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Dallas Cowboys Run for Cover; H1N1 Flue Cases Climbing; President Obama Mulls Court Choice; Remembering Jack Kemp

Aired May 03, 2009 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There are other ways that you can save money to keep yourself within that $70 budget. One of the ways is try to use materials that maybe you already have. I already had this chicken wire and this wood and so my husband helped me cut the wood and then we put the trellis in that way.

And that's why it doesn't looks really fantastic but hey it works, right? It just has to be functional.

Some other ways that you can save is buy fewer varieties. The fewer types of plants that you buy probably the better off you're going to be in terms of success and also keeping your price down a little bit.

Another way is plants versus seeds. Seeds are certainly a lot cheaper. This was $1.89 for these cucumber seeds and it would cost me probably a lot more than that to buy a plant that's already established. However, one problem can be that sometimes you don't have as much success if you're novice gardener like myself if you start with the seeds.

And then of course, buy it on sale. Right? You don't have to plant your whole garden at one time. Watch for savings and watch your newspaper and watch for those advertisements that say we're having a plant sale. The strawberries over here I got for 59 cents. That's crazy free, 59 cents.

So, there are at lots of ways that you can keep that budget down a little bit.

Well, Don, we're going to go ahead and check in throughout the summer and see how things work out with the garden. Certainly wish me a little bit of luck. I hope we save that $500.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jacqui. Thank you very much.

Not much working out in the garden today because we are on a severe weather alert tonight with tornado watches and warnings dotting parts of the southeast.

We're waiting confirmation of a reported tornado, this one near Birmingham, Alabama. Storms hit the area hard tonight. We're going to check out the city of Hoover, Alabama, where the storm damage, you can see there, is significant.

It has been a tumultuous weekend for much of the south and the southwest. The Dallas Cowboys practice facility canopy blown to the ground yesterday during a rookie player mini camp.

Our affiliate WFAA had a camera rolling and captured all of the chaos as it unfolded. You saw that on CNN yesterday. 12 people injured including a coach, but none of the players injured.

Even Colorado's wine country is seeing extreme weather this weekend. Our iReporter, Laura Shields, capturing this hailstorm hitting Grand Junction yesterday; quite a sight and quite a storm, as well.

We have severe weather possible from the Texas Gulf Coast all the way to the Carolinas, but the immediate concern appears to be Central Alabama and Northwest Georgia. Our meteorologist, Karen Maginnis, in the CNN Severe Weather Center to give us an update on that, take cover.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes and it looks like right through the metropolitan Atlanta area. There you go. Somebody just wiped off that lens, but we really saw this weather system on our live tower cam as it across metro Atlanta. Seems to be tapering off just a little bit, but I say that in a lot of bedroom (ph) communities to the north and to the south of Atlanta really feeling the effects of the severe weather.

Now, much of central and northern Georgia are currently under a severe thunderstorm watch. That goes until 8:00 for this evening. But what we have seen, which is a little unusual, is that it looks like most of the warnings that we've seen have been discontinued.

I want to zoom in across this area, and just kind of show you this bow echo line. Now, I'll draw this out for you. Take a look at how it just kind of bows out like that, even all the way back here into Louisiana. We're seeing some very strong storms start to fire up there, as well.

But as we go ahead and take a look at what's happening along the Gulf Coast region, they don't have any watches just yet, but certainly severe weather has marked this region. But also right across central Alabama, right around Bessemer also around Pelham and into Jacksonville, Alabama and in Piedmont, Alabama, those particular cells that were found across that area just about four or five hours ago moved across the border into Georgia, so right around Newnan, also in Tyrone, Georgia, Cedar town. Those were some of the areas that were also under tornado warnings.

So, Don, this is the first hour that we've seen since I've been in this afternoon. We don't have a tornado warning in Alabama or Georgia. But we do have that watch still in effect.

LEMON: And things change every second.

MAGINNIS: Yes. LEMON: And let's keep our fingers crossed. Thank you very much, Karen Maginnis. Make sure you the viewers will all stay tuned because we'll be following this on CNN for you.

As we noted to you just a moment ago, severe weather smacked America's team with unexpected fury. The Dallas Cowboys are reeling after strong winds smashed their indoor practice facility yesterday. We have been showing you how it all unfolded just as our CNN affiliate WFAA's cameras were rolling.

Well, tonight, we have some new video for you. It is showing the chaos immediately after the collapse. I want you to watch and listen to this new video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, that tape coming from our affiliate KUVN. Now another view just in to CNN just after the collapse; this is from our affiliate KDAF. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody over there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold still. Keep talking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You can imagine being inside as this structure came tumbling down. And one of the photographers who shot this incredible video, he is a photojournalist from WFAA, our affiliate, his name is Arnold Payne. And he describes one of the most frightening moments of his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD PAYNE, WFAA PHOTOJOURNALIST: Initially, everyone was really trying to get out. And, I mean, players were about as frightened as anybody else, obviously. It just happened so fast.

So, once guys figured that they could actually get out, that's when their attention immediately turned to helping their partners and calling out their names and their teammates. And it was just a lot of -- a lot of screaming of names. And they knew how many players were here, and obviously, the coaching staff and a contingent of media people.

At that point in time, it was not about football but people helping people.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: You know, a dozen people in all were hurt in this including one member of the Cowboys' coaching staff. We are told the damage was caused by a microburst which in layman's terms is a powerful downdraft of wind, not a tornado, but as you can see, definitely very powerful. Those winds were quite powerful there.

Let's turn now to the news that we have been reporting here on CNN. The U.S. health officials are seeing encouraging signs about the swine flu outbreak even though there's an increase in the number of confirmed cases.

We want to give you the latest developments now. 66 more cases of H1N1 virus are being confirmed here in the U.S. and that raises the number of people sickened here to 226.

The CDC is reporting that the flu is now present in 30 states. Health officials say they are cautiously optimistic that the virus isn't as dangerous as once feared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RICHARD BESSER, ACTING DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: There are encouraging signs. We're not out of the woods yet. But what we've learned about the virus itself, it doesn't contain the factors that we know are seen in much more severe flu strains. Each strain that comes out may have other factors we weren't aware of but the ones know about, it's not there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, worldwide, the number of confirmed swine flu cases climbed to 898 today across 18 countries. More than half of them are in Mexico. But Mexico's Health Secretary says the outbreak in his country is now, quote, "in its declining phase."

Today Colombia became the first South American country to confirm a case of H1N1. Britain, Italy, Germany are also reporting new cases.

The epicenter of the H1N1 outbreak in New York City, well, was a high school in Queens.

And CNN's Susan Candiotti says students will return tomorrow after the school was closed for a top-to-bottom cleaning. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's good- bye to mask wearing sanitation crews and hello to students at St. Francis prep school in Queens. After a top-to-bottom scrubbing, hallways won't be empty anymore.

At least 59 confirmed swine flu cases and two dozen more suspected gave the Queens High School the state's highest concentration of the virus.

DANA DEROSA, PARENT: It was scary for me so close to my home and not knowing what to expect.

CANDIOTTI: Dana Derosa and her daughter live across the street. 14- year-old Alissa goes to a different school so far untouched by swine flu, but when some classmates got sick, Alissa's mom kept her daughter home and missed work to stay with her.

DEROSA: Just wasn't sure if the schools were doing everything they needed to for her health.

CANDIOTTI: Even unconfirmed cases of swine flu have prompted schools in at least 19 states to shut their doors as a precaution.

In southern California, some closings called an aggressive move to slow the spread. But some parents question it.

AL MONFORT, PARENT: Take our precautions that we need to be doing, but don't overreact because I think we're a little overreacting.

CANDIOTTI: In Texas, Ft. Worth schools are closed for two weeks. In Washington State, public officials ask employers to bear with parents who need unexpected time off to care for their children. Parents are frustrated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess I'll just have to stay home with my kids. It's really scary.

CANDIOTTI: In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a tennis tournament went on as planned, but other non-sport-related after-school activities were canceled.

Back in Queens, New York, Dana Derosa is waiting nervously to see what happens next.

Will you change anything about what you do when you go back to school?

DEROSA: I'm going to start bringing hand sanitizer more now.

CANDIOTTI: Students at St. Francis and other high schools likely to do the same.

CANDIOTTI: While this New York City school has given itself a clean bill of health, it may be a few more weeks before others are ready to reopen. And with the end of the school year rapidly approaching, a lot of parents may be wondering, will their schools be forced to shut their doors?

Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Susan.

Meantime at the White House, a search is already under way for someone to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter. We'll take a close look at the top contenders here. Who's really a possibility here? And the fate of another major newspaper in question, "The Boston Globe" could fold if a tense labor dispute is not resolved and resolved quickly. We're talking about it tonight. Union leaders and management face off. Details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: After just over three months in the White House, President Barack Obama is getting his first shot at a Supreme Court nomination. Justice David Souter says he'll retire at the end of the court's current term.

CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The news was broken by the president himself.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: This is kind of cool.

HENRY: Interrupting the press secretary's daily briefing in progress.

OBAMA: I just got off the phone with Justice Souter. So I would like to say a few words about his decision to retire from the Supreme Court.

HENRY: The phone call and then formal letter from Justice David Souter stark reminders elections do matter. The former constitutional law professor now has the power to shape the high court.

OBAMA: I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity. I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book, it is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives, whether they can make a living and care for their families.

HENRY: The flashpoint in any confirmation battle is likely to be over abortion. Asked about the issue at this week's prime time news conference, the president tried to stake out a middle ground.

OBAMA: I believe that women should have the right to choose, but I think that the most important thing we can do to tamp down some of the anger surrounding this issue is to focus on those areas that we can agree on.

HENRY: But Senator Arlen Specter's party switch this week could give the president a filibuster-proof majority in the senate and smooth passage of a liberal pick. While speculation is building about potential nominees, White House aides stress it's early. And a veteran of the Bush selection process says be careful with predictions.

RACHEL BRAND, BUSH ADMINISTRATION JUSTICE OFFICIAL: I remember during the Roberts and Alito process there were short lists published in the newspaper with names on them that I barely knew, and I knew who was on the short list.

HENRY (on camera): Former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was not replaced by a woman, so there's currently only one female out of nine justices on the high court. That's why senior officials here tell me the strong early indication is to pick a woman. But they stress there is no short list and the field is still wide open.

Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Ok. Let's talk about this a little bit more because there's a lot out there about who might be the next Supreme Court justice once David Souter steps down.

Dahlia Lithwick covers the Supreme Court for "Slate" magazine and she joins us now by phone from Charlottesville, Virginia. Thank you so much for taking this Sunday and joining us.

You know, we've heard a lot about who it might be. Will it be, you know, someone -- they want diversity, but really the big thing that everyone is talking about and I think you will attest to this, a woman. Everybody thinks it's going to be a woman, Dahlia.

DAHLIA LITHWICK, SENIOR EDITOR, SLATE MAGAZINE (via telephone): I think that's a very good bet. There are a couple of things that are key here. One is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is, as you just heard, the only woman on the court. She's 76. She's recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer so there's some real question about how long she's going to stick around regardless. And she's gone out of her way to say she's lonely on the court. It was much nicer when it was her and O'Connor.

On top of all that, there's this interesting problem for Obama, which I think he feels indebted to the Hillary voters who threw their weight behind him and arguably made a difference in the election. I think there are a lot of women in this country who feel he owes us this.

LEMON: You mean by picking a woman? Is that what you mean by that?

LITHWICK: Yes. I think there's a real sense out there that women feel that it's payback time and that he needs to put a woman on the court in order to sort of give back what we gave him.

It's also really been interesting. The last couple years, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been very open, both in speeches she's given, in interviews, and also on the bench itself that she says often the guys on the bench just don't get it. She talks about their sensibilities are different.

She's really gone out of her way, and this is a woman who doesn't often play the gender card, she's gone out of their way to say these guys are just out of touch with women's issues on pay disparity. A big strip search case last week of (INAUDIBLE) to the 13-year-old girl; she went out of her way on the bench to say you guys have no idea. LEMON: Let me ask you about this, because when you look at he -- it was interesting because, you know, 69 years old, that's -- Souter is 69 years old. If you look at the age of the people who are on the court, most of them are older folk and they come from certain times with certain life experiences.

And that was one point Robert Gibbs made on Friday. He said the president wants someone with a diversity in career, a diversity in life, and who has diverse knowledge on issues, not necessarily a person of color, not necessarily a woman, as long as they're a diverse thinker.

LITHWICK: I think that's spot on. I think there's a real feeling right now is the Supreme Court is really overrepresented in certain ways, overrepresented in terms of people who work in the executive branch, for instance, overrepresented in terms of people who come off the bench.

LEMON: I think that makes a very good point what you talked about.

Real quickly, let's throw out the cards to the folks who had been saying here -- the pictures of these guys because we're talking about Sonja Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Diane Wood, Jennifer Granholm, who has been mentioned a lot here, Justice Leah Ward Sears, and Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, which I thought was very interesting as well because a lot of folks are saying that the one African-American member of the court, Clarence Thomas, doesn't really relate to them -- African-Americans are saying that -- and they would like someone maybe like a Deval Patrick.

LITHWICK: And he would be an interesting pick. He came up through the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. So he really has the polar opposite background from Clarence Thomas. He worked very, very hard to advance African-American issues. So, I think that would be an interesting pick.

Again, I think the pressure, however, to pick a woman is going to be very strong.

LEMON: It's going to weight out.

LITHWICK: As you say, the women candidates are astounding.

LEMON: All right. Up against a break here. Dahlia, very interesting. Thank you very much, especially for the woman part.

Dahlia says she's going to bet that it's going to be a woman and it could be a black woman or an African-American woman, everyone was saying and a Hispanic woman. That would be an interesting choice.

We appreciate it. "Slate" Magazine, Dahlia Lithwick.

LEMON: Ok, the Grand Old Party wants to be a grand new party; instead of GOP, it's going to be maybe the GNP. Republicans try to rebuild their image. And he was a football star who became a political star. We'll take a look at why Congressman Jack Kemp was so popular whether you were on his team or not.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Former pro football star, congressman, and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp has died. The 73-year-old passed away last night surrounded by friends and family after a bout with cancer. He may be best remembered as one of the chief engineers of Reaganomics. But for the Buffalo, New York area, he'll always be remembered as a champion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice-over): As a star quarterback in the old American football league, Jack Kemp led the Buffalo Bills to back-to-back championships in 1964 and '65. When he retired from football in 1970, Buffalo area voters elected him to the House of Representatives.

Kemp often said he was more interested in ideas than partisan politics, and he regarded his political foes as opponents, not enemies.

JACK KEMP, DIED OF CANCER: You know what helped me? Playing football. When I got my head knocked off by Nick Buonoconti (ph) or Ernie Ladd (ph), they're my best friends today and I realized they didn't make it personal and I don't take it personal, and I think politics can be the same way.

LEMON: In 1978, Kemp teamed up with Senator William Roth of Delaware to propose the Kemp/Roth tax cuts. After Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, much of that proposal became law.

KEMP: From 1981 to 1988, the top tax rate came down from 70 percent to 28 percent.

LEMON: Both tax cuts established Kemp as a leading advocate of conservative supply-side economics, but unlike many of the other conservatives of his era, Kemp actively courted African-American support.

KEMP: So that our party could be a Lincoln party in terms of attracting black and brown and men and women of color and low income status and immigrant status who want a shot at the American dream for their children.

LEMON: Kemp made a bid for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination. He was unsuccessful. But the man who won that nomination, the first President Bush, put Kemp in his cabinet.

As Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Kemp stuck to his supply-side philosophy, advocating tax breaks for intercity (ph) businesses and home ownership for the poor.

KEMP: We're here to tell every single resident in public housing in the United States of America you, too, can manage and control and ultimately own your own property.

LEMON: In 1996, Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole picked Kemp to be his vice presidential running mate.

BOB DOLE, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I like people around me with ideas. That's why I picked Jack Kemp for my running mate. Jack has ideas.

LEMON: On the vice presidential campaign trail, the former football star was a team player.

KEMP: I played second-string quarterback a lot of times in my life.

LEMON: Dole and Kemp lost to the incumbent, President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

KEMP: I called Vice President Gore, offered my congratulations to him and the president.

LEMON: The defeat ended Kemp's career as a political candidate, but it did not dim his influence inside his Republican party. He continued to write and speak about his ideas, inspiring a new generation of supply-side conservatives.

KEMP: The only way to oppose a bad idea is to replace it with a good idea and I'd like to think that I have spent my life trying to promote good ideas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: President Barack Obama is praising Jack Kemp today. He says, "Jack Kemp was a man who could fiercely advocate his own beliefs and principles while also remembering the lessons he learned years earlier on the football field. That bitter divisiveness between race and class and station only in the way of the 'common aim of a team to win.'"

The Grand Old Party wants to be the grand new party; Republicans try to rebuild their image.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hi. Let's head to the nation's capital now where republicans are working to burnish their image. And President Obama is looking to replace a retiring Supreme Court justice. Our Bill Schneider is here to catch us - get us up to speed, I should say, on these developing stories.

I really want to focus on because we talked a lot about David Souter and I just had a guest on talk about that. Let's talk about the republicans, Bill, and stick to that rebranding themselves, they're calling it. They're launching some sort of town hall-style meetings. Where did this idea come from?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, they're not actually calling it rebranding the republican party. They're not even saying it has anything to do with the republican party. They're saying it's a nonpartisan effort. The organization is called a National Council for New America. They met at a pizza restaurant in Arlington, Virginia. That's just outside Washington.

You can see there's Eric Cantor, who's the republican whip in the House of Representatives, young, up-and-coming, Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, the former president's brother, and Mitt Romney, who ran for president last time. They are trying to go out on a listening tour.

About 100 people showed up. They want to take this around the country. They want to listen to people. What they want to avoid is being branded the party of no, which is what the democrats are calling the republicans. They want to have a positive message and they want to reach out to the grassroots, which is, of course the way Barack Obama built his organization.

LEMON: Yes. You know what's interesting is, you know, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush and they have been - you know, we've been hearing about them forever. They've been around. But Eric Cantor, I have seen so much of Eric Cantor lately, I mean, it's really unbelievable. He's been on a media blitz. Might he be the new face and the new leader of the republican party, Bill?

SCHNEIDER: Well, Don, there's an opening. No one know who is going to be the spokesperson, the face, the voice of the republican party. So, he may be well -- well be stepping into that role. He's, of course, competing with John Boehner, who is the republican leader in the House of Representatives.

Cantor is the number two person, and they've had some conflicts over some issues and some proposals to put forth. But he is young. He's attractive. And he's very popular among a lot of House republicans. And he has a lot of ideas. So, he's taking the real initiative here and trying to go out to the people.

LEMON: All right. So we have Mitt Romney there. We have Jeb Bush. We talked about Eric Cantor. Where is Michael Steele in all of this? Wasn't that part of the reason that he became the president of the party or the chair of party so that diversity and to really change the look and make it a bigger tent party?

SCHNEIDER: Well, that was the idea when he was selected a few months ago. He wasn't there in part because they wanted to avoid making this look like too partisan an effort. That's why they don't call themselves a republican effort. They say they're nonpartisan.

Michael Steele has made a few gaffes and there's some controversy in the party. Some people in the party are trying to curb his power. So what they're trying to do is go around that and make this a more positive, exploratory effort.

LEMON: Wait. Curb his power, why? He's the chair of the party.

SCHNEIDER: He is the chair of the party, but they're trying to put some restrictions on the money he can spend. There are some people who aren't sure that he's got the right message for the party. I don't want to get involved because I'm not sure of all the details of the internal republican conflicts, but, yes, there are some conflicts going on within the party and, of course, these people are trying to strike out in a different direction.

LEMON: I was just going to say there's an interesting back story there that would be - to get to the bottom of which would be quite, I'm sure, amazing to see, all the inner workings of that. Bill Schneider, appreciate it, sir. Thank you very much.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

LEMON: I want to get now to Karen Maginnis because we have severe weather happening across the country. We had tornado warnings. What is going on now? They may have expired, but what do you have?

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They have. I want to show you something interesting, Don. Take a look at this. Do you believe this? This is Atlanta.

LEMON: Oh, wow.

MAGINNIS: Just a few minutest ago there was no visibility. They were wiping off the lens because the storms were so bad. So, the weather has improved at least in the metropolitan Atlanta area. However, there is now a severe thunderstorm watch out for the Piedmont mountains of South Carolina, all the way from Spartanburg, South Carolina, towards Aiken, South Carolina.

Now, we saw that line of storms move across metropolitan Atlanta. There were a number of tornado warnings out. But now that line - we want to point it out to you - this line, wow, it is substantially different from what we saw hours earlier where that severe weather was just pounding right across central Alabama all the way from Bessemer and into Pellam, into Talladega, just to the east of Gadsden, Alabama, as well.

Well, now some of those thunderstorms are firing up across the Gulf Coast region into Louisiana. But look at what is expected over the next 48 hours. With a bull's-eye of heavy rainfall, about 10 inches, in South Central Alabama. Haven't forgotten the west. And, Don, they've got some snow in the higher elevations. It has been a crazy year so far.

LEMON: All right. Do you like to drive?

MAGINNIS: Oh, yes.

LEMON: Do you have a need for speed?

MAGINNIS: Yes.

LEMON: Well, you know, we're around the same generation. Your muscle cars, you love them.

MAGINNIS: Yes. LEMON: Yes. I figured you did. You know, ice part of being 20- something like we are.

MAGINNIS: Right. Yes.

LEMON: You know, I got to admit to you, to the audience, to Karen, I've got a need for speed. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Look a little scared there. That car has a lot of power. Look at that engine. Man, that's right. Get off the road. Meet a group of motorists who say they will stand by Chrysler no matter what happens. I talked to them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. We have this just in to CNN, and it is very sad. You can see if you're reading the bottom of the screen there, you can see it. It has to do with this horrific story we told you about yesterday. I'm reading this press release that's coming from the Dallas Cowboys just a short while ago.

It says that one of its scouting assistants there has suffered paralysis and is paralyzed from the waist down after he was injured when the team's tent-like practice structure collapsed during the severe storm. The young man's name is Rich Behm. He is 33 years old.

He sustained a fracture to the thoracic spine, the tenth thoracic vertebra. The fracture caused severing of the spinal cord at the level causing permanent paralysis from the waist down. He underwent surgery to stabilize the fracture last night and remains in stable condition at Parkland Hospital.

Sad story coming out of that. Also, an update on other members of the staff here. Special teams coach Joe Decamillis, I'm not sure of the spelling, forgive me, of the pronunciation, forgive me of that. He's 43, sustained a fracture of one of his cervical vertebra. He remains in stable condition without paralysis at the hospital.

Surgery to stabilize the fracture is scheduled for Monday morning for Mr. Decamillis. And then the assistant athletic trainer Greg Geithner, 35, sustained a fracture to the tibia and fibula in his right leg, which was surgically repaired last night at Baylor University Medical Center.

The team also released a statement as well as Jerry Jones saying to the Behm family, we extend our love, comfort, and full support of every person and resource within the organization and goes on to mention all of the other - the two other gentlemen who were hurt, as well.

But scouting assistant Rich Behm, Dallas Cowboys, suffered a fracture of the thoracic spine and is paralyzed now from this the collapse of this training camp tent. He is paralyzed from the waist down. Back in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All Chrysler plants will be idle starting tomorrow as the automaker begins bankruptcy proceedings. Workers leaving last Thursday won't be back to work until the automaker emerges from bankruptcy. Most analysts expect that process to take at least two months.

Chrysler says five of its plants will not reopen at all. Meantime, we're learning that Chrysler's prospective new owner, carmaker, Fiat, is talking to General Motors, too. Fiat says it would like to acquire GM's Opel division and fold it into a single-car company that includes Chrysler. Fiat is best known for its Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari brands.

Chrysler muscle cars once ruled the American streets and highways. Well, this weekend, diehard fans brought their vintage babies to the Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was horsepower heaven.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice-over): Vehicles from yesterday and today pull into the infield at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. For these people, the cars are much than transportation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of what you grew up with. This is the car I had in high school. I think we all buy the cars of our youth, right?

LEMON: How does it feel to you in here, though?

MIKE HORTON, 69 DODGE DART: It hurts. You know, you see an icon is going down and there's nothing really the American public can do about it.

LEMON: A deal with Fiat may have saved the company from immediate liquidation, but what about the future?

MATT MORGAN, 72 DODGE CHARGER: The way I looked at it is they emerged from bankruptcy once before. I hope they can do it again.

LEMON: For nearly a century, Chrysler has been a part of the American fabric with diehards like these guys really keeping the company afloat. The good news is that they are optimistic.

ED FAATH, 68 DDOGE: Chrysler will have to just adapt by default, be competitive and should be a stronger company.

LONNE JOHNSON, CHRYSLER ENTHUSIAST: I feel whole lot they're going to come back strong. Sometimes you have to step back two or three steps and come back as a slimmer, trimmer type of company.

LEMON: No one knows if the future Chrysler will still turn out products like the earth shaking 1971 Hemi Barracuda.

LEMON: Wow. Analysts say even modern muscle cars guzzle too much gas.

This sort of thing epitomizes the American car industry, the muscle car, when it was at its hey day, and now you think that's over?

DARREN TEDDER, '71 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA: No. I think it can come back. I mean, I think, you know, with a new administration and, you know, people having some more confidence in the market, I think it could very easily come back.

JOHNSON: I like horsepower. Your full 40s. I'm a big-block guy.

LEMON: But even in new cars when they're talking about fuel efficiency?

We still want something where I can roll, you know? You want to save fuel, get another car you save fuel in and another car you want to rock 'n' roll in. So, everybody wants some power.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to see my sons when they're my age with a modern Chrysler done like this in the future.

LEMON: A future that still remains uncertain for Chrysler and those who love it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Beautiful cars out there. Very nice, folks as well.

OK. Now, time to update you on the swine flu, the latest on the global outbreak. 66 more cases of the H1N1 virus have been confirmed in the U.S. that raises the number of people sickened here in the U.S., 226 now.

The CDC is reporting that the flu is now present in 30 states. The United States went through a swine flu scare 33 years ago. Some people know about it. Others don't. In 1976, the government pulled out all the stops to get everyone in the country inoculated. We'll take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't need another flu shot. I had a flu shot last year.

ANNOUNCER: A swine flu epidemic may be coming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Swine flu shot? Oh, I don't know. I've been thinking about it.

ANNOUNCER: It could make you very sick.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swine flu? Man, I'm too fast to let it catch me.

ANNOUNCER: You'll want to be protected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm the healthiest 55-year-old you've ever seen. Hey, I play golf every weekend.

ANNOUNCER: Get a shot for protection. The swine flu shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. Interesting stuff. Well one person who didn't go along with the government's program in 1976 was a freshman congressman, a doctor from Texas. Name? Ron Paul.

I spoke with Ron Paul about swine flu then and swine flu now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So, congressman, you've been through all of this before. You saw it back then. You saw what happened now. What's your take on it? Are we doing too much? Are we over hyping this, meaning all of us, the media and the government?

RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: Yes, they are. It's overblown. Grossly so. And I just wish people would back off a little bit, stop and think for a minute and not panic people. There's too much hysteria in the country, and so far there hasn't been that much - that great a danger. So the sooner we get calmer the better I'll feel.

LEMON: So, take us through it. It was back then 1976, I believe. You were a freshman congressman. Take us through what happened. The same sort of thing. Swine flu. People were concerned about it. Talk to me about it.

PAUL: In 1976, I was sworn in a special election, and I obviously was very new to the situation. It was at that time that Ford was running against Reagan and it was a tight race and politicized. And the flu came in and it was a big deal.

We had a vote to indicate that we should have inoculate everybody in the country. Medically, it made no sense to me and politically it sounded like a bad deal. There were two of us that voted against us. Another doctor, Dr. Larry McDonald and I, said it was bad medicine, it was bad politics.

And it turned out that that was pretty perceptive because we only had one person die from the flu, and that might have been from other reasons. 25 people died from the inoculation.

LEMON: If you were in charge, what would you do?

PAUL: I would probably do a lot less and just think about it and see if there's any need to do anything at all. This idea that government has to come to the rescue, I think it's more or less a reflection that we have too many people in government that like the idea that they have to justify their existence, so whether it's in foreign policy, scaring the people to death, create fear, then you can do what you want.

It was an economic crisis. Scare the people to death, and then you can socialize the economy. In medicine, scare the people to death, then you'll say only the government can take care of us. So, I think a lot of that is happening and we're on the move to socialize medicine so we're scaring the people and saying the only people that can save us will be the government.

LEMON: What's your response? What have people said to you since you made this video and you said, hey, you know what, temp us down a little bit, stand back and don't be so crazy about this? What have people said to you.

PAUL: Do you know what I have to tell you the honest truth, I have not had one person say to me that, you know, that I have undermined anything about dealing with this problem. Everybody's saying that's exactly what I thought. It's about time somebody said it. It's just an attempt for government to scare the people.

I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that might disagree. And I don't down play the seriousness. As a physician, I don't say there's no danger at all whatsoever. But you got to put it in perspective. Put it in perspective of HIV and AIDS and tuberculosis and all these things. It really is a total nonevent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was Ron Paul. Always outspoken. Thank you, Ron Paul. And he did it by Skype. He's a pretty hip guy.

OK. So, from the most unbelievable tragedy to overwhelming triumph. This is really my favorite story of the day, and you're going to enjoy it, too. It's coming up soon. Former NFL coach Tony Dungy. He has been through it all, seen everything. He is tonight's "African- American First." His story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. So, his name is Tony Dungy and he made history when he became the first African-American head coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He achieved wealth and fame on the football field, but he says his true mission in life is no game.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Just talking to Tony Dungy - did you ever think you'd reach this level of success and fame and had all these opportunities?

TONY DUNGY, FMR. NFL COACH: No. No.

LEMON: -- is a walk down memory lane.

DUNGY: I remember there was about 30 seconds left on the clock.

LEMON: Super Bowl XLI, February 4th, 2007.

DUNGY: Just thinking about all the people that had gone into my life.

LEMON: Dungy's Indianapolis Colts against his good friend, Lovie Smith's Chicago Bears. DUNGY: 30 seconds of all these names were kind of racing through my head.

LEMON: What did you think about? Was it bittersweet? Did you think about James?

DUNGY: I did, and how much he would have enjoyed being there. I thought about that.

LEMON: James was Tony and his wife, Lauren's eldest son, who at just 18 years old had taken his life outside Tampa in December of 2005. Devastating the family.

So you know, the whole world was watching you. I have to ask you this question. It's hard to ask. They were wondering what was going through your mind after just losing your son, how you could handle that sort of pressure at that time.

DUNGY: I think Christian faith just allowed me to look forward, and that's what I always tried to do. And no matter what the situation and what disappointments you come off of, you just feel the Lord is making you stronger.

LEMON: Faith and family, two things that have guided Dungy throughout his life. So, as he stood on that field in Miami Gardens, Florida, the state where he could make history, the state where his son took his own life, faith and family would not elude him.

DUNGY: It started with my mom and dad and where I grew up, all the way through my family and coaches that I'd had.

LEMON: Dungy was the second of four children of Wilbur, a college physiology professor, and Cleo Mae, a high school English teacher in Jackson, Michigan. Having two people, two parents in the home.

DUNGY: Makes the biggest difference in the world. And as I look at our country right now, that's the thing that makes me the most nervous. The things I talked about with my dad, the role model that he was for me. The advice he gave me until I was 48 years old, I just can't even imagine not having that.

LEMON: Both dad and mom made education a priority, and Tony excelled. The high school basketball guard and football quarterback attended the University of Minnesota on a scholarship, was drafted in 1977 by the Steelers, then played for 49ers and the Giants before becoming an assistant coach in 1980 for his alma matter, Minnesota.

As you're coaching, did you have a desire to one day be a head coach?

DUNGY: You know, when I first started, there were no African- American head coaches so it wasn't - it was almost - wasn't even a goal.

LEMON: Because there was no one there like you so you didn't think you could achieve it. DUNGY: The concept of being the head coach, when I was 25 years old, although I knew it wasn't impossible, it just wasn't something that seemed realistic.

LEMON: Do you think race was a component?

DUNGY: I think it was because I don't think owners understood African-American coaches at that time or players, maybe, as well as they do now.

LEMON: After toiling through the coaching ranks of college and then the NFL for years, finally in 1996, a break with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

So, you fly in for the interview. Right. You come here to Tampa. You open the paper and it says what?

DUNGY: It says that, you know, Tony Dungy is being interviewed. This is a courtesy because Steve Spurrier is going to get the job.

LEMON: Were you kind of floored when you got it?

DUNGY: I was, because it had been so many years and so many that I thought I had a chance at, and this one I really didn't think I had a chance.

LEMON: The pressure was on with a team that had struggled for decades.

DUNGY: We lost our first five, and then we won one, then we lost three more.

LEMON: But when Dungy began hiring coaches like Lovie Smith, the team began to prosper, eventually making four playoff appearances, once even winning their division, accomplishing all of it with a quiet coaching manner. You've never yelled.

DUNGY: I've yelled a few times.

LEMON: You haven't thrown any clipboards.

DUNGY: I have not thrown clipboards.

LEMON: In 2002, Indianapolis came calling. Initially, the Colts struggled under Dungy, but by 2006 got it together and took him to Super Bowl XLI. Only problem, he was up against longtime friend Lovie Smith.

DUNGY: You knew that it was going to be disappointing to beat the other guy however it turned out.

LEMON: So with the clock ticking, who could it be? Lovie Smith or Tony Dungy? Faith and family, his mind racing.

DUNGY: I'm just saying, you know, I'm really thankful that I had all these people to help me get here. LEMON: In the same spirit of that year's Super Bowl motto, one game, one dream, there would only be one winner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2007 world champions.

DUNGY: I had to kind of hold that emotion in after I shook hands then say, you know what, we can celebrate now.

LEMON: The man who in just a few years had lost his mother, father, and son had made history. Tony Dungy, a Super Bowl hero, a role model and an African-American first.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon. I'll see you back at 10:00. TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE begins now.