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Tropical Storm Edouard Plowing Toward the Texas Coast; McCain Speaks in Lancaster, Pennsylvania Today; Ice Avalanche on K2 Kills Many; Brett Favre Back on Packers' Roster
Aired August 04, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody, I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the run down.
Tropical Storm Edouard plowing toward the Texas coast. Will it grow into a hurricane? Plus, dangerous, stretching from Dallas to Chicago today.
COLLINS: He died after a savage beating. Two high school football standouts facing charges today. Was it a hate crime?
HARRIS: The 2008 Olympics begin in four days. We take you to China's gold factory today, Monday, August 4th. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
OK. We are talking about a gathering storm and growing concerns. Take a look here along the Gulf of Mexico. Emergency crews are scrambling to get ready for tropical storm Edouard. It could be near hurricane strength when it charges ashore tomorrow. In the cross hairs, Texas or southwest Louisiana.
COLLINS: We're also keeping a close eye on a major heat wave that could clamp down on millions of people. More on that in a moment. Let's begin with Edouard with CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf. Hey there, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi. It's full speed ahead for this storm. As continues its march west with winds are at 50 gusting to 65 miles per hour. Already through parts of Louisiana into Texas, we have tropical storm warnings in effect. A hurricane watch is in effect from Cameron, Louisiana and as far south as Port O'Connor, Texas.
Now, the latest path we have at the National Hurricane Center brings the storm a little more towards the west-northwest by 2:00 a.m. Tuesday with winds at 75 miles per hour possibly making landfall as a category 1 storm early on Tuesday afternoon. And as we fast forward into Wednesday, 2:00 a.m., the storm should just be a depression in the south of Boston, near the San Antonio area, providing quite a bit of rainfall.
You know what's amazing about this, it's as though the state of Texas has a giant bull's eye on it. I mean, it's dealt with, of course, the possibility of tropical storm Edouard and had Dolly, but now the state is dealing with some incredibly intense heat.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF (voice-over): It could become one of the hottest summers on record in the Lone Star state. Officials blame triple digits temperatures in the deaths of three people in Dallas and Ft. Worth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you notice that you're outside the heat and sweating alone and then you stop sweating, very important that you go inside. That means you're dehydrated.
WOLF: So far, Dallas has had 10 straight days of 100 degree plus temperatures.
PERDRO RUIZ, CONSTRUCTION WORKER: We try to stay cool out here because we know it's hot temperatures.
WOLF: Businesses are trying to cope as best they can. But customers are not taking chances.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We chose to sit inside instead of outside. No one was sitting out on the porch.
WOLF: The mercury reached a sweltering 107 degrees in Dallas on Sunday. 109 in Wichita Falls. And it's not over yet. In fact, parts of north Texas are under an excessive heat warning until later this evening.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Well, it's not just Texas, many places around the nation are going to be dealing with temperatures that are going to be five to 15 degrees above normal for this time of year, including spots like Kansas City. Take a look at this. We got a live image for you out of Kansas City where it's currently 85 degrees.
We anticipate the temperature in Kansas City to rise to 100 later on today. That doesn't even factor in the high humidity. So, it's going to be a brutal day. Pretty close to these record highs that we had just yesterday. Dallas-Fort Worth 107, 106 in Oklahoma City, in McAlester, Oklahoma 105. Also triple digits in Shreveport, Louisiana and north Little Rock.
Unbelievable.
COLLINS: Yes.
WOLF: Blazing heat.
COLLINS: Oh, lord.
WOLF: Let's send it back to you guys.
COLLINS: Yes, and right back into the air conditioning. All right. Reynolds, thank you. HARRIS: And when the weather becomes the news, we want you to send along your i-reports. Here's what you do, you just go to ireport.com. Right there. Or type ireport.com into your cell phone as always. Stay safe.
COLLINS: On the road with the candidates today, Barack Obama unveiling what he call a new energy plan for America. He'll be speaking in Lansing, Michigan in the next hour. We're planning a life coverage of that. Obama now says he's willing to consider offshore oil drilling if that's what it takes to get a deal through Congress. By the way, he is celebrating his 47th birthday today.
John McCain turns his attention to small business owners. He is meeting with them this afternoon in Lafayette Hills, Pennsylvania. McCain then heads to the motorcycle rally in South Dakota.
Presidential debates. But you won't see them together at a town hall meeting. Barack Obama has agreed to participate in three formal debates. John McCain criticizing Obama for refusing the more interactive town hall forum.
He has his party's nomination sewn up. Now Barack Obama wants Michigan and Florida delegates to have a full vote at the democratic national convention. The parties stripped both states of their delegates because they held their primaries too early. An agreement was later worked out to seat the delegates but with half a vote each. Obama has sent a letter to party officials now asking for the full vote.
HARRIS: The real bug this morning, who is on the short list for VP? A couple new names emerging. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dropping the name of Texas congressman Chet Edwards as a possible Barack Obama running mate. His district includes the small town of Crawford, where President Bush, of course, has a ranch.
John McCain is taking a serious close look at Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor. There are reports that Cantor has been asked to provide some personal documents as part of the VP search. You want to know more about the leading vice-presidential contenders, check out our web site at CNN's political unit and CNNpolitics.com that put together a look at each of the potential picks and check out the political market to see where you rank the possible candidates right there at our web site. It's all at CNNpolitics.com.
COLLINS: President Bush leaves for Asia this afternoon. It's a diplomatic trip with some sports thrown in. The first stop is a visit with troops at a base in Alaska and then he's on to South Korea and Thailand before he lands in China on Friday for the Olympics opening ceremony.
HARRIS: You money, your concerns. "Issue number one," shaping your wallet. Let's look at this morning's headlines are shaping your wallet. Hi, Heidi.
COLLINS: Hello. HARRIS: A new report says more companies are planning to cut jobs, according to a placement firm. The announcement of planned job cuts jumped 26 percent last month compared to the month before. That's up 141 percent from a year ago. Consumer spending dropped in June when you take into account inflation after removing the effects of higher prices, that dropped two-thirds of a percent, is the poorest showing since February.
And just minutes ago, a surprise on factory orders. They climbed 1.7 percent in June. That's more than double the increase that was expected. More good news now for drivers. Gas prices are continuing to slide. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with a look at the prices at the pump. Susan, good morning, love the good news so far this morning.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. It's the 18th day in a row, Tony. So we have a decided trend here. AAA says the national average for gas prices now stand at $3.88 a gallon. That's down $0.23 from the record high just two and a half weeks ago. Some analysts say the prices could decline a bit more. The decline obviously tied to the recent big drop in oil prices. Still, before we start doing cart wheels, let's keep this in perspective.
Gas prices in 12 states remain above four bucks a gallon and the national average is still more than $1 higher than it was last summer, at this time last year.
HARRIS: Hmm, you know, so the days of $2 gas - well they may be long gone for us, Susan, but just how long can prices fall in this oil and gas environment?
LISOVICZ: Well, you hit on the key word. It's the oil prices that, you know, are really so influential here. As long as oil prices remain elevated, so will gas. Oil prices have been falling sharply the past few weeks. It may be leveling off. Price right now is down about a buck at $124 a barrel and change. Still, you know $120 a barrel is high. And we are, as you know, as Reynolds has undoubtedly mentioned. We're in the hurricane season. A very volatile time for oil prices and the fifth named storm of the season, Edouard. Well, so far it has not affected oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. But if it does, you can expect prices to react.
As for stocks as well, we are seeing declines there too. The Dow Industrials down 63 points. That's half a percent. Nasdaq down nearly 17 or about 3/4 of a percent, Tony.
HARRIS: OK. So mixed morning so far. And Susan is watching that for us from the New York Stock Exchange. Good to see you later.
COLLINS: A helping hand for wounded troops. One military hospital changing the recovery process.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Wounded in the war zone. More than 30,000 American troops have been hurt in Iraq and Afghanistan. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is joining us now live at the military hospital where cutting-edge rehab efforts are part of the recovery.
Good morning to you, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Well, recently we traveled to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas where the strategy is that recovery can begin within hours of getting hurt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Here in the rehab unit at Brook Army Medical Center, some of the most seriously wounded troops are in recovery for months. Captain James Barclay says it's a struggle to get independence after being badly burned in an attack in Afghanistan.
CAPT. JAMES BARCLAY, U.S. ARMY: You don't realize how much you cannot use - when you can't use your hand every day life of buttoning your pants or tying your shoes or, you know, cutting up your food.
STARR: Few of us can imagine the pain these troops suffer. But what therapists and doctors do here could benefit all of us. When we get badly hurt or suffer a debilitating medical event, such as a stroke or heart attack. One lesson, start rehabilitation as fast as possible.
MAJ. CHARLES QUICK, U.S. ARMY INST. OF SURGICAL RESEARCH: The earlier that you get started into the rehabilitation phase to try to get that person move towards functional outcome, the better chances you have.
STARR: Therapy can start right in the I.C.U.. Major Charles Quick has developed new hand braces that actually perform therapy just by wearing them.
QUICK: What this device will do is hold that person's wrist into an extended position and by doing that, we are stressing that tissue there, preventing more contractions.
STARR: This could help someone getting over a sports injury or degenerative muscle disease, for example. Therapists also making rehab more bearable by using the Wii computer game to add some distraction to hours of repetitive therapeutic exercises.
COLLINS:. JENNIFER MENTREZ, M.D., BROOKE ARMY MEDICAL CENTER: They are moving their limbs and competing and the range of motion and the strengthening. So we're - and it's fun.
STARR: It's part of the holistic approach proving sometimes the best care is to get up and try to start moving.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: And Heidi, of course, that's a good reason for everybody in the medical world to get moving as fast as possible after suffering an injury. But, of course, the real difference is for these very badly wounded troops. They, many of them, will of course be in recovery and rehabilitation for years to come and that's why the military, like the therapists at Brooke, are looking for new techniques to help these young people really move forward as fast as they fast as they possibly can. Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes. And it is such an incredible facility, Barbara. I was down there for the opening of Center for the Intrepid. And the place offers such an incredible amount of hope and allows a lot of these wounded veterans to be with their families at the same time. All privately funded. It's really an interesting place.
Thanks for the story, Barbara. Appreciate it.
STARR: Sure.
HARRIS: A Mexican immigrant beaten to death in a small town. Teens arrested and now they are facing hate crime charges.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The Nobel Peace prize winner who wrote about the horrors he witnessed in a Soviet labor camp has died. Alexander Solzhenitsyn spent eight years in a camp for criticizing Stalin. His experiences would serve as a basis for his writings. Many consider Solzhenitsyn the moral voice of Russia. He was 89 years old.
Whisked to safety, a helicopter has picked up survivors of a deadly ice avalanche. The peak known as K2 is the second highest mountain in the world. It's located near Pakistan's border with China. The rescued climbers had frostbite. At least 11 other people, though, on that mountain are still missing and believed to be dead. We do know there's at least one other survivor still on the mountain.
A Pakistan army spokesperson says that climber is trying to get to an area where he can be reached by chopper? A brutal crime. An undocumented immigrant engaged to be married. Police say he was beaten to death by teenagers on the street of sleepy Pennsylvania town.
CNN's Susan Roesgen has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The police say it started as a chance encounter. A group of teenagers out drinking one night in July were heading back from a block party when they spotted Luis Ramirez walking down the street with the sister of his fiancee. According to court document, the young man challenged them saying, "isn't it a little late for you guys to be out and get your Mexican boyfriend out of here." Racial slurs, punches, Ramirez fell to the ground but he managed to call his friends, the Garcias, for help.
ARIELLE GARCIA, VICTIM'S FRIEND WITNESS: My husband tried to break up the fight between Luis and the kids and people were trying to beat up my husband for trying to break it up.
ROESGEN: Court documents say that Ramirez was knocked to the ground again and kicked in the head. A retired police woman who live nearby heard the Garcias cries to stop the beating. Then she said she heard the young man shout back at Mrs. Garcia.
EILEEN BURKE, WITNESS: They said, you [ bleep ]. You tell your [ bleep ] Mexican friends to get out of here or you're going to be laying next to them.
ROESGEN: Witnesses say Ramirez was convulsing in the streets.
CRYSTAL DILLMAN, VICTIM'S FIANCEE: Internally, he had a collapsed lung, two skull fractures, a blood clot on his brain, and his brain swelled.
ROESGEN: The 25-year-old father of two, an undocumented worker with two jobs had lived in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania for at least three years. He fell into a coma and died.
DILLMAN: His face swelled up to where his eyes actually swelled shut. And could you see the bulging of his eyes. That's how bad the damage was on his eyes.
ROESGEN: Two of the suspects were good students and popular, too, on the high school football team. 17-year-old Colin Walsh and 16-year-old Brandon Piekarsky. Both face charges of homicide as adults. 18-year-old Derrick Donchak is charged with aggravated assault and all three are charged with ethnic intimidation. A hate crime.
MICHAEL WALSH, SUSPECT'S FATHER: My son was a great kid and fell into a bad situation or whatever became of it. I feel sorry for his families or anybody who cares for Mr. Ramirez.
DILLMAN: That's supposed to be the crown of thorns.
ROESGEN: The victim's fiancee showed CNN a religious charm Ramirez wore. An she said an image of it was left imprinted on his chest after the beating. Crystal Dillman says for years she and Ramirez were harassed in a town in which she was born and raised.
DILLMAN: We used to go to the store together and people would stare and saying stuff under their breath. It's just the way they were.
ROESGEN: But attorneys for two of the teenagers say race may not have had anything to do with it. They say it was a drunken street fight that went too far and that racial taunts were heard on both sides.
ROGER LAGUNA, WALSH'S ATTORNEY: I've seen the chaos. Many people on both sides, not just on Colin for sure. But many, many folks on both sides engaged in a violent confrontation and I think it's extremely important to take some time and - to figure out who's responsible for it. This was not a pretty -- pre-planned event. This was a random chance encounter. There was no target. Based upon race or anything like that.
ROESGEN: Susan Roesgen, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: What they're saying about your taxes. The presidential candidates unfiltered plus Bill Clinton and race. New comments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: As part of our ongoing effort to help you make an informed choice in the election, we are going to play more about what the candidates are saying in their own words on the campaign trail. Barack Obama talked about tax relief during a weekend campaign stop in Titusville, Florida.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I'm elected, I will put $1,000 tax cut into your pocket. 95 percent of Americans will get tax relief under my plan. I will provide a mortgage interest deduction for people who currently don't qualify so that homeowners get a little bit of relief. We're going to eliminate income taxes. We are going to eliminate income taxes for seniors and when we're making $50,000 a year or less. So they get a little bit of relief.
And I'm going to support parents who are struggling right now by expanding the child care credit. And making sure that families have paid sick leave because a lot of folks don't. And we're going to make sure that we have equal pay for equal work so that every woman in America is being treated the same way that they men are being treated because that's just the right thing to do.
Now, I don't want to wait until I'm president to do it. I want it done now. So yesterday I announced a two-part emergency plan to help struggling families make ends meet and get our economy back on track. First part of my plan is to tax the windfall profits of oil companies. And to use some of that money to help you deal with rising gas prices by getting a rebate to you right away. Now, this is an area where my opponent and I disagree. He opposes using that money to help you pay your bills.
The other day we learned that Exxon Mobil made nearly $12 billion in three months. To put it another way, they made $1,500 every second. Now, that's more than $300,000 in the time it takes you to fill up your gas tank. Senator McCain actually wants to give oil companies like Exxon another $4 billion in tax cuts. I don't know about you, but I don't think we should be giving tax breaks to oil companies at a time that they are doing better than they have ever done before and you are doing worse. I think it's time to use some of those record profits to help pay for your record prices at the pump by putting $1,000 of emergency energy rebate into your pockets right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. And later this hour, we will hear from John McCain unfiltered, unedited, as we hear extended portion of their campaign remarks in our ongoing commitment to help you become a more informed voter.
Plenty of debate over the so-called race card into the presidential campaigns. President Clinton was accused of dealing from that deck while stumping for his wife. He was asked about that on ABC's "Good Morning America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: I got bad press. Why? Because I told the truth. That there was a different standard applied to the finest candidate I was supportive of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The former president says he will have much more to say once the election is over. You will hear more of what the candidates are saying in the next hour and remember for the latest on the presidential race log on to our web site at CNNpolitics.com.
Pressure to win Olympic gold, China pushed athletes to the breaking point.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
Tropical Storm Edouard gaining speed and many residents are racing the clock. The storm could be near hurricane strength when it makes landfall tomorrow. The areas now in the path, Texas or southwest Louisiana.
Let's get the latest now, from meteorologist Reynolds Wolf.
Reynolds, good morning.
WOLF: Good morning.
The storm's still chugging along through parts of the Gulf of Mexico, in a very interesting area. A place that has very warm water and has very little sheer -- two components that you need for these storm to really intensify. And that is certainly -- certainly appears that this to be in store for Edouard.
Currently at this time, winds are 50, gusting to 65. We already have tropical storm warnings in effect for much of the Louisiana coast until you get to Cameron, Louisiana. Then from Cameron, Louisiana, to the west and then southwest, to Port O'Connor, Texas, you have a hurricane watch that's in effect.
Latest path from the National Hurricane Center brings the storm to the west and then more of a northwesterly turn as we get to 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning with winds of 70 miles per hour. As it gets closer to shore, it's going to move into much more -- I can say very shallow water, very warm water also. So there is a chance the storm could really strengthen once more before it makes landfall, possibly as a Category 1 storm sometime early tomorrow afternoon.
But then you'll notice the storm will continue to move just to the south of Houston. That is, if it follows the path. And south of Austin, becoming a big rain maker for much of central and south Texas. Which, in some things, some ways, is not a bad thing. They're desperate for rainfall, this certainly would require quite a bit.
COLLINS: Well that's some good news there.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: All right. Thank you. We'll check back later on.
In the meantime though, summer swelter and a danger that rises with the mercury. Millions of people could well see triple digit temps this week. Here's a map now, of the building heat wave. Much of Texas, climbs 5 degrees above normal and extra 10 degrees on the outer edges of the nation's midsection. And the very center of the country, folks are bracing for 15 degrees to be tacked on to the normal highs. North Texas had 10 straight days of triple digit highs. Look at what they're having to do. In Dallas County, officials say at least three people have actually died from the heat.
HARRIS: Tempers flaring in China this morning with just four days ago until the Olympics. A small, but as you can see here, pretty vocal protest broke out near the Tiananmen Square, this morning. The demonstrators were forced out of their homes so modern businesses could be built in their place. Police quickly moved in and broke up the protests.
COLLINS: China playing host to the games with the Chinese. Lots more than oohs and ahs over the venues. They want gold and they want it badly.
CNN's John Vause has a look
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Raw recruits in China's Olympic army. Children as young as six handpicked by the state for a remote chance to be national heroes.
Here they're pushed to their limits and sometimes beyond. Little girls barely old enough to walk to school, walking on their hands for three minutes. Then 60 sit-ups, balancing on bars.
Jun (ph) Yanyan's father says he pushes his little girl because sporting success can mean a life of ease of privilege, the likes he has never seen.
ZHANG LIANG, YANYAN'S FATHER (through translation): She's not very happy about the training, he says. She doesn't want to go. Her mother and I encourage her and she listens to us.
VAUSE: And from there, the pressure only increases. JOSEPH CAPOUSEK, FORMER COACH, CHINA CANOEING, KAYAKING: Everybody's taught here about second place or silver or bronze medal, you are loser.
VAUSE: Joseph Capousek was hired to coach China's canoeing and kayaking team. Over years, he guided Germany to 18 Olympic gold medals. But less than six weeks before the games, officials say he quit.
He says he was fired for refusing to push his squad relentlessly seven days a week.
CAPOUSEK: The young people must do the sport here. They don't enjoy it. They must -- it's like work for them.
VAUSE: His Chinese language contract, which he couldn't read, stated he guaranteed a gold. While the copy in German said, it was an aspiration.
CAPOUSEK: It's crazy, you know, to promise someone --
VAUSE (on camera): And have you ever promised? Have you ever guaranteed?
CAPOUSEK: No! Never. You have no guarantee.
VAUSE (on camera): More than 20 foreign coaches were hired by China to train their Olympic hopefuls. Recently, at least four have either quit or been fired, another reportedly stripped of all authority, while others speak privately at being berated for not running their programs like military camps.
That's an allegation Chinese officials have repeatedly denied in the past. But when asked for a comment by CNN, there was no response.
(voice-over): China returned to Olympic competition in 1984, and at recent games has steadily moved up the gold medal tally, third in Sydney, second in Athens.
SUSAN BROWNELL, "WHAT THE OLYMPICS MEAN TO CHINA": And some people fear that if they get third in the total medal county, or lower, that there will be a bit of popular discontent.
VAUSE: An indication of the pressure to do well, recently China's president made an unprecedented visit too many athletes, saying the nation was looking forward to good news.
While a recent study by a Beijing hospital found 14 percent of China's national divers had damaged retinas because of heavy training, a percentage doctors describe as staggeringly high.
Basketball star Yao Ming will play despite suffering a stressed fracture in his foot several months ago.
For the coach of Liu Shan (ph), the hurdler who became a national hero after winning gold in Athens, told state media last year that government officials had warned, "If Liu cannot win another gold medal in Beijing, all his previous achievements will be meaningless."
These Olympics, with their flashy stadiums and minute attention to every detail are all about telling the world, we're here. And for China, it seems, nothing says that more than a record-breaking hall of Olympic gold, no matter the price.
John Vause, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Well, the Olympic flame is getting closer to Beijing. Today, the torch stopped Mianyang, one of the areas hard hit by May's deadly earthquake. The torch was lit in a stadium that once housed thousands of quake victims. This segment of the relay was supposed to be held in mid-June, but had to be postponed. You remember, Mianyang was one of the communities threatened by largest quakes-lake.
HARRIS: Just want you to know that you can trace every step of the Beijing games on the internet.
Veronica da la Cruz joins us with what's online.
Veronica, good morning. All right. Where do we even start with this?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where do we start? We start at CNN.com.
HARRIS: There you go. Well done.
DE LA CRUZ: You know, we've created this special online report and we've actually partnered up with "Sports Illustrated," to help you out there stay on top of everything going on, all of the events.
And something really cool, Tony. Check this out. You can keep up to date with Olympics and the world. It's our blog and it's going to offer you a unique perspective from journalists at the game. Tony, we're even having some of the Olympic athletes blog.
HARRIS: How nice.
(CROSSTALK)
DE LA CRUZ: For example, this blog right here, this is Peter Reed's blog. Peter is a 26-year-old British rower. He has a really interesting story, Tony. He was recruited after he was spotted using a rowing machine at the gym.
(CROSSTALK)
DE LA CRUZ: And right there in his blog he's talking about training in the Australian Alps and he's talking about how tough it is with the altitude, but that really helps them increase their stamina. So, that's going to get him ready for the games.
HARRIS: I was going to ask you about that Michael Phelps kid from Baltimore. Maybe he'll be blogging, but he might be a little busy trying to win eight gold medal. OK. Just had to throw in a little plug for B-more.
How do you figure out -- here's my question -- what event is taking place and when?
DE LA CRUZ: Well, you know, Michael Phelps will be competing on August 17th. And you can actually check it out on your own in a gallery of anticipated events.
That's going to give you all the sports that you don't want to miss. And then Tony, of course, you mark them on your calendar. For example, let's talk about Michael Phelps, you want to stay on top of those swimming events. There you go. August 17th, all eyes are going to be watching as he challenges Mark Spitz's record of seven Olympic gold medals in one game.
So, I know you're going to be watching, right?
HARRIS: Oh, yes.
DE LA CRUZ: How about the ladies event? 41 year-old Dana Torres, she's going to be going for the gold. 41 year-old, she's such an inspiration. Such an inspiration.
Also, you can check out the fan zone. Let us know what you're looking forward to seeing yourself. You can also get in the game.
HARRIS: What is that?
DE LA CRUZ: Check this out. You can compete in a track and field event. Are you athletic, Tony?
HARRIS: Well, I'm wondering, did our friends over at Cartoon Network put that together for us?
DE LA CRUZ: It's pretty cool, right? You can time yourself, see how quickly you complete this 100-meter dash.
And then we have to remind you, if you're going to the games -- if you're lucky enough to go, then send us an iReport.
This is David Rikowski (ph), Tony. He got in the spirit by doing his own version of a torch relay in China. And he said that people were actually coming up and kissing him on the cheek. And he was really surprised.
HARRIS: Whack job. OK.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes. They're having a really good time, you know.
HARRIS: That's OK. I won't party poop.
DE LA CRUZ: You can also sign up to get updates delivered to your cell phone or mobile device. And of course, the web address, Tony, is CNN.com/Olympics. HARRIS: Very nice. That was fun.
Thanks, Veronica.
COLLINS: Hey, Veronica, don't go anywhere. You asked if Tony was athletic. Yes, he's athletic. He played in that golf tournament that we had over the weekend, you know, the CNN one. And he didn't win.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: He's just trying to come in and help you.
What else do you have to say, Reynolds?
WOLF: I'm giving Tony my own award. Hold on one second.
Here you go, here's your award.
HARRIS: I appreciate that.
WOLF: Here is your award: Tony Rocks.
COLLINS: That is so sweet.
WOLF: It's love, dude. I'm feeling it for you.
HARRIS: You get no -- you get no -- watch this. You get no medals for second place in long drive, do you?
WOLF: No.
HARRIS: No.
COLLINS: No you don't.
HARRIS: All right. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I want that sign. I want to you sign it as well, Reynolds.
COLLINS: Thanks, Veronica.
HARRIS: All right, Veronica, bye-bye.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: New now this morning -- back to the news, of course -- more developments in the 2001 anthrax case. Our Jeanne Meserve has a live report coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The 2001 anthrax case -- we are hearing the case could be closed as soon as today. Our Jeanne Meserve has been following the developments.
Boy, this has become such an unbelievable story, especially as of late.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, the government's anthrax investigation, as you say, could be closed as soon as later today or tomorrow, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation. At that point, the government is expected to go to a federal judge to ask for the grand jury that was hearing the case to be disbanded and also ask that the case documents be unsealed. The Justice Department then plans to brief victims and families, including the family of Bruce Ivins, and then hopes to have a public event in which it hopes to lay out its case against the Fort Detrick scientist.
Former Senator Tom Daschle, whose office received one of the anthrax letters, says he is skeptical about the government's case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM DASCHLE (D), FORMER SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I'm not satisfied, in part, because I think they haven't been as forthcoming, not only with me, but with the American people, about the status of this investigation. I also haven't seen the evidence and I think that given their checkered past and the difficulty that they had in getting to this point, the bungling of the Hatfield part of the investigation leads me to be very skeptical.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: The former senator referring there to Steven Hatfield. He was also a scientist at Fort Detrick, at one point named a person of interest in the investigation and since cleared.
We do actually have some new information on the evidence in the Bruce Ivins matter. A source familiar with the investigation tells CNN that DNA evidence linked the anthrax used in the attacks to a flask in Ivins' lab. It's not known, however, if other people might have had access to that flask.
Another source confirms that Ivins bought prestamped envelopes in the metropolitan Washington area. Investigators have said previously they believed prestamped envelopes were used in the anthrax attacks. That source also says investigators removed two computers from a Frederick, Maryland area library last weekend. It is not known what they hope to learn from those computers -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Jeanne, let us know if we need to come back to you if in fact the case does close. Appreciate it.
HARRIS: Attack ads. What do you think? Do they win you over or turn you off?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: He's the biggest celebrity in the world.
But is he ready to lead?
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: A CNN fact check on going negative.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Attack ads. They seem to happen every election cycle and they are aimed at stirring up doubts.
Our Josh Levs is checking their claims.
All right, Josh. What do you have?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you know we like to chase these down,right? Every time there is a new attack ad, we like to break it apart.
So here's the thing. A lot of the times the big attacks are really obvious; they hit you in the face. But sometimes the attacks in these ads come a little bit under the radar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: He's the biggest celebrity in the world.
LEVS (voice-over): While everyone was focusing on this part of the McCain's ad, this got less attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Barack Obama says no to offshore drilling and says he'll raise taxes on electricity?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Would Obama raise taxes on electricity?
The McCain camp points to a February interview with the "San Antonio Express News." Discussing funding education, Obama was asked if he would consider taxing emerging energy forms, such as wind energy. His answer, "... That's clean energy and we want to drive down the cost of that. What we ought to do is tax is dirty energy, like coal, and to a lesser extent, natural gas. But I think that the real way to fund education is for local communities to step up and say, this is important to us."
Coal and natural gas combined generate most U.S. electricity. Obama has not proposed specific new taxes on them. Factcheck.org calls his one comment, "A feeble peg" on which to hang the McCain campaign's claim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CAMPAIGN AD)
BRANDON WOODS, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: What do we fight for in Iraq? I have some idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Meanwhile, this new ad from votevets.org attacks McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CAMPAIGN AD)
WOODS: Senator McCain would occupy Iraq indefinitely, against their wishes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: In 2004, McCain said he would not do that. Recently, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked McCain, what if Iraq's prime minister wanted U.S. troops out in a year or two?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: What do you do? Do you listen to the prime minister?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He won't. He won't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Politifact.com says, "It's note worthy that McCain won't answer the question these days ... but Votevets doesn't have enough ammunition for its claim."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: And so Politifact is saying that they are determining that that ad, in terms of that specific attack, is false in their view.
Obviously we're going to keep on top of all of this -- CNNPolitics.com -- we're always on it.
And Heidi, as you know, we're looking at these today because they are the latest ones. We always like to look for when Obama puts out the attack ads, we do the exact same thing. These are the latest ones we have, so there you go.
COLLINS: All right. Josh, appreciate it. Thank you.
HARRIS: And as part of our effort to help you make an informed choice in the presidential election from now until November, we're going to play more of what the candidates are saying in their own words on the campaign trail.
Here's John McCain speaking at the National Urban League Convention in Orlando, Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: ... Senator Obama and I have fundamental differences on economic policy, and many of them concern tax rates. He supports proposals to raise top marginal rates paid by small businesses and families, to raise tax rates on those with taxable incomes of more than $32,000, raise capital gains taxes, raise taxes on dividends, raise payroll taxes and raise the state taxes. That's a whole lot of raising. And for millions of families, individuals, and small businesses, it will mean a lot less money to spend, save, and invest as they see fit.
For my part, I believe that in a troubled economy, when folks are struggling to afford the necessities of life, higher taxes are the last thing we need. The economy isn't hurting because --
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: -- My friends, the economy isn't hurting because workers and businesses are undertaxed. Raising taxes eliminates jobs, hurts small businesses, and delays economic recovery. Under my plan, we will preserve the current low rates as they are, so businesses, large and small, can hire more people. We'll double the personal exemption from $3,500 to $7,000 for every dependent in every family in America.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: We'll offer every individual and family a large tax credit to buy their health care so employers can spend more on wages, workers don't lose their coverage when they change jobs. We'll lower the business tax rate so American companies open new plants and create more jobs in this country, not going overseas.
Now, there are honest differences as well about the growth of government, but surely we can find common ground in the principle that government cannot go on forever spending recklessly and incurring debt. The government has grown by 60 percent in the last eight years because the Congress and the administration have failed to meet their responsibilities and Americans are angry about it. And they should be.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: And next year total federal expenditures are predicted to reach over $3 trillion. That's an awful lot for us to be spending when this nation is already more than $9 trillion in debt, or more than $30,000 in debt for every citizen of this country. That's a debt our government plans to leave for your children and mine to bear. And that's not only a failure of financial oversight, it's a moral obligation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Barack Obama fills in a few of his blanks on his energy plan. Live remarks from Lansing, Michigan, and you will see it next hour.
COLLINS: He retired, then unretired. Brett Favre it back. Now, what a presidential candidate is saying about Green Bay as the long- running soap opera.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: You already know to catch us weekend mornings from 9:00 a.m. until noon Eastern. But of course, you can also take us with you anywhere you go on your iPod. The CNN NEWSROOM podcast is available 24/7 right on your iPod.
HARRIS: OK. The circus is officially in town for Packers fans. Man. Brett Favre arrived in Green Bay last night to live television coverage and cheering -- live TV coverage -- and cheering fans. That's his wife, lovely Deanna there. For those of you who haven't been following this soap opera, Favre retired, then unretired. The Packers didn't want him back, at least management didn't want him back. Now they do. He is expected at training camp today.
The Favre saga even provided a light moment for John McCain. He was asked during a Wisconsin town hall meeting to mediate this mess.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: There's a lot of controversies that I have eagerly leapt in my time, and I did stand fifth from the bottom of my class at the Naval Academy. But I'm not so dumb that I am going to jump into that one.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCAIN: And -- except to say one thing that we all agree, that Brett Favre has provided America and the state of Wisconsin with some of its greatest memories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Absolutely.
You want to weigh in here, Heidi?
COLLINS: No, no, no. I have nothing to say. Just the fact--
HARRIS: You know they wanted him.
COLLINS: Yes.
HARRIS: They were tampering a little bit.
COLLINS: Yes.
HARRIS: That's a violation of the rules there, Heidi.
COLLINS: They didn't want him until somebody else wanted him, and then they wanted him. Something like that.
HARRIS: The soap opera continues today.
COLLINS: It does. We'll be watching.
By the way, no shirts, no shoes, no pants. One guy got a little too comfortable at a convenient store in Twinsburg, Ohio. He came in dressed only in shorts, but came out of the bathroom like that. That is his birthday suit. Police of course were there to greet him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF CHRIS NOGO, TWINSBURG, OHIO POLICE: He was babbling nonsensically, but he mentioned something we thought we heard about a bomb. And so we're going to take every precaution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The bomb squad detonated backpacks taken from the naked guy's car. There were no explosives. No charges have been filed, but he is being kept for observation.
