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Iowa Struggles Underwater; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Lebanon; Afghanistan Threatens to Send Troops into Pakistan
Aired June 16, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
You'll see events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Monday morning, June 16th.
Here's what's on the rundown.
It is a wild frontier where Osama bin Laden may be hiding along with many militants. Now two nations at odds over how to fight terror on the border.
HARRIS: Flooding, flooding everywhere. Much of the Midwest underwater, many rivers days from cresting.
COLLINS: And wedding bells ring for same-sex couples exchanging vows in California today in the NEWSROOM.
Once again, we've got to start with weather because it's happening all over the place. Want to get directly over to Jacqui Jeras once again in the Severe Weather Center.
The northeast is what we're talking about, at least off the top, Jacqui.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: OK, wow.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: That's definitely good news for those people...
HARRIS: Absolutely. Sure (INAUDIBLE) a little bit. Thank you, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Sure.
COLLINS: Thank you, Jacqui.
HARRIS: Heartbreak in the heartland. In northern Iowa, floodwaters crest and a sense of optimism slowly rise as the Iowa River hits a record high but fall short of the worst fears.
That's small comfort, however, at the University of Iowa where waters have swallowed more than a dozen buildings. In Cedar Rapids floodwaters pull back and worried homeowners wait to rush in.
Today unsafe conditions are keeping thousands from their flood ravaged homes. Some homeowners have returned only to have their hopes crushed. Their homes and their belongings awash in mud.
CNN's Sean Callebs is on the University of Iowa campus and Jim Acosta is in Cedar Rapids, where safety officials are blocking the return of evacuees.
Let's begin with Jim. And Jim, the fact is yesterday's re-entry plan has certainly been revisited.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right, Tony. Cedar Rapids officials are now suspending the checkpoints that they set up yesterday to allow residents to go back to their homes. And this is the reason.
Behind me, some of these neighborhoods are still too unsafe. But with so many people waiting, that is going to be hard to enforce.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): It was a flood of frustration as thousands of people stood in long lines at police checkpoints to reenter their neighborhoods. Men, women, even children were given wrist bands to quickly go home and carry out whatever they could in plastic bags.
Carla Moreford didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
CARLA MOREFORD, FLOODED HOMEOWNER: We're safe. We got our kid. We got our pets.
ACOSTA: One detective admitted they are making it up as they go on.
DET. BRAD NOVAK, CEDAR RAPIDS POLICE: It's been compared to a 3,000 year flood, a 2500 year flood. And so something with that rarity of event there is no playbook to go by.
TRACY MURPHY, FLOODED HOMEOWNER: That's our blue house right there.
ACOSTA: We gave the Murphy family a ride home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know how safe it is to go in.
ACOSTA: That is, what's left of it.
T. MURPHY: My whole entire life is gone. I don't know what we're going to do.
ACOSTA: Holding back tears, Tracy frantically grabbed all the family photos she could find.
T. MURPHY: Everything can be replaced but your photos can't.
ACOSTA: Like scores of other homeowners here she was told she didn't need flood insurance.
Guess what the insurance company is telling her you now?
T. MURPHY: They said because it's a flood that they -- they're not going to do -- they're not going to help us.
ACOSTA (on camera): What's going to happen to this town?
T. MURPHY: I don't know. Is the government going to come in and buy all these houses, knock them down?
ACOSTA (voice-over): There's going to be plenty to knock down and clean up, from this grain silo that split open in the rising waters, to this fuel tanker pinned under a highway.
But for many of the people who live here, it's the smaller things that matter most.
CANDICE RIBBLE, FLOODED HOMEOWNER: Our house, our home.
ACOSTA (on camera): But everybody's out safe?
RIBBLE: Everybody is out safe now. Now they are.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And city officials will be venturing back into these neighborhoods later today to determine just how soon residents can return to their homes, but it could be as late as tomorrow before any of that can happen.
Tony, they are worried about manhole covers that are off of the manholes. They're worried about gas leaks. So this could take a while...
HARRIS: Absolutely.
ACOSTA: ... before people get back to their properties.
HARRIS: OK. Jim Acosta for us in Cedar Rapids.
Jim, thank you.
COLLINS: Now let's head over to the University of Iowa, where officials will assess their losses today.
CNN's Sean Callebs has been following this story and is on the Iowa City campus there.
Good morning to you, Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
You can see behind me the -- part of the Iowa river simply poured on to the campus here turning this courtyard into a lagoon.
Now the river has crested. That's good news. However, because so much water is being released from above, it is going to take a long time for this water to recede, perhaps a week or so. So clean-up is nowhere in the immediate sight.
Look over this way. Want to point out a couple of the 16 or so buildings here that have flooded. This, the School of Art. It is a building that is less than two years old. The architecture was inspired by a Picasso work.
And if I look over here toward my right down that way, the School of Music is down there. They had more than two dozen grand pianos, harpsichords, that they had to get out in basically a moment's notice and they were able to do that successfully.
But probably getting the most attention here on the campus, this building right behind me, the Museum of Art. It housed between $300 and $400 million worth of rare collections, works by such well-known artists as Picasso, Pollack, Miro. So that was a major concern for this university.
So as students and engineers, volunteers were sandbagging this area, the university president tells me they were also working in somewhat secrecy taking care of the artwork, packing it up and putting it on a semi-truck, and it has been driven away to Chicago.
Listen to how the university president describes this and what a difficult task it was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALLY MASON, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESIDENT: They are safe in Chicago. They got moved in semi-trucks. We did it very quietly because, of course, we had to do it quickly. And they had to be crated up properly and then they had to be taken out in semi-trucks. And we were totally involved at that point in sandbagging buildings and trying to save as many buildings as we could.
So, you know, our security forces weren't what they were. So we just did it very quietly and we put them in a safe place. And that's all I'm going to tell you at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: I like that last little bit, "that's all I'm going to tell you." They certainly were very concerned about that. She said they were motivated to a large degree by their insurance company.
But this is a big problem and it's getting a lot of attention throughout the state. 60,000 people live here in Iowa City but, Heidi, really this university touches so many people throughout Iowa. Fifty percent of the state's doctors graduated from here, 75 percent of the state's nurses graduated from here, 80 percent of the public school teachers -- the list goes on and on.
That's why she says the Hawkeye nation is calling to see how the university is doing. She said they're ready to roll up their sleeves and clean-up once this water begins to recedes but boy, it's difficult and heart-wrenching for people who live in this area.
COLLINS: No question about it. All right, Sean, thanks so much coming to us from Iowa City and the Buckeye campus.
Appreciate that, Sean.
And remember to send us your iReports if you can. Go to CNN.com and click on iReport or type ireport@CNN.com into your cell phone.
Of course, don't jeopardize your safety to do so.
HARRIS: Britain ups its commitment to the war in Afghanistan and sounds a warning to Iran.
President Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown holding a joint news conference just a short time ago. Mr. Brown announcing Britain will freeze assets of Iran's largest bank. That's an effort to discourage Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
Also from Britain, more troops heading to Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We have resolved, first of all, as we did some years ago, that it is in the British national interest to confront the Taliban in Afghanistan or Afghanistan would come to us.
And so today Britain will announce additional troops for Afghanistan, bringing our numbers in Afghanistan to the highest level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Next for President Bush today Belfast, the last leg on his overseas mission. He will meet with Northern Ireland's leaders before heading back to the United States later today.
COLLINS: Long wait for a wedding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN WEIR, CONTA COSTA CO. CLERK: Finally, after 18 years, getting the chance to do something that's good and right and proper for us to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: A couple plans to be first in line for same-sex wedding vows, no matter what protesters do.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Their mother is said to sniff out cancer. Will these cloned puppies be able to smell the same thing?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: California today becomes the second state in the nation to allow same-sex couples to marry.
CNN's Ted Rowlands reports it means more than just extra work for one county clerk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thank you.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the past 19 years, every marriage license issued in northern California's Contra Costa County has had Stephen Weir's signature on it and as county clerk he also performs weddings.
WEIR: For that magic period of time, you're assisting them with something that's really, deeply, deeply personal for them and I get emotional doing that.
ROWLANDS: Last month's Supreme Court decision legalizing same- sex marriage has had Weir's scrambling to prepare for a flood of marriages, including his own.
WEIR: And I promised myself and my partner and the community that when this was legal I'd be first in line.
ROWLANDS: Weir and his partner John Hemm, who live with their two dogs in this suburban home, have been together for 18 years. They say ever since they had this fake wedding photo taken as sort of a joke years ago, they've actually been serious about wanting to get married, but never thought they'd have the chance.
JOHN HEMM, WEIR'S PARTNER: Didn't think it would ever happen.
ROWLANDS: The plan is for the couple to be the first in the county to fill out one of the new marriage forms which says "Party A and B" instead of "Bride" and "Groom," then in front of family, friends and all of Steve's colleagues get married in the county wedding room.
But there could be uninvited guests.
Outspoken Kansas Reverend Fred Phelps has said he will be there to protest. The local sheriff is planning for trouble. Steve says he's not worried.
WEIR: If these folks want to come here, they're exercising their constitutional rights and I'm exercising my constitutional rights. And my family and friends are going to be there to celebrate this and there isn't anybody that's going to take any of that away from us.
ROWLANDS: Weir, who's 59, says he knows many people, including some in his office, are uncomfortable with same-sex marriage. He says he also knows that John, who's 53 and has been battling AIDS for more than 10 years, is, without a doubt, the person he wants to marry.
WEIR: Finally, after 18 years getting the chance to do something that's good and right and proper for us to do.
HEMM: Just tell the man I love that I love him in front of everybody and just have a wonderful time and just have that experience everybody else has.
ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: The latest allies in the fight against cancer may be these four little puppies.
Aren't they cute?
A South Korean biotech company says they are cloned from a dog famous for sniffing out cancer cells.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with me to talk more about this.
And they are really cute but they have actually...
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They're adorable.
COLLINS: ... have a purpose possibly.
COHEN: And functional.
COLLINS: So what's the deal? Can they really sniff out cancer?
COHEN: You know there is some evidence that some dogs are good at sniffing out cancer.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: I did a study with a dog named Kobe...
COLLINS: I remember.
COHEN: ... in California, another cute dog. And they put all of these tissue samples. And one of those samples was cancerous. And every time he would sit down at the cancer sample.
So is there ironclad evidence? No, there isn't. But there does seem to be some evidence that they can smell cancer.
Now one thing we should say here, though, is that it takes a lot of work to clone animals. So for every success you see, like the ones here, there are miscarriages and stillbirths and it is a very, very tough thing to do.
You remember with Dolly, they got her after many, many tries, and she died at a relatively young age. So this cloning thing is not -- it's not tried and true, we'll say.
COLLINS: No, certainly not. Certainly not. But back to the cancer sniffing. I mean it really is fascinating. I remember that package very well.
Is it possible that if they do get the cloning part right, that the cloned dog will actually be able to sniff out this disease possibly, if that's really what's going on here, as well as the mother?
COHEN: You know what? They might not, because a dog's ability to sniff out cancer isn't just in their DNA. It's part of their training.
COLLINS: Right.
COHEN: It's part of the environment. It's part of who's bringing them up. So it's not absolutely certain that these cloned dogs will be able to smell cancer as well as their mother.
COLLINS: All right. Well, they have to go through all the same training, then, obviously, too.
COHEN: Right. The same training but you can't duplicate something completely.
COLLINS: No. No. It's way too subjective.
COHEN: Right.
COLLINS: I just like looking at the pictures.
COHEN: They are cute.
COLLINS: Can we just...
COHEN: I know.
COLLINS: All right, Elizabeth. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
COHEN: Thanks.
HARRIS: Sky-high crude making big oil producers nervous. Saudi Arabia now saying it will boost production, but will it rein in high prices?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Soaring oil prices push Saudi Arabia to boost output. It is an attempt at least to stabilize a runaway market.
Speaking of runaway markets, Gerri Willis, "Minding Your Business," talk about what is happening with the price of a barrel of crude this morning, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: It's crazy out there, Tony. Let me give you some numbers here.
First of all, the price of a gallon of gas higher and at a new record at $4.08 a gallon, that's according to AAA, not good news for consumers out there. That's a new high and a ninth straight record, so not good news.
Let's move on, though, to oil prices and oil prices per barrel. You know, Friday we saw it close somewhere around $135. This morning, a pop in these prices, now setting a new intraday record at $139.89. That's up five bucks from Friday's settle.
So that is a very big leap indeed -- Tony?
HARRIS: Boy, I'm just thinking about families...
WILLIS: Yes.
HARRIS: ... planning right now. You know their budgets -- what are we looking at? What are families looking at right now? What are they seeing?
WILLIS: Well, before I move on to that, Tony, let me talk just a little bit about what Saudi Arabia is doing...
HARRIS: Oh great. Great.
WILLIS: ... because I think that raises a lot of questions out there. People wanting to know, is this a big change, a little change?
Apparently Saudi Arabia told the U.N. secretary-general over the weekend that they would raise oil production by 200,000 barrels a day. Now, this sounds like a lot, but it's really only 2 percent of their daily average output.
The whole world is using about 84 million barrels of -- of oil a day. That's a whole lot of oil.
HARRIS: Yes.
WILLIS: And, of course, the Saudis -- you know, they are concerned apparently that this -- what they call a not normal trend in gas prices, oil prices -- you know, we certainly feel that -- they're concerned that these high prices will ultimately hurt consumption and hurt their business for what is their central export and really the mainstay of their economy.
HARRIS: Well, you know what, Gerri, I guess the follow-up there is will this increase in production be enough to lower prices somewhat? What do you think?
WILLIS: Well, that's the right question but unfortunately, I don't think I have a good answer. The Saudis boosted production last month by 300,000 barrels a day. It didn't do much to prices. HARRIS: We know what happened, yes.
WILLIS: And you saw what happened -- I just talked a few moments ago about the price of a barrel of -- oil, you know, spiking. Traders don't think this is going to show us much relief either. So...
HARRIS: Yes.
WILLIS: ... we have some moves that are positive but not really translating into a bottom line, not yet.
HARRIS: And I think I know what all of that means for household budgets.
Gerri Willis with us this morning. Gerri, good to see you. Thanks.
WILLIS: My pleasure, Tony.
COLLINS: The rising cost of gas hitting school districts everywhere and it's sparking some changes.
Here's CNN's Kate Bolduan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED BUS DRIVER: OK. Have a nice day. Here we go, last day.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ah, that sweet summer freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED BUS DRIVER: Have a nice party.
BOLDUAN: And freedom is exactly what school systems are looking for from fuel prices.
DEAN TISTADT, FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We didn't think it would get this bad.
BOLDUAN: Dean Tistadt oversees the budget for the Fairfax County School System. He says it was hard enough to keep things running this year battling ever rising futile prices.
We didn't implement the next phase of full day kindergarten to a lot of schools that we wanted to implement. We didn't -- we actually cut back on textbooks and library books this year.
BOLDUAN: Tistadt says it will likely mean making even more difficult cuts next year.
TISTADT: This kind of thing is just going to keep taking money away from the structural side of the house to the support side and that's just not a good outcome for student achievement.
BOLDUAN (on camera): In the past 12 months these Fairfax buses used 3.5 million gallons of fuel and school officials say every one cent increase at the pump costs them an extra $34,000 a year.
(voice-over): Fairfax isn't alone. With buses getting nine miles to the gallon, Culpeper, Virginia schools are considering shortening bus routes to save on fuel.
LAUREN THOMAS, CULPEPER COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We'll delay some maintenance projects. We may look at charging some fees for activity runs or field trips, and things of that nature that we've always provided for free in the past.
BOLDUAN: School districts across the country are feeling the pinch. In West Virginia, schools are pressing the governor for more help.
GOV. JOE MANCHIN, WEST VIRGINIA: In West Virginia we're not geared for $4 a balance gas. Our town is not geared for that. I'm appropriating a special appropriations, right now as governors do, an extra $5 million for my school districts just to pay for the fuel bills.
BOLDUAN: Bottom line, school administrators say the buses have to keep running. But with fuel prices unlikely to drop, that ride is starting to cost schools more than just dollars.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Fairfax, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: As if gas and food price increases weren't enough. Now just flipping the light switch is going to lighten your wallet. Utilities across the country have either raised rates or are planning to do that soon. And much of the increase is due to rising fuel costs. Higher costs in the construction industry also to blame. "USA Today" reports utilities are raising prices up to 29 percent.
HARRIS: The nation's two satellite broadcasters could be headed for a merger. The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission recommending approval of Sirius Radio's buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio, a $5 billion deal.
But there is a catch, pretty significant one, too. The Associated Press reporting FCC chairman Kevin Martin wants 24 channels for noncommercial and minority programming and a three-year price freeze.
COLLINS: Will Afghan troops head into Pakistan? Tension on the border. A live report from the Pentagon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
Misery in the Midwest. Three rivers pour out of their Iowa banks and swallow nearby towns. Even a college campus isn't spared. Floodwaters have swamped more than a dozen buildings at the University of Iowa, but it could have been much worse. Students and faculty had spent days building sandbag fortresses.
We showed you some of that video when it was happening.
Today in Cedar Rapids safety officials have blocked the return of worried homeowners. They say it is too dangerous for the thousands of evacuees to make their way back into the flood zone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said it could be two weeks. They said it could be a week. They said it could be up to six weeks. So we're just kind of waiting and see.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really all we can do is just wait at this point, you know, and see and pray. But that we haven't lost everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Wow.
In much of northern Iowa, floodwaters have crested and a sense of optimism is slowly rising.
The Iowa River hit a record high but fell short of the most dire predictions.
Meanwhile, towns that are downstream are bracing for their flood threat.
HARRIS: And Jacqui Jeras is in the Weather Center.
Jacqui, where is the severe weather threat today?
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Iowa underwater as you well know by now. Look at that. Many cities and towns hit with devastating floods and the worst may not be over. Veronica De La Cruz is coming up with your I-reports.
HARRIS: Let's get the business day started. The Dow industrials begin today at 12,307 after -- boy, a really nice rally on Friday. The Dow picking up 165 points and threatening to give at least so far half of that away. The NASDAQ and the S&P all up for the day on Friday. We're just going to have to watch and see where we go today.
You know, stock futures indicated a kind of mixed open. And that's what we're seeing. We are following the markets with Susan Lisovicz throughout the morning right here in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Mission to the Middle East. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is right now in Lebanon on an unannounced visit. She is there to show U.S. support for the country's western-backed government. It's been meeting with the Hezbollah-led opposition to try to work out a power-sharing agreement.
Earlier, Rice is visited Jerusalem and the West Bank. She's trying to get Israeli and Palestinian leaders to forge a peace agreement there but she warns Israel's plan to build hundreds of new homes in disputed east Jerusalem is not helpful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I do believe and the United States believes that the actions and the announcements that are taking place are indeed having a negative effect on the atmosphere for negotiation. That is not what we want. We should be in a position of encouraging confidence, not undermining it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas calls the planned, Israeli Settlements, the greatest obstacles to peace. In just a few minutes, we're going to be talking with a Former Assistant Secretary of State Jamie Reuben on this very topic.
HARRIS: Afghanistan threatens to send troops into Pakistan in hot pursuit of insurgents. Pakistan issues a warning don't do it. Rising tensions.
CNN's Barbara Starr joins us from her post at the Pentagon.
Barbara, good morning. You know, it really sounds like -- first, the United States -- thinking back to last week, and now Afghanistan really unhappy with the efforts of Pakistan to control its border.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely right, Tony.
Rising tensions and rising violence on both sides of the border. In fact, last month in Afghanistan, more coalition troops were killed than were killed last month in Iraq. Probably something I would venture most Americans don't realize. Rising tensions, record U.S. troop levels now in Afghanistan.
And as you say, Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatening, if you will, that he will send his forces into Pakistan to chase down the militants that the U.S. and the Afghans believe Pakistan is not cracking down on.
Well, it's doubtful that those Afghan troops really have the capacity at this point to engage in military attacks across the border. But, nonetheless, so serious that President Bush weighed in on all of this earlier today in London.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One thing that can happen is there can be more dialogue between the Pak government and the Afghan government. There was in the past, they had a Jurga amongst tribal leaders in the region from both sides of the border that made a difference. And I think that would be a good idea to restart the Jurga process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: What he's really talking about, Tony, is the U.S. wants to step in and have all three countries talk about this situation and try and get a handle on it. But the bottom line is this. Pakistan takes billions of dollars, of course, in U.S. aid aimed at making that government crack down on the Taliban and al Qaeda militants on the border region.
The U.S. feels very strongly the new Pakistani government is not doing that and instead is actually cutting peace deals with the militants. And all of that is heavily contributing to this new round of attacks and the increased violence as those militants cross into Afghanistan -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Barbara, if you would, tell us about this -- boy, we'd have to call it a bold prison breakout in Kandahar.
STARR: Just underscoring the level of violence that is going on in Afghanistan right now. Late last week, a massive prison break by perhaps as many as 1,000 fugitives at the Kandahar prison in Southern Afghanistan. A very violent situation.
The U.S. and Afghan forces have been trying to track down the escapees. Many of them said to be in jail for suicide bombing and other attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces. But so far, really just a handful of them captured.
Southern Afghanistan, Kandahar, where all of this is taking place. Increased violence I have to tell you over the weekend. Four U.S. marines killed in an attack in the Kandahar region. And that was the highest U.S. loss of life in Afghanistan in quite a long time on any single day -- Tony.
HARRIS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.
Barbara, thank you.
STARR: Sure.
COLLINS: Basketball star grew up in the Midwest, now on the Olympic team of Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY HAMMON, WNBA PLAYER: I knew my patriotism was definitely going to come under attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Why some are calling a popular player a traitor.
HARRIS: Portfolios with personality. Investing strategies that reflect your values.
CNN's Christine Romans is "Right on Your Money."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If saving the environment is your passion, or if you simply want your money to match your morals, "Money" magazine's Jason Zweig says look into socially responsible investing or SRI funds.
JASON ZWEIG, SENIOR WRITER MONEY MAGAZINE: An SRI fund invests according to ethical principles, not just trying to do well but also trying to do good. And the objective is not purely to earn the highest return on your money, but also to return on your morals as well.
ROMANS: But investing with a clear conscience doesn't necessarily mean taking a big hit to your bottom line.
ZWEIG: If you compare SRI funds to conventional mutual funds or the market as a whole, you'll find that they perform just slightly under the average.
ROMANS: Historically SRI funds have been associated more with Silicon Value than traditional big money stocks like oil and energy. But Zweig says regardless of political or social beliefs there are some SRI options for you. Just remember to do your home work.
ZWEIG: There's a great Web site called socialinvest.org where you'll be able to learn about all the funds that are available.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The Iowa flooding, water rises, the loss is mount, and now looking to the challenges ahead. Joining us on the phone, Regenia Bailey, the mayor of Iowa City.
Mayor Bailey, thanks for your time this morning. We appreciate it.
VOICE OF MAYOR REGENIA BAILEY, IOWA CITY, IOWA: It's good to be here.
HARRIS: Hey, mayor, if you would, can you describe your city? How bad is it?
BAILEY: There's standing water all over. Mercifully, the sun is shining today. So I think that that has an effect on all of our moods. But just getting around this city is difficult. People are still out of their homes. As I understand it, the water will begin to recede, but that will happen so slowly that I think it will be -- it will be at least a week before we're back to the '93 flood stage.
HARRIS: Wow. Have you been able to assess the economic impact on your city? Or is it just too early?
BAILEY: It's too early. We do have people working on that, but it will, it will be immense.
HARRIS: The University of Iowa, we heard about the arts complex and the buildings there being severely impacted by this. Have you had an opportunity to visit the campus and take a look for yourself?
BAILEY: I've seen the campus. Well, I was a music major so I'm very familiar with that building down there. And I'm sure the impact has been dramatic. It's very close to the river. And from what I understand it has breached the arts campus quite substantially. It's well over the road that runs on the west side of those buildings. So there's a huge impact.
HARRIS: Hey, talk to us more. You mentioned just a moment ago, it's a key word, mood, the mood of your people -- 60,000 people or so in Iowa City.
How would you describe the mood?
BAILEY: I think we are guardedly optimistic that we've seen the peak and the crest. And if we don't get any localized rainfall within this water basin and if the sun continues to shine, that we know the water should begin to recede. The challenge of course is that will happen very, very slowly as a city that's downstream from a reservoir.
We know that that will happen in fractions of inches. And that will be, I think, frustrating to people to get access to their homes.
HARRIS: Yes. How many people would you predict or would you say are out of their homes at this point?
BAILEY: We have -- we mandatorily evacuated between 500 and 600 homes. Now, the number of people in those homes I can't even say. And then a number of businesses have been evacuated through recommended evacuation as well as mandatory. So there are a lot of people who have been affected.
HARRIS: Do you have everything, everything that you need in terms of getting ready to recover?
BAILEY: We are working on the recovery effort. I think we have a good team here and we have good access to resources. We're very optimistic that we can pull things together. The outpouring of our community volunteers has been incredible. And we hope that they'll get some rest between sandbagging and recovery and they will be ready to help us with the recovery efforts.
HARRIS: Iowa City's Mayor Regenia Bailey with us this morning. Mayor, good luck and the best to all of your town's people.
BAILEY: Thank you very much.
COLLINS: Fleeing the floods. More than a million people leave their homes as China's latest natural disaster sweeps over parts of the country. Floods deadly, costly, and still rising.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Seen through the eyes of flood victims. Our Veronica De La Cruz joining us now with your I-report and personal stories from the flood zone.
Good morning. Some of these pictures pretty tough to watch, Veronica.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they really are, Heidi.
We want to go and start with this I-report from Rochelle Charnowski. Take a look at this. Her neighborhood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, completely submerged.
She says the first time she tried to go back home, Heidi, the police said they would arrest her. Since then she's been allowed in, she's grabbed a couple belongings, she was able to rescue her cat, she grabbed some medicine. She said that what she saw inside was unbelievable.
The water came up to at least four feet. Her furniture was destroyed, the floors buckled, the walls were caving in. She said she knows that the city will rebuild stronger than before. She does hope that people will help in any way they can.
Now a picture from Cedar Falls, Iowa. Winter Gray sent us this shot and said the Island Park Beach House is a one-story building, Heidi. Take a look at this. The water was so high that the moored boats were nearly level with the roof of the building. You see the roof there in the background.
COLLINS: Boy, it's -- you can't barely make it out. Not just so much Iowa, though. There's other parts of the Midwest that are underwater right now, too.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes, absolutely. Ed Brumley, he sent us an I-report saying that he knows Iowa has been hit hard. He hopes that we do remember in our coverage to show other places. He sent us this video. This is Southeastern Illinois.
He was able to get up in a small plane, shoot this video of Lawrence County, Illinois. He says that they have been under a water emergency, Heidi. Tap water there is being trucked in. Right now, they are being asked to boil their water.
He also was able to shoot a couple of pictures. This is the Wabash River, south of Vincennes and West Port where the levees broke. And then in this image, this shows where the levee broke north of the airport. He says that they won't be able to get in there to repair this water main until the floodwaters recede, unfortunately.
So if you have a story that you'd like to share, go ahead and logon to I-report.com. You can share your story there. Also if you would like to help the victims of the flood, you can also logon to CNN.com/impact your world -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes and that is the question, too, isn't it. When will those floodwaters recede? It's going to certainly take some time.
Veronica De La Cruz, thank you.
HARRIS: Presidential politics now. Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama campaigns in Flint, Michigan, this morning before heading to a fund-raiser in Detroit.
Yesterday, he had a tough Father's Day message for some African- American dads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: But if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that too many fathers are also missing. Too many fathers are M.I.A. Too many fathers are AWOL. Missing from too many lives and too many homes. They've abandoned their responsibilities. They're acting like boys instead of men.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Republican John McCain will be in Texas raising money. He met yesterday with Iraq's foreign minister. The two talked about security.
COLLINS: More than one million people in southern China forced from their homes by record flooding. And it's far from over.
Here's CNN's Emily Chang.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The rains have turned roads into rivers. Rescue workers are rowing through towns trying to reach the victims. Scores of people are dead or missing. More than a million have fled to higher ground.
It's been raining for more than a week across parts of southern China. Sichuan Province is already bruised and broken after a giant earthquake just over a month ago. 5 million people are homeless, living in makeshift tents. More rain is the last thing they need.
Then there are the dozens of quake-created lakes. More water could cause them to overflow or burst, sending torrents into low-lying areas. Across the flood zones, crops have been destroyed. Traffic is at a standstill and power is out. About 40 million people have been affected so far as waterways swell higher and higher. Tens of thousands of homes have collapsed and water is lapping at the door steps of many more.
(on camera): Chinese officials say the floods have caused billions of dollars in damages so far and more storms are moving in. The rainy season is always a problem this time of year, but this season is predicted to be extraordinary as China braces for yet another natural disaster.
Emily Chang, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: You can help. At CNN.com, we have a special page on the devastation in China and the aftermath of the cyclone in Myanmar. Plus, there are links to aid agencies that are organizing help for the region.
HARRIS: Running 4,000 miles on faith and planting a flag every mile, honoring those who gave their lives in Iraq.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: American born and bred, a starting point guard for Russia? An unusual twist in one athlete's Olympic dreams.
Here's CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Becky Hammon's family preached the values of God and country growing up in South Dakota during the last decade of the cold war.
HAMMON: You love your country. You love basketball. It makes sense to have a dream of going to the Olympics.
LAVANDERA: But this quintessential all American girl and an all- star WNBA player won't be wearing the red, white and blue uniform at this summer's Olympics. Becky Hammon will be the starting point guard for team Russia, even though she doesn't speak Russian and has no Russian ancestry.
HAMMON: I knew my patriotism was definitely going to come under attack. And that's OK. I mean, like I said, I grew up in the middle of America. I know how people think because that's how I think.
LAVANDERA: Some fans are angered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that her country?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then I wouldn't be for that.
LAVANDERA: And the head coach of the U.S. Women's national team Ann Donovan has called her a traitor. But now team USA is toning down the criticism.
JIM TOOLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, USA BASKETBALL: We look at this as an individual decision that Becky has made. And you know, she's in a position to feel free to do what she -- as she pleases in that regard. She's playing within the rules. LAVANDERA: Hammon spends half the year playing in the United States and in the off-season plays for a professional team in Moscow, which provided her with Russians citizenship.
(on camera): Professional women's basketball didn't exist when Becky Hammon was growing up. So playing in the Olympics was the pinnacle of a career. Today, Hammon is 31 and she feels it's her last chance to fulfill that dream.
(voice-over): Despite being one of the most popular players in America --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm looking for a Russian jersey with Becky's name on it.
LAVANDERA: Hammon wasn't invited to try out for the U.S. team until she had already signed to play with the Russians.
So it's the gold medal match, team USA, team Russia tied and you shoot the last-second shot and you make it. How do you feel?
HAMMON: Of course, I ran through all these scenarios in my head, every scenario possible before I made this decision so I had to be comfortable with it. And this is a basketball game. You know, I still love my country.
LAVANDERA: Becky Hammon says she'll take the shot and hopefully make it. For her, the cold war ended long ago.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, San Antonio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Remembering an amazing father and an extraordinary journalist. Tim Russert's son, Luke, shared memories of his dad this morning during the "Today" show on NBC. He said "Meet the Press," the program his father moderated for 17 years, was like his second son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUKE RUSSERT, TIM RUSSERT'S SON: In his core, I believe, he had a higher calling, a responsibility to educate the American public about the candidate who seek the highest office in the land. It wasn't about the sound byte, it wasn't about screaming and yelling, he wanted to have a forum each week where you have a conversation with people so that the American public in general could really get to understand them better and make a better informed decision and hopefully, ultimately, have a better country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Amazing composure there. Russert died of a heart attack, Friday, at the age of 58. A public wake is scheduled for tomorrow in Washington and a private funeral on Wednesday.
Good morning, once again, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the run down.
It's got to go somewhere and it's all going downstream. Major flooding on Midwestern rivers. Some areas could deal with standing water for weeks.
COLLINS: And even waters are receding, residents are not returning. Police in one Iowa City are keeping thousands of people from their homes.
It's Monday, June 16. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
