Carolina Debate; Search for Missing British Girl; CNN Heroes
Aired May 15, 2007 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips.
From the Baptist pulpit to presidential politics, Jerry Falwell made his mark on American ideals and country -- or culture, rather, for three decades.
LEMON: Well, today, we remember Falwell, the preacher, the founder, the icon, and the lightning rod, as disciples and detractors alike mark his death at the age of 73.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: Our top story, the sudden passing of a singular figure, a distinctive and unmistakable voice in modern American religion and politics.
As we have been reporting, Jerry Falwell, the famed evangelist and head of the religious right, died today in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was rushed to a hospital after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, where he was founder and president. Falwell survived at least two serious health crises in 2005. Heart failure is apparently what killed him. He was 73.
LEMON: Well, some people practically worshipped him. To others, he was practically the devil.
CNN's Candy Crowley looks back on the life of the Reverend Jerry Falwell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Son of an alcoholic who sold bootleg whiskey during prohibition, father of a movement to restore America as God's country, a big thinker from small-town Virginia growing his 35-member Thomas Road Baptist Church into a congregation of thousands, and then millions, as the fundamentalist reverend, raised on radio preachers, pioneered a new evangelism, the TV pulpit, beaming his "Old Time Gospel Hour" into American homes, turning living rooms into pews.
Jerry Falwell said he found Jesus in 1952. He found politics in 1979, forming the Moral Majority to lobby against abortion rights, gay rights, pornography, and a host of social issues. He claimed credit for helping elect Ronald Reagan and a string of officials down the government ladder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REVEREND JERRY FALWELL, CHANCELLOR, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: We have a goal of 200 of our people running for office this year at different levels across the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: A visionary to conservatives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FALWELL: We admire and respect you, the president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jerry, I am glad to have been introduced by a loyal friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: A Lucifer to liberals.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In very Christian way, as far as I'm concerned, he can go to hell.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Pilloried by a high priest of porn in the pages of "Hustler."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FALWELL: I personally was anguished, am anguished, am still hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Always provocative. AIDS, he said, was God's punishment to homosexuals. September 11, that was God's punishment, too, unleashed on the America of abortionists, feminists, pagans, and gays. Falwell apologized for that one, blaming a lack of sleep, asking for the lord's forgiveness.
Through the decades, his targets ranged from terrorists to Teletubbies: Purse-toting, lovably lavender Tinky-Winky was an agent of the homosexual agenda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FALWELL: Parents, be very careful what your children are watching.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Despite the occasional colorful outburst, Falwell retreated from the secular world in his later years, dedicating himself to the once tiny church he turned into a multimillion-dollar empire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FALWELL: Twenty million religious conservatives to the polls nationally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Leaving politics to those who followed the road he paved.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight to the NEWSROOM: Betty Nguyen with more details on that rescue taking place out of New Jersey -- Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it looks like another person has been pulled out. That is the good news.
Let's bring you some live pictures right now of this operation under way. That you see right there in the middle of the screen, the second person who has been pulled out from this building in Fanwood, New Jersey.
Now, what we know is at least two to three people have been trapped inside. This person is the second who has been pulled out. One was pulled out a little bit earlier, this person on a stretcher headed to a nearby ambulance.
Now, the question is, is there still another person inside this building? We don't know what caused the building collapse. But what we do know is that it is a business. And, again, at least two to three people were trapped inside once the collapse occurred.
This is the second person who luckily had been taken out of the debris just all around that person after the collapse did occur at this building.
But here's the interesting thing, too. This building wasn't even under construction. But, when we get a chance to look at it, there is debris all around. So, really don't know what kind of a collapse this was. But, again, the good news, two people have been pulled out. You are seeing the second person right there being taken to an ambulance nearby.
And, again, Kyra, the big question is, is there still another person inside that collapsed building? And, hopefully, we will learn more information on that and we will learn more as to the injuries of these two people who have been pulled from the building so far.
I guess, I mean, just looking at the pictures right now, the good news is, this person is moving around and being taken to an ambulance, and not a helicopter, which would get you to a hospital a lot sooner, if you have some really serious injuries.
But, as we're getting more information, of course, we will bring it straight to you -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK, Betty Nguyen, thanks.
LEMON: Now back to the death of Jerry Falwell.
He wasn't just a preacher. He was also a teacher. More than 7,000 students attend Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, which Falwell founded 36 years ago as Lynchburg Baptist College.
Here's how a school official and friend announced Falwell's death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON GODWIN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: I am just reporting that, this morning, Dr. Falwell was found by office staff in the mansion at Liberty University unconscious. And emergency services were immediately called, and did administer resuscitation efforts at the mansion, in the ambulance here, and, of course, following.
Those very timely and very efficient and effective efforts were unsuccessful. And I won't talk about the time of death, that sort of thing. I just will say that I had breakfast with Dr. Falwell this morning, and he seemed to be in good spirits. And he went to his office.
I went to mine. And he was found later unconscious working -- where he was working, in his office. And I have nothing further to share about that.
QUESTION: Dr. Godwin, I noticed, when you all came into the emergency department, you were riding with him. Did he at all came -- regain consciousness at any point in that ride, or...
GODWIN: Not that I'm aware of. But I'm -- I was not -- I'm not a technician, and -- but he was under very effective and efficient care.
I am very confident, although I'm not a doctor, that everything possible that could be done was done, and was done in a most timely and efficient manner.
QUESTION: To all of the students and members of Thomas Road, to members of Liberty University, to all of them, what would you say...
GODWIN: Well, I'm going to leave here now. And they are gathering at Thomas Road Baptist Church even as I speak. And we will be holding a service there within 30 minutes at the Thomas Road Baptist Church.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, Godwin says Falwell wanted his two sons to carry on his leadership.
PHILLIPS: Just after Godwin spoke, Falwell's personal physician, Dr. Carl Moore, talked about the efforts to save him. Apparently, there was little that anyone could do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CARL MOORE, JERRY FALWELL'S PERSONAL PHYSICIAN: Dr. Falwell was found unconscious, without a heartbeat, in his office today at Liberty University around 11:30 in the morning.
He was found by his associates. Efforts to resuscitate Dr. Falwell at Liberty University were unsuccessful. Further efforts to resuscitate him by the emergency medical services en route to the hospital were also unsuccessful.
Further efforts at Lynchburg General Hospital were also unsuccessful. And he was pronounced dead at 12:40 p.m.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Dr. Moore added That Falwell's death was probably due to cardiac arrhythmia. that'S an unpredictable and sudden condition where the heart just stops beating.
Now, tonight, at 9:00 p.m., "LARRY KING LIVE" has more on the life and career of Reverend Jerry Falwell. Tammy Faye Messner, Franklin Graham, Ralph Reed, and more join Larry to remember Reverend Jerry Falwell.
LEMON: And, as the search goes on for three missing troops, we're learning more about two of their comrades killed in a weekend ambush near Baghdad -- life stories straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Missing in Iraq, mourning back home -- new developments in that search for those U.S. three soldiers, the missing apparently kidnapped in a Saturday ambush that killed four of their comrades.
As of now, we know the names of the -- two of the fallen.
Forty-year-old Sergeant 1st Class James Connell of Lake City, Tennessee, was a 17-year Army vet.
Nineteen-year-old Daniel Courneya was from Vermontville, Michigan. He wanted to serve since he was just a little kid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LIEUTENANT COLONEL PAUL FITZPATRICK, ARMY PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER: Early Saturday morning, at approximately 4:44 a.m. in Iraq, a combat element made up of seven soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, and an Iraqi army interpreter were attacked by an unknown size element of Iraqi insurgents about 12 miles west of Mahmoudiyah -- that's southwest of Baghdad -- by a rocket-propelled grenade and a heavy concentration of small-arms fire.
As a result of that attack, four of our soldiers and one Iraqi army soldier were killed in action, and three remain missing. Their status is currently listed as whereabouts unknown. The U.S. command in Iraq felt it necessary to withhold the identity of that unit involved, in order to maintain as much operational flexibility as possible.
Since that information has now been made public by the command, I can confirm that the U.S. soldiers killed and those who remain as a status of whereabouts unknown are from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, 10th Mountain Division, 2nd Combat Team, currently deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: "If we can just get through today" -- that comment from an exhausted firefighter at the scene of a still-out-of-control wildfire along the Georgia-Florida border.
As many as 500 homes have been evacuated a second time, after flames jumped a fire line just west of US-441. Now, the winds aren't as strong as they were yesterday. And much of the smoke has pushed into the Gulf, which means air tankers can get back to work. The fire, sparked by lightning nine days ago, has burned nearly 250,000 acres, and it's just one of about 250 wildfires in the two states.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM SPEAKS, DEPUTY INCIDENT COMMANDER: Fatigue is becoming a huge issue. This, you know, actually, has been going on now about four weeks, between everything that's been going on in the Oke Swamp. But we're talking about record droughts, incredible fuel loadings on the ground. Weather has not been helping one bit with that. So, our resources are getting tired. And the only thing that would help us, a lot of rain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Also feeling the heat, north Georgia, where a wildfire has burned 1,000 acres in the Chattahoochee National Forest. It's been burning since Sunday.
Several subdivisions are threatened. And firefighters in northern Michigan say they hope to have this fire under control by week's end. Take a look at that. It's burned 117 square miles south of Gunflint Trail.
Well, more than 130 homes and cabins have been destroyed, but no one has been seriously hurt.
Well, rain without the wind, that's what a lot of folks could certainly use to help with that.
Jacqui Jeras, are they going to get it?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You can -- it's almost impossible to get one without the other, you know, unfortunately.
The cold front that is going to be approaching is really going to kick in the winds, particularly behind the front, as it comes. But, right now, the winds, they are doing OK, about 10 miles per hour. But I just see last hour in Lake City that the wind is gusting up to 23. That is some bad news right now, winds pulling in easterly.
And you mentioned the smoke out in the Gulf. And this picture from NASA -- or NOAA, rather, is showing us all the smoky conditions out here into the Gulf of Mexico, as those winds push in from the east.
Red-flag warning still in place here today, and the rain at least a day away, all the rain right now into southern parts of the state, though we would like to see some showers and thunderstorms come through. We think that is going to be possible with this system right here, as it approaches, maybe even late tomorrow night.
But I think Thursday is going to be our best chance. That front is going to drop on through to the south. And very dry, very windy conditions are expected by the end of the week Friday. So, we really need to make a lot of progress with this fire between now and then, because I think Friday is going to be a lot worse than what we have seen over the last several days, severe weather here with this front, too, right now from Peoria, down toward Saint Louis, a new severe thunderstorm watch also issued around the Indianapolis area on northward into lower parts of Michigan. Large hail and damaging winds will be our big concern there.
Big cool down behind this front, though, guys, some much cooler air for the fires up here in the Arrowhead of Minnesota, 61 degrees in Minneapolis today. And look at all the 70s and 80s ahead of it -- back to you.
LEMON: Sixty-one degrees, that certainly is cool.
JERAS: That's a little cool, yes.
LEMON: Jacqui Jeras, thank you.
PHILLIPS: An afternoon stroll turns tragic in Denver, as a mother and toddler are swept away by a flash flood. The mother was rescued. The stroller was found empty. The toddler is still missing, as is a teenager who was caught up in the floodwaters while trying to rescue a friend.
LEMON: And, Kyra, more heartbreak for Greensburg, Kansas. A 10th person has died from injuries suffered in Greensburg during the massive tornado that leveled a town. It happened on May 4.
Harold Schmidt was 77 years old. The town has been flooded with donations, so many, there's no place to store them all. And town leaders are asking anyone who still wants to help out to send cash instead.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead: remembering the life of Reverend Jerry Falwell.
As you know, the Republicans get ready to debate in South Carolina. Our John King is there. We will talk to him live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, the Republicans are getting ready to debate in South Carolina. That's where our John King is.
And, John, no doubt, probably with the news today about Reverend Jerry Falwell and his passing, that will be a topic of conversation.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No question about that, Kyra.
Reverend Falwell, of course, will be remembered by the candidates here tonight, and his death, in some ways, a reminder of one of the cutting debates in the Republican presidential campaign. And that is, can a candidate like Rudy Giuliani, someone who supports abortion rights, win the nomination, or compete heartily for the nomination in a party that, since the days of Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, has had, in its platform, a call for making abortion illegal in the United States.
Some of the candidates already issuing statements in advance of the debate tonight, among them, Senator John McCain -- and it's quite interesting. Senator McCain called Falwell and Pat Robertson agents of intolerance, after his defeat here in South Carolina back in the 2000 campaign.
But the two men had made peace. Reverend Falwell was helping Senator McCain in this campaign try to court the support of Christian conservatives.
John McCain issuing a statement, saying this: "I join the students, faculty and staff of Liberty University and Americans of all faiths in mourning the loss of Reverend Jerry Falwell. Dr. Falwell was a man of distinguished accomplishments who devoted his life to serving his faith and country. Our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Falwell's family at this difficult time."
Here -- I went down to Lynchburg, Virginia, and Liberty University just a year ago to sit down with Reverend Falwell to ask him about this detente, this peace, he had with Senator John McCain. He said he was looking forward to helping Senator McCain across the country in this campaign.
And you could see he clearly relished the opportunity to get back in the business. He called himself an old warrior, said he was ready to travel to coast -- from coast to coast, if necessary, to help John McCain. He clearly wanted to show that he could be a relevant force some 30 years after he helped Ronald Reagan win the White House -- Reverend Falwell's passing, of course, a sad day for the Christian conservative movement.
Make no mistake. He was also quite a controversial figure in American politics and in American religion because of very controversial statements he made from time to time. But you can be sure he will be remembered fondly by the 10 Republicans debating here tonight -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And his sons told to -- to take over now for their father. What type of impact, experience, will -- do they have and will they have on this race?
KING: It's a fascinating question, not just for the Falwell family and Reverend Falwell's organizations, but the Christian Coalition, which had a giant operation here in the state of South Carolina in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Those were the heydays, if you will, of the social conservative movement. Many call it the religious right.
Reverend Falwell had a bit of a rivalry with his friend, but also a rival, both a political and a religious rival, Pat Robertson. Many now say that movement has lost its punch, lost its power, not only nationally, but within the Republican Party. That's one of the defining questions in this campaign.
So, as you see a generational passing at Reverend Falwell's university and in his organizations and at his church, you are seeing that happen, Kyra, at a time when that is one of the fundamental questions within the Republican Party, within the conservative movement across America: Are the Christian conservatives as strong as they were back, again, in the late 1980s and 1990s, when they helped propel Republicans to success, to a majority in Congress?
It is a big question in this campaign, one that will be asked more and more, as people pause to reflect on the career, and the controversial career, of Reverend Jerry Falwell.
PHILLIPS: Our John King in South Carolina there, getting ready for the debate among Republicans -- John, thanks so much.
LEMON: Jerry Falwell and the Christian right courted and criticized by political candidates, but how will Falwell's death affect the political landscape, especially the 2008 presidential race?
Let's bring in our senior political analyst -- there he goes.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, he joins us now, getting set up there.
John King talked about it for a little bit, Bill. Let's talk about John McCain a little bit more. He was once called Falwell -- he called Falwell an agent of intolerance. But, recently, he backed off that.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right.
In 2000, he called both Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell agents of intolerance. He compared them with Louis Farrakhan. He said that they were unwelcome in the Republican Party, that they had divided the Republican Party.
And that criticism, of course, he paid dearly for, when he lost support among a lot of Christian evangelical conservatives in those Republican primaries, and George Bush went on to beat him, after McCain had won the New Hampshire primary, so that it was a very controversial statement.
Later, he reconciled. You see him here with Reverend Falwell. He spoke at Liberty University. He later, when asked on NBC News' "Meet the Press," "Do you believe Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?" his answer was, "No, I don't."
And, as John just reported, Falwell was prepared not only to reconcile with McCain, but actually to support him and campaign for him this year in the nominating contests.
LEMON: Yes, Bill. And a lot of people had harsh words for the Reverend Jerry Falwell. And some people had nice words all along. We're getting condolences in from, let's see, Pat Robertson, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and also John McCain, which John spoke about earlier.
But let's talk about a former president here, Jimmy Carter.
SCHNEIDER: Right.
LEMON: He was not a fan of Jerry Falwell, basically telling him he could go to hell, is what he said.
SCHNEIDER: That -- that's exactly right.
He said that. And, of course, Carter is a man of deep religiosity himself. He was the first born-again Christian, at least in the modern era, to -- to be elected president, and explicitly made a religious appeal to Americans, which demonstrated that a religious appeal is not exclusive to Republicans.
But, later, of course, when he disagreed with Falwell on a number of controversial statements Falwell made, Jimmy Carter explicitly said, speaking as a Christian, he thought Falwell can go straight to hell.
LEMON: Yes. OK.
Well, we appreciate all of your analysis on this, political analyst Bill Schneider.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Betty Nguyen working another developing story, this one out of California -- Betty.
NGUYEN: You have to see this, Kyra.
We have a bear, a mother bear, with her cub. You see right there toward the bottom of the screen, if you will drop the developing story banner, there she is. OK. Well, not that big of a deal. You see a bear there with her Cuba, except this is near a suburb in Los Angeles called Bradbury, and very close to where folks are living, where their cars are.
And, while it's a very cute sight -- the baby cub is just precious -- but there is a danger, because, obviously, this mother is going to be protecting that cub of hers. And, if any humans come near, this could be quite a serious situation.
So, the deal right now is trying to get these bears out of this neighborhood. Maybe this -- hopefully, this helicopter shot -- there it goes. It's opening up. And you can see, this is near a backyard right there. Again, this is in the suburb of Los Angeles called Bradbury, where you see a mother cub with -- or a mother bear with her baby cub.
Here's some more video of that precious little baby. It's just a cute sight. This is tape that we ran a little bit earlier, a mother bear there walking around. See -- see the way she turned around? Obviously, she's hearing different things, as they are trying to corral this mother bear with her baby and get it out of this neighborhood there in Bradbury, California, very close to homes, very close to cars, where people are going in and out of the neighborhood.
Obviously, there are folks are wanting to see, you know, what's going on. You have helicopters flying overhead, a lot of commotion there. But this could be a very dangerous situation, Kyra, as we have been watching it.
Good news is, no one has come very close to the bear. That's the good news. And they are staying on top of it, but not something you see every day in your neighborhood, for good reason. And, hopefully, this will resolve very peacefully.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: All right, thanks, Betty.
NGUYEN: Mm-hmm.
PHILLIPS: Also, a new development in the search for a missing British child -- is it a breakthrough?
We will have an update straight ahead from the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.
He was respected and reviled for his pronouncements, but no one can deny his impact on American religion and politics.
PHILLIPS: The Reverend Jerry Falwell died today of heart failure at the age of 73. We're remembering his complex legacy.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: It is the bottom of the hour. And our top story, the sudden passing of a singular figure, a distinctive and unmistakable voice in modern American religion and politics.
As we've been reporting, Jerry Falwell, the famed evangelist and head of the religious right, died today in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was rushed to a hospital after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, where he was founder and president. Falwell survived at least two health crises in 2005. Heart failure is apparently what killed him. He was 73 years old.
PHILLIPS: To the gay population, Reverend Jerry Falwell may have seemed like a devil. He never budged from his controversial views on homosexuality over the years.
Here's what he told CNN's Larry King in a May 2000 interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. JERRY FALWELL, CHANCELLOR, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: Well, I, of course, totally disagree that one genetically is born gay. I think that we make choices. I don't think homosexuality is any more sinful than promiscuous heterosexual activity, but I believe biblically, it's very clear that all sexual activity outside a marriage bond between a man and woman legally married is forbidden by God.
I also believe that if one is a minister, such as the father here, and Reverend Creech, who was at our church last October with a group of 200 gays, lesbians, transgendered, bisexuals and a conference here on violence, if one is ordained to be a minister of the gospel, that person should be committed to the teachings of scripture.
LARRY KING, HOST: Can a gay person...
FALWELL: I'm not going to -- excuse me. I'm not going to take the time, Larry, to read all the verses, but I have a sheet of them here, just pulled out together today, that commend...
KING: But verses aren't in the Constitution.
FALWELL: Pardon?
KING: Let's ask it this way, I mean, we have a separation of church and state. So a state can pass any law it wishes to pass?
FALWELL: Oh, it can.
KING: OK.
FALWELL: And I -- when a majority of the citizens of Vermont oppose that kind of law, it brings back what happened in Hawaii, Alaska, California, when similar attempts were made and the people by about 70 percent said no, that's where America is today.
KING: Just so we understand where you are, do you favor, though, in every area equal rights for gays -- housing?
FALWELL: I favor equal rights for all citizens who obey the laws, and for that reason, I love the gay as well as I love the adulterous heterosexual.
KING: Even though the gay made this choice?
FALWELL: I think he made the choice, she made the choice, but I believe that through Jesus Christ, like thousands of former gays who've been delivered thorough believing the gospel of Jesus Christ, they can choose out by receiving Jesus as savior.
PHILLIPS: And you may remember, too, after 9/11 Falwell apologized for saying America brought on the attacks by "throwing God out of the public square." And he mentioned gays as one of those groups who "helped this happen."
Evangelist Billy Graham had this to say about Reverend Falwell's death: "Jerry Falwell was a close personal friend for many years. We did not always agree on everything, but I knew him to be a man of God. His accomplishments went beyond most clergy of his generation."
"Some of my grandchildren have attended and are attending Liberty University. He leaves a gigantic vacuum in the evangelical world. I am praying for his family and especially the university that he headed."
Tonight at 9:00 p.m., "LARRY KING LIVE" has more on the life and career of Reverend Jerry Falwell. Tammy Faye Messner, Franklin Graham, Ralph Reed and more will join Larry to remember Reverend Jerry Falwell.
LEMON: Police in Portugal have a formal suspect in the disappearance of little Madeleine McCann, but are they any closer to finding the missing British 4-year-old?
CNN's Phil Black is in her hometown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A significant development out of Portugal in the case of missing girl Madeleine McCann. Police there now have a suspect.
He is British man Robert Morat (ph). Mr. Morat (ph) has been questioned by police. His mother's home, where he stays, has been searched. That home is located very close to the resort where young Madeleine was taken 12 days ago.
Now, Mr. Morat's (ph) status officially under Portuguese law is now that of suspect. But he has not been arrested. He is now entitled to the right of silence and also legal representation.
This significant development has been welcomed very warmly here in the town of Rothley, the McCanns' hometown. But with some caution, also. There are still too many unanswered questions.
Residents say it's been a long 12 days since her disappearance. Lots of highs and lows. Someone who has ridden those highs and lows is close McCann family friend Valerie Armstrong.
Valerie, can I ask you your reaction to these developments out of Portugal today?
VALERIE ARMSTRONG, MCCANN FAMILY FRIEND: We gain hope from it. We are sure that we are going to find Madeleine safe and well, and any information that we get from Portugal just gives us that bit of lift that we need as well to keep our spirits high, and to give us hope, because we have to have hope. The amount of prayer and sorts that have passed through give us that hope to carry on.
BLACK: How has this town been able to maintain the sense of positive thinking?
ARMSTRONG: They've come in the hundreds and thousands to pin these ribbons, yellow ribbons of hope. They've gone into -- the local churches are open all day long. They can go and have a silent prayer.
They just stand and come here. And they pass all those positive thoughts on. And the McCann family gets a huge amount of strength from seeing the support that they've got at home.
BLACK: Valerie, thank you.
ARMSTRONG: Thank you.
BLACK: The residents in Rothley are cautiously welcoming this news. But they also hope that it will not lead to further disappointment.
In Rothley, Phil Black, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Straight to the NEWSROOM now.
(NEWSBREAK)
LEMON: We want to get to other developing news weather-wise.
(WEATHER)
PHILLIPS: Well, as the search goes on for three missing troops, we're learning more about two of their comrades killed in a weekend ambush near Baghdad. Life stories straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, imagine if you were just starting first grade and someone made this promise: Graduate from high school and I'll pay for college. In Oakland, California, a woman named Oral Lee Brown did just that. How she kept her promise is what makes her today's CNN Hero.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ORAL LEE BROWN, CNN HERO: These are our kids. We should at least take them to a position in their life that they can lead their way. And they can't do it without an education.
An education can get you everything you want. You can go wherever you want to go. It's the way out of the ghettos, bottom line.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Good morning, Mrs. Oral Brown.
YOLANDA PEEK, FMR. SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: She says, "Give me your first graders who are really struggling and who are most needy. I want to adopt the class. And I want to follow the class until they graduate from high school."
And she says that she was going to pay their college tuitions.
BROWN: How many are going to college?
At the time, I was making I think $45,000, $46,000 a year. So I committed $10,000 to the kids.
I grew up in Mississippi. I lived off of $2 a day. That's what we got, $2 a day for picking cotton.
And so I really feel that I was blessed from God. And so I cannot pay him back, but these kids are his kids. These kids are -- some of them are poor like I was.
LAQUITA WHITE, FMR. STUDENT: When you have that mentor like Miss Brown, a very strong person, you can't go wrong, because she's on you constantly every day. "What are you doing? How are you doing?"
BROWN: The world doubted us. I was told that, "Lady, you cannot do it." And I would say, "You know what? These kids are just like any other kid. The only thing, they don't have the love and they don't have the support."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They called me yesterday and told me I was accepted. Good news.
BROWN: You're looking at doctors and lawyers and one president of the United States. When you give a kid an education and they get it up here, nobody or nothing can take it away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, if you know someone like Oral Lee Brown who's championing children, tell us about it at CNN.com/heroes.
LEMON: All right, Kyra. We're going to check in with our Jacqui Jeras in just a bit about that tornado spotted on the ground just south of Chicago in Kankakee. Details of this developing story coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Straight back to the severe weather center. Jacqui Jeras working the details of a tornado on the ground in Illinois.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(NEWSBREAK)
LEMON: The Roe versus Wade decision was a bedrock of Reverend Falwell's political activism. Overturning Roe was one of Falwell's crusades, right up until his death.
Well, Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour talked with Falwell about it just last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FALWELL: I am working very hard to overturn Roe v. Wade, bring it back to the states and get back to where we were in 1973.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you believe that the religious right, your movement, will be able to do that? It's been a goal for the better part of the last 30-odd years.
FALWELL: I think the unborn are the last disenfranchised minority, and 30 years is just a drop in the bucket. I don't believe that I will live long enough to see all -- after we overturn Roe v. Wade, we have 50 states that we must battle with.
AMANPOUR: And there has been a new ruling that actually is in the direction that you are looking for.
FALWELL: Well, it's taken us 30 years to get a 5-4 court on some kinds of abortions. Partial-birth abortion is so barbaric that we got five votes. I don't think we have five votes on Roe v. Wade.
I think we are probably one or two votes short, and that may take another number of years before we have such a court. But we are committed to that task.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Roe versus Wade was a big reason Falwell founded the Moral Majority in 1979.
PHILLIPS: The closing bell inside a wrap of action on Wall Street straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: A severe thunderstorm moving through the Chicago area, just south of Chicago there. Here's the news. The tornado warning that Jacqui Jeras told you about has been canceled.
Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: He's standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour.
Hey, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys. Thanks very much.
We're going to have the latest on the news we've been following the past several hours, the death of the Reverend Jerry Falwell. We're getting new reaction. Plus, we'll take a look at his influence, his controversies and his legacy.
Also, the rock star and activist Bono takes the world's richest nations to task. He has a blunt message for them and talks about it with our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Plus, my one-on-one interview with seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. He's here in Washington today, lobbying Capitol Hill, fighting a new battle and a very deeply personal war.
All that, guys, coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM".
PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf. Thanks.
Well, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.
LEMON: Susan Lisovicz is standing by with a final look at the trading day.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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