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More Snow Expected in Midwest; Author Weighs in on Mitchell Report
Aired December 14, 2007 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Got snow? Don't make any weekend plans. More is on the way. And if you think you're out of the cold crosshairs, well, just keep watching.
Mike Huckabee is full of surprises. First, moving from near worst to first in the polls, now another big move, this time with his campaign staff. Stay with us for live coverage from your best political team on television.
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Don Lemon is off. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Up first, the Mitchell report has rocked the world of sports. And now it's the talk of the nation. Ballplayers named in its pages are laying low today, but the scathing allegations of steroid use have fans speaking out, including one at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Like many fans I've been troubled by the steroid allegations. I think it's best that all of us not jump to conclusions on individual players, but we can jump to this conclusion, that steroids have sullied the game. And players and the owners must take the Mitchell report seriously. I'm confident they will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Commissioner Bud Selig says that some of the players may be punished, and he says it will happen swiftly. Congress has scheduled a hearing next week, calling Selig, Mitchell and players' union chief Don Fehr.
George Mitchell spoke today to CNN, defending the probe that named 85 players including MVPs, Cy Young winners and all-stars, past and present.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER SENATOR: There's direct eyewitness statements by participants. There are checks. There are money orders. There are telephone calls, and there are many admissions. At least 11 players admitted to us that they did, in fact, purchase steroids from one of the witnesses, as he said they had.
So, I think it's quite wrong to say there's no concrete evidence. There's several hundred pages of evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Most damning of all, Mitchell named the two brightest stars of the current generation, home-run king Barry Bonds and pitcher Roger Clemens, seven-time winner of the Cy Young award.
Clemens's alleged involvement, described in detail in Mitchell's report by the pitcher's former trainer, Brian McNamee. The report said that it started in 1998, when McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times over a several-week period with needles that Clemens provided.
The report says that, according to McNamee, Clemens' performed -- or performance showed remarkable improve.
There's Roger Clemens' attorney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSTY HARDIN, ATTORNEY FOR ROGER CLEMENS: He is really concerned and upset that he has been named in this report. It's based, the allegations are apparently, reading the report, are based on a trainer that he's had in the past. And it looks to us and seems to us that that's what it's based on. That's not a standard somebody should be held out in public to have done something as serious as using steroids in baseball.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: We'd like you to think and then share your thoughts with us. In the wake of the Mitchell report, should kids think of players as role models? You can send us your response to CNNNewsroom@CNN.com.
Also today, we're doing a QuickVote. Here's a Question. Will the widespread use of steroids among baseball players deter you from going to games? Last we checked, nearly half of those voting said yes. You can take part yourself at CNN.com.
We're going to have much more on the pro baseball steroid bombshell. Coming up this hour, investigative journalist and author Lance Williams. Some say that his book, "Game of Shadows," sparked the Mitchell report.
And next hour, Jim Bouton, a former 20-game winner and author of the book "Ball Four," which chronicled baseball's drug problems back in the 1960s. Both men joining me live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, getting ready for round two, more snow from the plains to the northeast. Oklahoma and Kansas are still trying to recover from that disastrous ice storm earlier in the week.
Several hundred thousand people still don't have any electricity, and Massachusetts is just one state digging out from under mounds of snow. Even more could fall before these roads are cleared.
Chad Myers, tell you what, just keeps picking up. Well, depending on where you are, I guess.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: OK. We're not even to winter yet. Boy.
PHILLIPS: Getting cooler here, though. That's good news.
MYERS: It is, it is. Finally, yes.
PHILLIPS: About 76 yesterday. And finally, we hit 50.
MYERS: Right. My paperwhites are going wait a minute. I thought this was spring. We missed it. Missed it by an entire season.
Good afternoon, Kyra.
And good morning to parts of the Midwest and the mountain states, where another storm is brewing back out here into Oklahoma and Texas, that will spread across the plains.
But for now we'll talk a little bit about what happened yesterday from New York through Pennsylvania into Connecticut and Massachusetts, and our Reynolds Wolf is right in the middle of it, although Reynolds, I'm assuming the sun is probably out today. In between storms you are right now.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'll tell you, you know, Chad, we've been talking about how this is really a two-parter. We had the first part that came through last night. It's kind of a two-act play. Part one. Then we got part two coming this weekend.
This is the intermission. And my goodness, what an intermission it is. It's beautiful here. I mean, we're at Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut. You can see behind me the state capitol, a nice little pond here we have. It's totally frozen over. I would imagine during a spring or summer day, this would be magnificent. But I'll tell you, in this winter-like setting, it is also phenomenal. Just a fantastic day here.
Now, Chad, wasn't so pretty about 10 hours go. We had plenty of snow coming down here in the city, anywhere from six to eight inches of snowfall in Hartford. But some of the outlying areas had nearly a foot of snow.
And I have to hand it to the city, they did a great job keeping the roads clear. People really had no issues getting around town, but that isn't to say they didn't have problems on the interstate, right along parts of 84, even along I-91. They had a lot of backups, a couple of jackknifed trailers. It was certainly a mess.
Right now, as you've been talking about all day, we're getting a break, but we've got that second shot, that second shot that could come in late Saturday into Sunday and has people awfully concerned. But for the time being, they're enjoying that deep breath, that nice pause before the second part of that system.
Back to you.
MYERS: Go get some popcorn and wait for part 2. Exactly. Have a good day. I assume you're probably parked there for the weekend.
The weekend is going to be a real interesting one for you. It's going to start out as snow, then go to sleet, and then actually be a rain event for a while. And then back over to snow with significant winds. Winds could be 50 or 60 miles per hour.
Here's some of those snowfalls that Reynolds was talking about from Whitman, Mass, through Connecticut. There you go. That's a foot of snow. And this was kind of a messy snow, as well.
We have some tower cams popped up for you this afternoon. Wichita, Kansas, good afternoon to you. You look very different come 24 hours from now. Probably six to eight inches of snow for you. That's the top left screen there.
On the top right, KMOV, St. Louis, Missouri, probably four to five inches of snow. Could mix in sleet. That will keep your snow totals down.
Pittsburgh, you're going to get a rain event. That could very turn into an icing event. And that would not be pretty, because I've been to Pittsburgh. I love the city. And I really don't like driving the hills in the ice. It is just ugly getting up and down the incline.
Otherwise, WCPB (ph) in Boston. You'll still see the snow on top of the buildings there. It's about ten inches of snow for you. A new record for the day yesterday. And a lot of snow at Logan Airport, and that was certainly an ugly afternoon, with airport delays exceeding three and four hours.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Wow, that is just no fun, especially when it's -- you know, you never know when the end is going to come.
MYERS: Well, they're in between now. Get planes out. Get out while you can, because tomorrow's another story.
PHILLIPS: All right. Talk to you in a little bit, Chad.
MYERS: Great.
PHILLIPS: Well, we've seen it all week, some surprising twists and turns in the latest presidential campaign polls. In the latest case, South Carolina, one of the important early primary states, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll in the Palmetto State shows that Mike Huckabee now leading among Republicans with 24 percent. Fred Thompson is second, followed by former frontrunner Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney tied for third. Also in double digits, John McCain and Ron Paul.
Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton's lead over Barack Obama has been cut in half. But she's still on top, with 42 percent, with Obama at 34 and John Edwards at 16 percent.
Now, later in the NEWSROOM, our political analyst -- senior political analyst, rather -- Bill Schneider, will join us with a closer look at the presidential race.
Well, on the campaign trail, an apology from Senator Hillary Clinton to her Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama. That apology after a top Clinton campaign advisor suggested Democrats should be wary of nominating Obama, because his admitted teenage drug use could make it hard for him to win the White House. The advisor, Bill Shaheen, has resigned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, as soon as I found out that one of my supporters and co-chairs in New Hampshire made a statement, asked a series of Questions, I made it clear it was not authorized, it was in no way condoned, I didn't know about it. And he stepped down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Bill Shaheen is the husband of former New Hampshire governor, Jeanne Shaheen.
Stay right here for CNN, for Mike Huckabee's expected announcement next hour, that Ed Rollins will lead his national campaign. Remember that name? We're going to have live coverage when it happens.
And for all of the day's political stories, go to CNNPolitics.com. Find out who's ahead in South Carolina and much more. Again, the address, CNNPolitics.com.
A double homicide on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Two grad students were found shot to death last night in an apartment complex for married students. Both were from India. Both were Ph.D. candidates. One of the victim's wives found the bodies.
Police are calling the attack a home invasion and searching for three men seen leaving the area. The university decided to keep the campus open but notified all students electronically of the situation.
In prison, chained up in her own apartment. You're not going to believe how a Utah woman managed to get help. Here's a hint: it helps to write backwards.
George Mitchell wrote the report on baseball and steroids, but Lance Williams wrote the book. We're going to get his take on the Mitchell report and what happens next. The first time the British visited the White House, they burned it down. This time, our Richard Quest arrived from London with a different objective, a holiday chat with first lady Laura Bush.
You're live at the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: One-fourteen Eastern Time right now. Here are three of the stories that we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM. President Bush says steroids have sullied baseball. He's called on players and owners to take the Mitchell report seriously.
A terrible discovery in the parking lot outside a shopping mall in Boca Raton, Florida, a mother and her 8-year-old son dead inside their car with the engine still running. Police call it a robbery/homicide.
And a new audio message said to be from al Qaeda's No. 2 man. A voice identified as that of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, he condemned the Mideast leaders who went to the peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland.
A week before the Mitchell report was commissioned, the book "Game of Shadows" was released. It spotlighted baseball's secret world of performance-enhancing drugs, and it reportedly sparked baseball commissioner Bud Selig to hire George Mitchell.
Lance Williams is the book's co-author. He's also a reporter for the "San Francisco Chronicle."
And Lance, it's been a number of years now since I've interviewed you and your co-author about the BALCO scandal and everything that happened after that. This really started with you two and your investigative reporting skills. And now look at what has happened.
I'm curious to know, did you ever expect it to get this big or reach this level?
LANCE WILLIAMS, CO-AUTHOR, "GAME OF SHADOWS": Well, going into the BALCO story, we didn't even know what we were covering, and our efforts had been day-to-day fact-finding from that day to this. I had no idea this would blow this high. Of course not.
PHILLIPS: Well, what do you think about the Mitchell report? Its credibility, the names that are mentioned, the allegations. What's your take?
WILLIAMS: I thought he did important fact-finding. A lot of that was relying on the two drug dealers that were given to him by the BALCO investigators, but I learned a lot about the pervasiveness of the drugs and the game that I didn't know.
PHILLIPS: Really? What did you learn that you didn't know? How did he teach you, the investigative reporter? That's what I want to know. WILLIAMS: Well, if you read that report, you get the idea that the drugs are completely pervasive, that the culture is one in which clubhouse attendants are expected to carry bags full of syringes, in which the front office will evaluate their suspicions about a player's steroid use before deciding whether to trade for him and which you know, MVP after MVP is on the horn to drug dealers, looking for performance enhancers. It's just a view of the game that I didn't have from the BALCO case.
PHILLIPS: And what -- what are your impressions about that? I mean, Major League Baseball could have done something about this years ago. This is no surprise. So why wouldn't a Bud Selig or the union or why wouldn't anybody take some sort of action when they saw how big of a problem this was?
WILLIAMS: I think the report portrays baseball as just full of denial about the extent or the importance of the problem, from top to bottom. There are many opportunities where people could have stepped up and challenged a player or challenged a dope dealer in a clubhouse. And it just didn't happen, because they were looking the other way.
PHILLIPS: Do you think it will finally happen now, Lance?
WILLIAMS: Yes, I think this is a remarkable event for baseball, to do this kind of public self-examination. And it will be painful but I think they have a chance to get their hands wrapped around a big problem now and maybe wrestle it to the ground.
PHILLIPS: What about the clean players, Lance? Have they been calling you? Is that the next story here? Is that the next type of investigation, these players that never took anything? They are -- they went the healthy route with regard to being in shape, working on their abilities and are true athletes to the core with no stimulants?
WILLIAMS: In the baseball culture, you're not supposed to criticize other players. And I think a lot of the players who tried to play the game clean had to suffer in silence.
But there had to have been tremendous resentments when you're competing for a job against someone you're convinced is using, and he's going to get job because he's bigger and stronger than you suddenly.
PHILLIPS: Could this change the record books?
WILLIAMS: Well, this whole 15-year era has to be looked at through the lens of the performance-enhancing drug use. None of these marks, the big home-run seasons and so forth, the late career excellence that we've seen from pitchers, that couldn't have been achieved on the natural, and so you have to take that into account.
PHILLIPS: And it's the naturals that are the true heroes.
Lance Williams, thanks for your time today. Great work.
WILLIAMS: Thank you. PHILLIPS: This Utah apartment, a house of torture and fear. You won't believe what happened to a woman inside and how she finally got free.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The Dow Industrials have been stuck in the red today. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us why.
Hey, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.
Well, it's sort of a carryover from yesterday. We had another bad report on inflation. Yesterday, we got wholesale prices. They took a jump, in fact, the biggest monthly jump in 34 years for the big overall number.
Today we got how much consumers pay, how much was passed along, in other words, and, well, it came in worse than expected. And well, stocks, well, they're going in the opposite direction.
Right now, the Dow Industrials off their session lows but still down substantially, down 90 points, or two-thirds of a percent. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, is down half a percent.
And you know, a lot of this, of course, is attributed to the big spike in gas prices. Well, guess what? The International Energy Agency has upped its forecast for world oil demand. And of course, oil prices driven by supplies, which are tight, and demand, which remains strong. So that's not so good.
In the meantime, let's give you some specifics about consumer prices. They rose 0.8 percent in November. That is the overall number. That was the fastest pace in two years. Of course, energy prices mostly to blame.
We also got the core, which strips out energy and food, because they tend to be so volatile. And that was also worse than expected. And that puts the Fed into a conundrum. Because the Fed typically raises interest rates to cut inflation, but the economy is slowing, and so it's been cutting interest rates to help put some juice into the economy.
Got that, Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Boy, that was a mouthful.
LISOVICZ: I know.
PHILLIPS: I'm trying to follow you.
LISOVICZ: How about that?
PHILLIPS: What about that ongoing housing crisis? And have those problems taken Friday off at all? LISOVICZ: No, they haven't, Kyra. That's another reason why you're seeing stocks going south.
We have Citigroup -- it's the largest financial company -- and it said it will bail out seven funds that have mortgage-backed securities. And of course, those mortgage-backed securities stem from those risky mortgages, and a lot of them have defaulted. And so what Citi is going to do is take nearly $50 billion onto its balance sheet.
And what this also means is that this whole -- all of this talk about an industry-wide bailout for these kinds of funds may not happen, because Citi has been talking about doing it. Now it's going its own route.
Citi shares were down in the morning. They are rallying right now. They are up nearly 2 percent. We'll see if maybe that's enough to influence the Dow overall.
Coming up, one brokerage firm that hasn't been as hard hit by the mortgage meltdown is Goldman Sachs. Some smart bets are paying off. I'll explain in the next hour of NEWSROOM. And some people will be handsomely rewarded for those bets, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK. We'll talk about them then.
LISOVICZ: You've got it.
PHILLIPS: South Carolina, an early battleground state in the race for the White House, and our senior political analyst Bill Schneider has the results of a new poll that may surprise you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Don Lemon is off, and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
A surging campaign on one side, a tightening race on the other. Just over a month before a key early primary in South Carolina, and we've got new poll results from the Palmetto State. Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, joins us now from Columbia.
So Bill, what about this big surge in the Republican race?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, what we're seeing here in South Carolina is Mike Huckabee surging ahead. He's made big strides since the last time we polled here in July. He's now leading, with 24 percent of the vote, moving up. And this is important in the Republican Party because South Carolina is the base state. It's the state of the conservative base, and if you win South Carolina you proved you are bona fides to the Republicans. That's where Bush beat McCain in 2000. So Mike Huckabee's gains here are very significant.
PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about Democrats. Hillary Clinton, is she going to be nervous about what might be happening with Southern voters when she sees this poll? SCHNEIDER: Yes, she will. She's still ahead here and that's reassuring but her lead has been cut in half since July. In July she was 16 points ahead of Barack Obama; now she's 8 points ahead.
It's also the base state for the Democrats, because this is where African-Americans make up close to half the Democratic primary voters. So for Democrats, too, it's an important test to see how the candidates stand in the party's base support, African-Americans, who right now are split between Obama and Clinton.
PHILLIPS: All right, we've been talking a lot about this big announcement expected next hour. Bill, Mike Huckabee apparently going to announce that campaign veteran Ed Rollins is joining his campaign. Let's talk about his background a little and how significant this is.
SCHNEIDER: It is significant because Ed Rollins has impeccable Washington credentials as a Republican establishment figure, as an insider, but he also has some populous credentials as an outsider. He has both. He was the Reagan political director in the Reagan White House and helped run Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign, and the Jack Kemp campaign for president. But he also worked for Ross Perot in 1992.
So he has a little taste for outsiders, and he's talked about seeing Mike Huckabee as a guy with real potential, serious political talent, who's both proving himself to the conservative base of the Republican Party, but also has the kind of outsider appeal because Huckabee doesn't talk like a typical politician. That seems to be attracting people like Ed Rollins.
PHILLIPS: I think we all love the non-typical talking type of politicians. Thanks, Bill Schneider.
Stay here for a CNN, for Mike Huckabee's expected announcement next hour that Ed Rollins will lead his national campaign. We're going to have live coverage.
And tune in to CNN Monday night. Mike Huckabee will be Larry King's guest at 9:00 p.m. They're going to talk faith, politics and of course the Republican's bid for the White House. That's Monday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern on "LARRY KING LIVE."
(NEWSBREAK)
PHILLIPS: Locked in and chained up, a Salt Lake City woman is free today, free from a home imprisonment. If that sounds bizarre wait until you see how she finally got police attention.
Tony Papanicalus of our affiliate KSL has her story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY PAPANICALUS, KSL REPORTER (voice-over): Peter Erkland (ph) was returning home when he noticed something in the apartment across from his trailer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looked up in the window back here, and seen some lady making finger numbers on the window, "call 911."
PAPANICALUS: The woman barricaded herself in a bedroom with this dresser and she signaled for help in the condensation of the window. Erkland took action.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went over and talked to her to make sure that she wanted me to call the police for her, and she did.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
NEIGHBOR: Some lady asked knee to call the police. She said she has to lock the door. She can't come out of her room. She says her boyfriend or her husband is going to hit her if she comes out of the room.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only thing she told was that had hit her a couple of times, and that she couldn't leave.
PAPANICALUS: With the boyfriend still in the home, the woman didn't want to leave the bedroom. But she couldn't leave the house.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
NEIGHBOR: He locked the door. It's got a double dead bolt on it, so it locks on both sides.
DISPATCHER: OK, so can she go out and unlock the door?
NEIGHBOR: She can't.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
PAPANICALUS: The windows were also screwed shut. Hiding inside, the boyfriend's huge secret.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he would leave he would chain her by the ankle to an engine block inside the apartment.
PAPANICALUS: Police say when the boyfriend was home he'd unchain the woman, and she could walk around, but every time he left, he'd put the chains back on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was disgusted. It's just not right. I don't see how anybody can do that to another person.
PAPANICALUS: The boyfriend, 32-year-old Fernando Orozco-Trevizo fled when he realized police were coming to the house. But officers found and arrested him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: According to police documents the suspect told officers that chaining up his girlfriend was quote, "just a game," and that he thought she might be cheating on him. Getting to the root of baseball's drug problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUD SELIG, MLB COMMISSIONER: This report is a call to action. And I will act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Hard choices ahead for America's pastime.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Getting word right here in the Atlanta area, actually Cobb County area, just outside of downtown here, apparently a bank robbery has taken place. But there is a briefcase that was left behind with a note, saying there are explosives inside.
Cobb County Police Department's Cassie Reese on the phone with us right now.
Cassie, I'm a little confused. Did the bank robbery happen and this briefcase left, or is there somebody still in a bank?
CASSIE REESE, COBB CO. POLICE DEPT.: There is no one in the bank. The bank has been evacuated.
What took place today about 12:05, a white male walked into the bank with a metal briefcase. He met with a teller and it's confirmed with her that he would like to make -- or open up a bank account. When she asked him what type of account he wanted to open, he handed her a note. The note said that he had a bomb and demanded cash. The teller did give the suspect an undisclosed amount of cash, and he left the briefcase on the desk as he left the building. He did leave the area on foot.
He is described to be a white male in his mid 40s, balding with close-cut gray hair. He's 6 foot tall, approximately 250 pounds, 275 pounds. He was wearing sunglasses and was clean shaved. He also had on a black warm-up top with a white stripe down the sleeve and dark- colored pants. If anybody has information about this incident we ask that they please call us at 770-499-3945.
PHILLIPS: All right, so you're still looking for this suspect that did get away.
REESE: We are still looking. At this time the briefcase is still inside the bank. Our bomb technicians are on scene and working with the robots to try to identify the contents of the briefcase. If there is actually a bomb in there hasn't been determined.
PHILLIPS: What's the location of the bank, Cassie?
REESE: 1184 Barrett Parkway.
PHILLIPS: Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw. And what's the name of the bank?
REESE: Suntrust.
PHILLIPS: Oh, it's a Suntrust bank. OK, a Suntrust bank on Barrett Parkway there in Kennesaw. Right now a bomb squad trying to figure out if indeed there are explosives inside -- here we go. We've got a picture now from our affiliate WXIA, Cassie, here, and so we're able to see. It looks like a picture of the bank, a still picture of the bank that right now your bomb squad is circled around trying to figure out.
So still, search for a suspect, a white male, believed to be in his 40s, balding, close cut, gray hair, about 6 foot, 250 pounds, wearing a black sweatshirt, possibly sunglasses. Looking for him, if anyone has -- knows his whereabouts or comes in contact, call the Cobb County Police Department.
But right now the bomb squad trying to figure out if indeed this briefcase left behind has explosives inside. Cobb County Police Department Cassie Reese, appreciate you updating us. We will follow it, and we'll check in with you to see when of course you are able -- or when you have contact with this suspect. We'll update our viewers.
REESE: OK, thank you so much.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Cassie.
REESE: Bye-bye.
PHILLIPS: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Happening right now, the bomb squad is inside this location, this SunTrust bank in Atlanta, Georgia. It's actually Kennesaw area, it's the Barrett Parkway location, if you know this area. The bomb squad there because of a briefcase that was left behind with a note saying that there were explosives. A man did come in with that, did get away with an undisclosed amount of cash. He is still on the loose as well.
So a bank robbery suspect on the loose, white male in his 40s, balding, about six foot, wearing a black sweatshirt. Police would like your help trying to find him.
Meanwhile, video here via WXIA out of Atlanta, in Kennesaw, Georgia. The bomb squad trying to figure out if indeed there are explosives inside that briefcase. The bank has been evacuated. It's a Sun Trust bank at 1184 Barrett Parkway. We're following that for you.
Baseball and steroids, Thursday's release of the Mitchell Report puts names to the rumors and suggests just how widespread the cheating has become. But, it come at a cost. And players aren't the only ones to blame. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now live.
We've been talking a lot about -- even these young baseball players have turned up dead over the past couple of years. Some of the names appeared on this list. So it's interesting, the medical link with heart problems and steroids and something we're discussing in addition to.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And what's interesting and really sad and ironic is where they got these drugs to begin with, which is from doctors to a large degree. I mean, sometimes when we think of people getting illicit drugs, we think it's in some sleazy back alley. But they just walked into doctor's offices in many cases. The Mitchell Report is full of examples where the report says players got these drugs from doctors.
Let's give three of these examples, let's talk about them. In the Mitchell Report it says that a doctor named Anna Maria Santi used a doctor's name to issue $150,000 in illegal prescriptions and she pleaded guilty. Another doctor, a heart surgeon, named Dr. Robert Carlson, according to the report, pleaded guilty, writing 3,100 prescriptions in 60 days for performance enhancing drugs. And here is a third. The report mentions Dr. Claire Godrey, an obstirician who made more than $200,000 in six months and didn't even examine these patients, just wrote the prescription.
Now drug enforcement agencies have sort of gotten onto all of this. They have had a multi-state investigation and arrested nearly two dozen doctors in these sting operations.
PHILLIPS: How can doctors get away with this though? How can they do this?
COHEN: They get away because these are drugs that have legitimate purposes. Doctors legitimately prescribe anabolic steroids, for anemia, sometimes for breast cancer. And so there are good reasons for prescribing them. And it's hard to go in there and tease out what are the good reasons, what are the bad.
But when you see lots and lots of prescriptions I think that's what tips off law enforcement officials. Because some of these doctors, Kyra, they develop these boutique practices. Everyone finds out, oh go to Dr. Smith, he'll give you whatever they want. Dr. Smith charges $300 for an office visit and he sees person after person after person. That's a lot of money.
PHILLIPS: So you mention that they can get them because it's used for medical uses. But when people use them recreationally, let's talk about the effects that is has on the body, these anabolic steroids.
COHEN: Right. Some really terrible things can happen. And people who use them without reason are obviously just overlooking these things. Using steroids can lead to liver damage, heart attacks, strokes and body changes. To put it simply, men can start to look like women and women look like men, men can start to get breasts. I mean, it's pretty horrible what these steroids can do. PHILLIPS: No doubt. All right, Elizabeth Cohen, appreciate it.
COHEN: Thanks.
PHILLIPS: And we'd like to know what you think as well. Share your thoughts with us. In the wake of the Mitchell Report, and what we just talked about with medical aspects also with Elizabeth, should kids think of players as role models? You can send your response to cnnnewsroom@cnn.com.
We're still following that bank robbery that happened in Kennesaw, Georgia. This is a Sun Trust bank on Barrett Parkway. Suspect on the loose, left a briefcase behind. HAZMAT team -- or the bomb squad, rather, on the scene trying to figure out if indeed there are explosives inside that. Bank has been evacuated.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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PHILLIPS: Breaking story out of Kennesaw, Georgia. Our affiliate WXIA breaking us these pictures. This Sun Trust bank at 1184 Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw, just outside of Atlanta. The bomb squad is on the scene trying to figure out if indeed there are explosives inside this briefcase that was left behind with a note after a man came in, robbed this bank and took off. So the suspect is still on the loose. And the bomb squad is there trying to figure out if indeed there are explosives in that briefcase. The bank has been evacuated. No word of anyone being hurt.
Live pictures now from our other affiliate here in Atlanta, WSB. Thanks for those pictures. We are following this breaking story out of Kennesaw right now.
al Qaeda is fighting a single jihad against a Zionist enemy, those words from the No. 2 man in al Qaeda, Ayman al Zawahri, in a newly recorded audio message posted this on the Internet. Analysts are pretty sure it's him and it's recent. Message references last month's Mideast peace summit in Maryland. The 20-minute recording rails against both Israeli and Palestinian leaders. It's the first message released from al Zawahri since July. We've not been able to independently verify that that tape is authentic.
Lebanon mourns. Full military honors today for a popular and powerful army general assassinated this week in a Beirut car bombing. Christian and Muslim politicians attended the funeral mass for General Francois Hajj. Hajj was widely expected to soon assume command of all Lebanese armed forces. His death is the latest in a string of high profile assassinations and assassination attempts in Lebanon. Investigators are working the possibility that Hajj was killed because he led an anti-militant campaign that wiped out a group claiming links to al Qaeda.
Every city has its problem, some more unusual than others. Take New Delhi, for example. It has a huge primate problem. Thousands of them roam the streets. What's the plan to restore order? Calling the monkey police and CNN's Cal Perry.
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CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first glance, monkeys living in a city with 13 million humans crawling around the court district, sliding down poles with style, is aesthetically pleasing in some way. You do every once in a while catch a captivating glance in the middle of India's capital.
RAMAL LALA, MONKEY WRANGLER (through translator): This includes snatched food from inside the houses. They raid the houses in large numbers. Sometimes the brave ones will even bite.
PERRY: OK, so with the captivation apparently comes a very serious annoyance and one the Indian government has been struggling to fix for decades. Their current push, men like Ramal and his partner Mungul (ph) literally walk the monkey beat on an early morning in downtown Delhi.
LALA (through translator): We feed him well. He is like a member of a family. He is also my source of livelihood.
PERRY: The plan is pretty simple. Get the bigger monkeys to corral the smaller ones. Then move them to a reserve just outside Delhi, some 600 have been moved in just over six months, according to the government. Or simply chase them off, with apparently the help of a large stick and a sling shot.
Ramal says it's just to scare them off. The monkey is revered in India, Hanuman, a god. Some estimates put the monkey population in Delhi up to 10,000. But the government's current solution for many is questionable, to say the least.
DR. IQBAL MALIK, PRIMATOLOGIST: Stupid, it is stupid plan. It is plan which -- it is a ridiculous plan and is making the country look ridiculous in the eyes of the scientists of the world.
PERRY: And that from the leading primatologist in India. She's been involved in the problem for two decades, and she's also concerned about the humanity involved. This was her reaction to my telling her about Ramal and his sling shot. Not to mention the reserve itself, called the Bahti Mines (ph) on the outskirts of Delhi. Dr. Malik believes that, too, is a disaster.
MALIK: I give list of over 100 trees and plants which was supposed to be planted there before monkeys were to be released and also converted into a monkey-proof area.
PERRY (on camera): You can see the green fence line of the Bahti reserve about an hour outside central Delhi, a place that's supposed to be the end of the line for the monkeys that wreak havoc across the metropolis. But as you can see, a simple green fence is no great feat for a monkey to overcome.
Cal Perry, CNN, Delhi.
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PHILLIPS: Christmas with the queen. Not for CNN's Richard Quest. Our London correspondent has flown across the pond for a holiday conversation with First Lady Laura Bush.
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Thank you so much.
LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you for coming.
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PHILLIPS: Well, he surprised everybody in the polls, and now he says he's got a big announcement coming up this hour. Apparently, very important addition to his campaign for president. Mike Huckabee will be holding a live news conference within the hour. We'll take it live when it happens and bring you the news.
Now, First Lady Laura Bush is having some guests for the holidays, thousands of them, in fact. An estimated 60,000 people will tour the White House this month. And among them, CNN's Richard Quest who joins us now live from Washington.
Now Richard, why did you go all the way from London to the White House to meet with the First Lady? What was your fascination?
QUEST: The festive spirit, Kyra. Where is it? And is it alive and well? That's what we've been looking at. I've been on a journey to see what it is about December, whatever religion, whatever you may or may not believe in, but this time of the year, we can't wait to shuck it all off, to drink up the spirit, to make merry and to have a good time.
And what I wanted to find out and I've been talking to archbishops, I met Santa Claus in Lapland and I wanted to know from the First Lady of the United States, whether there was something about this time of the year that did engender this magnificent feeling that basically, we're all pretty happy in one way or another.
And I was delighted that among those 60,000 visitors, Mrs. Bush said yes, I will invite you in to come and have a chat in front of the Christmas tree. And so I wanted to know, what was Christmas really all about?
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QUEST: And you talk about values, and I think that really is what this is all about.
BUSH: That's right.
QUEST: And I think it doesn't really matter which religion we may talk about. The same fundamental values come through at this time of the year. Would you agree perhaps?
BUSH: I agree, and I think that when we study all of the world's religions, we see that we share the same values. Nearly all religions have a respect for life, gratitude, or respect for gratitude, and wanting to be thankful, thankful to the Almighty. So, I think there are basic human values that are the values of each religion.
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QUEST: And do you know behind her on that tree, the ornaments were cookies? There were cookies everywhere! There were cookies left, right, center, on this tree, on that table, thousands of them, and I didn't bring you one of them.
PHILLIPS: I'm very disappointed. Did you make her a cup of British tea to go with those cookies?
QUEST: Well, that's between the First Lady. Look, some things have to be between her and me, and that's just one of them. Bad luck.
PHILLIPS: Richard Quest, always a pleasure, my friend. Tally- ho.
Next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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