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Financial Giants in Trouble; Hurricane Ike's Aftermath: The Damage and Destruction in the Gulf Coast; Hillary Stumps for Obama; The Importance of the Female Vote
Aired September 14, 2008 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: These people obey the directions here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't this time.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): They faced "certain death" if they stayed. So why did at least 2,000 people have to be pulled out? Food, ice, water, and it's not just survivors without supplies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at these people. They are bringing the military. They're bringing the people that are supposed to be saving us supplies.
LEMON: This isn't Texas, folks. It's the American heartland, hammered by wind and rain.
Who or what will decide this election? Experience? Race? What about gender?
Pay attention, guys, women are changing the electoral map.
Time for the pictures and the stories you haven't seen until right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN. Breaking news.
LEMON: Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon live here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. We will get to Ike in just a moment. But we start with breaking news that is shaking the very foundations of Wall Street.
Word tonight that Bank of America has cut a deal to buy the investment firm Merrill Lynch. We are getting that from "The Wall Street Journal." Why is this important?
Well, many of you have accounts, mortgages and investments with Bank of America. Is your money safe in all of this?
Also, it looks like troubled investment firm Lehman Brothers will not be able, not be able to line up a buyer for itself. That means bankruptcy is now a near certainty for one of the nation's oldest financial firms, and all of that activity inside of the building where police are standing by because of it.
And just moments ago, the Federal Reserve announced it will provide additional help to struggling banks and to try to calm nervous investors. Now Monday could be a very rough ride for the markets.
Let's bring in our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis. She joins me now by telephone.
First up, Gerri, the Feds bailed out Bear Stearns, took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Why these new steps?
VOICE OF GERRI WILLIS, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, Don, I've got to say, they endured a raft of criticism for doing just that, $30 billion for Bear Stearns, as much as $200 billion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They said over the weekend and they've been talking about this quietly for weeks, they will not bail out Lehman Brothers. It's the ninth largest global investment bank, one with 25,000 employees. It has 158-year history in this country, a real institution in the financial scene of this country.
And I think for the folks on Wall Street, this is amazing that Lehman can go under. It's hard for folks to get their arms around it. Keep in mind here that it's not just Lehman Brothers and its business. It's the fact that these companies have contracts with each other, what they call credit default swaps that link all these companies very tightly together. And that's why you saw some of the fears, some of the panic, folks trying to grab their stuff, get out of Lehman. Lots of worries tonight is going to show up in the marketplace tomorrow, let me tell you that.
LEMON: Yes, it is. And I'm sure the numbers on Wall Street will tell the story when they open tomorrow. The foreign markets, some of them, especially the Asian markets, Gerri, have opened right now, and the Feds are probably doing this to stave off some of that. But for the people sitting at home, the average person, average investor, people who are worried about their 401(k)s, what should their concern level be here?
WILLIS: Well, you know that we've seeing this play out for months now. This is the unraveling of the credit crisis that started with the problems in the housing market. This is nothing new. It's just coming to a crescendo. And the fact that we have this very important deal for Merrill Lynch could signal some kind of bottom or turning point. It could ultimately be some good news, some glimmer of hope there.
LEMON: All right. Our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, and I'm sure you, Gerri, you'll attest to this. All of this is happening against the backdrop of serious troubles, also at AIG, the nation's largest insurer, and that Washington Mutual, the nation's biggest savings and loan. And you heard Gerri Willis. She said it's going to be a very interesting opening day tomorrow on Wall Street.
OK, now to Hurricane Ike. The storm has left a terrible, terrible legacy. Death toll now, 13, eight of them in Texas, the rest in Arkansas and Louisiana.
Now the Energy Department says 2.6 million customers are without electricity. Power for some people could be out for weeks and weeks. And the Coast Guard, well, they have had to make nearly 2,000 rescues. Many people refused to leave and realized too late that it was a mistake to stay. Rescue crews have been going door-to-door to check on potentially stranded residents.
And let's not forget about gas prices. Ike, well, it comes and it has gone, but its effects are on the pumps. It is still stinging right now.
This is Galveston. Take a look. Galveston, Texas, cars are lining up down the street, way down the street, we should say, look at that line, with people trying to fill up before prices go up even further. Take a listen to what they're saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Regular gas, all gone. The regular gas there right now, so we just got premium gas.
Yesterday, there was a longer line. Today, we've been here for an hour and a half.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been waiting three hours. People are just trying to jump people and they were taking their gas cans in front of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: One leading analyst says there has been an overall drop in demand and that's sending oil prices lower.
To Galveston now, it is totally dark tonight. It is a far different place than it was two nights ago. And CNN's Gary Tuchman has been there to witness what we can only call the tragic transformation from vibrant beach community to Oceanside wasteland.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Galveston, Texas, is now being evacuated again. Hundreds of people who didn't leave before Hurricane Ike are now leaving after Hurricane Ike, boarding buses to a shelter in San Antonio. The city is encouraging everyone to leave because --
LYDA ANN THOMAS, GALVESTON MAYOR: Galveston has been hit hard. We have no power. We have no gas. We have no communications.
TUCHMAN: Also, no open stores, restaurants and medical care. So with food and water running out and power likely out at least a month, many are going eagerly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to get away. I don't know if I'm going to come back. TUCHMAN: What did the last couple of days been like for you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hell. Just pure hell.
TUCHMAN: Some of the scenes are very sad. The family of this 91-year-old man did not want him to evacuate initially because of his condition, but now the man is going in a specially equipped medical bus. The state, which provided the buses, is allowing people to bring their pets along, too.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: It is pretty obvious that there is substantial and long-term damage has been done to Galveston Island.
TUCHMAN: The flooding has receded, but it more clearly reveals the devastation. The downtown is abandoned. Sewage and sludge coat the streets. Cemeteries have many of their tombstones toppled. Evacuees are being told they will not be allowed back for an indefinite period.
STEVE LEBLANC, GALVESTON CITY MANAGER: I don't think you really want to come back to this. Not now.
TUCHMAN: Most of these people don't even know exactly where they're being taken. They just want out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said that we will be going to a shelter but I don't know. Just hoping and praying that it'd be somewhere safe for me and my family.
TUCHMAN: Two weeks ago when Hurricane Gustav was hitting during the Republican Convention, Texas' governor had this video message to delegates.
PERRY: You're seeing Republican governors in, I think, in Republican states doing a fabulous job of taking care of the citizens. That's what we -- that's what we do.
TUCHMAN: Now?
Is that an appropriate thing to say, though, during a natural --
PERRY: It wasn't and it wasn't a Republican Convention. So the fact of the matter is, these are Republican governors responding and I'm very proud of them. And we got some great Democrat governors out there that respond to disasters as well.
TUCHMAN: Texas will need Republicans and Democrats to unite for this one because Ike has traumatized many in the Lone Star State.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: There's a full moon over Galveston tonight. The Gulf of Mexico behind me is as smooth as glass. It's very cool out. It feels like we are in a different planet than the one we were on two nights ago when Hurricane Ike came through, destroying this business, destroying countless others and destroying lives. Here in Galveston alone, this island, this city of 70,000 people, they found three bodies today. They don't want to officially say the death toll yet because they're continuing the search. But that number could go up. The search will go on for the next couple of days. They went house to house, looking for the possibility of more victims here in Galveston.
Don, back to you.
LEMON: All right. CNN's Gary Tuchman in Galveston, we appreciate you reporting. Thank you, Gary.
We turn now to our weather expert, Mr. Chad Myers here. He joins us now to talk about all of this devastation, the deaths, and where Ike is now.
CHAD MYERS, CNN SEVERE WEATHER EXPERT: A terrible day across the Midwest today. Cincinnati, 74-mile-per-hour winds...
LEMON: Wow.
MYERS: ... 650,000 people without power right now in Cincinnati alone. And this happened all across Kentucky, all across Indiana, Ohio, and up into West Virginia. And even right now, this is going on in Buffalo; 33 miles per hour, but a gust of 44, and this weather will move across the northeast.
It could be kind of a bumpy night here. You may be hearing things bouncing off your house, which would be a tree limb or two, because this is going to be a tough night to be in the northeast today. You're not going to see any rainfall. This is not a rain event. This is a wind event, the wind that's still left from Ike. The rain is gone -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Chad Myers, thank you very much. We'll check back with you in just a little bit.
Hammered by Ike, then cut off from the mainland and a virtual ghost town. We'll take you to High Beach.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: And we know that many of you are busy all weekend with your kids or doing things on the weekend. So we want -- you may have missed some of this coverage. We want to show you some of the best pictures that have been taken place from Hurricane Ike.
Take a look at this first one. This is video from La Porte, Texas. We'll bring that one for you.
It is an aerial shot from our affiliate KHOU here. It shows widespread destruction of waterfront property on Galveston Bay. Many homes, you can see, were pushed off of their foundation. It is a huge, jumbled mess there.
Let's push this one back, and then we'll bring our second one forward. Take a look at this next video.
It is people in southern Louisiana. They were caught off-guard by Ike. Look at all that flooding there. That's a home.
This is Cameron Parish from our affiliate KATC. I was just there three days ago. None of that water was there. And you can see and feel their worry in their faces there as you look at these people. This is the second storm surge in just three years there.
And all right. Push this one back now. We're going to go to our third video. Let's pull that one forward. Take a look at this one.
Even without Ike, major flooding. This is northern Illinois. Look at that. This is supposed to be a restaurant. This is obviously someone jarred.
This is a Chicago suburb of Skokie. The video was shot by freelancer Scott Lasker. And the good news in this is that Ike bypassed this area. You can only imagine if Ike had roared through, what would have happened there.
All right. You know what? Beach towns have been devastated by Ike. And our Susan Candiotti, she went to Point (ph) Bolivar, that was today, where it is a virtual ghost town. And she joins us now from Houston, Texas, to tell us about her tour of the other area -- Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. This is a small resort community and it was an amazing sight to see out there. The community is called Port Bolivar. It's on a peninsula, as a matter of fact, and Ike's storm surge really hit it hard and virtually swept every house away. It took us three hours to get there and along the way, we saw all kinds of debris, including dead animals, a horse, some cows. All kinds of things from homes, for example, air conditioners and the like.
When we finally got to where we were going, we found at least two dozen people who were not able to evacuate in time. Some of them spent time in a house, they were telling us, and they had to climb as high as they could in order to survive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to go that, but no way out. And then, plus, the water was tossing all the vehicles. So we were just trying to figure out what we're going to do with these two and trying to get an ice chest together so we can float.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the girls that was with us earlier, she went to the golf course and she didn't make it. She just -- I guess -- I don't think they found her. But the guy she was with, he said they were hanging onto the rafters and a big wave came and took her.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CANDIOTTI: This woman just devastated. She sat and explained further that this woman and her boyfriend had gone to the golf course because that's where the woman worked and she was worried about it. And she wound up not being able to leave in time and had to stay there to try to ride out this powerful storm surge. Eventually, this group of people that we interviewed today was picked up by a Coast Guard helicopter and returned to safety, to dry land.
Back to you, Don.
LEMON: All right, Susan, thank you very much. And it's Port Bolivar. I apologize for the mispronunciation.
Thank you. Susan Candiotti joining us from Houston.
Let's talk political news now. Karl Rove speaking out today, taking aim at not only the Democrats but also the Republicans. We'll tell you why.
"Preston on Politics" straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So John McCain is a lot of things: former U.S. Navy captain, senator, presidential contender, and now NASCAR enthusiast. He and his wife Cindy were smiling and posing at a NASCAR event in New Hampshire. It's where the north met the south for a little racing. And no doubt, a strategic move, considering New Hampshire is a state where Democrat Barack Obama has opened a lead in the polls there.
And meantime, the senator from Illinois, well, he took the day off. He sent someone else in his stead. Former rival Hillary Clinton stepped in for him.
She was in Ohio today campaigning for Obama in Akron. It is a state she won in the primary season, and it's sure to be a key battleground in the general election. Well, she revamped her "no McCain" message to include his running mate, Sarah Palin, saying, "No way, no how, no McCain and no Palin."
OK. Well, speaking of Clinton, she and Governor Palin shared a platform together for the first time. All right. Sort of. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, NBC'S "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
TINA FEY, PLAYING GOV. SARAH PALIN: Tonight, we are crossing party lines to address the now very ugly rule that sexism is playing in the campaign.
AMY POEHLER, PLAYING HILLARY CLINTON: An issue which I am frankly surprised to hear people suddenly care about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, that was Sarah Palin spoofed by the only former "SNL" cast member who could pull it off. That was Tina Fey, in fact.
We're hearing Palin and her husband watched the skit. Her campaign says she found it funny and even dressed as Tina Fey for Halloween one year.
So, we welcome CNN political editor Mark Preston. So Mark, what do you make of this? At least, there is a sense of humor here. But on a serious note, we're talking about the role of women in this year's election. We said in the open to this show that they are moving the electoral map.
Let's talk about that in a second. But what she talked about was -- let's listen to what she talked about on that show when she talked about Palin being sort of taken as a sexual object, people saying that she's pretty and then Hillary Clinton, of course, the exact opposite. There is sexism playing out in this campaign or at least that's what is being portrayed here?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: You know, I think it is but I don't think it's being played out, Don, by the Obama campaign. I think they're too smart to come out and overtly criticize or attack or try to demean Sarah Palin for the fact that she is a woman or try to drag her down.
You know, this is a line of thought that we heard about all throughout the campaign, all throughout the primary. You know, Hillary Clinton supporters thought that the backers of Barack Obama, you know, were being sexist in trying to tear her down. So it's certainly a line of thought that we've heard. It's an issue that has, you know, risen its head well before Sarah Palin came on the national scene.
But clearly, some people are looking at Sarah Palin and they're not looking at her credentials and they're not looking at her record. And they're looking at her and saying she's just another pretty face, but you know, honestly, I don't think is fair.
LEMON: OK. Let's talk about the electoral map because we have heard about the Republican base being energized now because of Palin now entering the VP race. Is that -- the race is going to be decided by the electoral college, we know that. So does all of this make a difference when we hear about these polls and the base, you know, the base being re-energized? Does that make a difference when it comes to the electoral map?
PRESTON: Yes, it absolutely does. And let's just say, look, when John McCain picked Sarah Palin, he really did energize the base. He got social conservatives off the couch and they're out knocking on doors, they're putting up signs, they're making phone calls, they're trying to get John McCain elected. And where this could work, Don, is in states such as Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Florida. These are all states where Barack Obama and John McCain are fighting ferociously for.
As you said earlier in the newscast, Hillary Clinton was in Ohio today on behalf of Barack Obama. She will play a big role for Barack Obama in making sure that the women vote stays with him.
LEMON: Do the polls show any movement when it comes to women and these issues, and Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton or what have you? Have we found any of that?
PRESTON: You know, we have -- we have in a national poll. If you look at the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, it shows that the Obama/Biden ticket still has a lock on the woman vote. Fifty-two percent of women are backing that ticket as opposed to 45 percent for the McCain/Palin ticket.
But you know, and this is something that the McCain people really would like to see flipped. Obviously, they thought by taking a woman, the Alaska governor to come on the ticket, that it would help draw over some of these disenfranchised Hillary Clinton voters. We're not really seeing that, certainly not en masse.
LEMON: OK. We've been hearing all of this, something, you know, I hate to even bring it up again, where you talk about, you know, the "lipstick on a pig." We talk about McCain wanting to be in a war for 100 years. All of these sort of distortions which are becoming distractions and it's happening on both sides here. Even Karl Rove has come out on FOX News saying today, saying, you know what, McCain has been stepping over the line when it comes to the truth meter.
PRESTON: Yes, he has, and he said the same thing about Barack Obama as well. But the fact that he was pointed about McCain in saying that, you know, maybe he's gone a little bit too far in his ads, I think was very telling about where this campaign is going, not only for John McCain but for Barack Obama.
But, look, at the top of the newscast, we talked about these financial institutions failing. And while these negative ads right now are certainly driving the conversation and they are going to help shape people's opinions, at the end of the day, Don, I really think people are going to vote with their wallet and they're going to vote on foreign policy. I think those are the two big issues that really are affecting people.
So you know, while we are distracted by this and while we will be shaped by it by a little bit, I think overarchingly people are going to vote with their wallet and what's going to happen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
LEMON: It's very interesting. We have it up there, lost in translation. A lot of it is. And you know what, Mark, Barack Obama had his most profitable month yet in August. I wish could I talk more about that, but unfortunately, we are out of time. We have to run.
Mark Preston, our political editor, "Preston on Politics," thanks.
PRESTON: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: A failing school gets a chance at a new start.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of us just simply got tired of watching kids drop out and, you know, watching kids die and go to jail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Thanks to some teachers who wouldn't back down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Sometimes here at CNN we get the very best pictures and videos from our iReporters, our viewers, viewers like you. We want to show you some of the very best iReports from the storm.
Check out Tom Petronick (ph). This is in Troy, Illinois. It is near St. Louis. Look at this wind and driving rain here. He said the winds started very suddenly. He looked outside and the flag pole was just bowing over crazy rain. Rain was crazy, he said, and the neighbor's basement got flooded.
OK. Push this one back. Let's go to video number two here. This one is from Alabama. Look at this.
It's from Vickie Boozer in Fort Morgan, Alabama. This was a union boat uncovered by Hurricane Ike. You know, Fort Morgan was the scene of a major civil war naval battle that was back in 1864. This boat was buried beneath the sand for many decades and that was until Ike came along.
OK. Push this one back. We go now to video number three. This one is from Rice University, and it's Matt Kutchak.
He is a student at Rice University. He said the wind was so loud that he couldn't sleep. He had to jam towels underneath the door of his fourth floor apartment of his room there, I should say, to keep the rain and the wind out. And he took a quick survey of the campus. You can see the trees are down there and there is structural damage to some of the buildings and a lot of water on the streets there.
OK. Push this one back from Rice. We're going to go now to North Carolina. This one, pull this one up.
Gas prices, oh, my gosh, spiking. You could see that all across the country. $4.89 a gallon and then $5.39 a gallon. Some stations having no gas at all, a scene being repeated over and over and over.
Look at that. Regular gasoline, it says $5.39, and people are worried that it's going to go up.
If you have an iReport, please send it to iReport.com, or go to CNN.com and click on the iReport logo.
Now back to our top story in the CNN NEWSROOM, no deal for Lehman Brothers. A big deal between Merrill Lynch and Bank of America. Is a perfect storm brewing on Wall Street? And families that fled Ike, now blocked from going back home. And many are wondering if there is a home to go back to.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You can get ready for a wild ride when the markets open on Monday. Let's recap the breaking news from Wall Street tonight. There is word that Bank of America has cut a deal to buy the investment firm Merrill Lynch. That is from "The Wall Street Journal", we are getting that.
Also, it looks like troubled investment firm Lehman Brothers will not be able to line up a buyer for itself. That means bankruptcy is now a near certainty. With all the activity tonight inside the New York headquarters, police were standing by outside for that. We will update you on that story.
From Wall Street to Bridge City, Texas where that town was inundated by 10 feet of water from Hurricane Ike. Water receded now, but officials won't let the residents back in to clean up. Our Rusty Dornin is there tonight.
(BEGIN VIDETAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Katherine Duncan hasn't left her house since Hurricane Ike hit. She and her husband watched the flood waters rush into her Bridge City home.
KATHERINE DUNCAN, STORM VICTIM: It was coming so rapidly through the walls and everything. Within 10 minutes, we had three foot of water in my house.
DORNIN (On camera): Did you think -- were you nervous at that point whether you were going to make it out alive?
DUNCAN: Oh, we thought we was dying. We thought we was going to die in the house.
DORNIN (voice over): So they tried to escape.
DUNCAN: We panicked so bad that we got the thing, we climbed up here and they would hand me the animals and put the animals up here. And my husband put a running board up there so we could sleep on. We slept on boards that were no wider than this. We got down from daylight, when we stepped down, the water was to our waist. And the house is ruined. The house is ruined.
PHILLIP EVERETT, STORM VICTIM: The litter from the lake is all up here now.
DORNIN: Near by we joined Phillip Everest, he evacuated but came back to see two feet of water had run through his house.
EVERETT: You can see the water marks on the appliances this is how far it came up.
DORNIN: And to check on his exotic birds.
(BIRD CALL)
EVERETT: Yeah! You could see her cage was in here and wind or something knocked her cage down.
DORNIN: More than 400 people were rescued from this city over the weekend. Teams used everything from boats to dump trucks to pick up the stranded, but why didn't people leave when ordered to? Many said they didn't believe it would be that bad. Others, like Katherine Duncan, said they had already left once for Hurricane Gustav.
DUNCAN: We used all the money for medicines, food and hotel rooms. So went second hurricane came I didn't have no money to leave.
DORNIN: But those words anger some emergency officials who say people were offered buses to leave and shelters, but made their own choice to stay.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: Now, hopefully people are going to be able to get back into their houses in Bridge City some time tomorrow, but, Don, nearly everyone we spoke to that rode out the storm, when we asked them would you do it again, they said absolutely not -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Rusty Dornin, thank you very much for that.
It is one thing for us to show you pictures of devastated homes, but there are plenty of devastated people as well who are getting a look at their homes for the first time after the storm. Let's check in now with CNN's Sean Callebs in Lamark (ph), Texas, just outside Galveston, where people are starting to trickle back in.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, if you look over my shoulder, you can see a couple of Texas state troopers, it has been a busy day for them. They have been the two individuals stopping traffic throughout the day, legions of people trying to make their way become to Galveston. Their job is to say, sorry, this is the end of the line.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS (voice over): A highway of muck and massive debris, even with a Texas-sized effort to clean the road leading to Galveston, residents who fled ahead of Ike remain on the outside, looking in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This road is blocked off because of the debris.
CALLEBS: People like James Law, who can do little more than wait at a roadside gas station.
JAMES LAW, GALVESTON RESIDENT: Worst part is just being misplaced, you know, not being able to get home.
CALLEBS: Law watched reports as the wind and surf pounded the barrier island as Ike came ashore. He had no way of knowing if his house survived. So our crew on the island when to 1015 33rd Street and gave Law his first post-storm peek. >
LAW: It looks all right. Don't look too bad at all. Looks like we got some shingles, going to have to redo the roof, but everything else looks good.
CALLEBS: A few minutes of video erased days of anguish.
LAW: A whole lot better. We were in panic mode. They had so many different rumors coming in and out of there. Keep hearing reports of eight-foot of water, but don't look like no eight foot of water. I don't see no water lines or anything.
CALLEBS: Not to say there weren't problems. James' younger brother, Terrence, did leave the windows down on his car.
LAW: Terrence!
CALLEBS: But there is relief in knowing the home that has been in the family for 27 years will still be there when this road reopens.
(on camera): The big question is when are you going to be able to get home?
LAW: That is the question I want to know, too. I want to go back now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: The Law family, just one of thousands, whose future is uncertain. They have been staying with relatives and 12 people right now in a house. They're running out of water, food and ice. They say the only thing they have in excess is frustration, Don.
LEMON: All right, Sean Callebs reporting. Sean, thank you very much.
We have severe weather down South, all the flooding there, and flooding as well in the Midwest. To our severe weather expert Chad Meyers on top of it all - Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Don, yeah. Chicago got a one-two punch. Chicago got two tropical systems in two days. Lowell, which was in the Pacific, the moisture came over the top and then a cold front smack it had into Chicago last night. Then this morning, Chicago even got a piece, just a piece, of what was Ike as it rolled up toward the Northeast.
So six inches of rain in Chicago proper, and a lot of flooding. Everything you see here, all these green counties, these are all under flood warnings right now. Some rivers, some creeks, some stream is out of its banks. Then obviously, the flooding all the way down to the south.
This picture, out of the Coast Guard today. You can even see a Coast Guard helicopter right there. This is New Iberia, Louisiana; over 150 miles from where this storm made landfall. And there's flooding there still for today and for tomorrow. This water will finally get out.
Here is where we go for. This today, the winds were strong in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, 75 mile per hour, power lines are down everywhere. Trees are down everywhere. A million or more people out of power from this, and that's part of what was still only Tropical Depression Ike, very strong, strong winds there.
Back up to the north, drying out across the Midwest, a fire threat in Idaho and a couple of rain showers across Atlanta. That is a look at your Monday morning forecast have a great week. >
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A failing school gets a chance at a new start.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of us just simply got tired of watching kids drop out and, you know, watching kids die and go to jail.
LEMON: Thanks to some teachers who wouldn't back down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You know what, not on their watch, a public school in California gets an academic makeover, thanks to a few fed up teachers. Here is CNN's Ted Rowlands.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shirt has to be tucked in to get in the door.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is the second day of class at Locke High School in Watts. School uniforms are just part of what's changing and at what many call one the worst schools in the country, in one of L.A.'s toughest neighborhoods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the X axis here, and that is the Y.
ROWLANDS: Math teacher Fernando Avila has been at Watts for eight years and thinks the school will finally turn around, thanks to what he and a group of other frustrated teachers were able to do last year.
FERNANDO AVILA, TEACHER: There was just enough teachers to pull that off and we got our wish, which was we need to get a lot of the teachers really hurting us from the top, they are all gone and we get to start fresh.
ROWLANDS: For years, Locke has been plagued by violence on campus, incredibly high dropout rates and extremely low test scores. Last year, more than 50 percent of the freshman class quit school, and only 5 percent of the senior class went on to college.
BRUCE SMITH, TEACHER: It was awful and had been awful for a long time and a lot of us simply just got tired of watching kids drop out and, you know, watching kids die and go to jail.
ROWLANDS: So, a group of teachers took advantage of a clause in their union contract which allowed them to vote the school out of the district's control and make it a state-regulated charter school.
AVILA: One more time.
ROWLANDS: The teachers won the vote and after the district OK'd the plan, Locke was turned over to a private company called Green Dot Charter Schools, which has the reputation for increasing test scores and graduation rates.
More than half the teachers have been replaced, class sizes are down, and the school has been given a makeover, along with fresh paint in the hallways and new landscaping in the courtyard. Students are now forced to wear uniforms, with their shirts tucked in and pants pulled up.
CLAUDIA CUELLAR, PARENT: We need more rules, more security. You know, kids like to walk around here with their pants down. And that doesn't look good. I mean, we need more structure.
STEVE BARR, GREEN DOT SCHOOLS: If you can come to Watts, you can come out from the worst -- one of the worst dropout factories in the country. If you can come to a place within five blocks of the Bloods and the Crips started, and you show improvement here, everything else should be easier after this.
ROWLANDS: The $25 million a year the district used to get from the state of California for Locke he is now going to Green Dot. People in Los Angeles and around the country where schools are failing will be watching very closely to see what they can do.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Very good report by Ted Rowlands, there. And Pedro Noguera, there you see him on your screen. He knows this topic very well. He wrote, "City Schools and the American Dream". He is a professor at New York University and part-time high school teacher.
So, Pedro, here is a public school that essentially removed itself from the system is this going to be a model for other failing schools?
PEDRO NOGUERA, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Well, it could be. The work that teachers have done there, to take control, and to assert leadership in the schools is, I think, commendable. And it is - it makes you wonder why the district wasn't able to do more to provide that kind of support to the school earlier.
But I think the question is why it takes such an effort to turn schools like this around. We have many schools like this across the country. And the real question is why isn't the state doing more? Why is the state of California in that case, why isn't the federal government doing more?
LEMON: A good question. That sort of lead me to my next question then. What are some of the major issues that are facing the public school system, if you could, three of them, if you can reel them off for us?
NOGUERA: Well, California especially, but this is true in many other states, it is funding. There simply aren't enough resources going into schools that serve poor children and a school like those in Los Angeles don't have the resources. They have some of the largest class sizes in the nation.
Second issue is a question of governance, who is running the schools and whether or not the people in charge, whether it be the board or the superintendent, really have the interest of the students at heart, whether or not they are making decisions to make sure that the schools are run in an efficient manner with real attention to quality of education.
And then, thirdly, the question of broader societal support. Many of our schools that serve poor kids don't have adequate social workers, counselors, health care and these kids have other needs that impact their learning beyond academics.
LEMON: OK, I got to tell you this is a real commitment for CNN. We've been doing lots of things on schools because we think it is an important issue for parents and, of course, children and students as well. We were in New Orleans, we saw - just a couple of weeks ago, we saw a lot of charter schools cropping up. And what my concern is, what we were wondering about, is that will we see a mass exodus, a removal of kids from the public school system because of these problems that you are talking about?
NOGUERA: Well, charter schools are public schools. So, I don't think we should be threatened by that. At the same time we need to recognize not all charter schools are good, some no better than public schools. In fact, some public schools are better run and better alternatives.
LEMON: OK.
NOGUERA: So, there are many options but we need to make sure that there is good leadership in place at the state and local level to oversee and hold all schools accountable.
LEMON: All right, Pedro Noguera, we appreciate you joining us. Will you come back and talk to us more about schools? You are so insightful?
NOGUERA: Thank you. I'll be happy to come back.
LEMON: Thanks you. Thanks for staying up late. You have a good evening and have a great rest of the week. >
Meantime, want to tell you, again, this is a commitment for CNN here. You can catch "American Morning", in the morning, to find out more issues about schools and what's being done around the country to make them better. >
We have heard a lot about the damage and flooding from Ike, but check out what's going on in Chicago and they are not alone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We have not heard of many problems, so far, with aid deliveries to storm victims, but in one case, it is the rescuers and first responders who had trouble getting basic supplies. This is a scene today outside of Houston's Tully Stadium, a staging area for rescue teams. We are told that emergency crews went for hours with no basics like food and water. But when local residents heard, they showed up in droves, with donations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at these people, they are bringing the military -- they are bringing the people that are supposed to be saving us, supplies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard it on the news that they needed some supplies here, so we just gathered everything that we had and brought it down here and wanted to share. You know, we just got our electricity on. We are so grateful for that the least we felt we could do was share with them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just brought leftover water and some canned goods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what it's all about, people helping people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We want to tell you now, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is in the Hurricane Ike strike zone, the storm zone, getting a first-hand look at the damage and relief efforts there. Chertoff took to the air to see the flooded areas for himself. He also spent time meeting with state and local officials along the Texas coast. And in an exchange with a reporter, Chertoff said help is on the way, but residents must be patient.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, SECRETARY, HOMELAND SECURITY: We have the supplies, and they are currently moving to Reliant Stadium. The piece that changed this morning -- I'm not blaming anybody, I understand things come up - is that we were asked to take on the responsibility of actually getting them to the points of distribution and manning the points of distribution.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who screwed up? Obviously --
CROSSTALK
CHERTOFF: I'm going to try to put it into - this is not about a screw-up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But how much time did this delay -- you've got people without water, without gas, and they're sitting there going --
CHERTOFF: This is - we are now about 24 hours since the weather has really cleared, allowing things to move. And in order to set the points of distribution, you need to have identified safe places for them to be. You need to have personnel to man them. And you need to then move the trucks in and that does take a few hours. The trucks are on the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, Chertoff says FEMA efforts are always based on need and he says the agency is doing an excellent job so far. >
What's left of hurricane Ike is long gone from the Gulf Coast, but it is still causing plenty of problems. The storm dumped more rain on an already saturated Chicago area, causing flash floods. Saturday's downpours even before Ike's remnants arrived set a one-day record at O'Hare Airport. This is a scene in St. Louis, check this out, as captured by an iReporter Charlene Marks (ph). Rainfall totals, well up to seven inches, closed streets, including the one in front of the Gateway Arch. The storm even packed hurricane-force winds as far north as Cincinnati, forcing the main airport to shut down for a time. >
Well, he says it was the worst moment of his life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Everyone in there was bleeding in one way or another, and it was bad. >
LEMON: A son searches for his father in the wreckage of these mangled train cars. We talk to him about his incredible story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We have some new developments to report to you in Friday's deadly train crash outside of Los Angeles. Federal investigators are reportedly seeking phone records in their probe of potential text messaging by the train's engineer. Investigators want to know if the engineer was sending text messages at the time of this crash. Twenty-five people were killed and more than 130 others were injured in that.
Among those killed, Allen Buckley. Last night I spoke with Allen's son Jeff who just happened to be near the accident site soon after it happened. This is how he described this horrific scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF BUCKLEY, FATHER IN TRAIN CRASH: I was on my way home and I got a call. It was from my mother telling me my father's train had crashed. And I was just in the area, and I was right there when it happened. And I couldn't get up there via car, so I sprinted up to the -- literally to the crash site. I followed the press through and got to the triage site and saw some very horrific things. And my father was not there.
LEMON: You said you saw things that you never thought you would see in your life.
BUCKLEY: That's correct. I mean, if we want to get graphic, we had compound fractures. We had people with sheet metal sticking in their heads, people screaming, the blood . Everyone in there was bleeding one way or another. And it was bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I spoke to him, and they said they have made, sadly, funeral arrangements for his father.
When we come back, we will update you on the story coming out of Wall Street. It's going to be a very busy day tomorrow. What investigator s are only calling frantic this evening will spill over tomorrow. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: A couple stories you need to be abreast of as you go to work, tomorrow, and all next week. Get ready for a wild ride when markets open in nine and a half hours. Let's recap the breaking news from Wall Street tonight. There's word that Bank of America has cut a deal to buy the investment firm Merrill Lynch. That is from "The Wall Street Journal" that we're hearing that. >
Also, it looks like troubled investment firm Lehman Brothers will not be able to line up a buyer for itself - will not be able to do that. That means bankruptcy is now a near certainty. With all the activity tonight inside the New York headquarters, police were standing by outside for all of that. Ali Velshi, Gerri Willis and the entire CNN Money team will be all over this story beginning at 6:00 a.m. Eastern on "American Morning. Be sure you tune in for that. >
And we're seeing another spike in gas prices thanks to Hurricane Ike tearing through the Gulf. But one leading energy analyst says there could be relief ahead. AAA said prices rose an average of more than six cents overnight for a gallon of regular unleaded after another six cent jump between Friday and Saturday. That was just between Friday and Saturday. The average price now nearly $3.80 a gallon.
But analyst Trilby Lundberg says there should be a silver lining to Ike's cloud, namely a drop in demand sent oil prices lower to date. Lundberg says that could eventually translate into a drop in pump prices. I'm sure everyone would like that.
Now it's time for our parting shot tonight, a picture that says it all. Take a look at this. Even the cows can't get home, but this Texas Longhorn is certainly trying, surrounded by floodwaters and complete devastation, our Ed Lavendera and his crew captured this video on a flyover with search and rescue crews. Incredible images coming in to us from our colleagues covering Ike.
In case you missed it, we have pictures like that all weekend. Unbelievable stories coming out of the South. Of course, those storms moving up into the North. We've had flooding in the Midwest, not due to Ike but another system.
I'm Don Lemon. Thank you for joining us tonight. You have a great week. Make sure you join us next week at 6:00 and 10:00 Sunday night.
